As we know the map tools they will get better all the time, better with inventory, virtualization, Security. the MAP 6.5 toolkitis a must for every good inventory, and it is free. set it up on a VM and test the product.
The Microsoft® Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit helps you understand your current information technology (IT) infrastructure and determine the Microsoft technologies that best fit your IT needs. The MAP Toolkit is a powerful inventory, assessment, and reporting tool that helps securely inventory small or large IT environments without requiring the installation of agent software in your environment. The data and analysis that this toolkit provides can significantly simplify the planning process for a wide range of migration projects.
The journey to the cloud is now smoother than ever with the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 6.5 Beta. The MAP Toolkit’s new capabilities help users to securely assess heterogeneous IT environments while enabling the evaluation of workloads for migration to Microsoft’s private and public cloud platforms. Consolidate existing server workloads using the updated Hyper-V® Cloud Fast Track capacity planning feature. The revamped Azure Migration feature in MAP 6.5 provides more in-depth analysis of the suitability of migrating on-premises applications to the Windows Azure™ platform. Other significant new features in MAP 6.5 include the discovery of active Windows® devices, Software Usage Tracking for Forefront® Endpoint Protection (FEP), and the discovery of Oracle instances on Itanium-based servers with HP-UX to assist in the planning of migration to SQL Server®.
Sample screen shot of the logfile overview and a screen shot of the software inventory count by user and computer you can make also any selection that you want.
A shot overview of the product layout.
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Desktop · Windows 7 Readiness · Microsoft Office 2010 Readiness · Internet Explorer Discovery |
Data Collection · Machine Summary · Application Summary |
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Server · Windows Server 2008 R2 Readiness · Windows Server 2008 Readiness · Windows Server Roles Discovery · Web Application Discovery |
Database · SQL Server Discovery · MySQL Discovery · Oracle Discovery · Sybase Discovery |
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Virtualization · Virtual Machine Discovery |
Cloud · Office 365 Readiness |
But how about the Cloud ? yes it is there nice tools to scan your environment and get ready for the cloud.
1. Public/Private Cloud Capacity and Migration Planning – Once performance data has been collected, virtualization and cloud scenarios are available for use.
· Hardware Configuration – The Hardware Library Wizard allows you to define host infrastructures for use with the Hyper-V Cloud FastTrack Wizard.
· Hyper-V Cloud FastTrack – Select a pre-configured Hyper-V Cloud FastTrack Infrastructure to evaluate server consolidation on these Infrastructures.
· Windows Azure Application Migration Portfolio – Create an Application scenario by choosing the web applications, SQL Databases, and Servers that compose an Application deployed in your environment. Using this information, MAP will provide an estimate of the capacity required to support your Application after migrating it to the Windows Azure platform as well as insight into critical issues that must be taken into consideration when migrating the Application.
Integration with SCCM and other products you can put the security credentials for every product and you can point the user to a special product, even VMware can be scaned.
Hyper-V Cloud FastTrack
Choose a Hyper-V Cloud FastTrack. Use the wizard to select a preconfigured Hyper-V Cloud FastTrack Infrastructure to use for evaluating server consolidation on different OEM infrastructures. The Microsoft Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track Program is a joint effort between Microsoft and its OEM partners to help organizations quickly develop and implement private clouds, while reducing both the cost and the risk. Each OEM partner will provide Fast Track infrastructures (also known as private cloud or rack) per the Fast Track reference architecture and the infrastructures will be running Windows Server, Hyper-V, and System Center.
Windows Azure Application Migration
View Windows Azure Migration Portfolio. The MAP Toolkit will gather performance details for web applications and databases deployed in your environment. You then create an application scenario by choosing the web applications, SQL databases, and servers that compose an application deployed in your environment. Using this information, MAP will provide an estimate of the capacity required to support your application after migrating it to the Windows Azure platform as well as insight into critical issues that must be taken into consideration when migrating the application.
Calculate Potential Return on Investment (ROI)
You can evaluate potential ROI associated with the Windows Azure Application Migration recommendations the MAP Toolkit makes using Microsoft’s Windows Azure TCO and ROI Calculator. The MAP Toolkit generates an XML file when an Azure Application Summary report is generated. Click the link and import the appropriate XML file into the Aliening ROI Calculator to analyze potential ROI. For more information, see Microsoft Windows Azure ROI Analysis.
As you all know SQL is a great product but what about the security, oh yes the DB admin has full control eh yes full control and he has an SA account with “P@ssw0rd” eh duh ok you need security scanning yes tools SCOM system center operations manager is a great tool , oh you want a free tool and logging only yes use MAP how easy.
SQL Server Usage
SQL Server 2008 Enterprise and Datacenter Editions introduced audit event configuration for Windows security logging, which enabled SQL Server 2008 to log logon events to the Windows Security log. The MAP Toolkit can parse these logs to track usage for SQL Server 2008 Enterprise and Datacenter Editions.
To enable SQL Server 2008 to log audit events to the Windows security log
On each SQL Server 2008 instance for which you need to track usage, run the following SQL command:
/* Turn LOGIN logging on */
USE MASTER
GO
/* Note: the name ‘Server_Audit’ is your choice */
CREATE SERVER AUDIT [Server_Audit]
TO SECURITY_LOG WITH ( QUEUE_DELAY = 1000, ON_FAILURE = CONTINUE);
ALTER SERVER AUDIT [Server_Audit]
WITH (STATE = ON);
USE MASTER
GO
/* Note: the name ‘login_audit’ is your choice */
CREATE SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION [login_audit]
FOR SERVER AUDIT Server_Audit
ADD (SUCCESSFUL_LOGIN_GROUP) WITH (STATE = ON);
See there is no reason not to use the MAP toolkit.
Learn more
Visit the MAP home page: www.microsoft.com/map
Get the latest news straight from the MAP team: http://blogs.technet.com/mapblog
MAP works with the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and Security Compliance Manager to help you plan, securely deploy, and manage new Microsoft technologies—easier, faster, and at less cost. Learn more at www.microsoft.com/solutionaccelerators.
