Henk's blog: Microsoft Private Cloud Evaluation Software

Friday, January 20, 2012

New: Using the System Center 2012 Unified Installer

System Center 2012 Unified Installer is a utility designed to perform new, clean installations of System Center 2012 for testing and evaluation purposes only. If you want to upgrade from an existing System Center installation or choose set up options such as high availability or multi-server component installs, please refer instead to the System Center 2012 component installation guides located on the Microsoft Private Cloud Evaluation Resource Page.

With the Unified Installer it's possible to install all System Center products as once, without the need to install a single product multiple times. That way products can be installed quicker and less screens are needed to install them. Just download Microsoft Private Cloud Evaluation Software first.

Just start the Setup.exe in the Unified Installer folder. Then the Install System Center button becomes available! After that a message box is diplayed.

Then the installation begins..

Microsoft Software License Terms

Component Selection (Orchestrator, Virtual Machine Manager, App Controller, Operations Manager, Configuration Manager, Service Manager & Data Protection Manager)

Keep the following in mind:

Orchestrator is a required Product Component (Unified Installer requires Orchestrator)

App Controller depends on Virtual Machine Manager

I've selected Orchestrator, Operations Manager & Configuration Manager here

Component Media Location (for all products selected)

Configuration Manager License Terms

Prerequisite License Terms

Prerequisite Media Location (e.g. SQL Server 2008 R2 + SP1 + CU4)

Installation Destination Location (for all products selected)

Servers (for all products selected)

Service Accounts (Installer Account)

Component Specific Questions (e.g. OpsMgr Management Group, ConfigMgr Site Code & Site Name)

Communications and Updates

Installation Validation

Deployment Progress

Deployment Summary Report

That's all you need to do to install the Microsoft Private Cloud Evaluation software. The hardest part here is to have enough available servers, download the Microsoft Private Cloud Evaluation software and all prerequisites needed for all products. Then the rest is fairly easy.

Update 30-1: Unfortunately it doesn't work in my demo environment. Even when I follow all needed preparation from Microsoft Technet, it's still failing on the first server, which is System Center Orchestrator. The error message displayed is: ERROR - Could not execute System Center Orchestrator Failed WinRM configuration checkWinRM configuration not confirmed. I like to hear feedback from other people on this specific installation. Maybe it's a known issue for you?

Update 6-2: Today I started the installation again because of new feedback (see comments). Thanks to ThomasH it's working now. Probably using WinRM is not enough when domain policies are also into place. Using Local Policies will start the installation and pass the WinRM configuration, which was failing before. Thanks for all feedback guys!

More information about the Unified Installer can be found on Microsoft TechNet: Unified Installer Release Candidate

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Download Microsoft Private Cloud Evaluation Software

Today Microsoft released the System Center 2012 Release Candidate plus optional Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (a.k.a. Microsoft Private Cloud). Microsoft also released the new System Center 2012 Licensing model today. More about that HERE

A Microsoft private cloud dramatically changes the way your business produces and consumes IT services by creating a layer of abstraction over your pooled IT resources. This allows your datacenter to offer true infrastructure service capability as well as optimally managed application services.

Microsoft private cloud solutions are built on System Center and Windows Server.

System Center 2012 Release Candidate empowers you with a common management toolset for your private and public cloud applications and services. System Center helps you confidently deliver IT as a Service for your business.

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (optional download) will give you improved powerful virtualization capabilities that can transform how you deliver IT services to your end users and enable you to lay the foundation of a private cloud infrastructure.

Please Note: Many Microsoft private cloud scenarios require Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. If you are using an older version, we highly recommend upgrading to experience the full Microsoft private cloud evaluation.

The System Center 2012 Release Candidate contains: