How to add a product key when you are installing System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager.

Once your installation is complete it’s time to make sure you apply your license key. As you know there isn’t any prompt for adding the license key during the installs.

Instead it’s a Post-installation task you must perform.

The process I really simple. We use the PowerShell Set-SCOMLicence cmdlet.

1. Open an elevated PowerShell prompt. (Run as Administrator).

2. Type import-module operationsmanager.

3. Type New-SCOMManagementGroupConnection to connect your management group

4. Run the command Set-SCOMLicense -ProductId “<yourlicensekey>“

5. Check the settings by running the command:

Get-SCOMManagementGroup | ft skuforlicense, version, timeofexpiration –a

You may have to restart the Management server/-s to make sure that these changes are registered correctly.

On demand training, Windows Azure Pack

July 16–17, 2014 Microsoft had a Live training event called Windows Azure Pack: Infrastructure as a Service Jump Start ft a instructor team of Microsoft employees.

During two days you could learn how to use Windows Azure Pack to deliver Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in your datacenter. The content is now available on Microsoft Cannel 9

Have you checked out the Ch9 App for Xbox 360? Pretty nice to be able to watch the content on your home entertainment system 🙂

Full course outline for the two days:

Day One

• Mod 01: Introduction to the Windows Azure Pack
  Length 00:34:44
• Mod 02: Install and Configure WAP
  Length 01:00:26
• Mod 03: Integrate the Fabric
  Length 01:00:09

Day Two

• Mod 04: Deliver Self-Service
  Length 00:51:21
• Mod 05: Service Management Automation
  Length 01:25:57
• Mod 06: Extend Services with Third Parties
  Length 01:06:07
• Mod 07: Create Tenant Experiences
  Length 01:03:29

So join the Instructor Team for an exploration of Windows Azure Pack’s (WAP’s) infrastructure services (IaaS)

Windows Azure Pack builds on the power of Microsoft CloudOS brought to your local data center that enables you to deliver an enterprise-class, cost-effective solution for self-service, multitenant cloud infrastructure and application services based on Microsoft Azure, Windows Server and System Center technologies.

· Andrew Zeller | Microsoft Senior Technical Program Manager

· ​Symon Perriman | Microsoft Senior Technical Evangelist
Twitter: @SymonPerriman

· Joe Levy | Microsoft Program Manager
Twitter: @Jodoglevy

· Shriram Natarajan | Microsoft Program Manager
Twitter: @shriramnat

· John Ballard | Microsoft Principal Program Manager

​· ​Vybava Ramadoss | Microsoft ​Program Manager
Twitter: @vybava

· Anshuman Nangia | Microsoft Program Manager

My blog 2.0

I powerful lab doesn’t have to be expensive.

The reason I started blogging was that I wanted to help a friend of mine getting started with a lab setup and it turns out that that post has been one of the more popular ones. I have decided to be more active on my blog and share the things I find.

What would be better then start off the 2.0 version of the blog where I once started.

Building your own Azure in the living room

In a series of articles I will build a home lab complete with operations system, management software and virtual machines. I will use Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2. I will use evaluation software downloaded from TechNet Evaluation Center More on that in the next part of the series

Part 1: The hardware

I wanted two machines so that I could build a cluster. I got the hardware for the lab little over a year ago and have complemented the purchases since then. Each of the machines are equipped with a Intel i5 processor, 32 GB RAM and three hard drives, one mechanic large drive for more static content, ISO, templates and such and two blistering fast SSDs.

Some of the hardware is a little bit old at the moment so you might need to get some newer parts if you want to build the machines. On the other hand used parts are now a bit cheaper and the speed of this rig is pretty awesome so that might be a cheaper way to go.

I wanted to get some relative small form factor and decided to go with the Shuttle XPC Barebone PC.
The integrated motherboard and the ability toadd up to 32 GB RAM and the necessary expansion slots/functions needed for the lab. Based on my experience you can never get enough RAM so to lower the cost of the rig I decided to go for the i5 processor and get all the RAM at once.

The components I complemented the PCs with are listed below.

Processor:
Intel Core i5-2320 Quad-Core Processor 3.0 GHz 6 MB Cache LGA 1155 – BX80623I52320 (EOL)

Memory:
Corsair XMS3 — 32GB DDR3 Dual/Quad Channel Memory Kit

Storage:
OCZ Agility 3 – SATA III 2.5″120 GB (EOL)
INTEL 530 240GB SATA SSD MLC
WD Green WD20EARX 64MB 2TB

I use the smaller SSD drive for the OS and the Intel SSD for the VM:s as mentioned before the 2 TB spinning disk are used to store images and tools and less intensive VMs

Stay tuned for the next part in the Building your own Azure in the living room series.

Part 2: The Windows 2012 R2 installation

By the way my wife approves of keeping the machines in the living room.

Study guide for Microsoft Certification Exam 74-409

Veeam are providing a “Free Study Guide for Microsoft Certification Exam 74-409: Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center”

The guide is a 150 page pdf document that covers the exam objectives in 8 chapters.

You will learn about:

• Virtual Machine Settings
• Virtual machine storage
• Hyper-V Virtual Networks and virtualization networking
• Implementing virtual machines
• Managing Virtualization Hosts and Infrastructure
• Hyper-V Failover Clustering and Failover Clustering Roles
• Virtual Machine Movement
• Monitoring and disaster recovery