By using Microsoft's new Opalis IT process automation software, your IT organization can dramatically reduce operational costs and improve efficiency by replacing resource-intensive, error-prone manual activities with standardized, automated processes. Microsoft doesn't sell Opalis as a separately licensed product: thousands of customers who've licensed Microsoft System Center with SMSE/D already have the rights to use it. They simply have to learn how. If this sounds like you, System Center Opalis Integration Server 6.3 Unleashed will help you do so. This book's expert author team offers you start-to-finish, step-by-step coverage of implementing key Opalis 6.3 features for maximum business value. Drawing on their extensive experience, they bring together coverage of related topics and techniques in ways that enable you and IT professionals to deploy Opalis more quickly and apply it more successfully. The authors begin with a high-level overview of Opalis 6.3 and the potential value it offers to your IT organization. Next, it guides you through architecture, installation, policy basics and design, foundation objects and integration packs, the SDK, and best practices based on real-world implementations.

Using System Center 2012 Orchestrator, you can capture and document processes across your entire IT organization, establishing the automation you need to deliver advanced cloud services and self-adjusting computing resources. Authored by five leading System Center experts, this comprehensive reference and technical guide brings together all the knowledge you'll need to architect, install, implement, integrate, and maximize the value of your own Orchestrator solutions. The authors introduce current best practices based on large-scale enterprise implementations they've personally led or participated in. This up-to-date guide shows how to apply Orchestrator's major improvements to implement IT process automation in any environment, including private clouds. You'll start with context: what Orchestrator does, how it has evolved, how it works, and essential architecture and design techniques. Next, the authors help you make crucial up-front decisions about activities, runbooks, security, and administration. Finally, you'll find expert guidance for integrating Orchestrator with the rest of System Center and with Windows Azure cloud services--including advanced automated workflows that encompass both data center and cloud. Detailed information on how to... * Understand System Center 2012 Orchestrator's capabilities, evolution, architecture, and design, including SP1 improvements and R2 * Successfully install System Center 2012 Orchestrator and migrate smoothly from Opalis Integration Server 6.3 * Take full advantage of Orchestrator's advanced new runbook automation capabilities * Configure activities associated with runbook control, systems, scheduling, monitoring, files, email, notification, and data handling * Design runbooks for fault tolerance and optimal performance * Enforce strong security using roles, permissions, and auditing * Deliver integration capabilities for Operations Manager, Service Manager, Configuration Manager, Virtual Machine Manager, and Data Protection Manager * Automate end-to-end data center/ cloud workflows with integration packs and PowerShell * Create your own integration packs with Orchestrator Integration Toolkit (OIT.SDK) * Support Orchestrator 2012, troubleshoot problems, and discover the best web and third-party resources

This is the definitive real-world guide to Microsoft System Center 2012, Microsoft's newest and most powerful version of System Center. Authored by consultants who've deployed System Center in hundreds of enterprises and innovative smaller businesses, this book brings together up-to-the-minute tips, tricks, and techniques you just won't find anywhere else. You'll learn how to use System Center's powerful capabilities to build highly-efficient managed environments that encompass datacenters, cloud environments, client computers, mobile devices, and more. The authors address planning, design, implementation, integration, and administration, and cover every component, including Configuration Manager, Operations Manager, Data Protection Manager, Virtual Machine Manager, Service Manager, and Orchestrator. Use Configuration Manager 2012 to deliver software and updates in highly-distributed environments including datacenters, clouds, and mobile devices Reliably manage and report on assets with Configuration Manager 2012 Perform monitoring, alerting, operations, and security reporting with Operations Manager 2012 Use Data Protection Manager 2012to protect file systems, SQL, Microsoft Exchange, and SharePoint Leverage Data Protection Manager 2012's improved central monitoring and remote recovery Run Hyper-V virtualized environments with VMM 2012--including new private clouds and mixed private/public fabrics Use Service Manager 2012 to provide top-down integration, and use Orchestrator 2012 for bottom-up process automation and integration "glue" Give users an efficient self-service portal for creating service and incident requests and browsing service catalogs Manage service offerings and implement enterprise-wide change control with Service Manager 2012 Ensure compliance by creating, executing, and repeating auditable, documented processes with Orchestrator 2012

This is the most comprehensive and realistic guide to Windows Server 2012 planning, design, prototyping, implementation, migration, administration, and support. Extensively updated, it contains unsurpassed independent and objective coverage of Windows Server 2012’s key innovations, including improved virtualization components, enhanced security tools, new web and management resources, and Windows 8 integration. Windows Server 2012 Unleashed reflects the authors’ extraordinary experience implementing Windows Server 2012 in large-scale environments since its earliest alpha releases, reaching back more than two years prior to its official launch. Microsoft MVP Rand Morimoto and his colleagues fully address every aspect of deploying and operating Windows Server 2012, including Active Directory, networking and core application services, security, migration from Windows Server 2003/2008, administration, fault tolerance, optimization, troubleshooting, and much more. Valuable for Windows professionals at all skill levels, this book will be especially indispensable for intermediate-to-advanced level professionals seeking expert, in-depth solutions. Every chapter contains tips, tricks, best practices, and lessons learned from actual deployments: practical information for using Windows Server 2012 to solve real business problems. Plan and migrate from Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Leverage powerful capabilities that are truly new in Windows Server 2012 Install Windows Server 2012 and the GUI-less Windows Server Core Upgrade to Windows Server 2012 Active Directory Utilize advanced AD capabilities including federated forests and identity management Plan and deploy network services, from DNS and DHCP to IPv6, IPAM, and IIS Protect systems and data with server-level security, transport-level security, and security policies Deliver true end-to-end secured anytime/anywhere access to remote/mobile clients Efficiently configure and manage users, sites, OUs, domains, and forests through Server Manager console Create more fault-tolerant environments with DFS, clustering, and Network Load Balancing Leverage major Hyper-V virtualization improvements in availability, redundancy, and guest support Manage Active Directory more efficiently with Active Directory Administrative Center, Best Practice Analyzer, and PowerShell scripts Systematically tune, optimize, debug, and troubleshoot Windows Server 2012

This is the first comprehensive Operations Manager 2012 technical resource for every IT implementer and administrator. Building on their bestselling OpsMgr 2007 book, three Microsoft System Center Cloud and Data Center Management MVPs thoroughly illuminate major improvements in Microsoft’s newest version–including new enhancements just added in Service Pack 1. You’ll find all the information you need to efficiently manage cloud and datacenter applications and services in even the most complex environment. The authors provide up-to-date best practices for planning, installation, migration, configuration, administration, security, compliance, dashboards, forecasting, backup/recovery, management packs, monitoring including .NET monitoring, PowerShell automation, and much more. Drawing on decades of enterprise and service provider experience, they also offer indispensable insights for integrating with your existing Microsoft and third-party infrastructure. Detailed information on how to... Plan and execute a smooth OpsMgr 2012 deployment or migration Move toward application-centered management in complex environments Secure OpsMgr 2012, and assure compliance through Audit Collection Services Implement dashboards, identify trends, and improve forecasting Maintain and protect each of your OpsMgr 2012 databases Monitor virtually any application, environment, or device: client-based, .NET, distributed, networked, agentless, or agent-managed Use synthetic transactions to monitor application performance and responsiveness Install UNIX/Linux cross-platform agents Integrate OpsMgr into virtualized environments Manage and author management packs and reports Automate key tasks with PowerShell, agents, and alerts Create scalable management clouds for service provider/multi-tenant environments Use OpsMgr 2012 Service Pack 1 with Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012

This is the comprehensive reference and technical guide to Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012. A team of expert authors offers step-by-step coverage of related topics in every feature area, organized to help IT professionals rapidly optimize Configuration Manager 2012 for their requirements, and then deploy and use it successfully. The authors begin by introducing Configuration Manager 2012 and its goals, and explaining how it fits into the broader System Center product suite. Next, they fully address planning, design, and implementation. Finally, they systematically cover each of Configuration Manager 2012's most important feature sets, addressing issues ranging from configuration management to software distribution. Readers will learn how to use Configuration Manager 2012's user-centric capabilities to provide anytime/anywhere services and software, and to strengthen both control and compliance. The first book on Configuration Manager 2012, System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Unleashed joins Sams' market-leading series of books on Microsoft's System Center product suite: books that have achieved go-to status amongst IT implementers and administrators worldwide.

Embodied and Whole Life Carbon will change the way buildings are designed, yet carbon emissions associated with the construction and life of buildings are not yet wholly understood by the profession. Energy is assumed to be the province of services engineers, yet energy from materials is as big an issue. Architects have the opportunity to take the lead in redefining how buildings are designed to achieve a low carbon future.