Microsoft System Center 2012 Unleashed

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.

•  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

Chris Amaris, MCITP, MCTS, CISSP/ISSAP, CHS III, is the chief technology officer and cofounder of Convergent Computing. He has more than 20 years experience consulting for Fortune 500 companies, leading companies in the technology selection, design, planning, and implementation of complex information technology projects. Chris has worked with Microsoft System Center products, such as Operations Manager and Configuration Manager, since their original releases in 2000 and 1994. He specializes in messaging, security, performance tuning, systems management, and migration. Receiving his first Microsoft technologies certification in 1993, Chris is a current Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) with multiple Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist designations (MCTS) in System Center technologies, a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) with an Information System Security Architecture Professional (ISSAP) concentration, Certified Homeland Security (CHS III), a Novell CNE, a Banyan CBE, and a Certified Project Manager. Chris is also an author, writer, and technical editor for a number of IT books, including Network Security for Government and Corporate Executives, Exchange 2010 Unleashed, and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed.

Rand Morimoto, Ph.D., MVP, MCITP, CISSP, has been in the computer industry for over 30 years and has authored, coauthored, or been a contributing writer for dozens of books on Windows, Security, Exchange, BizTalk, and Remote and Mobile Computing. Rand is the president of Convergent Computing, an IT-consulting firm in the San Francisco Bay area that has been one of the key early adopter program partners with Microsoft, implementing the latest Microsoft technologies, including Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, System Center 2012, Windows 7, Exchange Server 2010, Windows Server 2012, and SharePoint 2010 in production environments over 18 months before the initial product releases.

Pete Handley, MCITP, CISSP, has more than 15 years of experience in IT, including extensive knowledge of Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, Windows Server 2008, and the System Center suite of products. He has been a contributing author for the Sams books Microsoft Exchange 2003 Unleashed and Windows PowerShell Unleashed. Pete specializes in Visual Basic and PowerShell scripting and is a subject matter expert on the integration and migration of Novell technologies to Microsoft technologies. Pete holds the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer 2003 (MCSE) certification, the Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional (MCITP) certification, the Novell Certified Directory Engineer (CDE) certification, and the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.

David E. Ross, MCITP, VCP, CCEA, CCSP, has over 13 years of experience in IT consulting, the majority of which have been spent playing the lead architect role on network design and implementation projects throughout the San Francisco Bay area. David is currently acting as a principal engineer for Convergent Computing, and is frequently involved in creating hybrid solutions involving multiple vendor technologies for organizations of all sizes. Specialties for David include Active Directory, Exchange, System Center, Lync, Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop design, virtualization solutions using VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V, and Cisco routing, switching, and security technologies.