Symon’s Server & Cloud Resources for IT Professionals – Volume 1

Posted By:   Symon Perriman
Publish Date: 10/25/2012

Hi,

This is the first of a series of blog posts showing you some of the best server and cloud resources produced by Microsoft. My goal is to help IT Professionals understand our products and capabilities so they can start taking advantage of the industry’s leading datacenter technologies. These resources are based on a Microsoft internal newsletter that I am now sharing with our customers.

For those of you who do not yet know me, I am Microsoft’s corporate Technical Evangelist covering our private cloud, System Center, Windows Server, Hyper-V and clustering products. Prior to this role I spent four years as a Program Manager on Microsoft’s Server Clustering & High-Availability team and I have been working in the technology industry since 2002. I hold several patents, I have contributed to four technical books for virtualization, server, clustering and SQL, I have had my technologies featured in PC Magazine, and I’m also a VMware Certified Professional (VCP).

You can connect with me on any of these networks to stay on top of the latest cloud resources:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter @SymonPerriman
• TechNet Videos and Training
• The Edge Show for IT Professionals

Windows Server 2012 Launch

The Cloud OS has arrived! On September 4th Microsoft hosted the online launch event at http://www.windows-server-launch.com. Windows Server powers many of the world’s largest datacenters, enables small businesses around the world, and delivers value to organizations of all sizes in between. Windows Server 2012 redefines the server category, delivering hundreds of new features and enhancements spanning virtualization, networking, storage, user experience, cloud computing, automation, and more. Simply put, Windows Server 2012 helps you transform your IT operations to reduce costs and deliver a whole new level of business value.

Resources:

• Windows Server Launch homepage
• Download the Evaluation
• Get the Datasheet
• Learn about Windows Server 2012
• Overview
• Capabilities
• Benefits
• Success Stories
• Try It
• How to Buy
• Support & Services

Server & Cloud on the Edge Show

The Edge show gives the latest news from Microsoft relevant for IT Professionals and a technical dive into various products and scenarios like Windows Server, Windows Azure, Private Cloud, and Consumerization of IT. The IT Pro Technical Evangelism team ( David Tesar, Joey Snow, Rick Claus & Symon Perriman) hosts this weekly show.

Check out the Edge Show homepage to see all the shows, or jump straight to a private cloud episode:

• Edge Show 39 – Orchestrator Enhancements in System Center 2012 SP1
• Edge Show 38 – ReFS and Storage Spaces chat with Matt Garson
• Edge Show 37 – Server Manager and Microsoft Design Principles with Mike Pell
• Edge Show 36 – High-Availability & Clustering Enhancements in Windows Server 2012
• Edge Show 35 – DirectAccess Deployment
• Edge Show 33 – Windows Final Code Available
• Edge Show 32 – Operations Manager Enhancements in System Center 2012 SP1
• Edge Show 30 – Multi-Server Management with Erin Chapple
• Edge Show 29 – Service Templates in System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager
• System Center 2012 SP1 Service Provider Foundation (SPF) with Marc Umeno
• Edge Show 28 - Behind the Jeff Woolsey Keynote at TechEd
• Edge at TechEd NA – Continuous Availability in Windows Server 2012 with Gene Chellis & Claus Joergensen
• Edge at TechEd NA – System Center 2012 SP1 Updates and Interview with Vijay Tewari
• Edge at TechEd NA – System Center 2012 SP1 Service Provider Foundation (SPF) with Marc Umeno
• Edge Show 27: Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate hits the streets
• Edge Show 26 - Monitoring Applications for the Private Cloud with System Center 2012
• Edge Show 24 – Configuring Application Management for the Private Cloud with System Center 2012
• Edge Show 23 – Monitoring Service Delivery & Automation for the Private Cloud with System Center 2012
• Older shows...

Windows Server 2012 IT Camps

Microsoft IT Camps are no cost, hands-on technical training events for IT professionals led by Microsoft experts, centered on the issues and workloads you’re tackling in your environment today. We are currently offering the “A deep dive into Windows Server 2012” camp where you will gain deep technical insight into the features and functionalities of Windows Server 2012. Hands-on demos and interactive discussions with Microsoft technical experts will cover a variety of topics including Server Virtualization, Storage, Networking, Server Management and Automation, Identity and Access, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, and Web and App Platform.

Sign up today for one of our worldwide events today: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/globalitcamps

TechEd On Demand Videos

This summer Microsoft hosted two major public conferences for IT Professionals called TechEd. There were dozens of sessions covering the Microsoft private cloud, System Center 2012 and Windows Server 2012 and all the sessions are publically available on Channel 9.

You can filter the sessions by track, speaker, level, or even keyword to find technologies like “Private Cloud” or “Virtualization”.

• TechEd Europe: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/Europe/2012
• TechEd North America: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2012

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 Update 1

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 Update 1 is now available for download! This release expands deployment capabilities with support for the latest software releases, including Windows 8 Release Preview, Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate, and System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 Community Technology Preview. Support for Powershell 3.0 is included to ease the process of running PowerShell scripts inside task sequences on Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and Windows PE 4.0.

Resources

• Download MDT 2012
• Learn more about MDT 2012

Private Cloud Fast Track – Reference Implementation Guidance Set

Are you looking for end-to-end guidance to help organizations decrease the time, complexity, and risk of implementing private clouds? The Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track Program is a joint effort between Microsoft and its hardware partners to help organizations do just that. This program consists of a set of reference implementations and a reference implementation guidance set. Customers have a choice to implement a solution by using the guidance or by purchasing a reference implementation from a Microsoft hardware partner.

The Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track Reference Implementation Guidance Set includes a reference architecture guide, deployment guide, and an operations guide with integrated knowledge from the Microsoft product teams and best practices from the field captured by Microsoft Services, now including Windows Server 2012. It includes the following:

• Reference Architecture Guide: This guide details a reference architecture that incorporates many Microsoft product and consulting team best practices. The architecture is the foundation for a highly available, scalable, secure, and manageable private cloud with high performance. While all organizations will find it of value, it will prove most useful to medium through large enterprise environments.
• Reference Deployment Guide: This guide provides detailed installation and configuration steps to deploy the physical architecture detailed in the reference architecture guide.
• Reference Operations Guide: This guide includes many of the operational tasks that are often executed in a private cloud environment.

Microsoft hardware partners define physical architectures with computing, network, storage, and value-added software components that meet (or exceed) the minimum hardware requirements defined in the reference implementation guidance. Each implementation is then validated with Microsoft and made available for purchase to customers (see Private Cloud How To Buy).

Please let me know if there is anything else you are looking for by posting a comment on this page.

Thanks!

Symon Perriman

Technical Evangelist

Microsoft

Twitter: @SymonPerriman

Videos: http://aka.ms/Symon