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Shijaz Abdulla on 17.01.2012 at 18:19
Today, Microsoft announced a major new development in the Microsoft private cloud strategy and core management platform, the launch of Microsoft System Center 2012. System Center 2012 allows you to manage your virtual, physical, and cloud environments from a single console, using common and consistent experiences that provide full control across your existing datacenter investments.
Optimized for service delivery and providing both flexibility and control, the Microsoft private cloud enables you to experience IT as a Service on your terms. Adopting a more service-driven IT model can help you provision services faster—freeing up resources and enabling greater business agility to respond quickly to customer demands.
As part of the System Center 2012 release, Microsoft is simplifying how you purchase and gain access to the economic benefits of the cloud by offering two editions:
- System Center 2012 Standard Edition, for managing environments with no or low density virtualization
- System Center 2012 Datacenter Edition, for managing high density virtualization environments
With these streamlined purchasing options and enhanced private cloud capabilities, we are also announcing changes in the licensing and pricing of System Center 2012.
I am very excited about this brand new release of System Center and this is definitely testament to the fact that today we are committed to having the best and most complete Private Cloud solution in the market.
I will soon be posting more information on the new Standard and Datacenter editions and also provide more clarity on the new licensing scheme for System Center 2012 and how this will benefit both new and existing customers alike.
In the meantime, you can learn more about the Microsoft private cloud and the exciting new features in System Center 2012 at the Microsoft private cloud website.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 20.11.2011 at 09:19
Cloud Computing! It’s one of the biggest opportunities for IT Professionals in recent years. But wouldn’t it be great if there was a simple, effective way to get the skills and training you need to take advantage of this opportunity, and also get the recognition and rewards that you deserve?
This is where Microsoft can help give your career a boost.
Visit the Microsoft Virtual Academy training portal now and register to receive free and easy access to training for IT Professionals who want to get ahead in cloud computing. This content was developed by leading experts in the field, and the modules ensure that you acquire the essential skills and gain credibility as a cloud computing specialist in your organization.
MVA courses include:
- Introduction to SCVMM, Architecture & Setup
- Creating VMs,Template & Resources in VMM
- Managing Windows Azure
- SQL Azure Security
- Identity & Access
- Data Security and Cryptography
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Shijaz Abdulla on 08.05.2011 at 05:58
If you are a partner certified in Systems Management and virtualization, you are likely to be already engaged in Private Cloud deployments and helping customers build dynamic datacenters.
Have you thought of “best practices” or looked for “standardizing” your engagement practice with customers? Have you thought if there is a “framework” to help you identify areas for improving your practice?
Have you looked for a “template” for a design/scope document or a project plan? Have you looked for a project kickoff presentation or a project closeout presentation? Have you wished that you had a “PoC kit” that will help save time and effort in PoCs?
If your answer is “YES”, then you are committed to quality and building a structured practice!
I’m happy to inform you that we have plenty of resources that will help you at:
https://partner.microsoft.com/40150816
You will need to have an account that is associated with a Microsoft partner to access the content marked with a lock icon.
![clip_image002[5]](http://www.microsoftnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/clip_image0025_thumb.jpg "clip_image002[5]")
![clip_image002[8]](http://www.microsoftnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/clip_image0028_thumb.jpg "clip_image002[8]")
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Shijaz Abdulla on 10.03.2011 at 11:01
The Self Service Portal 2.0 (SSP 2.0) Service Pack 1 (SP1) beta is now available for System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM).
(wow, that’s a lot of abbreviations, isn’t it?)
The VMM SSP is a fully supported, partner-extensible solution built on top of Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V, and System Center VMM. You can use it to pool, allocate, and manage resources to offer infrastructure as a service and to deliver the foundation for a private cloud platform inside your datacenter. VMMSSP includes a pre-built web-based user interface that has sections for both the datacenter managers and the business unit IT consumers, with role-based access control. VMMSSP also includes a dynamic provisioning engine.
What’s new with VMMSSP 2.0 SP1?
Import virtual machines: Allows DCIT (Datacenter) administrators to re-import virtual machines that were removed from the self-service portal and also import virtual machines created outside the portal but managed by VMM.
Expire virtual machines: This feature provides the user the ability to set an expiration date for the virtual machines that are being created or imported so that the virtual machines auto-delete after the set date. This feature also provides users the flexibility (through role-based access) to set or change the expiration date for the virtual machine.
Notify administrators: This feature provides functionality to notify BUIT(Business Unit) or DCIT(Datacenter) administrators about various events in the system (for example, Submit request, Approve request,Expire virtual machine, and so on) via email through SQL server mail integration.
Move infrastructure between business units: This feature allows DCIT(Datacenter) administrators to move an infrastructure from one business unit to another when the system is in Maintenance Mode.
For all the details check out the public beta on Connect.
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Shijaz Abdulla on 06.01.2011 at 22:57
The ‘cloud’ is definitely an often used (and misused) buzz word in today’s technology industry. So what exactly is a cloud? What is a cloud made of? Is it any different from hosting? These are some of the matters that I will address in this post.
So what is a cloud?
Wikipedia defines Cloud Computing as “internet-based computing, whereby shared servers provide resources, software, and data to computers and other devices on demand, as with the electricity grid. Cloud computing is a natural evolution of the widespread adoption of virtualization, service-oriented architecture and utility computing. Details are abstracted from consumers, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure “in the cloud” that supports them.” (retrieved Jan 6, 2011)
Let’s take a closer look and break it down a bit.
“…shared servers provide resources…”
So the cloud is made of shared servers working together in a manner that results in the abstraction of the underlying infrastructure from the user or the consumer.
“…on demand…”
The cloud is elastic, which means, it can scale to any extent to help you manage utilization “spikes”, just like an electricity grid. If your business application or website suddenly requires more resources or above normal utilization due to that marketing campaign you just launched, the cloud will be able to provision and make available resources to you “on the fly” during your time of need and then “de-provision” these resources when utilization is back to normal. Because the cloud abstracts the underlying infrastructure, this entire process is invisible to the consumer.
“…a natural evolution of the widespread adoption of virtualization, service-oriented architecture and utility computing.”
By now, you would have realized it. If you need shared servers working together, abstracted from the user, dynamically scalable to any business demand – you need virtualization. But, does simply having the leanest, meanest hypervisor in the market help you implement the cloud? No. It is as important that you have a robust management solution. If your abstracted infrastructure cannot understand how a utilization spike on your application looks like, how will you be able to provide “on demand” services to your users? If your cloud infrastructure does not have visibility on the health of your ‘service’, how can it predict or understand a need to scale up dynamically?
Without doubt, management is an indispensable component of the cloud. I explained this in greater detail in an earlier post.
This is why System Center, with components like Operations Manager, Virtual Machine Manager and Opalis are key players in your journey to hosting your own ‘private’ cloud.
“Details are abstracted from consumers, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure ‘in the cloud’ that supports them”
This re-affirms the abstraction of the underlying infrastructure. The business does not need to know what hardware, operating environment or hypervisor you’re running on. All the business cares about is the ‘service’. To be able to ensure availability the ‘service’ at any scale that the business requires dynamically, abstracting everything else is a key characteristic of the cloud.
Hosting vs. Cloud:
So is the cloud what my hosting provider offers me?
Well, it depends. Many hosting providers today state that they bring you the cloud. In reality, some of them actually do, others don’t. The key message here is that mere server hosting is not cloud. Only when the benefits I discussed above are realized, then behold — we have a cloud.
If your “cloud” hosting provider states something like they will give you a ‘dedicated’ HP blade server with 2.5GHz Processor, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SAN storage, 80 GB backup storage, a dedicated Cisco firewall and a 1 TB monthly traffic included – chances are they have missed the cloud by a mile!
Why? Because they are simply not providing you a cloud – shared servers that provision resources on demand. Instead, they are just giving you a hosted server. There is no elasticity, no dynamic resource provision and no abstraction. In a real cloud, you wouldn’t know what hardware spec you’re running on, simply because it doesn’t remain constant – just as your business doesn’t remain constant.
Interesting. So why should I care about the cloud?
My colleague Michael Mansour lists out top 10 reasons why the cloud is changing the consumer and business landscape. His post is definitely worth a read.
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‘Stop Press’ Humor: Wikipedia also defines ‘cloud’ as a visible mass of water droplets or frozen ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Certainly not the cloud we’re talking about!
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Shijaz Abdulla on 10.06.2010 at 17:35
HP Middle East, Microsoft Qatar and Mannai Corporation are jointly conducting an event at the Intercontinental Hotel on 16th June 2010 focusing on Private Cloud Computing solutions. Below is the agenda:
![clip_image002[5]](http://www.microsoftnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/clip_image0025.jpg "clip_image002[5]")
![clip_image002[8]](http://www.microsoftnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/clip_image0028.jpg "clip_image002[8]")
