Management Updates : System Center

Microsoft System Center - April 2006

ManagementUpdates — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 21:40:33 GMT

Microsoft packages server management licensing to simplify purchasing process

The inclusive offering from Microsoft, called System Center Standard Server Management License (SML), is an alternative to the current process of buying individual licenses for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, Systems Manager Server 2003 and Data Protection Manager 2006. “This simplifies the acquisition process. You only have to purchase one SKU," Nina Sundberg, a senior product manager in Microsoft's management group. "We are taking the cost down 30% as opposed to purchasing the standalone licenses."
Joan Goodchild – SearchWinIT.com

MMS 2006 Keynote Sessions

Attend these exciting and insightful keynote sessions to learn about Microsoft’s future plans for IT Management and how Microsoft manages it own desktops, severs, and applications.

Tuesday, April 25: The opening keynote will be presented by Bob Muglia, Senior Vice President, Server and Tools Business at Microsoft Corporation. The session will cover the Windows Server System promises for simplifying IT, delivering on Self Managing Dynamic Systems and more.
Wednesday, April 26: The midweek keynote by Kirill Tatarinov, Corporate Vice President, Windows Enterprise Management Division at Microsoft Corporation will drill into System Center’s role in helping deliver on simplifying IT, including a scorecard review and a glimpse into the next wave of System Center deliverables.
Thursday, April 27: In the final keynote, Ron Markezich, Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Managed Solutions at Microsoft Corporation will speak about how Microsoft IT is delivering services as a key business enabler for the Microsoft Enterprise.

System Center DPM & HP Proliant DPSS

Download this 24-page supplement that not only shows you how to implement a full backup, recovery and data protection service, but also explains how to incorporate DPM into an existing Windows Server environment (Windows Server, Active Directory, Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003), while assessing in a practical way the working of DPM with HP Proliant Data Protection Storage Server.

Microsoft System Center - March 2006

ManagementUpdates — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 00:41:00 GMT

DPM and Windows Server 2003 R2 Data Protection Solution

Learn how Microsoft is creating "better together" solutions for data protection through DPM and Windows Server 2003 R2. Combining these independent technologies, you'll have a comprehensive data storage and recovery solution that lets you increase availability and failover via windows Server 2003 R2, while centralizing backup and protection of branch office servers through DPM. Download trial versions of both products and read how you can get protected and stay productive.

Microsoft System Center - February 2006

ManagementUpdates — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 03:01:00 GMT

Introducing System Center Capacity Planner 2006 exclusively available via TechNet Plus Subscription

SCCP 2006 employs state of the art modeling technology to bring unprecedented functionality and flexibility to performance analysis and planning of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 deployments. SCCP provides IT professionals with guidance to plan an effective deployment, while also allowing for future planning "what-if" scenarios. To learn more visit http://www.microsoft.com/sccp and to find out more about TechNet including how to subscribe visit www.microsoft.com/technet

System Center Reporting Manager (SCRM) 2006 Release Candidate is Now Available

System Center Reporting Manager (SCRM) 2006 is a data warehouse and reporting platform that will help IT managers better support corporate decision making, improve the quality of service provided and more effectively administer IT resources through improved reporting capabilities and management data integration.

With SCRM 2006, customers will be able to solve important business scenarios like:

1. Monitoring the effectiveness of controls to make sure certain computers are adequately patched.

2. Correlating the impact of recent hardware or software changes with system performance.
3. Faster troubleshooting by easily comparing configurations between servers or desktops with a known baseline.
4. Associating systems management information with a customer’s unique organization structure by providing reports that show:
5. Status of critical patches or software updates on computers in a specific department or cost center
6. Servers supporting a specific division or application that are being managed by SMS and not MOM, or MOM and not SMS.
7. Alerts and other performance data for servers supporting a specific business application.
8. Opportunities to reduce costs for a business unit by identifying underutilized hardware.

This Release is for evaluation use only and is intended to enable you to become more familiar with the product and provide valuable feedback to ensure we deliver a winning product to the market.

The Release is available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/systemcenter/evaluation/overview/reporting/beta.mspx

We look forward to your valuable feedback on this new product.
We encourage you to download the product, work with it, and openly share your thoughts with us!

Microsoft System Center - Updates and News, December 2005

ManagementUpdates — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 09:53:00 GMT

System Center Capacity Planner 2006 will RTM in December 2005

System Center Capacity Planner 2006 employs state of the art modeling, analytical, and simulation technology to provide the IT Professional with the guidance required to plan a deployment of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 in the most efficient manner, while also allowing for “what-if” analysis for future planning. Future releases of System Center Capacity Planner will provide support for additional Microsoft applications, as well as deliver an SDK to enable 3rd party companies and customers to build custom capacity modeling packs for their own applications.

Integrated Management Solution for Small and Medium Sized Businesses, through System Center Essentials

System Center Essentials is an integrated product that helps IT professionals in midsize organizations (50-500 PCs) easily secure, update, monitor, and track their IT environment allowing IT to more effectively support end users. System Center Essentials will provide a single console for IT generalists to perform monitoring, updates, basic asset management and deployment functions. The monitoring component of Systems Center Essentials will be based on MOMv3; a technology preview of MOM V3 service oriented monitoring capabilities were demonstrated in Bob Muglia’s keynote. This announcement is in support of Microsoft’s commitment to deliver best-in-class management technologies that serve the unique and diverse needs of midsize organizations by providing solutions that will deliver a higher return on investment with a low level of complexity. In addition to becoming available as a standalone product in 2007, System Center Essentials will be included as a part of “Centro”, the new infrastructure solution that brings together Windows Server ‘Longhorn’, next generation Exchange Server and security technologies for mid-sized companies.