Virtualisation - A few notes

The last week we had some interesting notes related with the Virtualisation topic that I thought it would be worth sharing.

First Microsoft IT Showcase has published its Guide to select loads candidates for virtualisation

Microsoft IT Showcase is pleased to announce the publication of Identifying Server Candidates for Virtualization, which discusses how Microsoft IT identified virtualization as one of the prime strategies to address the issues of server underutilization and data-center capacity.  Many thanks to Rich Baker,  Devin Murray and Dodd Willingham for their expertise, knowledge, and dedication in developing this comprehensive technical case study.

Identifying Server Candidates for Virtualization

Published: 06/17/2008
For several years, Microsoft IT was aware that the number of servers in its data centres was growing rapidly, while utilization of these servers was very low. Microsoft IT identified virtualization as one of the prime strategies to address the issues of server underutilizations and data-center capacity. This study describes how Microsoft IT developed the RightSizing initiative to identify servers that could be virtualized.
Technical Case Study

To learn more about how Microsoft does IT, please visit us!

External:  www.microsoft.com/technet/itshowcase

Second we've included System Center Virtual Machine Manager in the latest beta version for IPD - Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides - ( www.microsoft.com/IPD )

RELEASE UPDATE

Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides

Beta Release Announcement

System Center Virtual Machine Manager, System Center Operations Manager, Internet Information Services, Selecting the Right NAP Architecture

We are pleased to announce the  introduction our new Infrastructure Planning and Design guides (IPD).  We have added System Center Virtual Machine Manager and System Center Operations Manager as the first guides in our series for System Center.  We added the new Internet Information Services Guide to our Windows Server 2008 offerings and finally, we’ve released Selecting the Right NAP Architecture.

All of our released guides can be found in the download center. 

Infrastructure Planning and Design streamlines the planning process by:

· Defining the technical decision flow through the planning process.

· Listing the decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.

Join the Beta for Future IPD Guides

Additional Infrastructure Planning and Design series guides are available as beta releases on the Connect Web site. These are open beta downloads. See below for instructions on how to access the beta guides.

To join the Infrastructure Planning and Design Beta, follow these steps:

1. Visit the Infrastructure Planning and Design Beta on the Microsoft Connect Web site.

2. Sign in using a valid Windows Live ID to continue to the Invitations page.

3. Scroll down to Infrastructure Planning and Design.

If you have not previously registered with Microsoft Connect, you might be required to register before continuing with the invitation process.

If the link in step 1 does not work for you, copy the link and paste it into the Web browser address bar.

Related Resources

System Center Operations Manager on Microsoft TechNet

System Center Operations Manager evaluation software on Microsoft TechNet

Internet Information Services Online (iis.net)

CIO's sharing their experieces

And last but not least a Webcast from CIO Insight - CIO Livecast Encore Presentation Is Online Now
"Virtualization: The Price & The Payoff" - Event URL: https://ciolivecast.stream57.com

Three CIOs discuss their experiences at various stages of Virtualization implementation:

1800Flowers.com – SVP & CIO, Steve Bozzo talks about the concerns that a $1 billion company doing well over half their business online has to consider before moving into Virtualization. With over 3,000 agents, 3 data centers and 700 servers, 1800Flowers’ Bozzo views virtualization as a business mandate that can’t be avoided.

Hudson Valley Bank – CIO, Howard Bruck sees massive benefits in the amount of control he now has over what used to be hundreds of scattered devices. Bruck talks about the steps that he’s taken over the last three years to optimize the bank’s processes by testing and deploying virtualization. Beginning with successful desktop virtualization, he sees virtualization as a holistic way of redoing the Windows environment.

Sesame Workshop – CIO, Noah Broadwater is balancing the media company’s massive data storage needs and server sprawl while containing costs at the non-profit home of the Muppets. Increasing the capacity of Sesame’s data centers would have been a multi-million dollar project but Broadwater found his answer with Open Source.

CIO Livecast is a complimentary event. Registration is required.

Hope you enjoy.

Regards

The MCS Infrastructure team @ Microsoft Ireland