System Center 2012 Orchestrator Unleashed

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

Kerrie Meyler, System Center MVP for Cloud and Datacenter Management, is the lead author of numerous System Center books in the Unleashed series. This includes System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed (2008), System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Unleashed (2009), System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 Unleashed (2010), System Center Opalis Integration Server 6.3 Unleashed (2011), System Center Service Manager 2010 Unleashed (2011), System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Unleashed (2012), and System Center 2012 Operations Manager Unleashed (2013). She is an independent consultant and trainer with more than 15 years of Information Technology experience. Kerrie has presented on System Center technologies at TechEd NA and MMS.

Pete Zerger is a consultant, author, speaker, and System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management MVP focusing on System Center management, private cloud, and data center automation solutions. He is a frequent speaker at Microsoft conferences, and writes articles for a variety of technical magazines including Microsoft TechNet. Pete is a contributing author for several books, including System Center Opalis Integration Server 6.3 Unleashed (2011), PowerShell 2.0 Bible (Wiley, 2011), and System Center 2012 Operations Manager Unleashed (2013). He is also the co-founder of SystemCenterCentral.com, a popular web community providing information, news, and support for System Center technologies. In 2008, Pete founded the System Center Virtual User Group, a group dedicated to sharing System Center knowledge with users worldwide.

Marcus Oh, System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management MVP, is a senior technical manager for a large telecommunications provider, running directory services and management infrastructure for ~30,000 systems. He has been an MVP since 2004 in System Center, specializing in Configuration Manager, Operations Manager, and Orchestrator. Marcus has written numerous articles for technology websites and blogs on Orchestrator and other System Center components at http://marcusoh.blogspot.com. He coauthored Professional SMS 2003, MOM 2005, and WSUS (Wrox, 2006), was a contributing author to System Center Opalis Integration Server 6.3 Unleashed (2011), and coauthored System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Unleashed (2012). Marcus is also the president of the Atlanta Systems Management User Group ( http://www.atlsmug.com ) and a board member of the Deskside Management Forum.

Anders Bengtsson is a Microsoft senior premier field engineer focusing on System Center. He has written a number of System Center training courses, including the Service Manager 2010 and Operations Manager 2007 advanced courses for Microsoft Learning. He was a coauthor for System Center Service Manager 2010 Unleashed (2011). Before joining Microsoft, Anders was a Microsoft MVP from 2007-2010 for his work in the System Center community, including more than 10,000 posts in news groups and forums. Anders has presented and worked at numerous Microsoft conferences and events, including MMS and Microsoft TechEd NA and EMEA.

Kurt Van Hoecke, System Center Cloud and Datacenter Management MVP, is a managing consultant at Inovativ Belgium. He focuses on the System Center product suite, including Orchestrator, Service Manager, and Configuration Manager. Kurt was a contributing author to System Center Service Manager 2010 Unleashed (2011) and blogs for System Center User Group Belgium and AuthoringFriday, where he shares his field experiences and discusses how to extend the built-in functionality of the System Center components.