Windows Azure Services on Windows Server

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Yesterday, Microsoft announced the general availability of System Center 2012 Service Pack 1, which brings the full range of System Center management to Windows Server 2012 for private and hybrid cloud. With this release, you will be able to use Windows Server, System Center 2012 SP1 and Web Sites service in your datacenters to offer the same great experiences that are available on Windows Azure. The first two services that are offered in this release are high scale, multi-tenant web site hosting and high density virtual machine provisioning and management. These services are enabled in the Service Management Portal and API. There will certainly be more Windows Azure services available for on-premise environments in subsequent releases. You can find more information and download the bits here. There's also this option to download Microsoft System Center Private Cloud Evaluation from TechNet.

New Features

In addition to the web sites, virtual machines, plans, accounts, SQL and MySQL features that were shipped in CTP and Beta, some of the exciting new features in this release include:

  • Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012 Support
  • Software Defined Networking (SDN)
  • Global Service Monitor (GSM)
  • Hybrid Cloud Management
  • Unified PC and Device Management (Windows Intune)

Since we’re talking about Windows Server and System Center, if you’re going to be in Las Vegas in April then definitely make plans to attend the Microsoft Management Summit 2013.

The Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) brings together the brightest IT professionals from around the world to increase their technical expertise through deep hands-on training, best-practice sharing, and interaction with innovators in desktop, device, and datacenter management, as well as cloud technologies.

With keynotes, sessions, hands-on labs, certification opportunities, and face-to-face access to Microsoft and industry experts, MMS provides a "can't-miss" opportunity to be among the first to learn about new technologies.

Registration is now open and can be completed here.