Sessions from NIC 2012 – now available

As I recently wrote earlier this week, the NIC conference was held for the first time in January 2012 here in Norway in Oslo Spektrum.

I had 2 sessions, one session where I explained Cloud Computing and especially the Private Cloud, and one session where I introduced System Center App Controller with the cloud, explaining the service concept in both VMM 2012 (Private Cloud) and Windows Azure (Public Cloud).

You can watch the “App Controller session” here: http://vimeo.com/nicconf/review/35056290/3bbb35aab9

I will post my Private Cloud session once it`s available.

Deploy Services to Azure from App Controller (Part Three)

After you have created the required connections to both your private and public clouds, and set up the libraries to serve your clouds with resources, you should easily be able to deploy new services in both clouds using App Controller.

From your Public Cloud Library:

1.       First, copy the packages over to your public cloud library

2.       Right click your package and click ‘Deploy’

3.       Give your service a name and a public url, and specify the preferred region (you can also specify an affinity group if you have set up this)

4.       Select this hosted service for deployment

5.       Name this deployment and eventually specify the operating system version (Azure OS), and select stage or production. If this service is ready to you and you want it to be available immediate, select production

6.       You can eventually specify the roles and instances as well. In this example, 1 instance is enough

After the job is done, you`ll find your service up and running in the Services tab in App Controller.



Use your VMM 2012 library for you Windows Azure Applications (Part Two)

App Controller contain some nice features when it comes to managing your resources both in your private cloud, and also in Microsoft`s public cloud, Windows Azure.

One thing I find quite useful is that you can create a folder in your VMM 2012 library containing your Windows Azure packages, and then move them to your public library so that they will be available for your application owners/developers.

Create a folder in your VMM 2012 library and copy your Azure application packages

Connect to your VMM 2012 library share in App Controller

Create a public library if you have not done this:

On the Library page, expand Cloud Libraries and then expand the Windows Azure node.       Expand the Windows Azure subscription in which the new container should be created.       Select the Windows Azure storage account in which the new container should be created.       Click Create Container.       In the Create Container dialog box, enter the new container name. The container name must be a valid DNS name. For more information about naming containers, see Naming Containers, Blobs, and Metadata.       Click OK.

How to Copy Files From Local Shares to Public or Private Cloud Libraries
            Copy Files from Local Shares to Public Cloud Libraries

Authorized users can copy files from shares to their corresponding public cloud libraries.

To copy files from shares to a Windows Azure Cloud Library

Go to the Library page and navigate to the share from which files should be copied.       Select the file or files to be copied.       Click Copy.       Navigate to the Windows Azure storage container.       Click Paste.

Case Studies - Uni Micro and Cloud Computing

How can you take advantage of all the new features in VMM 2012, and how can it solve some of the issues and challenges thar you may be familiar with on a day-to-day basis?

Since my company is one of the major Windows Azure partners in Norway, it gives you a hint that we have some skilled developers on our payroll.
To adopt Windows Azure and the cloud in general, we started with a private cloud to be able to test, start new projects, and jump onto new markets.

You can read the Case Study here, and how we`re using VMM, App Controller, Hyper-V and Windows Azure. http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?CaseStudyID=4000011486

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,