Yung Chou - Microsoft System Center: Cloud Management with App Controller

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013952564
ISBN: 978-0-7356-8308-2

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M icrosoft System Center 2012 R2 App Controller is uniquely positioned as both an enabler and a self-service vehicle for connecting clouds and implementing the hybrid computing model. In Microsofts cloud computing solutions, both System Center and Windows Azure play critical roles. System Center can be used to transform enterprise IT from a device-based infrastructure and deployment strategy to a service-based user-centric consumption model based on private cloud computing. Windows Azure on the other hand is a subscription-based public cloud platform that enables the development, deployment, and management of cloud solutions. App Controller is the glue that unifies these two platforms by providing a single interface that enables administrators to perform complex operations without overwhelming them with the underlying technical complexities involved.

This book serves as an introduction to implementing and managing the hybrid computing solutions using App Controller. It describes the basic concepts, processes, and operations involved in connecting, consuming, and managing resources that are deployed both on and off premises. Each chapter provides a concise, self-contained walkthrough for a specific aspect of managing private, public, and hybrid clouds using App Controller.

While cloud computing is still evolving, the hybrid approach will likely continue to emerge as the go-to IT computing model for the foreseeable future. Using App Controller to strategically connect both on-premises System Center private clouds with off-premises deployments in both Windows Azure and third-party cloud hosting providers enables new scenarios, develops new possibilities, and offers exciting new opportunities that can help IT transition better into the next generation of enterprise computing.

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M icrosoft System Center 2012 R2 App Controller is a component of System Center, an extension of Virtual Machine Manager (VMM), and relatively easy to implement. App Controller is a web-based self-service vehicle to facilitate the deployment of virtual machines (VMs) and services. App Controller can connect to private clouds based on a VMM server, to Windows Azure subscriptions, and to third-party hosting providers and can manage resources among these three environments. Based on VMMs role-based security model which defines who can do what and to what extent, App Controller can delegate authority by modeling a business function as a user role, thereby noticeably simplifying the security administration and management of a multitenant environment. Above all, as hybrid cloud becomes an emerging platform for next-generation computing, App Controller enables deployment of such hybrid scenarios and helps accelerate their adoption.

This chapter covers some of the basics including the system requirements, prerequisites, installation, role-based security model, operations model, and user interface (UI) of App Controller.

The system requirements for installing the App Controller server, the App Controller web console on a client computer, and the Windows PowerShell Module for App Controller can be found in the Microsoft TechNet Library at http://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn249764.aspx so they wont be repeated here. Note that an App Controller installation is an extension of a targeted VMM server which must be specified during installation of App Controller.

This section summarizes the prerequisites for installing the App Controller server in your environment.

The Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows 8.1 is a required component for installing System Center 2012 R2 App Controller. The ADK for Windows 8.1 is available as a free download from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39306. The ADK for Windows 8.1 is a realization of Microsoft deployment and assessment methodologies and includes a suite of free tools to facilitate and improve the quality of Windows deployment and fundamentally reduce the overall costs associated with deployment. The ADK for Windows 8.1 includes the following: