Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud with System Center

Course details

This course describes how to monitor and operate a cloud with Microsoft System Center R2. This course focuses on how to manage and administer a cloud environment, and it describes how you can monitor key infrastructure elements and applications that run within a cloud. It does not discuss planning and implementation, which is covered in 20247: Configuring and Deploying a Cloud with System Center.

Objectives

After completing this course, students will be able to:

• Describe the Cloud Model
• Configure and optimize a private cloud
• Deploy Cloud Services
• Monitor Cloud Services
• Configure application performance monitoring in a cloud environment
• Operate and extend service management in in a cloud environment
• Automate incident creation, remediation, and change requests in a cloud environment
• Perform problem management in a cloud environment
• Automate Self-Service Provisioning in a cloud environment
• Operate a self-service multi-tenant cloud
• Cloud high availability, protection and recovery in a cloud environment
• Optimize the cloud infrastructure
• Configure SLAs, dashboards, and widgets in a cloud environment

Prerequisites

Course Outline

• Module 1: Introduction to the Cloud ModelThis 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.
• Module 2: Configuring a Private Cloud EnvironmentThis 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.
• Module 3: Deploying Cloud ServicesThis module reviews the key elements that form a service in VMM and how the service is deployed to the private cloud.
• Module 4: Monitoring Cloud Based Applications
• Module 5: Configuring Application Performance Monitoring
• Module 6: Operating and Extending Service Management in the Private Cloud
• Module 7: Automating Incident Creation, Remediation, and Change Requests
• Module 8: Problem Management in the Private CloudThis 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.
• Module 9: Automating Self-Service Provisioning
• Module 10: Operating a Self-Service, Multi-tenant Cloud with Windows Azure PackIn 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.
• Module 11: High Availability, Protection, and Recovery for the Cloud
• Module 12: Optimizing Your Cloud InfrastructureIt 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.
• Module 13: Configuring SLAs, Dashboards, and WidgetsAs 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.