Wednesday, November 9, 2011

System Center AppController - More spaghetti? (part 1)

System Center AppController (changed from «Codename Concero») is available and you can grab it from here!

So what`s up with this tool? All the 2012 editions of the System Center portfolio are focusing on cloud computing. AppController is no exception.

It is a small piece of software that open the doors to both Private Clouds (VMM 2012) and Public Clouds (Windows Azure).

It is a web-based management solution that lets you manage multiple public and private clouds in your organization, and you can therefore deploy services to both public and private cloud.



Some key benefits:



·         Connect to and manage Windows Azure subscriptions and private clouds on VMM 2012

·         Deploy and manage services and VMs across multiple public and private clouds

·         Manage and share file resources, service templates and VM Templates

·         Delegate role-based access to users for the management of services and resources on public and private clouds

 Just another Self-Service Portal?

Obviously, the answer is yes. And no.

You will still have the option to deploy VMs though the biggest focus in this portal is the Service (service is equal to application).

So why should you consider the System Center AppControll if you already have the VMM 2012 Self-Service Portal?

1.       You have developers and application owners that need to manage subscriptions and applications running in Windows Azure.

2.       You have multiple VMM servers within your organization (AppController can connect to multiple VMM servers/private clouds).

3.       You love Silverlight.

Install

        1.   A supported operating system (Windows Server 2008 R2 Full Installation – Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter. ServicePack 1 or earlier

2.       Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (The AppController setup will install it for you).

3.       Web Server (IIS) with Static Content, Default Document, Directory Browsing, HTTP Errors, ASP.NET .NET Extensibility, ISAPI Extenstions, ISAPI Filters, HTTP Logging, Request Monitor, Tracing, Basic Authentication, Windows Authentication, Request Filtering, Static Content Compression, IIS Management Console. And yes – The AppController setup will install everything.

4.       VMM 2012 Console.

5.       A supported SQL Server (SQL 2008 R2 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter, SQL 2008 SP2 Standard or Enterprise. Both x86 and x64 are supported)

6.       Make sure the computer you install on is a member of an Active Directory Domain

7.       Best practice – do not install AppController on your VMM server



Connect to public and private clouds

Once the AppController service is up and running, you can access it through Internet Explorer 9 (remember to install Silverlight).



Connect to the public cloud

To connect AppController to a Windows Azure subscription, you need the subscription ID and a Personal Information Exchange (.pfx) file that you have exported, and also the password to it.

      1.    On the Clouds page click Connect and click Windows Azure Subscription

2.       Enter a name for the subscription. This name is displayed in the Clouds column

3.       Fill inn the Subscription ID (get the ID from the Windows Azure Portal)

4.       Import the .pfx file and enter the password

5.       You`re done!



 Connect to the private cloud

       1.    On the Clouds page click connect and then click VMM Server

2.       Enter a name for this connection. This name is displayed in the Clouds column

3.       In the VMM server name box, enter the FQDN of the VMM management server¨

4.       Enter the port needed for communicating with the VMM server. This port should be the same within the entire VMM infrastructure (default port: 8100).

5.       Check Automatically Import SSL certificates. This is required when you intend to copy files and templates to and from VMM cloud libraries.

6.       Click OK

7.       You may then be asked to select which VMM user role to use from the new VMM server connection for the current session



There you go!

Next time, we`ll take a closer look at when the IT-pro meet the developer in the cloud (part 2).




Cheers,

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