Month: November 2010

Microsoft Private Cloud is Now Available

System Center Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal 2.0 (SCVMM SSP 2.0), formerly known as the Dynamic Datacenter Toolkit, and better known as the front end of the Microsoft Private Cloud, is now available and supported in production usage.

“VMMSSP (also referred to as the self-service portal) 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. VMMSSP reduces the time needed to provision infrastructures and their components by offering business unit “on-boarding,” infrastructure request and change management. The VMMSSP package also includes detailed guidance on how to implement VMMSSP inside your environment.”

This is an alternative self-service portal for SCVMM 2008 R2.  It has two different architectures.  A one-server solution contains the 3 components.  A 3 server solution has the database, service and portal each on different servers.

The idea is that a business (such as a corporation or a university) can build a shared services data centre.  Business units can be allocated with resources from that pool.  They will be billed a basic rate, e.g. for allocated disk space.  The business units can then deploy virtual machines on their own without requiring assistance from IT.  They are then billed based on usage, e.g. you might base that on CPU/RAM.

This means you run Infrastructure-as-a-Service and the business (probably developers, faculty IT, departmental IT, etc) all subscribe to a service that is subject to an SLA (monitored, of course, by System Center Operations Manager!).

The whole thing is extensible.  Examples of this include allocating physical disk to the backend Hyper-V hosts, configuring physical networking, etc.  Hardware partners are expected to provide some expertise here.  With some knowledge, you can do this yourself.

Partners that are listed include:

This is the first step in the MS Private Cloud.  SCVMM 2012 (or v.Next) has some very cool service template functionality that adds automated elasticity (auto-deploy servers into roles) and support for Server App-V to abstract IIS/SQL.

P2V Migration for Software Assurance

This new solution is available for download now.

Microsoft P2V Migration for Software Assurance automates the delivery of an updated and personalized Windows 7 operating system while backing up and converting the legacy Windows XP or newer desktop and its applications for seamless use within Windows 7.

Microsoft P2V Migration for Software Assurance uses the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) and Sysinternals Disk2vhd to convert a user’s existing Windows XP or later client environment to a virtual hard disk (VHD), then automates the delivery of an updated and personalized Windows 7 operating system containing a virtual machine (VM) with the user’s previous Windows environment, applications, and Web browser. The user’s previous virtual desktop retains its existing management components, domain membership, and policies. The process also publishes applications and the browser so that the user can access them seamlessly within the Windows 7 Start menu.

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TechEd Europe 2010 Keynote – Big Shock: It’s All About The Cloud

I’m not at the poor cousin of the TechEd family this week.  Last year’s experience put me off.  However, I’m tuned into the keynote to see what’s happening.  The very good news is that Stephen Elop (the speaker at last year’s keynote where half of the room walked out) has left for Nokia and that Brad Anderson (Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Management & Security Division) is taking over the duty.

While I’m waiting … I would expect lots of System Center v.Next/2011 content to be on show this year.  Those products tend to make big headlines at MMS and almost all of the family has some big release next year .. OpsMgr, VMM, ConfigMgr.  Oh … here we go …

Brad starts off my pitching “the cloud”.  It’s not a surprise.  And the message is …. .everyone else in cloud is wrong; Platform-as-a-Service is the way to go.  The huge investment in Azure did not affect that ;-)  Dagnammit – I don’t have enough drink in the house for the “MS keynote – cloud drinking game”.

Windows Phone is next up.  It’s only launching today in the USA.  The first pitch is “choice”.  Obviously aiming at where MS feels Apple is weak, i.e. lack of handset variety.  Some would say that makes Apple is strong because the control the hardware/OS integration completely.  The see-it-all-at-once and social media integration in WP7 is very good on the face of it (I actually have an iPhone rather than WP7).  WP7 should also be controllable using System Center.  Not much reaction at all to a “do you want a demo of it?” question by Anderson.  Problem: geeks are at the show and they’ve already seen the demo.  It’s a demo of the apps really – aimed squarely at the developers in the audience.  Nice looking apps from Tesco and Ebay.  Eek, the developer demo is canned.  Looks pretty similar to what I saw in the PDC keynote. Dev stuff – I’m taking a quick power nap.  Brad is back with the news that since the European launch 3 weeks ago, 600 European apps are published.

We need to deliver apps to users in a predictable and secure way.  There is tension between users and IT – gimme gimme gimme versus control.  I smell ConfigMgr v.Next.  It’s all about IT delivery being focused on the user, e.g. user pulling down apps and the apps following the user around to different PCs if they are the “owner” PC.  User centric client computing is the brand that MS is using.  Ahh … SP1 first.  Ah … Windows 7 marketing first.

88% of worldwide businesses (what size is not mentioned) say they will move to Windows 7 in the next 2 years.

SP1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 new virtualisation features:

  • RemoteFX (previously blogged): big for VDI graphics in the LAN
  • Dynamic Memory (previously blogged).  Claiming a 40% density improvement in VDI.  Anderson claiming that will give Hyper-V the best density in VDI in the market.

Michael Kleef comes on stage.  He big-ups the Citrix relationship.  Citrix are embracing RemoteFX and it’ll feature in XenDesktop.  Now we see IE8 running in a XenDesktop VM via ICA.  A flash video in full fidelity and audio is playing.  HP BL460 blades are in the background and a perfmon view shows the CPU utilisation is minimal – because the work is being done by the GPU.  A Silverlight application in IE9 is run with lots of graphics, moving bits, and BI reporting.  Hmm, the Citrix WAN scaling tools can allegedly stretch RemoteFX over the WAN … interesting!

Back to the cloud with SaaS.  Office365 is a next generation replacement for BPOS.  Intune (very basic desktop management) is on deck.  Demo of Office365.  We’re in yawn-ville at the moment.  This keynote needs a shot of adrenaline.  InTune is being sold as “management”.  It’s very, very light compared to ConfigMgr.  Nice idea – but I’d rather see a cloud based child-site for ConfigMgr.  Anderson promises that InTune will become as rich as ConfigMgr.

A RC of ForeFront EndPoint Protection is available today.  It is based on the same architecture as ConfigMgr.  That means you can have one integrated infrastructure to manage desktops and servers configuration and security.  And that’s all there is about that.  I guess the ForeFront teams got more pop today than they did last year 🙂

Now it’s cloud (IaaS), cloud (PaaS) and private cloud for the rest of the day.

Infrastructure as a Service.  Private Cloud computing from MS is Hyper-V and System Center.  What momentum does Hyper-V have?  Hyper-V has grown 12.6 points and VMware has grown over 4 points in the market over the last 2 years. 

Announcements:

  • Hyper-V Cloud: This is the partnership program that I’ve just blogged about.  It’s a bundle of software and hardware.  MS has a set of funds called Accelerate.
  • Lots of guides, etc: previously blogged.

HP Hyper-V partnership: HP Cloud Foundation for Hyper-V is an integration between HP Blade System Matrix and MS System Center.  HP is announcing HP CloudStart based on rapidly deploying private clouds based on Hyper-V.

What’s coming in the next version of System Center?  Greg Jenson has the answers.  3 key features:

  • Elastic
  • Shared infrastructure in the data centre
  • Deployed by an application owner by self-service

This is made possible by the next version of VMM.  We get the demo shown at TechEd NA 2010 in the Spring.  This features Server App-V.  VMM vNext is almost identical to what you get in Azure VM Role and that also has Server App-V.  Modelling of an n-tier app architecture is shown, highlighting elasticity.  That’s great for techies …. we want self service so that’s what’s up next!  We see some delegation of the service template to a potential app owner.  It’s similar to 2008 R2 but with a service template which describes an architecture rather than deploy a VM.  That’s understanding the business app owners and their needs.  Deploying a new service = deploy the template.  Things like IIS and SQL will be deployed as virtualised applications that are abstracted from their VM’s.  That allows zero downtime patching of VM’s from the template.

Azure Virtual Network allows a cross-premises domain between your site and Azure.  Azure VM Role allows you to run Windows Server 2008 R2 VMs.  I blogged about that announcement from PDC.

Power nap while Azure dev stuff is talked about.  Next we see OpsMgr using the RC (but supported) management pack for Azure to monitor an Azure based application.  It can respond to spikes in demand by spawning Azure instances.  Careful now; don’t want a nasty credit card bill at the end of the month because of elastic growth that incorrectly interprets slow response times.

Anderson wrapping up by saying that we will likely use a mix of cloud technologies.  We have different solutions to choose from and integrate to suit the needs of our businesses.

Over 70% of MS research/development resources are focused on the cloud.

Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track

Microsoft has announced a partnership program to deliver Hyper-V based private cloud solutions called Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track Partners.  It sounds like a marketing thing for buying a bundle of hardware and software to me.  Nothing exclusive is included.

There is some documentation on how to build a private cloud (using Hyper-V, VMM and SCVMM SSP 2.0) available.  You’ll find that to be a bit more of interest.

Dynamic Memory Changes in SP1 RC

I’ve stressed to people when I spoke about Dynamic Memory that the Hyper-V folks in Redmond were seriously listening to feedback.  The RC release of Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 illustrates this.  There are lots of changes to Dynamic Memory.  Some affect function and some are cosmetic.  Gaurav Anand has all the details in an excellent post. 

Download the RC, test it, and send your feedback to MS.  It really does count!

Microsoft Launches Windows Phone 7 – And I Buy An iPhone

Windows Phone 7 handsets have been available here for a couple of weeks now.  They look good and interesting.  I would have bought one too … but my operator hasn’t launched them.  The other operators went live on MS’s launch day, btw.

I’ve had an LG Windows Mobile 6.5 handset for nearly a year.  At first it was good.  But then all the little things started to get to me.  The LG shell was awful.  Alarms?  Forget about setting them.  The GUI would jump-scroll when I clicked on something so I couldn’t enable or set an alarm.  As for clicking, it needed a stylus which hung from the phone by a string – that looks really cool, kids.  The screen just couldn’t handle and adult finger.  My car has built-in bluetooth for hands free calling.  When the screen is locked on a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone then it will not accept an incoming call.  Rubbish! 

Moving on with the basics of a phone … answering a phone call was a gamble.  It required sliding a control on the screen.  Most of the time, it would jump back and the call would continue ringing.  I wouldn’t dare press the green button because that would hang the call up.  And as for apps … what apps?  I’m convinced most of the problems were because of LG.  The handset itself had a bad screen and the LG shell/apps were awful.  I would love to have installed a pure/clean MS OS like I do with a PC.  OEM installs are the cause of most issues.

Anyway … I needed a phone.  I went into the shop with an open mind.  I knew I couldn’t get a Windows Phone 7 handset so I was considering Android or iPhone.  I’ve seen many people were happy with Samsung Galaxy phones with Android.  The girl in the shop was really helpful and spent a good bit of time with me, allowing the try the sets.  The Samsung screen was good and nice to use.  Android is very popular and a huge library of apps is building up.  But here’s the thing … the OEM’s are putting a shell on Android.  Would this put me in OEM build hell once again?  I was fearful that it would.

So I went with an iPhone 4 16GB.  I thought “I’ll never use 16GB”.  Hah!  But more on that later.  First impressions – this beats the hell out of my old LG phone.  It’s smooth, simple, intuitive, etc.  Second impression: Apple gives you zero documentation for setting up your phone.  I had to google to find out that I had to activate it using iTunes.  Luckily a mate who is an Apple nut walked me through things.  And iTunes is not intuitive at all.  It took an evening to get myself set up with copying movies and photos onto the phone.  I’m not impressed with how that works.

On to the apps.  That’s the magic of iPhone.  Obviously the library is massive.  Things like Tweetie, Facebook and VLC went on there straight away.  VLC is great because I can watch AVI movies on the train while commuting to work.  Tweetie is a tidy Twitter app client.  Angry Birds is a seriously addictive game.  I also got some sniper game with impressive graphics, moving the handset to aim the rifle!  I was in London last weekend and the app library was extremely useful.   I loaded the Underground map which was a lifesaver because most of the city routes were closed and the system was in chaos on Saturday night.  A cheap street map made it easy to find underground stations and places I wanted to visit, without having to enable data for the built-in maps service.

One of the nice features is the mute button.  I often find myself in meetings where I need to mute my phone.  This can be done with a few clicks on my work Blackberry.  It could be done with a LOT of clicks (some successful and some not so) on my old LG.  There is a dedicated button on the side of the iPhone 4 to mute my phone.  I can slide that, and bang, the phone is muted or un-muted.  This was clearly designed for professionals.  It’s also handy when I’m playing Angry Birds on the tram in the city 🙂

Finally, the camera.  I’m a serious enthusiast photographer.  I have some big kit but there’s times when a pocket camera is desirable.  The camera in the iPhone is pretty damned good.  I was amazed to find a HDR mode.  HDR is when you merge multiple exposures of a single scene to capture dark and bright parts and to recreate what the brain interprets as the eye moves around and compensates.  I took some shots in the foyer of the Natural History Museum and the hall of the British Museum and was very impressed.  With a DSLR I would have to set up a tripod to do the same and that’s a no-no in those places – as security informed me :-)  The video mode is pretty good too.  I recorded the kickoff of the Broncos/49ers game (go Niners!) at Wembley and the picture and sound are pretty good.  I would have loved a zoom feature but what can you expect from a phone!

BTW – I wasn’t affected by the DST alarms bug.  I’m lucky that I chose to sleep in on Sunday morning instead of setting an alarm to go out early with the camera bag.

VMware Pricing Not Helping Them Renew Contracts

If you follow any Microsoft feeds related to virtualisation then you’re bound to read this story in the next couple of days.  It describes how many UK organisations are choosing to dump VMware in favour of XenServer or Hyper-V because of VMware’s pricing.

VMware are trying to say that the costs are the same … but they aren’t.  Hyper-V is effectively free.  VMM and OpsMgr are additional costs but they are less than vSpehere and they give you a complete stack management system, rather than a virtualisation layer.  Buy the SCMS bundle and you get backup in the form of DPM and the other System Center products too!

Timing is everything.  It’s around 3 years since virtualisation really took off.  I’m told that VMware’s contracts are for 3 years.  That means that there’s an opportunity to make that move …. stick in a Hyper-V cluster with VMM, run V2V conversions, and pretty soon afterwards you’ll have a fully operational cluster at a fraction of the cost.

CIO’s Delaying Virtualisation Because They Don’t Trust Backup

With some incredulity, I just read a story on TechCentral.ie  where Veeam says that:

“44% of IT directors say they avoid using virtualisation for mission-critical workloads because of concerns about backup and recovery. At the same time, only 68% of virtual servers are, on average, backed up, according to the study of 500 IT directors across Europe and the US”.

That’s pretty damned amazing.  Why do I say that?  Because I know one MS partner here in Ireland sells Hyper-V because it makes backups easier and more reliable.

Hyper-V features a volume shadow snapshot service (VSS) provider.  This allows compatible backup solutions (there’s plenty out there) to safely backup VM’s at the host level.  This means that backing up a VM, its system state, its applications, and its data is a simple backup of a few files (it’s a bit more complicated than that under the hood).  From the admins perspective, it’s just like backing up a few Word documents on a file server. 

Here’s the cool bit.  When a Hyper-V VM is quiesced, the VSS providers within the VM also start up.  Any file services, Exchange services, SQL, and so on, are all put into a safe state to allow a backup to take place with no service interruption.  Everything is backed up in a safe, consistent, and reliable manner.  The result is that the organisation has a backup of the entire VM that can be restored very quickly.

Now compare being able to backup a VM by restoring a few files comapred to doing a complete restoration of a physical server when some 2-5 year old piece of tin dies.  You won’t get identical hardware and will have lots of fun restoring it.

BTW, if a physical piece of tin suddenly dies in a Hyper-V cluster then the VM just fails over to another host and starts working there.  There’s no comparison in the physical world.  Sure you can cluster there but it’ll cost you a whole lot more than a virtualisation cluster and be a lot more complicated.

Sounds good?  It gets better.  Backing up a Hyper-V cluster at the host level is actually not a good idea (sounds odd that something good starts with something bad, eh?).  This is because a CSV will go into redirected more during the backup to allow the CSV owner complete access to the file system.  You get a drop in performance as host I/O is redirected over the CSV network via the CSV owner to the SAN storage.  We can eliminate all of that and simplify backup by using VSS enabled storage.  That means choosing storage with VSS providers.  Now you backup LUNs on the SAN instead of disks on a host.  The result is quicker and more reliable backups, with less configuration.  Who wouldn’t like that?

Microsoft Ireland & System Dynamics: Private Cloud Computing Academy

This just arrived in the mail … but I do know a little about it considering that I am the presenter 🙂

Microsoft has been working towards a Dynamic Datacentre vision for the last 8 years and now our story in this space is almost complete – and it’s one we are really proud of. Microsoft Cloud Computing Infrastructure enables you to achieve the flexibility and agility you need to deliver an on-premise ‘private’ cloud for your infrastructure, applications, management and security.

Private Cloud Academy is a series of Level 300 Technical ‘how to’ training seminars. Half-day instructor-led training seminars give attendees exclusive access to DEEP technical training delivered by recognised Microsoft virtualisation experts. The first module of the series is covering Hyper-V and Private Cloud Computing and the agenda for this session is as follows:

o    Introduction to Hyper-V & What makes Hyper-V different
o    SCVMM Self-Service Portal
o    Private Cloud Computing
        •    Why extend Hyper-V/SCVMM to Private Cloud Computing
        •    SCVMM SSP 2.0

When: 09.30-13.00, 26 November 2010
Location: Microsoft Ireland Building 2 (EPDC2), South County Business Park, Leopardstown, D18
Suitable for: IT Managers, IT Administrators, Sys Admins, Infrastructure Admins/Managers
Register here

The subsequent modules in the Private Cloud Computing Academy are as follows:

Module II: Managing Hyper-V (14 January 2011)
Module III: Hyper-V and Data Protection Manager (18 March 2011)
Module IV: Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (20 May 2011)