PTS Newsletter Archives – December, 2013

The entire team at PTS Data Center Solutions would like to wish you and your family a happy holidays and a health New Year!

We have had an exciting year with many new services and solutions. We’re looking forward to delivering major announcements in the coming months regarding PTS’ new Cloud Services, move to our new company HQ, and packaged Data Center solutions offering converged IT, Facility, and Cabling infrastructure.

This month’s E-Bulletin discusses reasons to migrate to Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and preparations you should consider as you and your organization prepare for this inevitability.

Again, Happy Holiday and fell free to reach out to me atPSacco@ptsdcs.com.

Regards,

Pete Sacco

President & Founder

PTS Data Center Solutions, Inc

Experts For Your Always Available Data Center

1. Enables the Ability to Deliver Cloud Services. A fully isolated, multi-tenant environment features tools that can help guarantee service level agreements (SLAs), enable chargebacks through usage-based billing, and support self-service delivery. Developers can use a consistent set of tools and frameworks to build symmetrical or hybrid applications between the datacenter and the cloud.
2. A Complete Virtualization Platform. Server 2012 includes significant Hyper-V functionality built right into the operating system.
3. Scalability. Server 2012 provides network administrators with the ability to provision up to 64 virtual processors, up to 1 TB of memory per VM, up to 64 TB per virtual disk, up to 64 nodes in a cluster, and up to 8,000 VMs in a cluster.
4. Improved IT Asset Management. Functionality that could, at times, be a challenge in MS Server 2008, such as Group Policy Management, have been streamlined and improved allowing network administrators to quickly provision and manage policies within a domain.
5. Enhanced Data Security and Compliance. Granular access to data and corporate resources is enabled by central audit and access policies based on strong identity, data classification, and simplified administration for remote access.

With regards to deploying new MS Server 2012 machines or migrating from Server 2008, follow one of many online  migration guidesproviding detailed step-by-step instructions for migrating to Windows Server 2012 Essentials. Select the right guide based on your Source Server. We highly recommend that you read through the migration guide that you select before you start a migration. At a high level, there are three phases involved in a migration:

1. Pre-Setup Phase. One of the major tasks in this phase is to prepare the Source Server for migration. You are required to run the Migration Preparation Tool on the Source Server and clear up all errors reported. It is critical that you back up the Source Server before running this tool. Since Windows Server 2012 Essentials no longer includes Exchange Server as a component product, you’ll need to work out a plan to migrate mailboxes based on where you migrate to. We’ll drill into more details on email migration in a later section in this post.
2. Setup Phase. In this phase, you set up Windows Server 2012 Essentials in migration mode on the Destination Server. Under this setup mode, Windows Server 2012 Essentials will join itself to the existing domain as a domain controller (thus replicating all data, including user accounts in the Active Directory) and then sets itself up as the primary domain controller by transferring all Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) roles so that the Source Server can be retired later.
3. Post-Setup Phase. In this phase, you need to connect all clients to Windows Server 2012 Essentials by running the Client Connector. You also need to move the remaining server settings and data, such as shared folders, to the Destination Server.

If you are looking for assistance in deciding how to proceed with a Server 2008 to 2012 migration, feel free to contact us to speak with a IT services professional. Download the Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Evaluation Guide.

Proven Design Principles, Process Driven Execution, Experience, and Innovative Thinking

With everything PTS does, it believes in challenging the status quo. PTS chooses to think differently by believing every company, no matter the size, can operate its own highly effective, resilient, and easy to manage data center network and facility. The PTS team knows it can be done simply and for a reasonable cost because it has done so many times. To ensure success every time, PTS has evolved a four-fold strategy which is the core of all PTS’ companies – Proven Design Principles, Process Driven Execution, Experience, and Innovative Thinking. Further, PTS understands the proper balance between in-sourcing and out-sourcing facilities, technology, and people.