Before You Begin
Applies To: System Center 2012 - Service Manager, System Center 2012 SP1 - Service Manager
System Center 2012 – Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) is used for configuration and management of the infrastructure on which virtual machines are hosted. The VMM resources (logical networks, virtual IP pools, storage classifications, virtual machine templates, service templates, and clouds) must be created and configured before configuring the Cloud Services Process Pack.
For information about the configuration and management of the infrastructure features, see the VMM guidance at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=234224.
About Virtual Machine Manager Resources
The following table describes the Virtual Machine Manager resources that need to be created and configured in the infrastructure.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
Logical network |
A logical network together with one or more associated network sites is a user-defined named grouping of IP subnets, virtual local area networks (VLANs), or IP subnet/VLAN pairs that is used to organize and simplify network assignments. At least one logical network must exist for you to deploy virtual machines and services. |
Storage classification |
Classifying storage entails assigning a meaningful classification to storage pools. For example, you may assign a classification of GOLD to a storage pool that resides on the fastest, most redundant storage array. |
Virtual machine template |
A virtual machine template provides a standardized group of hardware and software settings that can be used repeatedly to create new virtual machines configured with those settings. Virtual Machine Manager stores a template in the library catalog in the Virtual Machine Manager database. |
Virtual IP template |
A virtual IP template contains load balancer-related configuration settings for a specific type of network traffic. For example, you could create a template that specifies the load-balancing behavior for HTTPS traffic on a specific load-balancer manufacturer and model. These templates represent the best practices from a load balancer configuration standpoint. After you create a virtual IP template, users can specify the virtual IP template to use when they create a service. When a user models a service, they can pick an available template that best matches their needs for the type of load balancer and the type of application. |
Service template |
The service template includes information about the virtual machines that are deployed as part of the service, which applications to install on the virtual machines, and the networking configuration needed for the service (including the use of a load balancer). |
Cloud |
The infrastructure solution delivered as a service. |