Overview of Microsoft #WindowsAzure #Powershell for automated #Cloud Services

Windows Azure PowerShell is a powerful scripting environment that you can use to control and automate the deployment and management of your workloads in Windows Azure. Whether you are experienced with Windows PowerShell or a new user, instructions are available to help you get started provisioning virtual machines, setting up virtual networks and cross-premises networks, and managing cloud services in Windows Azure.

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Before you can start using the cmdlets in Windows Azure PowerShell, you will need to download and import the module, as well as import and configure information that provides connectivity to Windows Azure through your subscription. For instructions, see Get Started with Windows Azure Cmdlets.

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To learn about tips that can help you use the cmdlets, such as how parameter values, inputs, and outputs are typically handled in Windows Azure PowerShell, see Use Windows Azure Cmdlets. For instructions and examples that show you how to use variables and piping to simplify your commands, see the following:

• Create or Delete Virtual Machines Using Windows Azure Cmdlets
• Manage Certificates and SSH keys Using Windows Azure Cmdlets
• Manage Virtual Machines Using Windows Azure Cmdlets
• Manage Images and Disks Using Windows Azure Cmdlets
• Set Up and Manage Virtual Networks Using Windows Azure Cmdlets
• Set Up Communication for Virtual Machines Using Windows Azure Cmdlets
• Manage Cloud Services Using Windows Azure Cmdlets

For basic instructions about using Windows PowerShell, see Using Windows PowerShell in the Windows PowerShell Getting Started Guide.

If you develop Node.js, PHP, or Python applications for Windows Azure, you can use the cmdlets in Windows Azure PowerShell to get started developing and deploying applications.

• Node.js developers should start with the how to guide on the Node.js developer center.
• PHP developers should start with the how to guide on the PHP developer center
• Python developers should start with the how to guide on the Python developer center.

For reference information about the cmdlets, see Windows Azure management cmdlets.

On Hybrid Cloud blog via Yung Chou :

One-Click Windows Azure VM (IaaS) Deployment with PowerShell User Experience

Windows Server 2012 #HyperV and SMB 3.0 Best Practices with #SCVMM

When you have your hardware design ready in your datacenter, It’s handy to have a checklist.
As with all Best Practices, not every recommendation can – or should – be applied. Best Practices are general guidelines, not hard, fast rules that must be followed. As such, you should carefully review each item to determine if it makes sense in your environment.
From here you go to the Microsoft Checklist for Windows Server 2012 – Hyper-V best practices

In this post, Jose Barreto is providing a reference to the most relevant content related to Windows Server 2012 that is related to the File Server, the SMB 3.0 features and its associated scenarios like Hyper-V over SMB and SQL Server over SMB. It’s obviously not a complete reference (there are new blog posts every day), but hopefully this is a useful collection of links for Windows Server 2012 users.

From here you go to Jose Barreto’s blog Updated Links on Windows Server 2012 File Server and SMB 3.0

And off course Hyper-V Clustering and storage has to be managed by System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager.
Here you find a serie of great blogposts made by Nigel Cain & Damian Flynn :

Virtual Networking in VMM 2012 SP1 – Part 1

Logical Networks (Part II) – How many logical networks do you really need?

Logical Networks (Part III) – Network Isolation

Logical Networks (Part IV) – PVLAN Isolation

NEW : Logical Networks (Part V) – Network Virtualization

For more information on System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager you can go to :

TechNet WiKi VMM 2012 Guide

TechNet Library VMM 2012 Online

TechNet Private Cloud Blog Hyper-V Host Network Settings through VMM PowerShell

Test Lab Guides: System Center 2012 SP1 – Virtual Machine Manager #sysctr #SCVMM #Hyperv

 

You can download the Test Lab Guides System Center 2012 SP1 Virtual Machine Manager here

Implementing System Center Management Pack for #WindowsAzure SQL Database Monitoring #sysctr

Import the Management Pack

For more information about importing a management pack, see How to Import an Operations Manager Management Pack.

Import the Microsoft.SqlServer.Azure.mpb using the Administration pane in the Operations Console.  After running the installer the management pack is typically located on the system drive in the \Program Files\System Center Management Packs folder.

Creating Windows Azure SQL Database Run As Accounts

To monitor Windows Azure SQL Database servers first create one or more Simple or Basic authentication Run As accounts which contain the credentials for accessing the servers. To do this:

1. In SCOM Console navigate to Administration | Run As Configuration | Accounts, right-click it and select Create Run As Account…

2. On the Introduction page click Next. 

3. On the General Properties page select Simple Authentication in Run As account type combo box, populate Display name and click Next

4. On the Credentials page populate Account name and Password with the credentials that will be used to connect to Windows Azure SQL Database cloud service and click Next.

5. On the Distribution Security page select More secure option and click Create.
You can use Less secure option and skip steps 7 – 8 if your environment is secure enough. 

6. Click Close to close the window.

If you used Less secure option on step 5, you can skip next steps.

7. Right-click newly created account and select Properties.

8. Navigate to Distribution tab and add the SCOM Agent that you wish to use as a Watcher Node to monitor Windows Azure SQL Database cloud service.

See Managing Run As Accounts and Profiles for more information about Run As accounts.

Using the Windows Azure SQL Database Add Monitoring Wizard

To begin monitoring a Windows Azure SQL Database cloud service:

1. In SCOM Console navigate to Authoring | Management Pack Templates, right-click Windows Azure SQL Database and select Add Monitoring Wizard…

2. On the Monitoring Type page select Windows Azure SQL Database and click Next

3. On the General Properties page you haveto provide template Name and Description, as well as Select destination management pack where template will be stored. If you don’t have a management pack for this
purpose – you can create a new one by clicking New… button.

Note: It is recommended to use new MP for the template.

4. On the Service Details page provide Server Name (including database.windows.net) and select Run As Account containing username and password to access cloud service. Click Next.

5. On the Proxy Agent tab Browse available SCOM Agents and select one to use as Watcher Node.

Important! IP address of the proxy agent machine should be enabled through Windows Azure SQL Database firewall. Also, Run As account specified in previous step should be distributed to selected agent or Less Secure option should be used, otherwise management pack won’t work.

6. Review configuration on Summary page and click Create.

Enabling Federations Discovery

To reduce number of queries issued to the Windows Azure SQL Database, federations discovery is disabled by default. If you use federations and want to monitor them, you have to enable the discovery.

To do this:

1. In SCOM Console navigate to Authoring | Management Pack Objects | Object Discoveries and click Scope button on the toolbar or Change Scope… link if scoping is already enabled.

2. Look for Windows Azure SQL Database Federation.

3. Right-click Windows Azure SQL Database Federation Discovery and select Overrides | Override the Object Discovery | For a specific object of class: Windows Azure SQL User Database.

4. Select root database of your federation.

5. Check Enabled row and select True as Override Value. To store this override you can use the same management pack where monitoring template instance relies. Click Apply and OK.

Here you can download the Microsoft Management Pack for Windows Azure SQL Databases

#Microsoft #WindowsAzure #SQL Database Management Pack for System Center 2012 #sysctr

Overview

The Microsoft Windows Azure SQL Database Management Pack enables you to monitor the availability and performance of applications that are running on Windows Azure SQL Database.
Feature Summary After configuration, the Microsoft Windows Azure SQL Database Monitoring Management Pack offers the following functionalities:

• User-friendly wizard to discover Windows Azure SQL Database servers.
• Provides availability status of Windows Azure SQL Database server.
• Collects and monitors health of Windows Azure SQL Database databases.
  • Space monitoring:
    • Used space
    • Free space
    • Total allocated quota
  • Track the total number of databases per server
• Collects and monitors performance information:
  • Average memory per session
  • Total memory per session
  • Total CPU time per session
  • Total I/O per session
  • Number of database sessions
  • Maximum Transaction execution time
  • Maximum Transaction lock count
  • Maximum Transaction log space used
  • Network Egress/Ingress bandwidth
• Ability to define Custom thresholds for each monitor to configure the warning and critical alerts.
• Run-as profile to securely connect to Windows Azure SQL Database.
• Detailed knowledge to guide the IT operator with troubleshooting the problem
• Custom tasks to redirect the user to the Windows Azure SQL Database online portal
• Custom query support to enable application-specific availability and performance monitoring

You can download the Microsoft Windows Azure SQL Database Management Pack here

UPDATE : #Microsoft System Center Management Pack for Windows Server Operating System #sysctr #SCOM

Overview

The System Center Management Pack for Windows Server Operating System consists of the following management packs: Microsoft Windows Server Library, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Discovery, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Monitoring, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Discovery, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Monitoring, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Monitoring BPA, Microsoft Windows Server Clustered Shared and Volume Monitoring, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, and Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. The System Center Monitoring Pack for Windows Server Operating System monitor the performance, health, and availability of Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2003and Windows 2000 Server.
By detecting, alerting on, and automatically responding to critical events and performance indicators, these management packs reduce resolution times for issues and increase the overall availability and performance of your systems running the Windows Server operating systems, thereby helping to reduce the total cost of ownership.
Feature Summary

• Availability
  • Key Operating System Services: Required services are checked for status (for example, running, not running, or paused)
  • Storage: Logical hard drives are checked for availability, sufficient free space, and integrity of the NTFS partition.
  • Network: Network adapters are checked for connection health, name and IP address conflicts.
• Performance
  • Processor: System processor(s) performance is checked system-wide.  Processors can optionally be monitored on a per processor basis.
  • Memory: Memory consisting of physical memory and virtual memory (also known as page files) is monitored using the following performance indicators:
    • Available memory (in MB)
    • Pages per second
    • Page file percent usage
  • Disks and Partitions: Logical disks/partitions and physical disks are monitored, and performance data is collected for average disk seconds per read, disk seconds per write, and disk seconds per transfer.  Monitoring is also provided for fragmentation of logical disks.  Depending on which version of the operating system is being monitored, either logical or physical monitoring is enabled by default.  Refer to the MP guide for more detail.
  • Network Adapter: Network adapters are monitored for the number of bytes received per second, the number of bytes sent per second, and the total bytes per second. In addition, the health state of the network adapter is evaluated and is set to Healthy if connected and Critical if disconnected.

Known Issue:

If the BPA monitor is enabled, then there will be an error in the PowerShell script which is a know issue in the Agent. This has been fixed in Operations Manager next update which is coming up.

You can download the Microsoft System Center Management Pack for Windows Server OS here

When you search for other System Center Management Packs, I can recommend this great TechNet WiKi site :

A nice collection of Microsoft Management Packs you can find here on TechNet Wiki

Video presentation: How to Design and Configure Networking in #SCVMM and #HyperV

How to Design and Configure Networking in System Center Virtual Machine Manager and Hyperv by Greg Cusanza
Microsoft Senior Program Manager on the SCVMM Team

 

 

Great #Microsoft Fabric Management Architecture Guide #sysctr #SCVMM

This document provides specific guidance for developing a management architecture for an overall private cloud solution.
You can download this Great WhitePaper here

Making a TestLAB with Windows Server 2012 – System Center 2012 SP1 – #WindowsAzure – Hybrid #Cloud #sysctr

Hybrid Cloud Architecture

Making a testlab environment is important for your business innovation to do proof of concepts for example Hybrid Cloud scenario’s to see and experience the benefits for your Company.

In this Testlab we use the following Microsoft Products to get the Basis infrastructure for Hybrid Cloud :

• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition for Operating System and Hyper-V as Hypervisor.
• Microsoft System Center 2012 SP1 – Datacenter Edition – starting with Virtual Machine Manager
• Microsoft SQL 2012 Enterprise Server
• Microsoft Windows Azure Subscription.
• Microsoft Office 365 Subscription

When you make a Testlab environment start small and think always in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) :

• A physical / virtual Server on premises or virtual Server in the Cloud of Microsoft with Windows Azure ?
  Think of all the costs like hardware, power consumption, scalability, storage, etc ….
• Make the right choices for your bussiness

Get inspired by one of my favorite Microsoft employee Yung Chou :

He has a great blog site about Microsoft Hybrid Cloud : http://blogs.technet.com/b/yungchou/ with videos, E-books, and cool blog posts !

In the Next blogpost about TestLAB : How to make the basis infrastructure for Hybrid Cloud scenario’s.

#Microsoft Technet Virtual LABS #Cloud #sysctr #WindowsAzure #WS2012 #Sharepoint…..

TechNet Virtual Labs enable you to quickly evaluate and test Microsoft’s newest products and technologies through a series of guided, hands-on labs that you can complete in 90 minutes or less. There is no complex setup or installation required.

Related Resources

MSDN Virtual Labs These virtual labs for developers give you hands-on experience with Microsoft’s programming tools and technologies.

TechNet Evaluation Center Download Microsoft technical trial software and install it in your sandboxed environment, and then receive deployment guidance and other resources from the experts.

OR

Go to the Home site of Microsoft TechNet Virtual Labs