Server Management Suite Enterprise – Licensing Change and Pricing Increase

On July 1, Microsoft will change the way it licenses the Server Management Suite Enterprise (SMSE). SMSE includes Operations Manager 2007, Configuration Manager 2007 R2, Data Protection Manager 2007 and Virtual Machine Manager 2008. To better align to the way Microsoft sells Windows Server Datacenter, SMSE will become Server Management Suite Datacenter (SMSD). Server Management Suite will be licensed by server box and will be limited to four guest OSs, and the new Datacenter edition will be licensed by processor (two-processor minimum) and cover unlimited guest OSs. Those who currently own the SMSE product with SA will be able to convert to SMSD for up to four CPUs on a physical server. Customers who are interested in running SMSE in conjunction with Windows Datacenter should buy now. Not only can you take advantage of the additional product promotion for both EA and Select, but you also will be “grandfathered” into the new Datacenter edition while purchasing under the current enterprise price.

System Center Operations Manager

An end-to-end service-management product that is the best choice for Windows because it works seamlessly with Microsoft software and applications, helping organizations increase efficiency while enabling greater control of the IT environment.

Designed around three pillars:

1. End-to-End Service Monitoring - The process of monitoring the many technology components of the service as a holistic entity. The service, which is a collection of applications, servers, and other managed objects, is modeled into a high-level object called a distributed application. Distributed applications, like all objects that are monitored with Operations Manager, has a health state and therefore, can be viewed with the Health Explorer, and can have reports and views run against them. Distributed applications are treated the same as any other managed object.
2. Best-of-breed Manager of Windows - Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 delivers best-of-breed, end-to-end monitoring and management of your Microsoft Windows infrastructure. Encapsulating in-depth knowledge gathered from the creators of Windows Server 2008 and its key features into Operations Manager 2007, alongside the other information and capabilities Operations Manager 2007 provides, organizations can rest assured that they can easily monitor their Windows Server 2008 infrastructure alongside their existing IT environment —all from a single console.
3. Increased Efficiency and Control - System Center Operations Manager has added features to increase the operational efficiency of the management and monitoring environment. Improved designers and user interfaces, increased scalability, and Active Directory (AD) integration are all features that make Operations Manager more efficient and easier to use than its predecessors

What's New in Operations Manager 2007 R2

• Enhances application performance and availability across platforms in the datacenter through cross platform monitoring, delivering an integrated experience for discovery and management of systems and their workloads, whether Windows, UNIX or Linux.
• Enhances performance management of applications in the datacenter with service level monitoring, delivering the ability to granularly define service level objectives that can be targeted against the different components that comprise an IT service.
• Increases the speed of access to monitoring information and functionality with UI improvements and simplified management pack authoring. Examples include an enhanced console performance and dramatically improved monitoring scalability (e.g., over 1000 URLs can be validated per agent, allowing scaling to the largest of web-based workloads)

New and Improved:

• Cross Platform Monitoring
• Service Level Tracking
• New Monitoring Templates
• Enhanced Usability
• Improved Performance

 Download a Software Trial Here

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2

The solution to comprehensively assess, deploy, and update your servers, clients, and devices—across physical, virtual, distributed, and mobile environments. Optimized for Windows and extensible beyond, it is the best choice for gaining enhanced insight into, and control over, your IT systems.

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 includes:

• Comprehensive deploying and updating
• Enhanced IT infrastructure insight and control
• Optimization for Windows and extensible beyond

The Scenarios:

Desktop Management
System Center Configuration Manager 2007 provides the control necessary to help you more effectively manage change in today’s dynamic desktop environments. It provides a comprehensive solution to assess, deploy, and update Windows clients, servers, and devices across physical, virtual, mobile, and distributed environments. And because it is built on the Windows platform, Configuration Manager is the best choice for managing your Windows clients.

Server Management
With System Center Configuration Manager 2007, you get a comprehensive solution to assess, deploy, and update Windows servers, clients, and mobile devices across physical and virtual environments. Using policy-based automation, you can centrally manage the entire IT lifecycle of your datacenter and distributed servers—from new server deployments to operating system and application updates—while improving the availability, reliability, and security of servers enterprise-wide.

Device Management
With System Center Configuration Manager, you get the tools you need to be firmly in control of the mobile devices in your enterprise. With robust capabilities designed for Windows Pocket PC, Windows Mobile Smartphone, and Windows CE, you can assess, deploy, and update the mobile devices in your enterprise over the corporate network or over the Internet. What’s more, an extensive partner network allows Configuration Manager’s capabilities to extend to non-Windows devices.

What's New in Configuration Manager 2007 R2

Application Virtualization Management
Configuration Manager 2007 supports running sequenced applications created using the Microsoft Application Virtualization Platform. Virtual application packages run on Configuration Manager 2007 client computers without having to install the software application on the local computer. Target computers must be running Windows XP or above to run virtual application packages. After you create a sequenced application using the Microsoft Application Virtualization Sequencer, you must import the package into Configuration Manager 2007 and deploy the virtual application package to Configuration Manager 2007 clients.

New Operating System Deployment capability
The following enhancements are included in Configuration Manager 2007 R2:

• Unknown computer support—In Configuration Manager 2007 R2, you can deploy operating systems to computers using a PXE service point without first adding the computer to the Configuration Manager database.
• Multicast deployment—Previously, all operating system deployments used unicast. Multicast can make more efficient use of network bandwidth when deploying large images to several computers at the same time.
• Running command lines in task sequences with credentials other than the local system account.

Client Status Reporting
Provides a set of tools and Configuration Manager 2007 reports to assess the status of client computers, sometimes referred to as "client health." Clients that show a change in activity patterns might need administrative intervention.

SQL Server Reporting Services Integration
Allows you to report on Configuration Manager activity using SQL Reporting Services.

System Center Data Protection Manager 2007

Data Protection Manager 2007 is a member of the Microsoft System Center family of management products, which are designed to help IT Professionals manage their Windows Server infrastructure. DPM 2007 sets a new standard for Windows backup and recovery—delivering continuous data protection for Microsoft application and file servers to a seamlessly integrated secondary disk and tape solution on the DPM server. DPM enables rapid and reliable recovery through advanced technology for enterprises of all sizes.

Top Benefits:

Unmatched Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint functionality
DPM 2007 offers integrated support for advanced Exchange and SQL cluster configurations, shorter SQL backup windows with out the need for compression, as well as advanced SharePoint data protection options.

Zero data loss restores for applications
DPM 2007 enables lossless recovery of Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint servers without the need for constant replication or synchronization by seamlessly integrating a point in time database restore with the existing application logs.

Host based Virtual Server backups
DPM 2007 includes support for host based backup of Windows Virtual Server guests. Using a single host based DPM agent to provide application consistent backups of any and all guests residing on a host. DPM can protect any operating system or application via this mechanism as long as they are running on a Windows host server.

Recover files in minutes instead of hours
A typical file recovery from tape takes hours and can be costly. The typical medium data center may have 10 to 20 or more recoveries per month. DPM enables the same recoveries in minutes, saving money for the business and time for IT administrators. Additionally, faster recovery keeps information workers productive because they spend less downtime waiting for their files to be recovered.

DPM 2007 sets a new standard for Data Protection in Windows Environments:

• Continuous Data Protection for Windows Application and File Servers - DPM protects core Windows Server workloads by continuously capturing data changes with application-aware byte-level agents, providing an easy-to-manage and robust disk/tape back-end platform, and one-click lossless application recovery.
• Rapid and Reliable Recovery - DPM enables IT administrators & end-users to easily recover data in minutes from easily accessible disk instead of locating and restoring from less-reliable tapes.
• Advanced Technology for Enterprises of all sizes - DPM brings together the best aspects of CDP real-time protection with traditional tape backup/restore to provide a comprehensive disk-to-disk-to-tape data recovery solution. Combined with Microsoft’s experience in Windows Server technology, DPM 2007 provides a technically advanced and comprehensive data protection solution for the most demanding Windows environments – from the SMB to the Enterprise.

What's New in DPM 2007 Service Pack 1

Service Pack 1 for Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2007 provides continuous data protection for Windows application and file servers using seamlessly integrated disk and tape media and includes the following expanded capabilities:

• Protection of Hyper-V virtualization platforms, including both Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and the Microsoft Hyper-V Server, has been added to the existing set of protected workloads, building on the virtualization protection originally delivered for Virtual Server 2005.

• Enhanced SQL Server 2008 protection, including the addition of new protection capabilities for mirrored databases, support for parallel backups of databases within a single instance, and the ability to move data from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008 for migration scenarios.

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 receive index protection, significant catalog optimization, and support for mirrored content databases.

• Added protection for Exchange Server 2007 Standby Cluster Replication (SCR), enabling a complete disaster recovery solution that leverages SCR failover alongside DPM point-in-time restores.

Purchasing Options

Server License:

Data Protection Manager 2007 Server License - Server license for application and file server management.

Management License (ML):

Enterprise Data Protection ML - Required for native backup and recovery of applications including Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. Includes the right to protect file level data on the protected server without the need for a Standard DPML. An Enterprise DPML is also required if the SRT agent is installed on the protected server or if host-based virtual server protection is being used.

Standard Data Protection ML - Required to provide file level protection. Any native application protection (backing up an exchange storage group for example) requires an Enterprise DPML. Includes support for system state backup.

Client Data Protection ML - Required to provide file level protection for Windows XP or Windows Vista. Includes support for system state backup. Support is limited to systems with an “always-on” network connection; devices that are routinely disconnected are not currently supported.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008

For IT professionals responsible for managing virtual infrastructures, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008—a member of the System Center family of system management products—provides a straightforward and cost-effective solution for unified management of physical and virtual machines, Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) for dynamic and responsive management of virtual infrastructure, consolidation of underutilized physical servers, and rapid provisioning of new virtual machines by leveraging the expertise and investments in Microsoft Windows Server technology.

Key Features:

• Multi-vendor Virtualization Platform Support - With its support for virtual machines running on Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V, Microsoft Virtual Server, and VMware ESX infrastructure, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 integrates multi-hypervisor management into one tool. VMM provides comprehensive support for VMware VI3 through integration with VMware’s Virtual Center.
• Fast and Reliable Virtual-to-Virtual-Machine Conversion (V2V) - To help ease the migration from VMware to Virtual Server, VMM converts VMware VMDK/VMX virtual machines to the Microsoft VHD format. If the guest OS runs Windows, VMM will perform fixes during the conversion process, to ensure a working converted virtual machine.
• Rapid Provisioning of New Machines - VMM enables quick provisioning of new virtual machines. Using a wizard-based user interface, IT administrators can rapidly deploy virtual machines from approved templates. VMM also allows management and migration of existing virtual machines between virtual machine hosts, giving IT administrators an integrated and holistic view of their virtual and physical infrastructure.
• Host Cluster Support for “High Availability” Virtual Machines - With greatly expanded support for failover clusters, VMM improves its “high availability” capabilities for managing mission-critical virtual machines. VMM is fully cluster-aware, meaning it can detect and manage Hyper-V host clusters as a single unit. New user-friendly features, such as automatic detection of added or removed virtual hosts and designating high-availability virtual machine with one click, facilitate the administrator’s work.

Top Benefits:

Support for Microsoft Virtual Server and VMware ESX
With this release, VMM now manages VMware ESX virtualized infrastructure in conjunction with the Virtual Center product. Now administrators running multiple virtualization platforms can rely on one tool to manage virtually everything. With its compatibility with VMware VI3 (through Virtual Center), VMM now supports features such as VMotion and can also provide VMM-specific features like Intelligent Placement to VMware servers.

Maximize datacenter resources through consolidation
A typical physical server in the datacenter operates at only 5 to 15 percent CPU capacity. VMM can assess and then consolidate suitable server workloads onto virtual machine host infrastructure, thus freeing up physical resources for repurposing or hardware retirement. Through physical server consolidation, continued datacenter growth is less constrained by space, electrical, and cooling requirements.

Machine conversions are a snap!
Converting a physical machine to a virtual one can be a daunting undertaking—slow, problematic, and typically requiring you to halt the physical server. But thanks to the enhanced P2V conversion in VMM, P2V conversions will become routine. Similarly, VMM also provides a straightforward wizard that can convert VMware virtual machines to VHDs through an easy and speedy Virtual-to-Virtual (V2V) transfer process.

What's New to Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2

VMM 2008 R2 RC now manages many of the great new features of Windows Server 2008 R2 RC Hyper-V including:

• Live Migration for moving virtual machines between hosts with no downtime
• Additional enhanced migration support for SAN migration in and out of clusters
• Multiple virtual machines per LUN using Clustered Share Volumes
• Hot add of virtual machine storage
• Functionality to migrate storage for running VMs
• iSCSI target and SAN-based migration across clusters
• Template-based rapid provisioning
• Maintenance mode to automate the evacuation of VMs off host machines
• Live Migration host compatibility checks

Purchasing Options

Enterprise Customers:

Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Enterprise License - Includes Virtual Machine Manager management server software and the Enterprise Management License

Mid-Market Customers:

Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Workgroup Edition - Includes Virtual Machine  Manager management server software and management licenses to manage 5 physical host servers.