Building Your Private Cloud Series at https://aka.ms/privatecloud

Microsoft US Platform Technology Evangelists, have published a series of articles that step through building your very own Private Cloud by leveraging Windows Server 2012, Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and System Center 2012 Service Pack 1. This series presents the methodology of building a private cloud from overview, fabric concepts and construction, deployment, management, to extending it to Windows Azure and beyond.

And ultimately extend existing on-premise establishments with off-premise deployments and take the best of both models with a hybrid scenario. The following is a list of the entire deliveries. I recommend bookmarking this post (https://aka.ms/privatecloud) and the TechNet Radio series by Keith Mayer and Yung Chou (https://aka.ms/bpc) to walk through the entire process of building a private cloud.

My personal thanks to Keith Mayer (https://keithmayer.com) for his many contributions and leading efforts in organizing this series.

Build Your Private Cloud Series and TechNet Solution Portal

The process of building a private cloud needs to start with the fundamentals, both conceptually and technically. This blog post series intends to address both and goes through a process of forming the concepts, securing the fundamentals, examining what is under the hood, visualizing all with the abstraction. At the same time, TechNet private cloud solution portal at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud/private-cloud offers IT professionals opportunities to further advance the learning in architecture, planning, and implementations of cloud and datacenter solutions with Microsoft technologies.

Below is the weekly breakdown of each topic published in this series to facilitate your learning.

Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 SP1 Now

Microsoft private cloud solutions are with the basic building blocks, Windows Server 2012, and the comprehensive management solution, System Center 2012 SP1. Both present key enabling technologies in building and extending a private cloud. IT professionals must recognize the urgency of mastering these two major technical components for maintaining relevancy in Microsoft infrastructure going forward.

Get prepared to follow along by first acquiring the essential components and building blocks for constructing and extending a private cloud!

• DO IT: Download Windows Server 2012
• DO IT: Download the FREE Hyper-V Server 2012
• DO IT: Download System Center 2012 SP1
• DO IT: Activate your Windows Azure subscription, as needed.

WEEK 1 – Private Cloud Foundation with Windows Server 2012

• MODULE 1: What is a Private Cloud?( Video )
  • Why Private Cloud? by Yung Chou
  • DO IT: Build your lab with Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, create a domain, and install SCVMM.
• MODULE 2: Build a Private Cloud Foundation ( Video )
  • Build a Private Cloud Foundation – Storage by Matt Hester
  • Build a Private Cloud Foundation – Networking by Keith Mayer
  • Build a Private Cloud Foundation – Compute/Virtualization by Keith Mayer
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Build Your Private Cloud Foundation

WEEK 2 – Private Cloud Fabric with System Center 2012 SP1

• MODULE 3: Deploy & Upgrade System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager( Video )
  • Understanding SCVMM 2012 SP1 Fabric and Service Templates by Yung Chou
  • Step-by-Step: Deploy System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager by Tommy Patterson
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Deploying System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Configuring the VMM Library in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM
• MODULE 4: Build Private Cloud Storage Fabric( Video )
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Configuring Storage Fabric in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM
• MODULE 5: Build Private Cloud Data Center & VM Network Fabric( Video )
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Configuring Network Fabric in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM

WEEK 3 – Configuring and Optimizing Your Private Cloud

• MODULE 6: Configure Private Cloud VM Compute Fabric( Video )
  • Zero-to-Cloud: From Bare Metal to Private Cloud Fabric by Matt Hester
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Configure Host Groups in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Managing Hyper-V Hosts and Clusters in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Managing VMware ESX and Citrix XenServer in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM
• MODULE 7: Delegating and Optimizing Private Cloud Fabric( Video )
  • DO IT: Optimize Workload Placement with Dynamic Resource Optimization and Power Optimization ( Guided Hands-on Lab )
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Configuring Dynamic Optimization and Power Optimization in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM
• MODULE 8: Deploying Private Clouds with System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager( Video )
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Creating Private Clouds in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM
  • DO IT: Delegating Access to Private Clouds and Deploying Application Services by Yung Chou
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Configuring Self-Service in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM

WEEK 4 – Deploying and Servicing Applications in Private Cloud

• MODULE 9: Deploying and Managing Applications in Private Cloud( Video )
  • Define VM Hardware Profiles by Kevin Remde
  • Define VM Guest OS Profiles by Kevin Remde
  • Define Application Profiles by Kevin Remde
  • Define and Deploy VM Templates by Tommy Patterson
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Configuring Profiles and Templates in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM
  • DO IT: Hands-on: Define and Deploy Application Service Templates by Blain Barton
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Creating and Deploying Services in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM

WEEK 5 – Extending and Protecting Your Private Cloud

• MODULE 10:  Updating Private Cloud Fabric( Video )
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Managing Fabric Updates in System Center 2012 SP1 VMM
• MODULE 11: Private Clouds with System Center 2012 SP1 Data Protection Manager( Video )
  • Protect Your Private Cloud Workloads with System Center 2012 SP1 Data Protection Manager by Matt Hester
  • DO IT: Deploying System Center 2012 SP1 Data Protection Manager
  • DO IT: Managing Windows Azure Online Backup for System Center 2012 SP1 DPM
  • DO IT: Managing Hyper-V Data Protection with System Center 2012 SP1 DPM
• MODULE 12: Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure with Windows Azure Infrastructure Services( Video )
  • Intro to Hybrid Cloud for Private Cloud IT Pros by Tom Shinder and Michael Lubanski
  • DO IT: Activate Your FREE 90-Day Windows Azure Subscription
  • DO IT: Extend Private Cloud with Windows Azure Virtual Networks ( Guided Hands-on Lab )
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Configure a Site-to-Site VPN with Windows Azure Virtual Networks
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Configure a Point-to-Site VPN with Windows Azure Virtual Networks
• MODULE 13: Hybrid Cloud Network Fabric with System Center 2012 SP1 App Controller( Video )
  • Hybrid/Private Cloud Infrastructure with System Center 2012 SP1 App Controller by Yung Chou
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Deploying System Center 2012 SP1 App Controller
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Deploying VMs and Services with System Center 2012 SP1 App Controller
  • DO IT: Lab Guide: Managing VMs and Services with System Center 2012 SP1 App Controller

WEEK 6+: Study and Get Certified on Private Cloud

Prepare for the MCSE: Private Cloud certification exams with these popular FREE exam study guides:

• DOWNLOAD: Study Guide for Exam 70-246, Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud
• DOWNLOAD: Study Guide for Exam 70-247, Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud