Monthly Archives: March 2012

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Inside the Partnership (EMC-MSFT) The Podcast #02 – Everything Microsoft and mSpecialist Update

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Introducing your new shortcut to everything Microsoft at EMC, www.emc.com/everythingmicrosoft. 

Back in Inside the Partnership: The Video Series: Episode #18 (That’s a mouthful), I spent some time with Adrian Simays. We reviewed the newly introduced mSpecialist program.  In this second episode of the ITP: Podcast Series, I wanted to find out what has happened since that November 2011 launch.

Roberto Mendizabal has been one of the many people behind all of the efforts that have taken place since then.   I sat down with Roberto to get the latest details on the Everything Microsoft at EMC Community, the community newsletter and what we can expect in the near future.

Inside the Partnership; The Podcast: Episode #2 is below.  I’m currently working on the official RSS feeds for both the Podcast and the Video Series.  Stay tuned for more information, and as always, follow me on Twitter @EMCMSFT.  Drop me an e-mail Sam.Marraccini@EMC.com and Introducing www.insidethepartnership.com

 

Inside the Partnership (EMC-MSFT) Podcast #02 – Everything Microsoft at EMC and mSpecialist with Roberto Mendizabal

Get all the Podcast here

 

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Inside the Partnership (EMC/MSFT): The Video Series: Episode #23 Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012

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Welcome to Inside the Partnership (EMC/MSFT): The Video Series: Episode #23, your link to all of the latest news, notes and happenings in the EMC Microsoft relationship.

I spent some time highlighting Systems Center Operations Manager in Episode #22. Operations Manager is just the beginning of the Systems Center Suite. The Systems Center 2012 Suite includes 8 separate modules with specific functions.  Those modules, available via standard and datacenter licensing include;  App Controller, Configuration Manager, Data Protection Manager, Endpoint Protection, Operations Manager, Orchestrator, Service Manager and Virtual Machine Manager. 

A key point of synergy between EMC and Microsoft is deploying and managing the Private Cloud. With Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012, you have the ability to manage your entire virtual infrastructure including enterprise storage. By leveraging standard SMI-S providers, EMC is able to fully support this Microsoft Management strategy providing our joint customers with the choice of management tools. You can use EMC industry leading array management technologies, like ESI, or the Microsoft product suite. It's up to you!

After I was, um… asked to leave the Redmond Lab (Episode #22), I visited Dave "Butch" Butchart, one of the many software engineers here at EMC preparing for the Microsoft Management Summit. Butch gave me access to an additional Lab in the development center, this time with multiple EMC VMAX and VNX arrays. A demonstration of Virtual Machine Manager 2012 is the feature of this episode.

 
Thanks for watching. To be notified of the latest Inside the Partnership videos, follow me on Twitter @EMCMSFT and check out www.InsideThePartnership.com.

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Perfcollect video series

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Perfcollect is really easy to use, but generates a bunch of interesting data which can be bewildering to a new user of the tool.  So I’ve started a little video series on the topic, which perhaps will blossom into a series on Windows performance analysis and triage in general.

I’ve got three up now, all linked off the perfcollect page.  The videos are hosted on EMC’s Everything Microsoft at EMC site – you don’t need to have a login to watch the videos.

Right now, here's what's up there:

 

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Can Backup Administrators Get Excited About the Microsoft SQL 2012 Release? By Alex Almeida, Sr. Technical Marketing Manager

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March
9, 2012 by Alex Almeida in Your Backup

Sometimes those DBAs seem like they get all the fun – don’t
they? Backup Admins never get a chance to be excited about anything, and when
they do, DBAs just yawn, or give us weird looks. And to hurt you even more, it
seems that database application developers never really think fully about
backup and recovery when they are architecting their platforms. This just makes
your job that much harder while they seem to give the DBA as much time in the
sun as possible. Well, I think the Microsoft SQL Server team has realized this
and decided that enough was enough. It’s time for the Backup Admins to reap
some benefits as well! Oh, and about those looks you get from the DBAs, trust
me, they go away the minute you successfully perform a restore for them.

What I am referring to is one of the key features of the SQL
2012 (Codename “Denali”) release, called AlwaysOn
Availability Groups (AAG). Availability Groups…. Availability
Groups… where have I heard that before? Ah, yes! Microsoft Exchange! While
named differently, they deliver essentially the same functionality with the
exception of some very minor differences that we backup administrators don’t
really need to worry about. (If you would like to learn more about Exchange
Database Availability groups, see my previous blog post on the
subject which also has a recorded demonstration.)

Like Exchange’s Database Availability Groups (DAG), the ability
to be able to have multiple “passive copies” of your production database can
have some unrealized advantages when it comes to managing backup workloads and
their effect on transaction response time for your production database. With
the ability for any node in an SQL Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC)
Cluster to access and perform aggregated read-queries from the passive copies,
we can completely isolate the burden of backup I/O from the production database
volume and server. That standby replica, and corresponding SQL node servicing
backup I/O, can even be in a different physical location from the primary
replica. All options which allow greater flexibility in implementing your
Database High Availability and Recovery architectures. When we start talking
about numerous SQL database backups and the corresponding replica I/O spread
across multiple sites and nodes of a SQL implementation, we begin to quickly
see the real power and efficiencies EMC backup software and Purpose-Built
Backup Appliances (PBBA) can provide by leveraging these new capabilities from
Microsoft.

The day has finally come for Backup Administrators to get
excited about Database Server Features!

 

To read more from Alex, visit his blog… Your Backup

http://thebackupwindow.emc.com/alex_almeida/

 

 

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Inside the Partnership (EMC/MSFT): The Video Series: Episode #22 Systems Center Operations Manager 2012 and MMS2012

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 Welcome to Inside the Partnership (EMC/MSFT) Episode #22, your link to all of the latest news, notes and happenings in the EMC Microsoft relationship.

As highlighted in Episode #21, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is here!! EMC was a Diamond Launch Sponsor and heavily involved in all of the launch activities and global symposiums. Check out the SQL 2012 landing page now on the Everything Microsoft at EMC Community Site.

With the SQL Launch behind us, our attention turns to the Microsoft Management Summit 2012. Once again, EMC is a gold sponsor of MMS and our engineers are hard at work preparing for Systems Center 2012.

While I was in Redmond for the SQL Launch, I was able to "sneak" into the Redmond Development Center. While I was there, I was able to capture a quick demo of Systems Center Operations Manager 2012 (SCOM 2012). This episode includes a demo of SCOM 2012 RC, along with finding and installing the EMC Management Packs and monitoring an EMC array. The Management Packs are just the beginning of the EMC engineering efforts taking place for MMS. Stay tuned to Inside the Partnership for more.

 

Did I mention, the SCOM Management Packs are FREE!!!! As an EMC customer, all you need to do is visit the Everything Microsoft at EMC Community Site as demonstrated in this episode.

Thanks for watching. To be notified of the latest Inside the Partnership videos, follow me on Twitter @EMCMSFT and check out the brand new www.InsideThePartnership.com