[Microsoft Solution Accelerators] Two new Beta Programs for System Center Products

The Solution Accelerators team has started two new beta programs focused on tools, automation, and knowledge for System Center products.

One program will provide System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) service templates and a SCVMM add-in to help you discover them.

The other program will provide datacenter automation for private clouds using System Center Orchestrator. Datacenter automation for System Center Orchestrator enables you to automate operations of private cloud workloads such as SharePoint and Windows Server.


Service Templates Explorer

The System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) Service Templates Explorer enables you to search for and download service templates that are published by Microsoft. The Service Templates Explorer is an add-in the runs within the SCVMM console. It is simple to install and use.

The first release of the Service Templates Explorer will make these service templates available for you to download and use:

• Windows Server 2012 - Domain Controller
• Windows Server 2012 - DNS
• Windows Server 2012 - DHCP
• Windows Server 2012 - IIS
• Window Server 2012 - File Server
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 - Domain Controller
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 - DNS
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 - DHCP
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 - IIS
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 - File Server

These service templates are tested and supported by Microsoft. They provide you with a simple and quick way to deploy Windows Server virtual machines with key roles enabled. In the future, more service templates will be published. Some of these new service templates will provide you with private cloud application deployment capabilities.


Datacenter Automation

The datacenter automation for the cloud enables you to automate operations of private cloud workloads such as SharePoint and Windows Server.


The first release of the datacenter automation make following available for you to download and use:
Orchestrator Runbooks for quick SharePoint farm back-up and recovery scenario
Easily pluggable PowerShell 3.0 workflows for SharePoint basic daily, weekly and monthly operations automation. For example:

• Back up a Web application
• Back up a service application
• Trace logs
• Checking Disk Space, CPU and RAM
• Sharepoint WMI scan for perf/alerts
• Scan for missing patches / WMI

These automations are tested and supported by Microsoft.

[Windows Server 2012] Windows Server 2012 Essentials RTM available

Windows Server 2012 Essentials RTM is now available.

Windows Server 2012 Essentials (formerly Windows Small Business Server Essentials) is a flexible, affordable, and easy-to-use server solution designed and priced for small businesses with up to 25 users and 50 devices that helps them reduce costs and be more productive. Windows Server 2012 Essentials is an ideal first server, and it can also be used as the primary server in a multi-server environment for small businesses.

Windows Server 2012 Essentials enables small businesses to protect, centralize, organize and access their applications and information from almost anywhere using virtually any device.

Windows Server 2012 Essentials will be available for purchase on Thursday, November 1, 2012.

Here is Windows Server 2012 Essentials datasheet : Windows Server 2012 Essentials datasheet
Here is the Windows Server 2012 Essentials FAQ : Windows Server 2012 Essentials FAQ

To download and try the RTM : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/jj659306.aspx

[Windows Server 2012] Release of Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 has been released.

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 is a hypervisor-based server virtualization product that enables you to consolidate workloads, helping organizations improve server utilization and reduce costs.

Hyper-V Server is a dedicated stand-alone product that contains the hypervisor, Windows Server driver model, virtualization capabilities, and supporting components such as failover clustering, but does not contain the robust set of features and roles as the Windows Server operating system. As a result Hyper-V Server produces a small footprint and and requires minimal overhead. Organizations consolidating servers where no new Windows Server licenses are required or where the servers being consolidated are running an alternative OS may want to consider Hyper-V Server.

In contrast, Windows Server 2012 is recommended for organizations that need flexible and cost effective virtualization rights. Virtualization rights in Windows Server 2012 are based on the specific edition purchased, with Windows Server 2012 Datacenter edition providing unlimited virtual instances.

One of the most common uses for Hyper-V Server is in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environments. VDI allows a Windows client operating system to run on server-based virtual machines in the datacenter, which the user can access from a PC, thin client, or other client device. A full client environment is virtualized within a server-based hypervisor, centralizing user's desktops.

By deploying VDI with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012, users will have seamless access to a rich, full fidelity Windows environment running in the data center, from any device. Hyper-V Server also gives IT professionals a cost effective VDI solution with simplified administration, flexible storage options, and dynamic allocation of resources.


To download Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 : http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/hyper-v-server/default.aspx