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Windows Azure Pack vNext

February 19, 2015 2 Comments

Written by Marc van Eijk

Windows Azure Pack was released in October 2013. It enables you to provide cloud services from your own datacenter. Although Microsoft is working towards more consistency between Microsoft Azure and Windows Azure Pack there are still many differences between the two. I can remember someone at TechEd North America explaining to me that Microsoft Azure and Windows Azure Pack are like two circles, that currently have some overlap. Microsoft is working hard to get more overlap in these two circles and eventually ending up with one circle. You probably have seen that end state many times. It is the Cloud OS vision. With in the middle ONE Consistent platform.

But we are not there yet. There is still a lot of work to be done.

So when will Windows Azure Pack vNext be released?

Microsoft recently announced that Windows Server and System Center will get their final release in 2016. Based on that information I get a lot of questions on the future release of Windows Azure Pack.

Let me ask you this. Are you always waiting for that new phone to be available? And by the time that phone is available, another new phone with new features is announced. You decide to wait some more . In the end, you never make a decision.

The only thing constant in IT is change. We get access to new features that enables new scenarios. New scenarios creates new challenges. Which results in other features being developed to solve those challenges and opening new scenarios again. There is always some new feature or version on the horizon. You can wait for ever and do nothing or evolve with the features and scenarios as they become available.

Do not wait. It is even super important to get started today, if you haven’t already. Windows Azure Pack provides IAAS, Websites, Database as a Service, Service Bus and Automation and there is a rich eco system with 3rd party solutions that enhance the stack even more. You can benefit from cloud services in your own datacenter TODAY!

We use Windows Azure Pack already. How long do we have to wait for new features?

Now, this is interesting. Microsoft releases an update rollup to all the System Center products and Windows Azure Pack every quarter. Initially these were mainly fixes to issues in the platform. But looking at the number of features that are added in the more recent update rollups that is changing drastically.

Just to highlight two features from the latest update rollup.

These aren’t minor changes either. It greatly improves what already is a rich platform today. But it also ensures that you get access to new features in the current version every three months FOR FREE!! How cool is that. And YOU get to decide what features will be part of the upcoming update rollups by submitting suggestions or voting for existing suggestions on the user voice.

Azure Pack Wiki, Marc van Eijk

Update Rollup, User Voice, Windows Azure Pack

You can help shape the future of Windows Azure Pack

June 16, 2014 Leave a Comment

Written by Marc van Eijk

Windows Azure Pack delivers Microsoft Azure technologies for you to run inside your datacenter. It offers rich, self-service, multi-tenant services and experiences that are consistent with Microsoft’s public cloud offering.

You can help shape the future of Windows Azure Pack. The Windows Azure Pack team has created a user voice site where you can post feature suggestions and vote on the suggestions of others.

You can find the Azure Pack user voice site here http://feedback.azure.com/forums/255259-azure-pack

When you would like to submit a new suggestion, type in one or more relevant keyword. This will automatically filter the already submitted items. If somebody else already submitted the same suggestion, it allows you to vote on that suggestion. As a signed in user you will have a total of 10 votes. With these votes you can submit new suggestions or vote on existing ones.

Vote for existing suggestions

When you vote for existing items, you can choose to give 1, 2, or 3 votes for more weight. You are able to change your assigned votes afterwards. When suggestions are closed, the votes you assigned to that suggestion are available again.

Submit a new suggestion

To submit a new suggestion, provide the title for the suggestion and optionally enter a description and category. Select to attach a file if that helps to explain the suggestion and choose how many votes you would like to put on this suggestion.

Help shape Windows Azure Pack with the user voice site http://feedback.azure.com/forums/255259-azure-pack

Marc van Eijk

feature requests, User Voice, Vote, Windows Azure Pack

Windows Server and Hyper-V: What’s Next?

June 2, 2013 Leave a Comment

Written by Hans Vredevoort

We already know that we wouldn’t have to wait four years to get significant new features in Windows Server & Hyper-V. Looking at the list of builds since the first version of Hyper-V, we can observe there were considerable intervals between the releases of Windows Server 2008 (R2) and Windows Server 2012.

We’ve seen three major releases of Hyper-V since June 2008. If development progresses well, we might even see an updated version of Hyper-V within only about 1 year from GA of Windows Server 2012. The Windows Server 2012 operating system was already packed with spectacular new functionality and scalability with major focus on the Hyper-V and Cloud OS feature set.

Builds of Windows Server including Hyper-V

2008 (February 4) – RTM Windows Server 2008 SP1 – February 2008 (with beta version of Hyper-V)
2008 (June 26) – Release of Hyper-V 1.0 which shipped as a free download
2008 (October 24) – Release of first Service Pack SP2
2009 (July 22) – RTM of Windows Server 2008 R2 including Hyper-V 2008 R2
2009 (August 19) – General Availability of Windows Server 2008 R2 including Hyper-V 2008 R2
2009 (October 22) – Release of Windows Server 2008 R2 including Hyper-V 2.0
2011 (February 9) – RTM of SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2
2011 (February 22) – General Availability of SP1 for Windows Server 2008 R2
2011 (September 9) – Developer Build of Windows Server 8
2012 (March 1) – Beta of Windows Server 8
2012 (August 1) – RTM of Windows Server 2012 including Hyper-V 3.0
2012 (September 4) – General Availability of Windows Server 2012 including Hyper-V 3.0
2013 (June ?) – On May 14 Microsoft’s Tami Reller, head of marketing and finance for Windows announced that Windows Blue would be officially called Windows 8.1. A public preview of the software would be available on June 26th. There was no mention of the official name for Windows Server Blue and whether a public preview would be available on the same day as Windows 8.1

When Windows Server 2012 became generally available, the System Center Suite was not able to support the new OS until its SP1 release (RTM – December 16, 2012, GA – January 2, 2013). The new OS was even so feature rich that System Center 2012 SP1 was unable to include all of the treasures in Windows Server 2012. For example features like Hyper-V Replica and Virtual Fibre Channel can still not be managed from within Virtual Machine Manager 2012 SP1.

Questions, Questions, Questions

If there is a new Server OS version just around the corner …. What will this mean for Hyper-V? How will it impact Windows Azure Services for Windows Server (WASfWS)? And what will this mean for the successor of System Center 2012 SP1? Will the management suite be able to manage all of features of the new operating system? To what extent will Private, Hosted and Public Cloud be more aligned in the CloudOS? What’s with SMB3? What’s with Software Defined Networking (SDN) and how about the storage integration direction Microsoft is taking? Will Microsoft be able to set itself apart from the competition even more than it did with Windows Server 2012?

In other words, there are plenty of questions that remain to be answered. There’s a very good chance that some or maybe all of these questions will be answered during the live streamed TechEd North America 2013 keynote in New Orleans by Brad Anderson.

Keep an eye on this blog because we will soon announce a joint event by the System Center User Group (SCUG.nl) and Hyper-V.nu which will focus on the expected new exciting releases.

Hans Vredevoort, Hyper-v

Blue, Build, CloudOS, Hyper-V, Hyper-V 3.0, System Center, System Center 2012 SP1, TechEd, TechEd 2013, WAS4WS, WASfWS, Windows 8.1, Windows Azure Services, Windows Builds, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server Blue, Windows Server vNext

The Great Big Hyper-V Survey of 2012 Has Launched

October 1, 2012 11 Comments

Written by Hans Vredevoort

You can participate in the survey HERE

Just over a year ago, we asked people to answer 80 questions about their intentions and implementations of Hyper-V and System Center in The Great Big Hyper-V Survey of 2011. We learned a lot about how people were using Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V and System Center 2007-2010. Back then, we knew just 2 things about Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and System Center 2012 was still pre-release. But now, both are generally available, and we want to learn about:

Have you learned about these new technologies?
Do you already use them?
Are you planning on using them?
How do you plan to use them?

Once again, this is a completely independent survey, run by 3 MVPs (me, Aidan Finn, and Damian Flynn), and Microsoft has had no input or involvement. They might help us promote it – because we do know that our findings were read by them and some of the information was a surprise for them.

The goal of the survey is to learn. We’re all bloggers and speakers and we want to deal with what’s relevant. You’re interested in seeing what other people are doing. We all want to learn from each other and we learned a lot last year.

This is a perfect time to speak – if Windows vNext development is like that of Windows Server 2012, then they’ll be spending the next 10-12 months talking, learning, etc. And the same might happen post-SP1 for System Center 2012.

So we ask you to:

Respond to the survey and answer all the questions. There are 72 questions. I know, it’s a lot but there’s a lot of stuff to ask about. We’ll only be using complete responses.
Share the survey with colleagues, customers, on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, LinkedIn, MySpace, or whatever work-related social network you are on. We got an amazing response last year and we want to beat that. The more responses we can use, the more reliable the data will be.

Thank you in advance for taking the 10-15 minutes to respond to the survey.

BTW, we don’t ask for or want any personal data or email addresses. No individual response will be shared. We will only be sharing aggregate information, e.g. X people responded with Y answer.

The survey will close on December 1st 2012

Hans Vredevoort, Hyper-v

Facebook, Hyper-V, Hyper-V 3.0, LinkedIn, Survey, System Center, Twitter, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012

Getting ready for the third generation of Hyper-V

January 27, 2011 8 Comments

Written by Hans Vredevoort

Ever since the appearance of Hyper-V in the market, I have been stressing and promoting the blessings of the Microsoft Virtualization platform. I started writing articles and blogs about Hyper-V and joined Jaap Wesselius in the Dutch Hyper-V User Group which assembles quarterly in different parts of the country. We have been presenting Hyper-V and related technologies many times and have grown a small community in the Netherlands. My endeavors have even earned me an MVP, albeit not for Hyper-V but for Cluster. If you meet me on Twitter, you know that whatever I communicate on this social network deals with Hyper-V and System Center related topics. I use it to promote the further growth of Hyper-V.

What’s next?

We have seen Hyper-V version 1 still beta in Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V RTM as an update, the major update Hyper-V R2 and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2. Now we are looking forward to Hyper-V vNext, “the next version” of Hyper-V, Hyper-V in Windows 8, Hyper-V Next Generation, Hyper-V Cloud, Hyper-V 2012 or whatever the marketing people at Microsoft think will capture our minds. I personally believe not even the word Hyper-V is sacred and could be replaced if it serves a purpose.

Virtual Machine Manager vNext

April 21, 2010 Leave a Comment

Written by Hans Vredevoort

During the MMS2010 keynote of Bob Muglia, Edwin Yuen showed a glimpse of SCVMM vNext. The short demo presented a very interesting view ahead of what a complete virtual management solution looks like.

Next to the familiar categories like Hosts, Virtual Machines, Library, Jobs and Administration a few new categories were visible: Datacenter, Network and Storage. Apparently these will be the new building blocks in the deployment of virtual machines and most likely also Hyper-V hosts. Along with Server App-V to deploy server apps to running virtual servers. By means of a model/template objects were dragged and dropped to define a new service/server combination.

Also the concept of the private cloud and the public cloud is translated in the user interface of SCVMM vNext. In the top lefthand corner, we can now see a new light blue (azure?) container with several private clouds as well as a hosted cloud. As I wrote earlier, we can expect to move servers and services between the two clouds.

Building blocks in the SCVMM vNext Library for creating servers

SCVMM vNext will support Virtual Sever, Hyper-V R1, Hyper-V R2, Xen and VMware. By the time the product is ready it will probably also support the latest incarnation of Hyper-V, if it still listens to that name in 2011/2012. For a System Center roadmap see my previous blog.

Factor of 10 reduction cost for hardware
Factor of 10 greater speeding up application delivery
Factor of 10 reduction in cost

This translates to faster time to market for solutions, and a great enabler for the business.

Part of the cost savings is done by means of scale of buying and using server hardware. As I wrote in my blog https://hyper-v.nu/blogs/hans/?p=159, the new server form factor for the cloud is the container. A picture was shown of how Microsoft gets its servers delivered: by the thousands and ready-to-go on delivery.