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Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud with System Center 2012

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With Microsoft System Center 2012, datacenter administrators can

  • Produce a high-level design that accounts for requirements for the private cloud environment.
  • Configure and deploy the application fabric.
  • Configure a PXE server, an update server, and a software update baseline
  • Configure Microsoft Server Application Virtualization (App-V) so that it can be used to sequence and deploy an application virtually.
  • Build the core components necessary for delivering services on the fabric.
  • Allocate resources to the private cloud and grant access to the private cloud.
  • Understand how to monitor the private cloud using Operations Manager.
  • Understand the tools necessary to extend and customize Operations Manager for a private cloud environment.
  • Set up, configure, and integrate the core components of Service Manager into the private cloud fabric.
  • Configure a service catalog, and then publish it to the Self-Service Portal.
  • Gain the knowledge necessary to deploy and configure DPM in a private cloud.
  • Deploy and configure Microsoft System Center 2012 - Orchestrator in a private cloud, and then integrate it with other System Center 2012 components.

You can integrate features provided by Windows Deployment Services (WDS) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) to help extend and manage the VMM private cloud infrastructure resources. With this, you can integrate VMM with WDS and WSUS to provide PXE and Update server roles, deploy bare-metal Hyper-V host servers, maintain updates within the VMM infrastructure, configure the Update server role and finally, create and use a software update compliance baseline.

You can use the Microsoft Web Deployment Tool and Server App-V to dynamically deploy applications in the private cloud. The process involves configuring the Server App-V Sequencer, configuring the Server App-V Agent, sequencing an application and finally, testing the Server App-V package deployment.

Increating the Private Cloud building blocks, you need to prepare and deploy the underlying infrastructure components that are used as building blocks for delivering private cloud services. The process involves configuring a Guest operating system profile, configuring hardware profiles, configuring your SQL Server, configuring application profiles, configuring virtual machine templates and configuring the self-service user role.

You can monitor the private cloud infrastructure by using System Center 2012Operations Manager. The process involves deploying agents, deploying and configuring monitoring Management Packs (MP), configuring notifications, configuring VMM Integration and configuring DPM integration. You may consider upgrading from Operations Manager 2007 R2 to System Center 2012 Operations Manager so as to benefit from the various new capabilities in this new release. There are various notification options available in Operations Manager.

When it comes to Extending and Customizing Monitoring of the Private Cloud Infrastructure, you can use Operations Manager templates to monitor various applications and implement distributed application monitoring in your environment. This involves creating custom monitoring, creating a distributed application, configuring Service Level management, creating views for Private Cloud infrastructure and configuring SharePoint integration.

In terms ofservice management for the Private Cloud, you can integrate the core components of System Center 2012 Service Manager into your private cloud infrastructure. The process involves configuring Service Manager basic settings, configuring Service Manager connectors, configuring the Self-Service Portal and configuring Notifications. For existing Service Manager 2010 R2 users, you can consider upgrading to System Center 2012 Service Manager so as to benefit from the various upgraded capabilities in this new release.

In the context of protecting your Private Cloud infrastructure, it is a process which consists of the following steps – Configuring the storage pool, deploying DPM protection agents, creating and configuring protection groups, configuring SQL Server self-service recovery, restoring data from a SQL Server protection group and performing self-service recovery to recover your SQL Server data.

There is a video which showcases more details on Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud with System Center 2012 in here https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/video/Video/hh851735.

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Comments

  • Anonymous
    December 26, 2012
    Hi Ken, and thanks for your great blog!  We met in Redmond at the end of July and beginning of August, during the first RTM version of the Monitoring a MSFT Private Cloud class.  I'm just preparing now to teach the complement to that class, the "Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud with Microsoft System Center 2012".  We will need to revise both classes to include SP1 as well as Windows Server 2012, as soon as we can! Some great technologies are converging right now.  -- Mark

  • Anonymous
    December 26, 2012
    Hi Mark, I remember you! Cool, awesome, yes, it's getting very excited now as we are progressing towards System Center 2012 SP1, as well as the Windows Server 2012 platform! Stay tune! How is it going on there with you?