Slides from Solsoft weekly webinar, Thursday 31st March 2011.

1. Microsoft Virtualization Technologies System Centre Essentials 2010 Sean Taylor– Microsoft Solutions Architect

2. Agenda Essentials Features Unified Console Admin Console Inventory and Reports Monitoring Software Distribution Update Management Virtual Machine Management Install and Configuration

3. Common Small/Mid-size Business Pain Points “E-mail is critical for my company, server downtime is bad for business” “Keeping OS and applications updated with the latest patches is time-consuming” “Software installation for desktops should be quick and easy – it’s not!” “My servers are getting old and it is harder to keep them running” “I’m expected to do more and save money without any more staff” “End-user troubleshooting is manual for us –telephone, e-mail, and remote desktop in Windows® XP” “Our hardware and software inventory is in spreadsheets. It’s hard to pull it all together”

4. SCE Features System Centre Essentials This is a specialist product for the SMB market supporting up to 50 servers and 500 clients Selected functionality from SCCM, SCOM, SCVMM and WSUS integration Unified management experience Virtualization machine creation and management Simple setup Comprehensive monitoring Update management Software and hardware inventory Software deployment Integrated reporting

5. SCE Unified Management solution for SMB market A unified solution with a single console for managing your physical and virtual servers, desktops, hardware, software, and IT services Unified Experience Monitoring, troubleshooting and asset tracking to keep your IT environment secure and up-to-date ProactiveManagement Simple execution of complex management tasks like troubleshooting end user issues, monitoring, creating, and managing virtual servers, software deployment Increased Efficiency

6. Unified Console Single view of the IT environment Overviews with summaries and health status Integrated virtualization management that’s simple to use Easy to find workspaces with pertinent data In-line tasks, reporting, and help New in 2010 Overview pages with contextual click-thru Streamlined group creation for common attributes Notification Banners for new Management Packs Streamlined management tasks Custom views with search support

7. SCE Console Highlights CommonTasks Machine Groups Summary View Context Sensitive Actions Management Workspaces Tutorials & Community Virtual Summary

8. Inventory and Reports Keep track of hardware and software assets 60+ HW & SW inventory attributes HW – WMI properties SW – Add/Remove Programs Inventory is preset and reported every 22 hours Inventoried only if a change in is detected Visibility through ready-to-use reports Daily Health Report providing quick status 180 reports out of the box New reports available with each imported Management Pack Common reports available from each overview page New in 2010 Virtualization Candidates Host Virtual Machine Utilization Security and Critical Update Compliance Report

9. Monitoring Monitor your IT environment end-to-end Rich knowledge out of the box to help diagnose and fix alerts Simple in-line tasks to click and “fix it now.” Remote control support for managed clients and servers Ability to customize monitoring Network devices with SNMPv1 or v2 Notification of problems via e-mail, text or instant message 2010 Investments Monitoring import and maintenance via the Web portal Inline Notification Creation Service Level Wizards and Dashboard Reports

10. Software Deployment Quickly Administer and Distribute Software Deploy software applications for clients and servers Simple 5-step application install wizard Support for MSI and EXE applications Parameters defaulted requiring minimal knowledge to deploy software Deployment status reporting Install now support Easily uninstall applications deployed New in 2010 Support for common targeting filters Modify properties of existing packages Localized title/description during package creation

11. Update Management Easily Configure and Track IT Updates Update management for Microsoft and third parties Multi-member group support for flexible targeting Compliance and status reports across the IT environment “Big Red Button” for installation of pressing updates Built upon WSUS technology New in 2010 Auto-manage the software updates needed Auto-approval deadlines - “Set and Forget” Ability to sync with Microsoft Update multiple times daily Simple view for “Needed” updates updates”

12. Virtual Machine Management Maximize your resources Virtualization management completely incorporated Comprehensive monitoring of total physical and virtual server environments (OS, apps, and services) Rapid provisioning of new hosts and virtual machines Fast and reliable P2V and V2V conversion Flexibility for your environment Windows 2008 Server and Hyper-V for new 64-bit Windows 2003 Server and Virtual Server for existing 32-bit Virtualization as a setup component Import of existing virtual servers, including VMWare Snapshot and template management

14. Interactive prerequisite checker to analyze readiness

16. Modular Setup of Components

17. Core Management Packs Only

19. Product configuration

20. Computer and Device Discovery

22. Extended criteria for Scheduled Discovery

23. Policy conflict detection

24. Monitoring Configuration Wizard

25. Recommends monitoring experience