System Center Authoring Hub
Welcome to the System Center Authoring Hub. This content is intended to support you in extending System Center components beyond their basic features and scenarios.
This content is located on the TechNet Wiki so that it may be maintained and extended by the community. You are encouraged to modify existing content or add content that is relevant to this topic. The Microsoft System Center team will regularly review any content and provide a statement as to the latest revision that they endorse. This information is intended to provide you with confidence in the quality and accuracy of the content.
The initial set of content here focuses primarily on management packs. This will expand in the near future to include content on other components with an initial emphasis on Orchestrator runbooks.
System Center Integration Guide
The System Center Integration Guide provides an overview of the automation and integration options for each of the System Center components. It is intended to be a starting point for determining which customization method that you should be using for different scenarios and where to get content for those topics.
Management Pack Authoring Guides
The System Center 2012 - Operations Manager Authoring Guide provides content on creating and customizing management packs in System Center 2012 - Service Operations Manager. This guide is intended for the beginning to intermediate user who requires an introduction to management pack concepts and who will work exclusively in the Operations Console.
The Operations Manager Management Pack Authoring Guide provides detailed content on designing and creating management packs for Operations Manager. This content is intended for the intermediate to advanced user who requires scenarios beyond Operations Console wizards or just wants to have a deeper understanding of how management packs are structured and processed.
The System Center Operations Manager Management Pack Course provides video content, drilling down into the structure, implementation, and development of Management and Service Packs and their tools. A total of 28 modules, with staggered release dates, will be offered. Keep visiting this course to learn more from new modules as they become available. This course is also available as part of the Microsoft Virtual Academy, though the content currently appears to be behind what is available at the link above.
The System Center 2012 - Service Manager Authoring Guide provides content on creating and customizing management packs in System Center 2012 - Service Manager. This guide is intended for all users who require management pack concepts in addition to authoring different management pack elements. This content covers both the Service Manager console and the Service Manager Authoring Tool.
Runbook Authoring Guides
The System Center 2012 - Orchestrator Runbook Guide provides concepts and guidance for creating, testing, and using runbooks with the Runbook Designer.
The Runbook Activity Reference for System Center 2012 - Orchestrator provides reference information for the standard activities that are included with Orchestrator.
Integration Packs for System Center 2012 - Orchestrator provides installation and reference information for the integration packs that provide additional activities that can be included in runbooks.
Designing Orchestrator Runbooks is a free eBook written by the Microsoft field that provides a framework for runbook design and IT process automation.
Virtual Machine Role Authoring Guide
In System Center 2012 R2, Virtual Machine Roles represent a scalable tier of Virtual Machines that can be provisioned by a tenant using a single process. The System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Role Authoring Guide provides details for creating and packaging the files that make up Virtual Machine Roles.