| Volume 10, Issue 26: December 17, 2008 | Note from the Editor | | | Greetings and welcome to the TechNet Flash Special Virtualization Edition. As we end the year with a financial crisis in full swing, and the specter of more IT budget cuts is glowing on the horizon, there's no better time to discover the IT cost benefits of a solid virtualization strategy. Doing more with less… well, that's what virtualization is all about, right? Absolutely - it's about that and more. It's about efficiency, a greener IT footprint, less management overhead and, yes, ROI. Microsoft has put together a great set of resources to help you build your virtualized environment. If you haven't done so, it's time to figure out what all that unused server capacity is actually costing you. Use the Microsoft Integrated Virtualization ROI Tool to help build your business case. The tool is a return-on-investment calculator developed independently by ex-Gartner TCO/ROI experts at leading ROI tool developer Alinean, Inc. Now also would be a great to time enhance your skills with key virtualization technologies by checking out the new training resources. See the training section below for special savings offers on virtualization training. Speaking of savings, spend a few minutes watching this short new video and learn about the multiple ways virtualization can achieve cost savings. One example of savings is in the area of power consumption. Not only is electricity expensive, its increasing consumption is harmful to the environment. Determine the impact that virtualization can have on your green IT initiatives with the Hyper-V "Green" Toolbox. The tool helps you create a virtualization report that you can share. To go beyond the savings inherent in virtualization technology, download this white paper to see how businesses today are already achieving additional cost savings due to the unique way that Microsoft built virtualization into our server, desktop, and management platforms, and through innovative pricing and licensing which lower both acquisition and ongoing ownership costs. Then go hands-on with the technology by downloading and installing the free Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, a cost-effective solution that conveniently plugs into existing IT infrastructures, and allows you to leverage existing patching, provisioning, management and support tools and processes. Virtualization is a game-changing concept, and with it comes changes in the way we think about administering and securing those virtual resources. Read on for more guidance on planning your virtualized environment and gaining the associated cost benefits. Mitch Irsfeld
Editor, TechNet Flash |
Training | | This collection of three 2-hour and one 1-hour online clinics provides IT professionals experienced in Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 with the knowledge and skills to implement and manage virtualization technologies. | | | Mitch Tullock provides a thorough look at the capabilities, features, and operations of Microsoft virtualization technologies from the desktop to the datacenter, and how to plan, implement, and manage virtual infrastructure solutions. | | | This collection of five 2-hour courses helps you develop the skills necessary for implementing and managing Hyper-V in an IT environment, as well as creating and managing virtual machines and hosts in a virtual environment. Use promo code 9350-Y2W6-3676 to receive your discount. Please note: you must use the link above to take advantage of this offer. | | | Once you've taken the preparation course, you can take the certification exam at a reduced price. This exam will test your skills in installing, configuring, and optimizing Hyper-V; and in deploying, managing, and monitoring virtual machines using System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008. Use the promo code USHYPERV at checkout to receive your discount. | Learning Snacks:
Downloads & Evaluations | | The standalone Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 is a great choice for customers who want a basic and simplified virtualization solution for consolidating servers as well as for development and test environments. Hyper-V Server 2008 only offers a basic set of virtualization features, making it ideal for: Test and Development, Basic Server Consolidation, Branch Office Consolidation, and Hosted Desktop Virtualization (VDI). If you need a richer and more robust feature set, such as Quick Migration, multi-site clustering, large memory support (greater than 32 GB of RAM), and more than four processors on the host server, check out Hyper-V Update for Windows Server 2008. | | | Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 is a comprehensive virtual management solution optimized for Hyper-V, Microsoft Virtual Server, and VMware infrastructures, enabling easy and fast consolidation of physical servers onto virtual machine infrastructure and rapid provisioning of new virtual workloads. | | | The Microsoft Assessment and Planning toolkit is a tool that makes it easy for you to assess your current IT infrastructure for a variety of technology migration projects. It includes the features previously provided with the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Solution Accelerator. | | | Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2008 Update 1 is the recommended process and toolset to automate desktop and server deployment. |
Managing the Virtualized Environment | | John Howard blogs on "HVRemote," a tool that automagically configures Hyper-V Remote Management. Check out John's blog for other useful virtualization and Hyper-V how-to content. | | | System Center Virtual Machine Manager provides a consolidated interface for managing your virtual infrastructure. The latest version adds support for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, as well as for VMware virtual machines. Explore the new features and get an overview of using VMM to centralize your management tasks. | | | Virtual machines that are stored offline don't automatically receive the necessary updates to keep them safe and compliant. This, in turn, can pose a risk to your entire IT environment. Find out how the free Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool lets you automate the process of updating virtual machines. | | | This white paper describes a series of test results on configurations representing a variety of possible scenarios involving SQL Server running in Hyper-V. It also presents best practice recommendations for configuration. |
Virtualization Webcasts & Videos | | Keith Combs discusses a general overview of Windows Server 2008 Virtualization including how you create and manage virtual machines. | | | In this webcast, we discuss current and future Intel VT technologies and describe the Intel vision of hardware-assisted virtualization. We also address installation, management, and high availability of the Hyper-V Server role on an Intel server chipset platform. | | | In this webcast, we explain how you can use these technologies to smartly apply desktop-focused virtualization and management strategies to a large network environment and improve overall workstation agility using technologies that your organization may already own. |
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| |  | | | | From TechNet Magazine An Introduction to Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 The introduction of Hyper-V makes virtualization an even more compelling solution for IT environments. Get an overview of today's virtualization market and see how Hyper-V improves the manageability, reliability, and security of virtualization. Essential Tools for Planning Your Virtual Infrastructure Is your infrastructure ready for virtualization? The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit, a network-wide infrastructure assessment tool, can help you better understand your IT infrastructure and determine whether your systems are ready for upgrade or migration to a variety of technologies, including virtualization. Achieving High Availability for Hyper-V Consolidating servers onto fewer physical machines has many advantages, but it is extremely important that you plan for your systems to be highly available. Here's a guide to using Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering to bring high availability to your Hyper-V virtual machines. Backup and Disaster Recovery for Server Virtualization Virtualization brings significant changes to disaster recovery. Here's an introduction to how the Microsoft virtualization platform factors into your disaster recovery plan, as well as a deeper look into backup and restore options and considerations for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. Presentation Virtualization with Enhanced Terminal Services Virtualization isn't limited to virtual machines and the virtualization of operating systems. Terminal Services has been abstracting the presentation layer of remotely run applications and desktops for years. Take a close look at key improvements to Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and get some tips for using these new features. | | TechNet Plus Direct | • | Full library of Microsoft software for evaluation without limits | | • | Immediate access through subscriber downloads | | • | Two Professional Support incidents | | • | Access to beta software before public beta releases | | • | Exclusive tools and utilities | | | | | | | | Personalize Your Flash Let us know your technology interests. When you personalize your Flash experience, additional content for your selected topics can be found in every edition in Your Featured Content. | | | © 2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics, Expression, Forefront, Hyper-V, Internet Explorer, Outlook, Silverlight, SoftGrid, SQL Server, Visual Studio, Windows, Windows Mobile, Windows Server, and Windows Vista are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. To cancel your subscription to this newsletter, reply to this message with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject line. You can also unsubscribe at the Microsoft.com Web site. You can manage all your Microsoft.com communication preferences at this site. Legal Information. This newsletter was sent by the Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, Washington, USA 98052 | | | | |
