A look at the current initiatives within UWE such as SharePoint, consolidation and virtualisation as well as some of

the technology trends we can see coming down the road such as new forms of communication, mobility and unified communications / VOIP.

Alistair SandfordShow and Tell Session

Show and Tell Session

1.  Active Directory Open demonstration

2. SharePoint 2007 Overview and demonstration

3. VMWare and Virtualisation Overview of VMWare ESX as a platform for

consolidation Demonstration of Virtual Centre

4. SMS Demonstration of SMS and overview of the PC build-

system5. The future of Exchange 2007

Unified Communications

Day to day admin here does NOT include: Making user accounts - automated using MIIS, 1000s

of users so don’t want to be doing that! Making changes all the time – changes must be

planned as a large system like ours can be badly affected by a mistake and we have a service to deliver

Changes happen at specific times called the “At Risk Period” when ITS is aware of changes occurring and are on call to notify of any problems as they occur

3

Definition: the masking of server resources, including the number and identity of individual physical servers, processors, and operating systems, from server users

Modern servers so fast we don’t use all the resources available so they sit idle 99% of the time

Waste is immense (power, money, time, natural resources, and space)

Currently, the best method of utilising resources effectively is by virtualisation & consolidation

4

Virtual Machines, using a Hypervisor (ESX & Microsoft) Run on a software imitation of hardware Multiple types of operating system possible on one server

OS level virtualisation (Virtuozzo & Solaris Zones) Partitions guests using same or similar OS – isolating them Allows guests to share binaries – host 1000s of guests!

5

Virtual Infrastructure 2 – uses ESX 3 hosts Multiple hosts in an array, across two sites Guest HD’s on SAN storage Automatically migrated to hosts with available

resources If one site fails the VMs can be brought up on

the other site Can give permissions for admin/s of specific

machines to look after VMs themselves

6

7

Main uses: software deployment & delivering standard operating systems to PCs

Process: software installed by faculty experts on a standard

OS install, then packaged into an .msi file Software added to SMS then advertised to rooms PCs poll the SMS server and discover the advert

and install the .msi file using admin privileges Problems:

Apps run badly due to poor testing of packages

8

Install Windows XP and make standard desktop Sysprep and then ‘image’ to a WIM file using a

specially created CD Added in to SMS as a new OS package SMS allows for scripts to run at specific stages

of the OS delivery State capture – copy user’s old files and prepare vars Pre-install – prepare HD for OS delivery Post-install – add custom drivers or other files State restore – install core applications

9

Currently: Add or change PC in a database Put in a CD and reboot PC OS automatically installs depending on details in

database Requires someone with a CD and a db change

Planned: Make use of PXE to boot PCs without a CD Allow users to rebuild their own PCs after a simple

call to the help-desk!

10

Official Title Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS)

What is it? Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is an

integrated suite of server capabilities Accessed via a Web Interface or directly from

applications or via web services Microsoft fastest selling product of all time

Docs/tasks/calendars, blogs, Docs/tasks/calendars, blogs, wikis, e-mail integration, wikis, e-mail integration,

project management “lite”, project management “lite”, Outlook integration, Outlook integration,

offline docs/listsoffline docs/lists

Enterprise Portal Enterprise Portal template, Site template, Site

Directory, My Sites, Directory, My Sites, social networking, social networking,

privacy controlprivacy control

Enterprise scalability,Enterprise scalability,contextual relevance, rich contextual relevance, rich people and business data people and business data

searchsearch

Rich and Web Rich and Web forms based front-forms based front-ends, LOB actions, ends, LOB actions, pluggable SSOpluggable SSO

Server-based Excel Server-based Excel spreadsheets and data spreadsheets and data visualization, Report visualization, Report Center, BI Web Parts, Center, BI Web Parts, KPIs/DashboardsKPIs/Dashboards

Integrated document Integrated document management, records management, records management, and Web management, and Web content management content management with policies and with policies and workflowworkflow

BusinessBusinessFormsForms

SearchSearchContentContent

ManagementManagement

PlatformPlatformServicesServices

Workspaces, Mgmt,Workspaces, Mgmt,

Security, Storage,Security, Storage,

Site Model,Site Model,

TopologyTopology

64 bit = performance and scaling Unified Communications Improved High Availability options Increased support for mobile access Improved protection Voice enabled – Auto Attendant Demo Video – Exchange 2007 & OCS

?alistair.sandford@uwe.ac.uk