Documentation: Cloud Infrastructure Solution for Enterprise IT

If you are designing Public, Private or Hybrid Cloud based on Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 SP1 this set of documents will be very useful for a starting point. They will offer you the basics you will need in order to design your Cloud and take the necessary decisions. Download all 4 documents from here.

SCVMM and SCOM Maintenance Mode Integration Not Fixed in SC 2012 SP1 UR1

Not so long ago I’ve wrote an article titled SCVMM Maintenance mode for host does not put the computer object in maintenance mode in SCOM reported as fixed in SC 2012 SP1. I’ve reported the bug described in the article and that report was closed on Microsoft Connect site as fixed before the official release of SC 2012 SP1. As I do not trust blindly and always verify any information I’ve tested if this bug is fixed after the release of SC 2012 SP1 UR1. After I’ve made the test in my home lab I was experiencing the same bug again. My test was verified also by Steve Beaumont so the issue is not in my TV screen only. To me in 99% of the cases when you put Hyper-V host in maintenance mode in VMM you will probably want to restart that host and not to receive SCOM alerts about it. I think it is highly unprofessional someone to report to you an bug and you to close that report as fixed without actually fixing it. But as stubborn guys I’ve logged this bug again. If you want to join you can vote for fixing this bug here. I suggest to hurry with your vote before someone closing that report as fixed again Smile.

Hyper-V Replica and Riverbed document

This document captures the results from the bandwidth optimization experiments conducted in the Microsoft® Engineering Excellence Center (EEC) lab by using the Riverbed Steelhead appliance WAN optimization devices with Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Replica.

So basically if you use Hyper-V replica across WAN you should use WAN optimizers in order to reduce traffic and bandwidth. You can see the results from the document here.

New MP: System Center Management Pack for WSUS on Windows Server 2012

Another MP that covers monitoring for role or feature from Windows Server 2012. This management pack monitors a role that I have seen being used in almost every Windows organization. You can download the documentation and the MP from here. The guide doesn’t contain any information on how to configure the MP as it seems you install it and just works. In the guide can be found description on what is being monitored by the MP.

Dynamic Optimization (DO) in SC 2012 VMM Explained

Check out this nice post for Dynamic Optimization on SCVMM team blog.