System Center Orchestrator Beta

At TechEd North America Microsoft disclosed a lot of information about, and took System Center Orchestrator for a spin in it’s first public outing!

There is an interesting article on the Orchestrator Blog site with the details about the Beta and what to expect.

You can view the article here https://blogs.technet.com/b/scorch/archive/2011/05/17/what-to-expect-in-the-system-center-orchestrator-beta.aspx

Microsoft be running an Evaluation Program as announced here.

If you fill out the form for the Orchestrator CEP you will not only be part of the program which includes guided tours of the new features, ready made environments and calls with the Product Group, but you will also be notified the minute that the Beta is available to download!

 

The table below contains detailed information about the system requirements and other features of Orchestrator.

Configuration Item

Opalis 6.3

Orchestrator Beta

Orchestrator Release

OS Support for Server components

Windows Server 2003 SP2, 2003 R2 SP2, 2008, 2008 R2

Windows 2008 R2

Windows 2008 R2

OS Support for Client components

Windows Server 2003 SP2, 2003 R2 SP2, 2008, 2008 R2

Windows XP, Vista, 7

Windows 2008 R2

Windows 7 x86 and x64

Windows 2008 R2

Windows 7 x86 and x64

Database Support for Datastore

SQL 2005, 2008

Oracle

SQL 2008 R2

(local or remote)

SQL 2008 R2

(local or remote)

System Center IPs

Existing System Center products

Existing System Center products

Existing System Center products (updated)

System Center 2012

All other IPs

(Microsoft 3rd party and community)

Functional based on the OS model they support.

Existing IP support matrix

Expect all IPs that have been remediated to support 2008 R2 to function.

QIK based IPs should be tested and remediation may be required.

New Beta IPs expected in the Orchestrator Beta timeframe:

Active Directory, FTP, VMware vSphere and IBM Tivoli Netcool Omnibus.

All Microsoft IPs that have been remediated will support 2008 R2 and Orchestrator.

QIK based IPs should be tested and remediation may be required.

More information about IPs being updated and the release cycle to be communicated at a later date.

Export/Import from Opalis to Orchestrator

All information is exported.

Import

Encrypted data that is included in an imported runbook must be re-entered (e.g. passwords)

Runbooks not in pipeline mode will be marked “Checked Out” and require remediation.

Export

Export from Orchestrator and import to Opalis is not supported.

Import

Encrypted data is re-encrypted using the new crypto model automatically.

Runbooks not in pipeline mode will be marked “Checked Out” and require remediation.

Export

Export from Orchestrator and import to Opalis is not supported.

Web Console

Operator Console

JBOSS and OSS based

Orchestration Console

IIS and Silverlight based

Orchestration Console

IIS and Silverlight based

QIK

As per current release

No changes

New QIK features to be communicated at a later date.

Installer experience

Opalis installation experience

JBOSS and Java separate installer

New installer experience including pre-requisite installation

New installer experience including pre-requisite installation

PowerShell Provider N/A No Yes

SNMP

As per existing release

No support for SNMP v3

Updates to be communicated at a later date.

Activity changes

(foundation and legacy)

As per current release

Legacy Activities removed:

Legacy Text / File Management Activities:

Manage Text File

Create Folder (Legacy)

Delete Folder (Legacy)

Copy File (Legacy)

Delete File (Legacy)

Move File (Legacy)

Rename File (Legacy)

Get File Status (Legacy)

Monitor File (Legacy)

Monitor Folder (Legacy)

Non-Pipeline Mode Legacy Activities:

Filter Email

Process Email

Read Email

Filter Exchange Email

Process Exchange Email

Read Exchange Email

Foundation Activities used for Legacy Mode:

Wait

Infrequently Used or Obsolete:

Pager

Purge event log

Send pop-ups

Monitor Event Log Capacity

Monitor Performance

Send Popup

As per Beta.

Further changes and updates to be communicated at a later date.

Other Activity changes (per IP)

As per current release

Changes specific to each IP as it is remediated

Changes specific to each IP as it is remediated