Exam Prep for 70-659 Parts 11 & 12: Configure Authorization Rights and Manage VMware Hosts
As I wrote in an earlier post, there is no better time to write your exam for 70-659 Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization, than now and particularly before May 31, 2012. So to aid in that endeavour, Joseph Yedid, an IT specialist with Enhansoft in Ottawa, has put together a series of posts focused on getting IT folk ready to pass this exam. Joseph writes his blog at www.josephyedid.com but has allowed me to repost this series here.
Create roles and configure authorization rights
This section revolves around Authorization Manager. Authorization Manager (AzMan) is the best way to control user rights when it comes to Hyper-V. AzMan is accessed through the AzMan.msc management console. Hyper-V relies on XML files to store the user rights. The default AzMan store is called InitialStore.xml. Azman allows the admin to assign role-based access to users and then assign delegations and rights. AzMan allows you to create a scope which targets VMs and then roles which target users or groups. AzMan allows for greater control of delegating right to users and groups. With this kind of control, you can delegate rights with finer control.
Manage non-Hyper-V aware virtualization hosts
If you have a VMware environment and want to manage it along with your Windows environment then VMM is the answer. VMM has the capability to manage VMware hosts. In order for VMM to manage VMware hosts, VMM must first manage vCenter. Only through vCenter can VMM see the hosts that vCenter is controlling. Adding an ESX host is done the same way as adding a Hyper-V host. vCenter and ESX have a secure mode, so additional information will be needed; the certificate from the ESX host and the public key. You can also enable full management of an ESX host. To achieve this, you will need to provide the local host credentials for each ESX host you intend to manage.
There are some instances when VMM will not be able to manage a host. For example, a host may not be able to run Hyper-V, or when dealing with Server 2003. In these cases, VMM will install Virtual Server 2005 in order to manage the host. Once the host has Virtual Server 2005 on it, VMM will also deploy an agent to it.
Joseph Yedid is an IT specialist working at Enhansoft a company based in Ottawa, Canada, that develops products and services to extend the value of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (SCCM) and System Center Configuration Manager 2012. He is an avid user of technology and is certified in many areas of Microsoft infrastructure technologies. He is MCTS and MCITP certifed - Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft Vista/Windows 7. Other interests revolve around virtualization technologies, System Center and Private Cloud. Joseph is a member and on the executive of the Ottawa Windows Server User Group.