Free ebook: Microsoft System Center Introduction to Microsoft Automation Solutions

We’re happy to announce the next free ebook in our System Center series: Microsoft System Center Introduction to Microsoft Automation Solutions (ISBN 9780735695818), by Rob Costello and Richard Maunsell, with series editor Mitch Tulloch.

Download all formats (PDF, Mobi and ePub) hosted by the Microsoft Virtual Academy .

Introduction

This book provides you with an introduction to the Microsoft automation solutions: Azure Automation and Service Management Automation. Throughout the chapters, the text explores these tools and how they can be used to meet the automation needs of your Microsoft Azure cloud solutions or your enterprise datacenter environments.

We provide considerations on the features of each solution, and how they can be architected to fit your needs. Next, the text explores the interfaces you will use to interact with the solutions, including the web-based portals, Windows PowerShell command-line interaction, and programmatic access via the web services. The text then covers how you implement and manage automation using runbooks, assets, and Integration Modules, along with how you can use a source control system to manage runbook content. Finally, some examples of automation scenarios are discussed, providing you with samples that can be used to speed development in your own solution.

The target audience for this book is IT pros charged with planning, building, or managing Microsoft Azure cloud solutions or enterprise datacenter environments, or anyone who is curious about taking their own steps toward using the Microsoft automation solutions. The information contained in this book has been gathered from field experience of the authors, working with customers to automate their solutions.

The content covered in this book is just the beginning for the Microsoft automation solutions, and the intention is to help you quickly learn the tools and lower any barrier for adoption of the Microsoft automation solutions.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Sheldon Boxall and Yen Chiu Chin of Microsoft Services in Australia for their support in working with us to automate solutions for our customers and grow our collective knowledge of the Microsoft automation solutions, and for their reviews and input into the contents of this book.

The Series Editor would like to thank the following individuals at Microsoft who reviewed the outlines for the proposed titles in this series and provided helpful feedback to our authors:
 David Ziembicki
 Adam Fazio
 Robert Larson
 David Stoker
 Joel Yoker