Expert Reference Series of White Papers Leveraging Microsoft s System Center 2012 Suite in the Private Cloud 1-800-COURSES www.globalknowledge.com
Leveraging Microsoft s System Center 2012 Suite in the Private Cloud Allan Jacobs, MCT, MCITP, MCTS, MCSE, Global Knowledge Instructor Introduction As organizations migrate from purely physical servers to virtual environments, the next logical step is to reorganize the datacenter into a private cloud. The private cloud is best described as a flexible, agile datacenter that can adapt quickly to the changing demands of an IT infrastructure and, more importantly, the business that it supports. With cloud computing the needs of the functional aspects of the business can be met without unproductive delay. The public cloud, which Microsoft makes available to applications through its Windows Azure product, presents a significant failing. The crucial data and applications exist in someone else s datacenter. For some organizations that is untenable. In private cloud computing, all of the resources remain in-house. With the easily adaptive model provided by System Center 2012 (SC 2012), an enterprise can consume server resources as needed, recycling unneeded capacity back to the organization where it is available to other applications. The newly released SC 2012 provides all the tools that each aspect of the IT environment requires to ensure that the maximum usage of server resources is obtained. System Center 2012 consists of seven products that will be used to automate the management of a virtual server environment. It is probably the most significant single release of management software in quite some time and should revolutionize datacenter management. In the paper, I will give a brief overview of each of the components in SC 2012, emphasizing what is new and what is useful. Unification of the Suite In earlier System Center versions, the term System Center was not much more than a label and a logo. Each of the servers in the suite had an independent installation and release date. With System Center 2012, Microsoft has designed the products with a unified installer and unified licensing. Each of the products can be installed from a single set of interfaces. The suite is uniquely designed to control the datacenter with only two versions available. The Datacenter version will be used for a private cloud deployment. In a lower density environment, the Standard edition is used. The Datacenter version allows for management of an unlimited number of virtual servers. The Standard edition is limited to two operating system environments. Most importantly, Microsoft has Copyright 2012 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. 2
retained the per-processor license model, not the per-core model that VMware has adopted. This will result in significant savings for those deploying the SC 2012 suite, particularly with Hyper-V servers. App Controller Let s begin our discussion of the individual elements of the System Center 2012 Suite with its only entirely new product, App Controller. Some of you may be familiar with the name Concero, which was used in earlier beta versions of this server, gives the owners of applications the ability to manage their deployment. It consists of a web-based portal that administrators who are responsible for an application would access to manage deployment. This self-service model would be controlled by delegation by the managers of the App Controller environment. This should ensure the efficient distribution of new business critical applications as well as their ongoing maintenance. With proper configuration the App Controller will empower the subject matter expert with the tools necessary to keep the organization functioning smoothly. While it may appear to provide unlimited control to the owner of the application, service templates are used to define and limit what can be done. The App Controller can be used to provision and manage the private cloud, and it also can be used with Windows Azure-based applications in the public cloud. Virtual Machine Manager For 2012 the System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) becomes the primary centerpiece of the private cloud solution. While the VMM is primarily aimed at managing Microsoft Hyper-V servers, its standard fabric design includes support for VMware and Citrix hypervisors. Like the App Controller, VMM utilizes Service Template to blueprint the hardware and application infrastructures in managing the virtual servers in the datacenter. There can be dynamic control of the servers without any direct interaction from the System Center Operations Manager (OpsMgr). The VMM provides a very useful graphical view of the server that makes it quite easy for the administrator to understand exactly what is on each virtual server. Eliminated from the VMM is the self-service portal, which has now been moved to the System Center Service Manager. An in-place upgrade from VMM 2010 is available with this version. Operations Manager Long a participant in the server management arena, OpsMgr 2012 (first known as Microsoft Operations Manager) was one of the initial members of the System Center suite with its 2007 version. That product has been used by many Microsoft shops to monitor just about every server created by the folks from Redmond. OpsMgr relies on management packs that are created for particular workloads and installed on those servers. With the 2012 version, we are given enhanced monitoring capabilities through the integration of the recently acquired AviCode product. The AviCode integration will provide application performance data without the need to purchase a third-party product. Also added in OpsMgr 2012 is more capable network monitoring. The previous network monitoring was used as the basis for some management pack configuration, but was hardly robust or all that useful. The new approach should provide the server administrators an effective view of networking issues that might have an impact on their virtual servers and applications. Copyright 2012 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. 3
Structurally, the OpsMgr has been reconfigured to eliminate the need for a Root Management Server (RMS), which will ultimately make our lives easier, but will require emulation until all of the management packs have been reconstituted so they will not be looking for the RMS. While time will tell if this will present some issues for us going forward, it is certainly a positive step for the product. Like many products in the suite, OpsMgr 2012 can be upgraded in place from the 2007 R2 version. Orchestrator While I generally spend all of my time in a Microsoft bubble, the rest of the IT world chooses its line of business applications and servers based on perceived need and function. Many of those products are created by companies not named Microsoft and while we want them to work in our mostly Microsoft environment, we need help. In SC 2012 that help partly comes from Orchestrator. Several years ago Microsoft acquired Opalis so that they could leverage its platform-agnostic workflow management capability. To put its mark on Opalis, Microsoft has renamed it Orchestrator. At the core of its capability is the runbook, which is used by Orchestrator to automate processes across various operating systems and applications. Within the runbooks are activities an administrator can configure, such as monitoring logs or sending an email. Central to its function is the workflow, which will allow the creation of complex management and monitoring tasks. Service Manager After a bumpy start with a withdrawn beta, the System Center Service Manager (SCSM) made its debut in 2010 as the process management component of the suite. Not comfortably relying on its role managing the service or help desk, the capabilities of Service Desk have expanded. The new version is the focal point for requesting added capacity as a replacement for the VMM Self Service portal. It also has a new service catalog and a release management component. It has evolved into a very solid cog in the suite. An in-place upgrade is available with SCSM from the 2010 version. Data Protection Manager Backups remain a very significant concern in all datacenters. The current version of the enterprise scale backup product continues to show improvement in both features and functionality. Perhaps most significant is the granular item level recovery capability that Data Protection Manager 2012 (DPM) now provides. This is particularly good news for those of you supporting Exchange Server, SharePoint, and SQL Server. We can also do an in-place upgrade from DPM 2010. System Center Configuration Manager The granddaddy of our suite, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) has evolved substantially since the last full release in 2007. Certainly the most-deployed component in the suite, SCCM probably has the smallest role in the private cloud infrastructure. It has been used primarily for workstations, rather than servers, to deploy Copyright 2012 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. 4
software, operating systems, and updates, to take hardware and software inventory, and to generally keep track of our infrastructure. While it would undoubtedly benefit the enterprise to use SCCM to manage datacenter servers, its use in the private cloud remains to be seen. In the meantime, an organization that obtains the SC 2012 suite gains the benefit of the substantially improved SCCM for control of the desktops and laptops at the bare minimum. It should also be noted that Microsoft has moved the Endpoint Protection (anti-virus) management component from the Forefront suite to SCCM. Conclusion Ultimately, all large organizations will require the added flexibility and efficiency of the cloud. Initially the private cloud will be the most obvious choice for the enterprise that will not or cannot have their proprietary data in the public cloud. The System Center 2012 suite has come at the right time, allowing Microsoft administrators complete control over their private cloud infrastructures. Learn More To learn more about how you can improve productivity, enhance efficiency, and sharpen your competitive edge, check out the following Global Knowledge courses: Microsoft Cloud Enterprise Solutions (M50374) Administering System Center 2012 Configuration Manager (M10747) Deploying System Center 2012 Configuration Manager (M10748) Visit www.globalknowledge.com or call 1-800-COURSES (1-800-268-7737) to speak with a Global Knowledge training advisor. About the Author Allan Jacobs is a trainer, consultant and writer based in New York City. While technically an independent, Allan works almost exclusively for Global Knowledge and spends a good deal of his time traveling to client sites and training centers throughout the US. While his current interests are concentrated in the Unified Communications field, he continues to work with the Windows Server and Client Operating Systems, SharePoint and the Systems Center suite. He has served as a Technical Learning Guide at TechEd 2011, 2010 and 2009 in Unified Communications, a speaker at the MCT Summit 2011 on Lync Server, as well as the MCT Virtual Summit on Office Communications Server 2007 R2, as an Expert at TechEd in Unified Communications and Expert at the Launch of Exchange and SharePoint 2007. Allan was also co-author of the revision of the Microsoft Official Courseware for OCS 2007 R2. In his younger days, Allan practiced law, something that he has successfully avoided for the last twelve years. Copyright 2012 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. 5