Assessment Scenarios

Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit Solution Accelerator

Assessment Scenarios

Published: February 25, 2008 | Updated: April 17, 2009

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP) makes it easy for you to perform assessments for the following key scenarios:

Identify computers capable of running Windows Vista.
Identify servers capable of running Windows Server 2008.
Identify computers that can be upgraded to Microsoft Office 2007 and report currently installed Microsoft Office products.
Capture performance data for servers and workstations.
Create recommendations for server consolidation using Hyper-V or Virtual Server 2005 R2.
Report on the hardware and software installed in your organization.
Perform inventory and assessments of large networks.
Report on Desktop security settings such as Windows Firewall, anti-virus and anti-malware
Identify machines running SQL Server, SQL Server Components installed, and their ability to migrate to SQL Server 2008.
Provides the assessment results of the inventory process and an estimate of potential energy savings based upon managing power management capabilities of client and server machines through Group Policy policy settings in addition to power savings through server consolidation using virtualization.
Assess client and server computers for deployment of Microsoft Application Virtualization v4.5.

Note Configurations are required on remote computers to perform the assessments and monitor performance data. Refer to the Inventory Technologies page of this article for information about required configurations to enable remote inventory and performance monitoring.

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Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Scenario

The Windows Vista hardware assessment is completed by the Assessment Wizard. It provides the following information for determining hardware compatibility of existing clients for Windows Vista:

Readiness of current hardware for Windows Vista migration.
Differentiation between the “Windows Vista Capable” and “Windows Vista Premium Ready” user experience.
Recommendations for hardware upgrades to meet the Capable and Premium Ready hardware requirements.
Assessment of devices installed on the computer, including whether the device drivers are available via Windows Update or on the Windows Vista installation media.
Compatibility of the current system BIOS for Windows Vista.
Summary of applications installed on the computer.
Summary of desktop security settings such as Windows Firewall, anti-virus and anti-malware.

The following table describes the process and tools available from Microsoft to plan and migrate to Windows Vista.

Table 1. Windows Vista Assessment and Migration Process

Step	Microsoft Tools and Support
Assess hardware and device compatibility	This Accelerator identifies computers that have the system resources required to run Windows Vista. It provides device-compatibility information, identifies the availability of Windows Vista drivers for each hardware device, and indicates where the appropriate hardware drivers can be obtained.
Assess software compatibility	This Accelerator provides an overview of the applications installed on computers throughout the environment. Use the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit Version (ACT) 5.0 to perform an in-depth application assessment to determine whether applications are compatible with Windows Vista. ACT 5.0 can be used to centrally gather data, assess, and report Windows Vista software compatibility. The Application Compatibility Toolkit is available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=105597.
Deploy business desktops	Microsoft Deployment Toolkit is the next version of Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007. Use Microsoft Deployment Toolkit to plan your migration to Windows Vista. It provides comprehensive guidance and tools for quickly and easily deploying desktops running Windows Vista. Microsoft Deployment Toolkit is available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=105599.

Optimizing Hardware Specifications to Your Organizational Needs

While the minimum requirements for the Windows Vista operating system are highlighted on the Windows Vista TechCenter, it is a good idea to validate hardware performance with your intended application stack and end user expectations before baselining your organization’s standard hardware specifications. When standardizing on Windows Vista operating systems – especially for those using the Windows Aero appearance settings – many organizations have found that 2 or more GB of RAM, 2 GHz or faster processors, and compatible graphics adapters yield good results. Organizations using Windows Basic appearance settings in their PC environment can reduce these recommendations considerably and approach published minimum system requirements for those PCs. This may be useful if your organization is in the middle of a hardware refresh cycle and would like to standardize the operating system version to qualified existing hardware. Depending on how workstations are used in your organization, you can tailor hardware specifications and operating system configurations – including appearance settings – according to your user roles and operational needs.

Note The Assessment Wizard cannot definitively identify if a computer can take advantage of Windows BitLocker™ Drive Encryption for Windows Vista. Nor can it definitively identify if the user interface can be configured in Aero Glass mode. If the Aero™ Glass or BitLocker Drive Encryption features are important to your organization, you need to perform additional research to identify if your computers support these features.

Windows Server 2008 Hardware Assessment Scenario

The Windows Server 2008 hardware assessment is completed using the Assessment Wizard. It provides the following information for determining the hardware compatibility of existing clients for Windows Server 2008:

Readiness of current hardware for Windows Server 2008 migration.
Defining whether the server meets the recommended or minimum hardware requirements.
Recommendations for hardware upgrades to meet the minimum and recommended hardware requirements.
Assessment of devices installed on the computer, including whether device drivers are available via Windows Update or on the Windows Server 2008 installation media.
Identification of the roles currently installed on the server.
Summary of applications installed on the computer.
Summary of discovered SQL servers.

The following table describes the process and tools available from Microsoft to plan and migrate to Windows Server 2008.

Table 2. Windows Server 2008 Assessment and Migration Process

Step	Microsoft Tools and Support
Assess hardware and device compatibility	This Accelerator identifies computers that have the system resources required to run Windows Server 2008. It provides device compatibility information, identifies the availability of Windows Vista drivers for each hardware device, and indicates where the appropriate hardware drivers can be obtained.
Assess software compatibility	Currently a single tool does not exist for determining the compatibility of existing line-of-business (LOB) applications, services, and software with Windows Server 2008. You should verify the compatibility of your applications with each software vendor before migrating to Windows Server 2008. http://www.innovateon.com/product_server2008.aspx
Server deployment	Use Microsoft Deployment Toolkit to help you plan your migration to Windows Server 2008. It provides comprehensive guidance and tools to quickly and easily deploy desktops running Windows Vista. Microsoft Deployment Toolkit is available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=106269.

Microsoft Office 2007 Assessment Scenario

Microsoft Office 2007 assessment is completed using the Assessment Wizard. It provides the following information for determining the readiness of existing client computers for Microsoft Office 2007:

Determination if the current operating system (OS) supports the installation of Microsoft Office 2007.
Assessment of the system hardware to ensure that it meets the system requirements for Microsoft Office 2007.
Inventory of the currently installed Microsoft Office products.

The following table describes the process and tools available from Microsoft to plan your migration to Microsoft Office 2007.

Table 3. Microsoft Office 2007 Assessment and Migration Process

Step	Microsoft Tools and Support
Assess hardware and OS compatibility	This Accelerator assesses the hardware and OS compatibility of a computer for migration to Microsoft Office 2007.
Office file and software migration	Use the Microsoft Office Migration Planning Manager to understand the number and types of Microsoft Office files in your environment and plan for a smooth rollout of the new version of the Microsoft Office System. The Office Migration Planning Manager is available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=106271.
Microsoft Office deployment	Use Microsoft Deployment Toolkit to plan your migration to Microsoft Office 2007. It provides comprehensive guidance and tools to quickly and easily deploy desktops running Windows Vista. Microsoft Deployment Toolkit is available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=106269.

Security Assessment Scenario

The Security Assessment provides helps to identify physical and virtual machines that may represent security risks in your environment. The accompanying proposal document provides you with an overview of Network Access Protection (NAP) within Windows Server 2008 and Forefront Client Security, the benefits it can specifically provide for your IT environment as well as an assessment of machines running a client operating system as well as your server environment in terms of readiness to support NAP and Forefront Client Security.

Discovery and inventory of client machines.
Identification of machines where Windows Security Center is not running.
Identification of machines where firewall, antispyware or antivirus products are not found, are not running or are not up to date as reported by Windows Security Center.

SQL Server Assessment Scenario

The Assessment Wizard can help to you to identify physical and virtual machines where various SQL Server components are installed. This assessment supports the following:

Discovery and inventory of various SQL Server instances in your organization.
Detailed reporting covering specific SQL Server instances that includes component name, version, edition, and so on.
Hardware and platform details for computers that are running SQL Server instances including determining whether the machines are virtual or physical.
Identification and evaluation of existing deployments of SQL Server in your organization that are suitable for migrating to SQL Server 2008 based on hardware and platform requirements.

As of April 8, 2008, the mainstream support for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 has been discontinued. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=127999 for additional information related to the support policy for SQL Server 2000. In order for you to take full advantage of the latest features of SQL Server 2008, the discovered instances of SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005 can be considered for migration to SQL Server 2008.

You can use this Accelerator as part of a comprehensive process for planning and migrating SQL Server instances to SQL Server 2008. This process includes the following activities:

Identify the instances that you are planning to migrate by using the SQL Server Assessment.
Verify the detailed SQL Server 2008 requirements. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=127026 for additional information.
Decide which edition of SQL Server you intend to deploy.
Decide on how you are going to acquire the SQL Server 2008 software licenses, such as through Volume Licensing.
Use Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Advisor to identify issues to fix either before or after you upgrade. For more information about the upgrade advisor see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=127027 .
Ensure that all of your Windows Server-based servers have the latest service packs and patches installed. For more information about Windows Server Update Services see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=127028 .
Important: The SQL Server Assessment Wizard will discover various instances of SQL Server 2000 or later. Prior versions of SQL Server may be discovered by MAP. Like SQL Server 2000, these versions of SQL Server are no longer supported.

Power Savings Assessment Scenario

The Assessment Wizard provides the ability for you to identify server and client machines running in your environment and understand the power management capabilities available. Based on a set of assumptions, the proposal document provides you with potential energy savings estimates based upon migration to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems and using Group Policy to manage power management policy settings within each. This assessment also provides potential energy savings that can be realized by consolidating servers through virtualization.

Important: MAP cannot definitively identify the Power Management settings that exist on any machine in the environment. Potential savings are based on the following assumptions:

Any physical machine not running a Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista operating system is not optimized for power management.
Work days per year total 240.
Work hours per day total 8.
Non-work hours are defined as ((Work Days per Year * (Hours per Day – Work Hours per Day)) + ((Days per Year – Work Days per Year) * Hours per Day))
Cost of KwH is constant at .0977 (USD)
Estimated power consumption per desktop without power optimization per hour is 0.10260 kWh.
Estimated power consumption per desktop with power optimization per hour is 0.0056 kWh.
CO2 emission per kWh is constant at 1.55 lbs.
Non-power optimized server uses 4383.8775 kWh per year.
Power optimized server saves 320.48 kWh per year.
Servers are consolidated without regard to workload or other factors in your environment. Guests are allocated to hosts at a ratio of 4-four guests per host. Servers are only considered for consolidation if they can be combined with at least one other server. Otherwise they are left as physical.
Power use of a server running Microsoft Hyper-V technologies with 4-four guests is a constant of 4537.81 kWh per year.

SNMP Report Scenario

The SNMP devices report provides detailed information about the SNMP-enabled devices found during inventory.

Application Virtualization Scenario

The Application Virtualization Assessment helps to assess client and server machines for the deployment of Microsoft Application Virtualization client and server components. Additionally, it provides a detailed inventory of installed applications as reported in Add/Remove Programs.

Discovery and inventory of client and server machines.
Assessment of machines in environment to support Application Virtualization.
Inventory of installed applications.

Survey Wizard

The Online Services survey helps you to assess your organization’s readiness to migrate to the standard offering of Microsoft Exchange Online. The survey asks a series of questions that help you characterize your Exchange environment. These areas include:

Organization Overview
Current Messaging Environment
Capacity and Feature Planning
Advanced Configuration
Migration Planning

Microsoft Online Services provides secure, reliable and scalable hosted communication and collaboration software solutions. Hosted services help companies offset the burden of managing and maintaining business systems, freeing information technology (IT) resources to focus on initiatives that can deliver a competitive advantage to the business. Microsoft Online Services is part of the Microsoft Software-Plus-Services delivery model that provides customers with more choices than traditional hosted or on-premises solutions, allowing customers to make deployment decisions that best fit the needs of their organizations. For more information about Microsoft Online Services and the offerings provided through Online Services, visit the Microsoft Online Services homepage at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=128816 .

Performance Monitoring Scenario

The Performance Metrics Wizard manages the process of remotely monitoring key disk, network, and CPU performance counters on remote computers. You choose the consolidation candidate computers to monitor by creating and importing into the wizard a text file containing the computer names. Performance monitoring is required to perform the placement of machines in a virtualized environment. The Server Consolidation and Virtualization Wizard completes this server placement, using the results of the Performance Metrics Wizard. The Performance Metrics Wizard performs the following assessment tasks:

Performs an inventory of the computer being monitored.
Conducts detailed monitoring of physical and logic disk performance counters.
Conducts detailed monitoring of network utilization.
Conducts detailed monitoring of processor utilization.
Conducts performance monitoring over a long period of time.

Server Consolidation and Virtualization Scenario

The Server Consolidation and Virtualization Wizard is used to complete the server consolidation and virtualization assessment. This wizard performs the following functions to complete the assessment:

Performs an inventory of the computers considered for consolidation and virtualization.
Consumes the performance monitoring data collected by the Performance Metrics Wizard.
Allows the user to provide a “model” virtual server that will host virtual machines (guests).
Determines the number and placement of guests on the virtual server.
Provides detailed reports and proposals describing which servers can be virtualized and on which virtual server host computers the consolidation process can be carried out.

Note The Server Consolidation and Virtualization Wizard uses sophisticated algorithms for calculating the peak utilization of servers, considered for placement in a virtualized environment. This includes estimating high average CPU utilization and maximum observed disk and network input/output (IO). Server placement in the virtualized environment is based on peak utilization calculations.

Optimized Desktop Scenario Selection Tool

The Windows Optimized Desktop combines Windows Vista Enterprise and the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack to provide powerful technologies that help you secure, efficiently manage, and lower the costs of your organization's desktop infrastructure. For more information on Windows Optimized Desktop see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/enterprise/default.mspx .

The Windows Optimized Desktop defines common-usage scenarios to help organizations choose the client computing scenarios that best meet the unique needs of their businesses. Use the Windows Optimized Desktop Scenario Selection Tool to identify one or more Optimized Desktop scenarios that suit your organization’s needs. This tool is available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=129589 . Note: An Internet connection is required to access the tool.

Inventory of Large Networks Scenario

For environments with more than 50,000 computers, we recommend that you configure the Accelerator in scale-out mode. Scale-out mode is a configuration option with the Accelerator that enables you to use many machines to inventory remote computers in parallel and store the inventory data back to a full version of SQL Server 2005. Configuration of this option includes the following steps:

Installation of SQL Server 2005 using a “MAPS” named instance and collation set to “SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS.”
Installing the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP) on your “master” server.
Configuring SQL Server 2005 and the master server to allow remote connections to the MAPS named instance.
Configuring “helper” computers that will perform inventory and store the data on the master server.
Performing an inventory in scale-out mode.

Note Refer to the “Scale Out Wizard” section of the Getting Started Guide document for configuring the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP) scale-out mode. The Getting Started Guide is available on the Start menu after the tool is installed.

Community and Feedback

To interact with other members of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning community, learn more about the tool, and get help with questions, visit the Microsoft Assessment and Planning forum on TechNet at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110990.

To send feedback or suggestions for improving the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP), send e-mail to mapfdbk@microsoft.com.

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