To help control costs, improve business agility, and remain secure and in compliance, many IT organizations are taking steps to transition to a truly dynamic infrastructure. At the same time, many organizations are also planning to implement the next line of server products from Microsoft, yet are challenged to find the fastest, least disruptive way to deploy this technology across the organization. Microsoft® System Center is a family of leading IT management solutions that helps IT departments proactively plan, deploy, manage, and optimize an IT environment. And today, Microsoft has made available the Server Management Suite Enterprise—a license that brings together all of the capabilities needed to complete comprehensive, life-cycle management of IT infrastructure.

1. Controlling Costs and Driving
Agility in the Datacenter
Optimizing Server Infrastructure with Microsoft System Center
Microsoft Corporation
Published: November 2007
Executive Summary
To help control costs, improve business agility, and remain secure and in compliance, many IT organizations
are taking steps to transition to a truly dynamic infrastructure. At the same time, many organizations are also
planning to implement the next line of server products from Microsoft, yet are challenged to find the fastest,
least disruptive way to deploy this technology across the organization. Microsoft® System Center is a family of
leading IT management solutions that helps IT departments proactively plan, deploy, manage, and optimize
an IT environment. And today, Microsoft has made available the Server Management Suite Enterprise—a
license that brings together all of the capabilities needed to complete comprehensive, life-cycle management
of IT infrastructure.

2. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
© 2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This document is developed prior to the product’s release to
manufacturing, and as such, we cannot guarantee that all details included herein will be exactly as what is
found in the shipping product. The information contained in this document represents the current view of
Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to
changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and
Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. The
information represents the product at the time this document was printed and should be used for planning
purposes only. Information subject to change at any time without prior notice. This whitepaper is for
informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS
SUMMARY.
Microsoft, Active Directory, SharePoint, Windows, and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

3. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Optimizing the Datacenter ................................................................................................................................................... 5
Getting To the Value .............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Step 1: Plan ...............................................................................................................................................................................................7
Centralized View of Deployed Servers .....................................................................................................................................7
Control Costs and Optimize Server Resources .....................................................................................................................7
Protect Business Critical Data ......................................................................................................................................................8
Step 2: Build ..............................................................................................................................................................................................9
Maximize Efficiency with Consistent Server Configurations ...........................................................................................9
Mitigate Risk with Continuous Data Protection ............................................................................................................... 10
Meet Service Levels Commitments ........................................................................................................................................ 11
Step 3: Deploy....................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Drive Agility with Automated Deployment and System Monitoring ....................................................................... 11
Simplify Server Virtualization.................................................................................................................................................... 12
Migrate Data Securely ................................................................................................................................................................. 12
Step 4: Manage .................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Centralize Management of Server Networks ..................................................................................................................... 13
Improve Disaster Recovery Capabilities ............................................................................................................................... 14
Completing the IT Management Life Cycle .................................................................................................................. 15
The System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise .................................................................................................. 15
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................. 16

4. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
Introduction
The server infrastructure is the foundation upon which the business processes that drive an organization’s
success are based. IT decision makers are asked to build this foundation while being under constant pressure
to control costs, deliver infrastructure security, and ensure compliance. At the same time there is an ever
present need to remain agile so as to support changing business requirements. The key to this process is to
meet the challenge of delivering a truly dynamic IT infrastructure that fully supports the needs of the
business.
These challenges can be met with the Microsoft® Infrastructure Optimization model. This model is shown at a
high level in Figure 1. As organizations transition through the four stages from basic to dynamic, key
enhancements are made to the server infrastructure that deliver benefits that include:
 Controlled costs
 Enhanced security and compliance
 Improved agility
Figure 1 Microsoft infrastructure optimization model
To learn more about the Microsoft Infrastructure Optimization model visit
www.microsoft.com/technet/infrastructure/default.mspx.
Typically, 50 percent of all servers used in organizations are deployed in a datacenter. This large investment,
along with the fact that many organizations anticipate the upcoming deployment of the Windows Server®
2008 operating system, Microsoft SQL Server™ 2008, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 into
datacenters, requires a specific focus on this area of the infrastructure.
The line of server solutions from Microsoft can deliver significant value to organizations and provide the next
step businesses will take in upgrading their server infrastructure. However, these upcoming deployments
present IT departments with some tough questions:
 How can these new updates be deployed without disrupting normal business operations?
 How can these new updates be deployed quickly and efficiently?
 How can resources within the datacenter be used to deliver the most value?
Microsoft System Center is designed to meet these challenges while accelerating the time to value from
investments in all parts of an organization’s infrastructure—from the desktop to the datacenter. It provides
complete IT solutions for servers, desktops, and both physical and virtual devices. This paper explores the
issues presented when upgrading and optimizing a datacenter and how Microsoft System Center can enable
IT departments to resolve these issues while transitioning to a truly dynamic server infrastructure.
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5. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
Optimizing the Datacenter
The upgrade of the server infrastructure in a datacenter requires a range of project, process, and technology
resources. The most effective deployment and management strategy considers all physical and virtual
systems. Such a strategy also includes a complete platform perspective that understands both the Windows®-
based environment in which these new upgrades are deployed, and the integration points with third-party
systems.
There are five key areas of capabilities that drive the process to update and manage the datacenter:
1. Server Deployment and Upgrade
The automation of the configuration and deployment of servers is a key issue for any upgrade to a datacenter
infrastructure. The manual task of creating server images that meet the configuration and compliance
requirements of an organization can be both time consuming and costly. This has an impact beyond the
initial rollout to include the replacement, expansion, and update of specific servers. In addition, the ongoing
maintenance of servers through patch and update management demands capabilities that can integrate and
automate for both physical and virtual servers.
2. Virtualization Management
The challenges of server infrastructure management extend to both physical and virtual environments.
Virtualization management includes planning, deploying, managing, and optimizing the virtual infrastructure.
Requirements range from helping to identify servers that can be converted to virtual servers in order to make
the most of hardware and other resources, to improving the placement of virtual workloads. As a greater
proportion of the datacenter becomes virtualized, management of these environments becomes an
increasingly important requirement when planning and deploying upgrades.
3. Application Monitoring
Line-of-business application monitoring is an especially important component of successful datacenter
deployments. From front-end clients, to middleware, to the back-end database, the ability to have a complete
view of the application is critical to the fast diagnosis and resolution of any issue impacting business
processes. Granular monitoring, discovery, and reporting tools are the keys to ensuring the ongoing health of
business applications supported from the datacenter.
4. Data Protection and Recovery
From vital corporate e-mail in Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 to the data that drives decision making in
Microsoft SQL Server™ 2008, the protection and recovery of server-based data is key to the success of
organizations as they transition to a dynamic IT infrastructure. The importance of the workloads, whether
executed in a physical or virtual environment, means that a solution specifically tailored to the needs of a
Windows-based server environment is required. This requirement extends throughout the entire life cycle of
the datacenter from initial deployment to disaster recovery.
5. Compliance and security audit information
One of the most difficult pressures that IT organizations face is to keep datacenter servers running efficiently
while adhering to increased security and regulatory requirements. This process requires collecting security
audit data and ensuring that servers deployed in the datacenter meet compliance requirements when
deployed and remain compliant over their lifetime.
Given the focus of this paper, more emphasis is placed on the deployment and upgrade of servers. However,
each of the five areas of capability are applicable and touched upon throughout ultimately supporting a true,
end-to-end life-cycle management approach. In addition, all capabilities are key to ensuring the value
inherent in the investments made in updating server components can be reached in as short a time as
possible.
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6. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
Getting To the Value
When deploying new server capabilities into the datacenter, customers will choose the methodology that best
suits their resources and processes, but the rollout can be broken down into four major steps, illustrated in
Figure 2:
1. Planning how to best take advantage of capabilities and resources
2. Building new server images
3. Deploying the new server infrastructure to the datacenter
4. Managing the server infrastructure and completing ongoing optimization
Figure 2 The process of upgrading datacenter infrastructure follows a repeatable cycle.
The rest of this paper outlines key considerations at each step of this process and discusses how Microsoft®
System Center can support this process by using integrated capabilities across the suite, with built-in best
practice systems management knowledge and processes. Key benefits of System Center include:
 End-to-end management of datacenter services.
 Complete IT systems life-cycle management inside the datacenter and beyond, including desktops,
servers, and devices, in any location—using the same capabilities used to optimize the datacenter.
 Integrated management across both physical and virtual environments.
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7. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
Step 1: Plan
Planning is the first, and often most crucial, phase in effectively and successfully
upgrading the server infrastructure and datacenter. During this phase, IT
departments must collect vital information about the server infrastructure, including:
 Assessing the current state of the server infrastructure and datacenter
 Identifying each asset that comprises the infrastructure
 Identifying the purpose of each asset
Unfortunately, for many organizations, collecting accurate information about server
assets within the datacenter is easier said than done. Every day, datacenters grow
increasingly complex as companies introduce and implement new technology that can enhance business
performance. This trend makes it difficult for IT departments to maintain accurate records of server assets—a
challenge that also makes it difficult to effectively plan upgrades and enhancements to the server
infrastructure.
System Center delivers the capabilities that make it easy for IT organizations to collect the information that is
needed to acquire in-depth knowledge about the existing infrastructure.
Gain a Centralized View of Deployed Servers
The first challenge that IT departments face when planning a server upgrade is to efficiently identify all the
assets that make up the network. To do so, IT departments need a centralized management solution that
automatically identifies a company’s assets. Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 simplifies
this task.
System Center Configuration Manager 2007 includes hardware and software inventory capabilities that help
IT organizations identify hardware and software assets, gain insight into who is using those assets, and
understand where the where they are located. Through Asset Intelligence, Configuration Manager 2007
presents a clear picture of IT assets by providing comprehensive identification and categorization of the
servers, desktops, laptops, mobile devices, and software installed across both physical and virtual
environments. Within the datacenter, this provides a fast method for understanding what server devices are in
use today and who is using them. A “live” connection (available in the first service pack for Configuration
Manager 2007) also enables Asset Intelligence to identify new and changing systems and notify IT
administrators of changes if desired. This can significantly reduce the time spent identifying and tracking
assets during and after an upgrade project.
Control Costs and Optimize Server Resources
As organizations move through the phases of the Infrastructure Optimization model, planning a server
upgrade presents an ideal opportunity to cut medium- or long-term costs by optimizing the use of server
resources within the datacenter. Virtualization is one of the most important trends that can impact server
resource optimization by changing how IT departments provision and manage servers and workloads. Virtual
machine technology decouples the physical hardware from software so that IT departments can run multiple
virtual machines on a single physical server. As a result, IT departments realize many benefits. For example,
servers running virtual machines can operate at 60 percent utilization or greater, depending on the
availability requirements of the workloads. IT departments can also speed response times to business needs
because new machines don’t have to be set up manually and can be provisioned much faster. In addition, by
consolidating workloads and minimizing the number of servers in the datacenter, IT departments can reduce
costs.
Together, Microsoft System Center Operations Manger 2007 and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine
Manager 2007 can help IT departments identify how servers are being used, how each server is performing,
and how each server can be used to its fullest potential. System Center Operations Manager 2007 monitors
server health and stores vital performance information in a database that System Center Virtual Machine
Manager 2007 can access and analyze. Virtual Machine Manager 2007 then generates a consolidation report
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8. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
that provides an easy-to-understand summary of the long-term performance of a workload. As shown in
Figure 3, this information helps project teams make educated decisions about which servers would be ideal
candidates for consolidation. Also, information about the performance of the hardware running virtualized
applications provides data that decision makers need to smartly move those applications off one server onto
another, re-image the server, and then return the applications—all while maintaining 100 percent availability
of the datacenter resources.
Figure 3 Virtualization candidate report in Virtual Machine Manager.
Protect Business Critical Data
IT administrators must complete server upgrades with minimal disruption to business operations. The first
step involves a comprehensive data backup plan—a task that the System Center Server Management Suite
Enterprise enables IT departments to complete with ease.
Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 helps companies plan a server upgrade with
confidence by enabling IT departments to reliably back up existing data. System Center Data Protection
Manager 2007 was specifically built to protect and recover:
 Microsoft SQL Server™
 Microsoft Exchange Server
 Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server
 Microsoft Virtual Server
 Microsoft Active Directory® directory service
 Windows file services
With a foundation built on Volume Shadow Copy Service, Data Protection Manager 2007 provides ongoing
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9. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
protection of an organization’s core server workload, by transferring data to a server with Data Protection
Manager and performing snapshots as often as every 15 minutes. The server then provides disk-based
recovery and tape-based, long-term archival storage for a complete data protection and recovery solution.
Step 2: Build
After IT departments have created an accurate picture of server assets, the department
must design the datacenter and determine which changes should be made to ensure
the most optimized, cost-efficient infrastructure. Then the department can define a
series of steps that will lead to this goal. These steps will enable the department to
successfully deploy the Windows Server® 2008 operating system, Microsoft SQL Server
2008, and Exchange Server 2007 SP1 and transform the datacenter into a strategic
asset.
During the build phase, IT departments must create server images, convert physical
servers to virtual servers, create a disaster recovery plan, and monitor the testing process. During the build
phase, IT departments need to remain on the most efficient and cost-effective course for the business—a task
that is made easier with System Center.
Maximize Efficiency with Consistent Server Configurations
The build phase offers an opportunity for IT departments to identify areas for reducing costs, improving
efficiency, and supporting compliance efforts. One way to accomplish this is by creating standardized server
images for all server components—both for physical and virtual machines. System Center Operations
Manager 2007 and System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 facilitate this process, as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4 Converting physical servers to virtual servers
The Task Sequencer, driver packages, and dynamic driver catalog included with Configuration Manager 2007
significantly reduce the number of server images that IT organizations must create—images that can be
deployed to either physical or virtual machines. IT administrators can create a simple generic image and
dynamically add the necessary drivers during the build. In addition, by integrating vendor provided tools,
Configuration Manager 2007 can automate the setup of RAID, SAN, and iSCSI hard drive configurations as
part of the task sequence. This can have a significant impact on the amount of manual work required later as
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10. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
upgrades are rolled out.
Upon creation of the server images for physical machines, Virtual Machine Manager 2007 converts the
appropriate images for virtual machines. Traditionally, this task can be slow and disrupt business operations,
but Virtual Machine Manager 2007 uses the Volume Shadow Copy Service, which helps administrators create
virtual machines without interrupting the source physical server. Virtual Machine Manager 2007 also simplifies
this whole process by providing a task-based wizard that helps guide administrators. Once images are
created, Virtual Machine Manager 2007 supports a complete library that organizes and manages all the
“building blocks” of the virtual datacenter within a single interface.
Mitigate Risk with Continuous Data Protection
Protecting data continues to be a primary concern during the build phase. But
Administrators can lean on Microsoft’s experience in Windows Server® technology to create a technically
advanced and comprehensive data protection solution.
Data Protection Manager 2007 helps prevent IT departments from losing critical business data when
upgrading server infrastructure, as shown in Figure 5. By integrating a point-in-time database restore with
existing application logs, Data Protection Manager can deliver “near zero data loss” recovery of Microsoft
Exchange Server, SQL Server, and SharePoint Server, eliminating the need to constantly replicate or
synchronize data. Data Protection Manager also uses both disk and tape mediums to enable fast restores
from disk (at multiple points in the day) and supports long-term data retention and off-site portability with
disks.
Figure 5 Data Protection Manager provides backup and recovery for key datacenter servers.
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11. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
Data Protection Manager also offers the following features:
 Integrated support for E12 CCR and LCR clusters
 Shorter backup windows for SQL Server, without requiring compression
 Integrated server farm, database, and site-level restores for SharePoint Server
 One-touch application restores
Meet Service Level Commitments
Before deploying upgrades to the server environment, IT departments perform extensive tests to ensure there
are no disruptions to the business when the new server products “go live.” System Center Operations
Manager 2007 makes it easy to access the results of these tests, much in the same way that it monitors the
overall health of the server infrastructure. IT departments can also create scenarios that act like an end user of
a specific service to monitor success and failure rates and performance statistics—results that can help identify
potential deployment issues.
In addition, administrator-designated end users can access Virtual Machine Manager by way of a Web portal
that is designed for user self-service. This portal enables test users and development users to quickly provision
new virtual machines for themselves, according to the controls set by the administrator. Not only can IT
personnel quickly test new configurations, but they can also uncover problems before deployment.
Step 3: Deploy
During deployment, IT departments must quickly roll out new products while
remaining agile so they can respond to changes. Costs must also be kept to a
minimum and business operations must not be disrupted.
In the past, deploying new server software required someone to sit down at each
server and complete the upgrade. This manual process took significant resources and
did not guarantee that servers were deployed with consistent configurations.
Determining which virtual and physical machines to link together was also difficult
because companies didn’t have the data, such as workloads, performance metrics, and network capacity, to
create optimal arrangements. Companies often risked losing vital company data during the migration
process. System Center helps alleviate these challenges.
Drive Agility with Automated Deployment and System Monitoring
With Configuration Manager 2007, IT administrators can roll out new servers rapidly and consistently by
automating operating system deployments and task sequences. IT administrators can fully deploy and
configure servers from previous states, either by updating or replacing OEM builds, or by installing the
operating system and applications on new computers. Preboot Execution Environment protocol and Windows
Deployment Services also make it easier to deploy servers that have no operating system installed—just plug
in the server and turn it on.
The Task Sequencer in Configuration Manager 2007 fully automates the end-to-end deployment process,
enabling zero-touch to near zero-touch deployments. This means that the process of building servers—which
can include more than 80 steps, including image loads, driver loads, update loads, and multiple reboots—can
be handled by Configuration Manager automatically as shown in Figure 6.
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12. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
Figure 6 Configuration Manager automates the process of deploying server images.
IT departments can also maintain visibility of the state of the infrastructure throughout the entire datacenter
deployment and management process. Configuration Manager 2007 generates detailed reports about the
deployments and provides information about those that have failed. This information helps IT departments
resolve problems quickly, easily, and proactively.
Simplify Server Virtualization
To maximize server utilization, it is critical that IT administrators select the appropriate virtual machine host
for a given workload. Virtual Machine Manager 2007 helps IT departments with this complex task of
“Intelligent Placement”. Virtual Machine Manager 2007 uses a holistic approach to selecting the appropriate
hosts based on four factors:
 The resource consumption characteristics of the workload
 Minimum CPU, disk, RAM, and network capacity requirements
 Performance data from virtual machine hosts
 Preselected business rules and models associated with each workflow that contain knowledge from the
entire life cycle of the workload.
After the analysis, Virtual Machine Manager 2007 produces an Intelligent Placement report that helps the IT
department select the appropriate host for a given workload.
Migrate Data Securely
As administrators migrate information to an updated server platform, it is crucial that data is not lost or
corrupted. Once the new platform is in place, Data Protection Manager 2007 will identify the new server
environment and enable customers to quickly and easily restore the data where it needs to go. Administrative
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13. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
delays associated with restores are also reduced by using a restore user interface that is based on the
calendar, robust media management functionality, and disk-based end-user recovery.
With Data Protection Manager 2007, restoring information takes seconds and involves simply browsing a
share and copying directly from Data Protection Manager to the production server. By enabling customers to
restore data from disk, Data Protection Manager significantly shortens the amount of time it takes to recover
data, allowing customers to recover data in minutes versus the hours it takes to recover from tape. Data
Protection Manager also minimizes the risk of failure that is associated with recovering data from tape.
Step 4: Manage
After successfully upgrading the server infrastructure with next-generation server
technology from Microsoft, IT departments must continue to monitor the
infrastructure to ensure technology and licenses are up-to-date, the network is secure,
and commitments to meet service level agreements for performance and availability
are met. In addition, IT departments must ensure consistency within server
configurations—for example, guaranteeing that every Exchange Server has the same
configuration—and that server resources are being used with maximum efficiency to
drive the most value from existing resources.
Meeting these goals was once a challenge because IT departments did not have a
solution that enabled the management of the entire server infrastructure from a
central location. System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise. System Center Server Management Suite
Enterprise not only simplifies and speeds the deployment of new server products, it also eases the ongoing
task of managing the entire server infrastructure on a day-to-day basis.
Centralize Management of Server Networks
System Center offers many ways for IT departments to proactively manage the state of IT infrastructure—
regardless of its complexity. For example, System Center Operations Manager 2007 provides an easy-to-use
management environment that can oversee thousands of servers and applications, delivering a
comprehensive view of the health of the datacenter, shown in Figure 7. System Center Operations Manger
2007 also comes with over 60 management packs, which extend management capabilities to the operating
systems, applications, and other technology components that make up the datacenter. With these
management packs, IT departments have access to best-practice knowledge about specific Microsoft
products and can more easily discover, monitor, troubleshoot, report on, and resolve problems for a specific
technology component. Consequently, they can keep their datacenter running smoothly and efficiently.
System Center Operation Manager also has a high availability architecture that can leverage the latest
network load balancing and clustering capabilities to help ensure the datacenter is managed day and night.
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14. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
Figure 7 Operations Manager delivers end-to-end monitoring of both physical and virtual servers.
To help guarantee that the infrastructure has the right configurations across all required server components,
IT administrators can use System Center Configuration Manager 2007. The Desired Configuration
Management feature in Configuration Manager 2007 allows IT administrators to automatically assess how
computers comply with predefined configurations. For example, IT departments can monitor the health of a
configuration implemented for Microsoft Exchange Server or Windows Server and are alerted when a server’s
configuration drifts from the standard configuration. Configuration Manager also ships with Configuration
Packs, which provide predefined, optimized configurations for a range of servers.
In addition, one of the most time-consuming aspects of ongoing management of the datacenter can be
automated and managed by using Configuration Manager. Updating servers with patches, drivers, etc. within
enforced maintenance windows remains a key challenge for IT departments. The Desired Configuration
Management feature can automate this process, ensuring that servers are maintained, available, and
compliant with organizational standards.
Improve Disaster Recovery Capabilities
IT departments can’t stop natural or organizational disasters from happening. But such departments can take
the appropriate steps to ensure that data is protected by developing and implementing a well-planned
backup and recovery strategy for network outages and disasters that can be problematic to the datacenter.
Data Protection Manager 2007 delivers the best possible recovery experience because it features continuous
data protection with traditional backup, disk-based recovery, tape-based storage, database synchronizations,
and log shipping. Consequently, with just a few mouse clicks IT administrators can restore a SQL Server
database directly back to the original server, restore data to a “recovery database” on the original server, or
copy database files to an alternate server or tape.
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15. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
Completing the IT Management Life Cycle
As IT departments update and maintain datacenter server infrastructure and transition to a dynamic IT
infrastructure, Microsoft® System Center plays a pivotal role at each step. Because System Center is an
integrated solution for the datacenter, IT departments can derive the most value in the fastest amount of
time. Every capability is built on a common framework and design, so IT departments can smoothly transition
from one phase of the life cycle to the next. Some examples of these transitions include:
 The ability to configure, deploy, and monitor server images, automatically, and then patch or update
these images as required.
 The ability to monitor datacenter applications and servers (such as Microsoft SQL Server™ 2008), be
alerted to failures, and then recover from backup data.
 The ability to report server performance, identify problem servers, backup servers, and convert to a
virtual form to allow uninterrupted service while switching to new hardware.
System Center delivers the capabilities IT department need for the complete IT management life cycle, and
even offers specific licensing to support the evolution of the datacenter with the Server Management Suite
Enterprise.
The System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise
System Center is a family of leading IT management solutions that helps IT departments proactively plan,
deploy, manage, and optimize an IT environment. Microsoft has now made available the Server Management
Suite Enterprise—a license that brings together the capabilities needed for the complete life cycle
management of IT infrastructure, including:
 Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 offers integrated deployment tools that
provide a centralized, scalable, and customizable way for IT departments to deploy servers and clients
across the entire organization, quickly and cost-effectively.
 Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 provides a sophisticated solution for unified
management of physical servers, virtual machines, and other devices.
 Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 delivers simple and complete support for
consolidating multiple physical servers within a virtual infrastructure, helping to increase overall
utilization of physical servers. System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 also enables administrators
and authorized users to rapidly provision and easily manage virtual machines.
 Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 provides continuous data protection and
fast, easy data recovery for Windows®-based application and file servers. All available for physical and
virtual machines, delivering vital data backup and business continuity.
This license not only delivers everything IT departments need to proactively manage a physical or virtualized
Windows-based server and the applications running on it, but it also provides the rights to manage an
unlimited number of operating system environments on a physical host server. This provides significant
benefits to organizations that are—or will be—deploying virtual environments in datacenters and beyond.
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16. CONTROLLING COSTS AND DRIVING AGILITY IN THE DATACENTER
More information on how to license System Center can be found at
www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/svrmgmtsuites/howtobuy
Conclusion
The server infrastructure of datacenters is becoming an increasingly strategic asset within organizations. While
organizations want to reduce the costs associated with maintaining this asset, they also want to improve
security and compliance to deliver improved business continuity and provide a more responsive environment
that supports business agility. At the same time, IT departments are challenged to find the fastest, most
strategic way to roll out enhanced server products from Microsoft, such as the Windows Server® 2008
operating system, Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1, without disrupting
datacenter operations.
In summation, most IT departments are searching for a way to optimize server infrastructure by transitioning
to a dynamic IT infrastructure. With a comprehensive set of capabilities for managing the server environment,
the Microsoft System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise license provides the ideal solution for IT
departments that want to conquer the challenges associated with upgrading and optimizing the datacenter.
System Center supports IT departments through every stage of the process of optimizing the datacenter, by
providing a complete solution for life cycle management. The integrated capabilities of System Center ensure
that servers are deployed faster, issues are identified and resourced in less time, and datacenter resources are
used to the fullest potential.
To learn more about Microsoft System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise, please talk to your
Microsoft representative or visit www.microsoft.com/systemcenter.
You can also find out more information about specific components of System Center by visiting the following
Web sites:
 For more information about System Center Operations Manager, visit
www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/opsmgr/default.mspx
 For more information about System Center Configuration Manager, visit
www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/configmgr/default.mspx
 For more information about System Center Virtual Machine Manager, visit
www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/scvmm/default.mspx
 For more information about System Center Data Protection Manager, visit
www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/dpm/default.mspx
Microsoft System Center 16