Building Microsoft Private Cloud Using System Center 2012: High Level design

Microsoft have a amazing private cloud solution besides its public cloud (Azure). In this blog we will cover how to build a Microsoft Private cloud. Lets face it, we are so much used to Microsoft.

If we see The picture above, you can clearly see Microsoft difference

Different componennents of System center:

  1)      Virtual machine manager

  2)      Operations manager

  3)      Configuration manager

  4)      Data protection manager

  5)      Orchestrator

  6)      Service manager

  7)      App controller

    The Flow is like below

But the architecture is

Private cloud is automating different stacks of technology. Thats what we are doing here.

for detailed implementation steps  please go to link

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles-tutorials/cloud-computing/building-private-cloud-system-center-2012-part1.html

1 year journey of Blogging- Complete Blog List

Hi

I would be completing my one year of Blogging on May 23, 2105. Exactly one year ago i started blogging. Its quite a Journey.

In this blog , I am putting list of all my blogs .

General Blogs

1.               5 Technologies that every Entrepreneur Needs - markITwrite

2.               IBM and HP: Two different talesof Tech Giants

3.               Hyper Converged System: EVO RAIL  

4.               Hyper-Converged Building Blocks in the Open Software-Defined Data Center

Cloud Computing

1.                     vCoud Director Installation and configuration

2.                     Changing Face of Managed services: A Threat to Likes of HP, IBM

3.                     HP CSA Implementation

4.                     Are HP and Intel About to Revolutionize Virtual Desktops? (HPQ, INTC)

5.                     HP CSA Vs VMware VCAC

6.                     10 best practices for cloud design

7.                     vCloud Suite Architecture-1

8.                     vCloud Suite Architecture-2

9.                     Application Suitability For Cloud

10.                 Openstack- Its importance in Cloud. The HP Helion Boost

11.                 Amazon Web Services: Global BestPracticesAmazon Web Services

12.                 AWS elasticity Understanding and using BootstrappingAmazon Web Services 

13.                 AWSElasticity Principles of elasticity

14.                 Cloud Computing and Big Data:Threat to IT Jobs and Over Hyped?

15.         MicrosoftPrivate Cloud part 1: VMM2012 Architecture

16.         MicrosoftPrivate cloud part 2: VMM2012 Installation Requirements

17.        VMwarevCloud Air : Architecture and Principles

18.         vCloud Air: ROLE BASED ACCESSCONTROLS

19.         vCloud Air: IDENTIFYING ANDDEPLOYING WORKLOADS IN VCLOUD AIR

20.       vCloud (vCAC 6): Architecture and components

21.       vCAC 6: Installation Pre-requisites 

22.       vCAC 6: Installation 

23.        vCAC 6: Configuring IaaS-Tenants and Roles

24.       Azure AD Fundamentals

25.       Changing Cloud Market

VMware Technologies/Disaster Recovery:

1. Site recovery manager and vsphere replication feature
2. USE VMware site recovery manager to test disaster recovery -optimize the disaster recovery plan 
3. USE VMware site recovery manager to test disaster recovery -2
4. USE VMware site recovery manager to test disaster recovery -1
5. VMware NSX: Overview of the Software-Defined Data Center        

Storage Sizing:

• Storage Sizing: A start
• Storage Sizing: More Detailed

Big Data:

·         Big Data- The Rise and the Future

·         Big data: Technology Stack

·         Big Data: Hadoop Distributed Filesystem (HDFS)

·         Big Data: Map Reduce

·         Big Data- Installing Hadoop ( Single Node)

·         Big Data- Apache Hadoop Multi Node

·         Big Data: Troubleshooting, Administering and optimizing Hadoop

·         Big Data: Managing HDFS

·         Big Data: Map Reduce Development

·         Big Data: Introduction to Pig

·          Big Data:Introduction to Hbase

·         Big Data: Introduction toZookeeper

·         Big Data: AMAZON ELASTICMAPREDUCE (EMR)

·         Big Data: Microsoft HDinsight

Datacenter, Transformation and Migration

·         Data Center Migration

·         Application Migration Strategy

·         Green Datacenter

Enterprise architecture- Solution Architecture

·         TOGAF: Practical implementation-1

·         TOGAF: Practical Implementation-2: Requirement Gathering- Business Architecture

·         TOGAF: Practical Implementation-3: Requirement Gathering-Information Systems Architecture, Technology architecture and Opportunities=> Solution

Citrix:

Architecting a Citrix Virtualization solution

 There are 2 parts to it:

  1)    Assessment

  2)    Design

Assessment is further divided into

·          User Community

·         Operating System Delievery

·         Application Delivery

·         Server Virtualization

·         Infrastructure

·         Security and personalization

·          Operation and Support

·         Conceptual Architecture

  Design is further divided into

·         Application Delievery design

·         Desktop Delivery design

·          Operating System Provisioning design

·         Virtualization Infrastructure Design

·         Access Design

Changing Cloud Market

In this blog we will cover changing face of cloud market.

Public cloud market is getting crowded. Now days everyone wants to provide public cloud services to the customers. The shake up has already started.

HP has declared that it is getting out of public cloud market. Wise decision.

Since the Cloud market thrives on razor thin margins, each VM costs Cents, it is increasing difficult for many vendors to survive in public cloud. Only the Big three Remains as dominant player: Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

Infrastructure as a service (IAAS) has now  high entry barrier. With huge investments and minimal returns, no new player can join the market.

So,

What other a players should do?

My thinking is that there is only few place where the money is right now in Cloud.

1) Software as a Service (SAAS): Now days anyone can go to public cloud and publish its COTS /custom application and give it as a service. SAAS has huge monetary benefits for software companies.

2) Application Transformation: There is a huge market in application transformation consulting. If the Organization wants to move its application to public or hybrid cloud environment, then it needs to make sure thats its application are cloud enabled. Application re-archeting, re-design and making them cloud enable is a goldmine.



So question is : Would you like to provide cloud services? If yes, then be prepared to provide something unique.

Azure AD Fundamenetals

Identity management is one of the most challenging tasks for an organization. In this blog we see  how to manage your organizations identities by using on Premise AD Domain Services, MS Azure AD Premium, device registration,

Create and AD in your Azure AD subscription

   1.       Sign in to the Azure management Portal

·         Open Internet explorer and go to http://manage.windowsazure.com

·         Sign in with your Azure Account

·         At the bottom of the page select new. Then select App services and Active directory

·         Select directory and Custom create

·         Under Directory select Create New directory

·         Under name of the directory, give it a name

·         Under Domain name give Unique DNS name for your directory such as Microsoft_dir

·         Under Country, select your location and click finish

   2.       Create an administrative account for the directory

·         Go to AD view on the left of the portal

·         Select the AD you created

·         Select the users pivot at the top of the portal

·         Click add User, Admin and also select role as Global admin

Integrating on Premise AD DS with Azure AD

Azure AD connects allows you to synchronize your on premise users and group object with Azure AD. Once integrated, users can use the same credentials to access on premise resources and Azure resources and Apps

Connect on Premise AD DS with Azure AD

  Ø  Run the MicrosoftAzureActiveDirecrtoryConnect.msi

·         Microsoft Azure Active Directory Connect Wizard starts

·         Accept the license Page and continue

·         On the Install Pre-requistes page, wizard automatically determines any pre-requisite are installed. If any is missing, wizard automatically downloads and install them. When the process is complete, click install

·         The Azure Tenant page Wizard opens. In Username, type AzureADadmin ( that we created earlier). Click Next. The wizard connects to Azure to verify credentials

·         On the Select Your Soluion Page, Select the AD solution that fits your organization.  The solutions are:

§  Express Settings: This solution configures synchronization between Your On premise AD DS and Azure AD

§  Custom Settings: This solution configures synchronization between Your On premise AD DS and Azure AD. This solution also allows you to configure on premise AD FS with (or without)  password synchronization, which enables full integration with your  On premise AD DS, Azure AD and devices and apps that use ADFS

·         We will use express settings. Click next, and enter credentials. Click install and its configured

Microsoft Private cloud part 2: VMM2012 Installation Requirements

VMM Management Server

The general requirements for the VMM management server include the following:

•            The VMM management server must be a member of an Active Directory domain.
•         The name of the VMM management server can have a maximum length of 15 characters.
•       Startup memory should be 3 GB if the VMM management server runs on a Hyper-V R2 SP1 host with dynamic memory enabled.
•     Running the VMM management server on a failover cluster requires Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise or Datacenter edition.

Recommended Hardware Requirements for the VMM Management Server

Hardware Component             Up to 150 Hosts                           More than 150 Hosts

Processor                                  Dual x64 CPU, 2.8 GHz                    Dual x64 CPU, 3.6 GHz

RAM                                                  4 GB                                                       8 GB

Disk                                     40 GB (without local VMM database)     50 GB (without local VMM database)

                 150 GB (with local, full version of Microsoft SQL Server) 150 GB (with local, full version of Microsoft SQL Server)

Software Requirements for the VMM Management Server

Software Requirement                                                 

A supported operating system                      

Windows Remote Management  (WinRM) 2.0

Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1 T

Windows Automated  Installation Kit (WAIK) for Windows 7

VMM Console

Installing a VMM management server automatically includes installing the VMM console. The VMM management server must be a member of an Active Directory domain. Table 4.3 lists recommended hardware requirements for the VMM

console.

.

Recommended Hardware Requirements for the VMM Console

Hardware Component                    Up to 150 Hosts                                                   More than 150 Hosts

Processor                                             Dual x86 or x64 CPU, 1.0 GHz                            Dual x86 or x64 CPU, 2.0 GHz

RAM                                                                1 GB                                                                     2 GB

Disk                                                                 2 GB                                                                     4 GB

VMM Self-Service Portal

The general requirements for the VMM self-service portal include the following:

·         Installation must be on a separate (virtual) machine.

·         The self-service portal cannot be installed on a domain controller.

·         Client computers accessing the self-service portal must use Internet Explorer 8 or later.

·         The requirements for the VMM self-service portal depend on the number of simultaneous connections to the web server.

Recommended Hardware Requirements for the VMM Self-Service Portal

Hardware Component                       10 Connections or Fewer                         More than 10 Connections

Processor                                                  Single x64 CPU, 2.8 GHz                            Single x64 CPU, 2.8 GHz

RAM                                                                       2 GB                                                         8 GB

Disk                                                                      20 GB                                                       40 GB

VMM Database

The general requirements for the VMM database portal include the following:

·         The VMM database server must be a member of an Active Directory domain. If that domain differs from the one containing the VMM server, a two-way trust relationship must exist between the two domains.

·         The name of the server cannot exceed 15 characters.

·         The SQL instance needs to be case-insensitive with collation type SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. Types other than Latin1 are supported as long as the collation type is CP1_CI_AS.

·         The required server roles for the VMM admin account on the VMM database are dbcreator, process admin, and security admin.

·         Database role membership should be db_owner.

   Recommended Hardware Requirements for the VMM Database Server

  Hardware Component           Up to 150 Hosts                                                   More than 150 Hosts

  Processor                                            Dual x64 CPU, 2.8 GHz or faster                  Dual x64 CPU, 2.8 GHz or faster 

  RAM                                                    4 GB                                                              8 GB

  Disk                                                     150 GB                                                          200 GB

  Software Requirements for the VMM Database Server

Software                                            Requirement Notes

  A supported operating system          A full installation of Windows Server 2008 R2 (Standard, Enterprise, or

                                                                Datacenter) with SP1 or later. If SQL Server is clustered, only Enterprise and

                                                                 Datacenter are supported.

  SQL Server versions                           SQL Server 2008 R2 Datacenter (32-bit and 64-bit) with SP1 or later

                                                          SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (32-bit and 64-bit) with SP1 or later

  SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard (32-bit and 64-bit) with SP1 or later

  SQL Server 2008 Enterprise (32-bit and 64-bit) with SP2 or later

  SQL Server 2008 Standard (32-bit and 64-bit) with SP2 or

  VMM Library Server

  The VMM library server is essentially a store for the physical fi les that serve as the building blocks for Hyper-V hosts, virtual machines, and services. The templates and metadata are actually stored in the VMM database. Examples include the following:

·         VM and service templates

·         Service deployment confi gurations

·         Virtual hard disks

·         ISO images

·         Scripts

·         Several types of profi les

·         Stored virtual machines and services

·         Update baselines and catalogs

  The general requirements for the VMM library server include the following:

·         The VMM library server must be a member of an Active Directory domain. If that domain differs from the one containing the VMM server, a two-way trust relationship must exist between the two domains.

·         The name of the server cannot exceed 15 characters.

·         VMM includes support for highly available library shares on a failover cluster.

·         VMM requires an SMB/CIFS-based fi le server. It does not support case-sensitive fi le servers such as Windows Services for UNIX or NFS.

   Hardware component                           Recommended Hardware Requirement

   Processor                                               Dual x86 or x64 CPU, 3.2 GHz or faster

   RAM                                                       2 GB

   Disk                                                       Depends on the number and size of library files

   Software Requirements

   Software Requirement                                                     Notes

   A supported operating system               A core or full installation of Windows Server 2008 R2                                                                           (Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter) with SP1 or later (x64). If                                                             the VMM library is clustered, only Enterprise or Datacenter SKU                                                            is supported.A core or full installation of Windows Server 2008                                                              with SP2 (x86 or x64). If the VMM library is clustered, only                                                                  Enterprise or Datacenter SKU is supported. Windows Server                                                                  2008 R2 with SP1 or later is the preferred operating system.

  Windows remote management

(WinRM) 1.1 or 2.0

                                                 WinRM 1.1 is included in Windows Server 2008 and the WS-                                                                 Management service is set to start automatically (delayed start).WinRM                                            2.0 is included in Windows Server 2008 R2, and theWS-Management service                                        is set to start automatically (delayed start).

Microsoft Private Cloud part 1: VMM2012 Architecture

This series is about Microsoft Private Cloud.
We will start by discussing VMM 2012 architecture, topology and ports . This is the one of the most important aspect of Microsoft private cloud
We are not discussing VMM2012 features or capabilities.



VMM 2012 Architecture

VMM2012 Topology

Now we need to look at the Ports. Below are the default ports for VMM2012

Now is the VMM Architecture with ports