Microsoft - MCSE: Private Cloud

Curriculum

Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud

Module 1: Introduction to the Cloud Model

This module explains the key business and technical requirements behind choosing a cloud model and the elements it contains. The module also shows how to use Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 to monitor and operate clouds, ensuring that it is configured correctly and running in a healthy state. Finally, you will use System Center to verify cloud infrastructure for the cloud environment.

• Overview of the Cloud Computing Model
• Requirements for a Private Cloud
• Requirements for a Public or Hybrid Cloud
• Operating a Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure with System Center
• Maintaining the Health of a Cloud
• Integrating System Center Components

Module 2: Configuring a Private Cloud Environment

This module examines how Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 - Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) plays a pivotal role in the private cloud. The module first provides an overview of Virtual Machine Manager, and will then show how it is used to manage a virtual environment. Additionally, this module explains how to create private clouds by using Virtual Machine Manager. In the lab, you will create a private cloud and then optimize it so that is ready for production use.

• Overview of System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager
• Managing the Virtual Environment with Virtual Machine Manager
• Creating Clouds

Module 3: Deploying Cloud Services

This module reviews the key elements that form a service in VMM and how the service is deployed to the private cloud.

• Overview of Service Templates
• VMM Profiles
• Web Deploy Packages
• Overview of Server App-V
• Data-Tier Application Packages
• Deploying Services through App Controller

Module 4: Monitoring Cloud Based Applications

When you provide services in a cloud, performance and availability of the service must be monitored and maintained. Monitoring of the service should be proactive and should provide detailed information, including alert notifications and reports to let you know when potential issues are about to occur in the environment that the service is running in. When issues do occur, you should have the ability to automatically take action and remediate where appropriate, which helps keep the service available and provides the performance and usability that end users expect. This module shows how Operations Manager is used to monitor the services deployed in a cloud.

• Overview of System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager
• Agent Deployment in Operations Manager
• Configuring Custom Monitoring
• Monitoring the Network Infrastructure
• Monitoring Distributed Applications

Module 5: Configuring Application Performance Monitoring

This module explains how to configure APM to monitor the performance and availability of a .NET application. Additionally, it discusses how Operations Manager 2012 R2 detects and reports failure of these monitors with its alerting and diagnostics tools.

Module 6: Operating and Extending Service Management in the Private Cloud

This module covers the core features of Service Manager and the security model that supports it. It also covers how to map critical IT processes to Service Manager, and how to use the features of Service Manager to administer these processes. Additionally, the module describes methods to create and manage change requests, incidents, and release records.

• Overview of Service Manager
• Configuring Security and User Roles
• Configuring Work Items
• Configuring Incident Queues
• Configuring Service Offerings for a Cloud

Module 7: Automating Incident Creation, Remediation, and Change Requests

This module describes Orchestrator, reviews the integration features that are available through the installation of the System Center Integration Packs, and explains the processes to follow in setting up automation between Operations Manager and Service Manager.

• Overview of System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator
• Integrating Orchestrator with Operations Manager and Service Manager

Module 8: Problem Management in the Private Cloud

This module explains how a defined set of processes can help reduce the time to resolve problems. It also reviews how incidents and problems are managed within Service Manager. Additionally, this module explains how the integration of Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator, and System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager can provide an automated method of generating problem records in Service Manager.

• Overview of Problem Management
• Creating Custom Rules

Module 9: Automating Self-Service Provisioning

The process of managing public or private clouds involves many processes, activities, and functions. To provide services through a public or private cloud, you should perform many data center activities, such as provisioning the virtual machines, network, and storage. Once the service is deployed, you need to manage and maintain it, which involves a different set of processes and activities. This module introduces the Microsoft System Center 2012 Cloud Services Process Pack that delivers many of the functions and processes that are required to deliver services to a private cloud.

Additionally, this module explains how to install and configure the System Center Cloud Services Process Pack, including integrating it with other System Center 2012 R2 components.

Module 10: Operating a Self-Service, Multi-tenant Cloud with Windows Azure Pack

In this module you will learn how the Windows Azure Pack can be used to provide a self-service portal for tenants and administrators, and a multi-tenant framework for onboarding users. You will also learn how to provision web site, virtual machine and service bus clouds as well as looking at providing database services and automation.

• Windows Azure Pack Key Concepts
• Administer Windows Azure Pack
• Windows Azure Pack Providers

Module 11: High Availability, Protection, and Recovery for the Cloud

This module explains how to manage a highly available cloud Infrastructure using SQL Server 2012 Always-On, Hyper-V Replica and Azure Cloud Recovery. This module also details how to use Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 - Data Protection Manager (DPM) to provide data protection for a cloud.

• High Availability for a Cloud
• Protecting Data in the Private Cloud
• Recovering Data in the Private Cloud

Module 12: Optimizing Your Cloud Infrastructure

It is important that your cloud infrastructure is managed and maintained at all times to ensure it is operating at optimum levels. To facilitate this you should ensure that the cloud infrastructure is kept current with the most recent security and application updates. Virtual Machines hosted in the cloud infrastructure should also be kept up to date. In this module you will learn how Virtual Machine Manager can be used to keep your cloud infrastructure up to date.

• Using Virtual Machine Manager to Keep the Cloud infrastructure Up-To-Date
• Using Configuration Manager to Keep Virtual Machines Up-To-Date
• Using System Center Advisor to Optimize Cloud infrastructure
• Using Pro-Tips to Optimize Cloud infrastructure

Module 13: Configuring SLAs, Dashboards, and Widgets

As an IT operations toolset, Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 produces and collects a vast array of data. The challenge for IT organizations as a whole is to gather this information and present it in a meaningful way to the relevant stakeholders. This module explains the various available methodologies within System Center to collect, measure, and scorecard the performance and availability of the private cloud infrastructure.

• Service Level Tracking
• Configuring and Deploying Widgets and Dashboards
• Publishing Real-Time State with Microsoft Visio Snap-in
• System Center Analytics
• Using Excel and SSRS to View Data
• Configuring Service Reporting

Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud

Module 1: Planning for the Cloud

Planning a hybrid cloud involves understanding these tools and technologies so that you can use them to create an internal infrastructure that will support cloud computing within your organization. In this module, you will learn the basics about Microsoft’s private and public cloud offerings, and about Microsoft cloud services.

• Understanding Cloud Models
• Benefits of Deploying a Private Cloud
• Designing a Private Cloud Infrastructure
• Overview of Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V
• Overview of System Center 2012 R2 components
• Deploying Hyper-V Clustering with VMM

Module 2: Configuring and Deploying the Private Cloud with Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager

Creating a private cloud infrastructure is an important part of the cloud computing concept. Private cloud infrastructure is a collection of various components such as hardware, software, configurations, profiles, instances, and connectivity that together run within your own or a service provider data center. In order to build a private cloud infrastructure, you will need to learn about the software and technologies that are available to help you achieve this goal. In this module, you will learn how to build a private cloud infrastructure by using Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager (VMM).

• Overview of VMM Architecture and Components
• Configuring Advanced Networking in VMM
• Installing and Upgrading VMM
• Configuring VMM Security and Roles
• Understanding Host Groups

Module 3: Extending and Maintaining the Cloud Infrastructure

Maintaining the infrastructure in Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 - Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) includes tasks such as adding new Windows Server Hyper-V host servers, and ensuring that the infrastructure components contain the latest approved software updates. VMM provides support for converting a physical server without an operating system into a fully managed Hyper-V host. VMM also integrates functionality provided by the Windows Server 2008 R2 feature Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), to ensure that all servers are compliant with the latest update baseline requirements.

In this module, you will learn about integrating features provided by Windows Deployment Services (Windows DS) and WSUS to help extend and manage the VMM private cloud infrastructure.

• Overview of the PXE and Update Server Roles
• Deploying Bare-Metal Hyper-V Host Servers
• Configuring the Update Server Role
• Creating and Using an Update Baseline

Module 4: Configuring Application Delivery

Private clouds benefit from using virtual resources that make new workload deployments easier. Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 - Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) allows you to use web deployment packages, Microsoft Server Application Virtualization (Server App-V), and other methods to simplify the process for deploying services and applications to your private cloud. These methods enable you to deploy, resize, and update many of the applications deployed to your private cloud. In this module, you will learn how to use the Microsoft Web Deployment Tool and Server App-V to dynamically deploy applications in your private cloud.

• Dynamic Application Deployment Overview
• Web Deployment Packages
• Server Application Virtualization Overview
• Configuring Server App-V Components
• Sequencing and Deploying Virtual Applications

Module 5: Creating the Private Cloud Building Blocks

In this module you will learn about the profile configurations that you can use as a foundation for virtual machine deployment templates and service templates. You will also learn how to configure user self-service in Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager (VMM), which allows you to delegate virtual machine management tasks.

• Configuring Templates and Profiles
• Configuring Networks and Sites
• Configuring Service Provider Foundation
• Configuring User Roles

Module 6: Deploying and Configuring Access to a Private Cloud

A private cloud is one of the main concepts in Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 - Virtual Machine Manager (VMM). By defining a private cloud, you define a set of resources and technologies that are available to users. To create and manage private clouds, you need to understand the private cloud concept, in addition to its properties and components. You also need a clear understanding of how private cloud services and technologies in VMM provide end users with private cloud accessibility. In this module, you will learn about private clouds, Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 - App Controller, and private cloud services.

• Understanding Private Cloud Resources
• Installing and Configuring App Controller
• Creating and Managing Service Templates

Module 7: Monitoring a Cloud infrastructure

You can use Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager to monitor your cloud infrastructure. By using Operations Manager, you can gather performance information and receive notifications when problems occur. This module explains how you can provide end-to-end monitoring and visibility of your hybrid cloud environment.

• Operations Manager Architecture and Security
• Operations Manager Installation Considerations
• Configuring Roles and Notifications
• Configuring Management Packs
• Configuring Integration with System Center 2012 R2

Module 8: Extending and Customizing Monitoring of the Cloud Infrastructure

The standard management packs for platforms, such as Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager and Windows Azure, allow you to monitor the individual components of your hybrid cloud. However, your monitoring needs are likely to extend beyond the base set of monitoring that comes with standard management packs. If you want to monitor applications for which there is no specific management pack, such as an in house written application, then you need to create your own management pack. To simplify monitoring of custom applications, Operations Manager includes templates for monitoring various application components or functions. This module explains how you can extend and customize the monitoring of the cloud infrastructure with Operations Manager.

• Configuring System Center Advisor
• Configuring the SharePoint Server Portal
• Monitoring Templates
• Distributed Application Monitoring

Module 9: Implementing Service Management for the Cloud

To implement service management in a cloud environment and provide business process automation you should understand how to install and configure Service Manager. Service Manager provides an integrated platform for automating and adapting your organization’s IT service management best practices, such as those found in Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) and IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). Service Manager provides built-in processes for incident and problem resolution, change control, and asset life cycle management. In this module, you will learn about the Service Manager architecture, upgrade options, work items, connectors, and notifications.

• Service Manager Architecture Overview
• Upgrading to System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager
• Understanding Service Manager Work Items
• Configuring Service Manager Connectors
• Configuring Service Manager Notifications

Module 10: Configuring High Availability, Disaster Recovery and Protection for a Cloud

It is recommended that your cloud infrastructure is designed to be highly available and resilient. Hyper-V replica provides the ability to replicate a virtual machine from one host to the other in real time. Microsoft Hyper-V Recovery Manager builds on Hyper-V Replica by providing orchestration in failover scenarios. Data Protection Manager provides protection and recovery for your cloud infrastructure and virtual machines running within it. This module explains how you can configure high-availability, disaster recovery and protection for a cloud.

• Planning for Hyper-V Recovery Manager
• Planning DPM deployment
• DPM Architecture and Components
• Upgrading DPM
• Configuring DPM for a Private Cloud
• Configuring Application Protection for a Cloud
• Restoring Applications to a Cloud

Module 11: Automating and Standardizing a Cloud

A cloud is more than just a virtualized platform; it must offer self-service administration and flexible deployment options. To facilitate this, you must use automation to streamline activities and provide additional control to the administrators. Automation can improve the speed and accuracy of administrative tasks while reducing the overall cost. This modules explains how to automate and standardize a cloud with System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator.

• Orchestrator Architecture and Components Overview
• Deploying and Configuring Core Components
• Managing Runbooks
• Configuring Integration Packs

Module 12: Configuring a Self-Service and Multi-tenant Private Cloud

Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 provides the infrastructure to create a private cloud. Once you have that infrastructure in place, you can enhance the user experience by automating the private cloud provisioning and management. This final module explains how you can configure a self-service and multi-tenant private cloud by using the Cloud Services Process Pack and Windows Azure Pack.

• Implementing the Cloud Services Process Pack
• Configuring the Windows Azure Pack