O lançamento deste livro no inicio deste mês, gratuito em formato digital, traz boas novidades na série de livros sobre o Microsoft Azure: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2015/02/03/free-ebook-microsoft-azure-essentials-fundamentals-of-azure.aspx

Separado em 7 capítulos de conteúdo técnico do Azure, aborda como criar web sites, VMs, gerenciar storages, redes virtuais, databases, Active Directory. Levando em conta que o livro se destina a fundamentos aborda como iniciar o uso com PaaS (web sites) e IaaS (VM e infra).

O capítulo 8 trata de PowerShell e o capítulo 9 traz alguns exemplos de implementações que podem ser feitas.

É um livro simples, mas com conteúdo que poderá ser usado como referencia para os que utilizam o Azure ocasionalmente ou com a ajuda de assistentes.

Lembrando que toda a coleção de livros gratuitos disponibilizados pela Microsoft podem ser encontrados em http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/ebooks

A Microsoft anunciou um evento ao vivo sobre IaaS com Azure com grandes nomes da companhia.

Este evento será um preparatório para o exame Exam 70-533: Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions para Microsoft Azure Specialist Certification, alem de garantir um desconto de 50% no exame!!!!

• Day 1:  Establish the Foundation: Core IaaS Infrastructure Technical Fundamentals

  • View from the CTO: Mark Russinovich, Chief Technology Officer - Azure
  • Azure IaaS Virtual Machines Inside Out
  • Optimize Your Windows Server Workloads on Azure
  • Inside IaaS Architecture Best Practices and Management

• Day 2:  Dive Deep into Networking, Storage and Disaster Recovery Scenarios

  • Designing Networking and Hybrid Connectivity Infrastructure
  • Deep Dive Into Storage Using Azure Backup, Data Protection Manager, StorSimple, and InMage
  • Planning Disaster Recovery, Migration and More
  • Learn the Ins and Outs of Azure Automation, PowerShell and Desired State Configurator

• Day 3:  Embrace Open Source Technologies (Chef and Puppet Configurations, Containerization with Docker, and Linux) to Accelerate and Scale Solutions

  • How to Deploy Linux and OSS on Azure
  • Leverage Existing Chef / Puppet toolsets for management 
  • How to Implement Containerization with Docker to Increase Density and Performance of Virtual Machines
  • Lift and Shift Your Linux Solutions to Azure

• Day 4:  Optimize Windows Workload Architecture and Administration Capabilities Within Azure

  • Identity Solutions: Leveraging Azure Active Directory / Active Directory Premium
  • Azure Websites: Manage Your Websites not Your VMs
  • Leveraging SQL Azure for Your Solutions to Increase Scale
  • Architecting SharePoint for the Cloud

Link: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Microsoft-Azure/Level-Up-Azure-IaaS-for-IT-Pros?WT.mc_id=11100-iaas-for-it-pros-event-

Ontem a Microsoft anunciou oficialmente a disponibilização do produto CPS (Cloud Platform System) que são racks de servidores, storage e rede prontas com Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center e Windows Azure Pack: http://news.microsoft.com/2014/10/20/CloudDayPR/

Para detalhes técnicos de como a solução funciona, este post http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsserver/archive/2014/10/20/unveiling-the-microsoft-cloud-platform-system-powered-by-dell.aspx?amp traz informações interessantes.

Basicamente é um rack empacotado com a solução pronta para ser utilizada, podendo chegar a 4 racks:

CPS is a pre-integrated, pre-deployed, Microsoft validated solution built on Dell hardware, Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2 and Windows Azure Pack. It combines the efficiency and agility of cloud computing, along with the increased control and customization achieved in virtualized, multi-tenant environments. CPS scales from a single rack to up to four racks and is optimized for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS for Windows and Linux) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) style deployments.

Let’s take a closer look at CPS

At the hardware layer, a customer can deploy CPS in increments from one to four racks. Each rack has

• 512 cores across 32 servers (each with a dual socket Intel Ivy Bridge, E5-2650v2 CPU)
• 8 TB of RAM with 256 GB per server
• 282 TB of usable storage
• 1360 Gb/s of internal rack connectivity
• 560 Gb/s of inter-rack connectivity
• Up to 60 Gb/s connectivity to the external world

A single rack can support up to 2000 VM’s (2 vCPU, 1.75 GB RAM, and 50 GB disk). You can scale up to 8000 VM’s using a full stamp with four of these racks. Of course customers have the flexibility of choosing their VM dimensions, as we have seen with the private preview deployments with CPS.