System Center Orchestrator 2012 overview
Posted by Maarten Goet | Posted in System Center Orchestrator | Posted on 17-05-2011
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At Microsoft Teched North America 2011, Adam Hall presented on System Center Orchestrator 2012. System Center Orchestrator is the new name for Opalis, aquired last year — Microsoft’s premier tool for integration, orchestration and automation. Adam did an overview session, revealing much of the features we can expect in the next few months. He started his talk by announcing that the first beta of System Center Orchestrator 2012 will be available in June.
The System Center Orchestrator Beta marks a significant milestone, indicating a move of the codebase from the Opalis subsidiary to Microsoft System Center. This has many positive benefits, including a removal of the licensing complexity around the ‘grant’ of Opalis, greater alignment to the Microsoft Common Engineering Criteria and also things like the Support Lifecycle. (more)
If you would like to take the new Beta for a spin, al you need to do is sign up here and they will contact you when the program starts in June. The evaluation program will take you on a guided tour of the Orchestrator Beta, providing documentation on a variety of topics, a ready made environment if you just want to spin up quickly (although the new Installer is very quick and easy!) and regular access to the Orchestrator product team.
The table below contains some more detailed information about the system requirements and other features of Orchestrator. The table below is designed to highlight the key changes being made for the Orchestrator release, and also any differences between the Beta and RTM.
| Configuration Item | Opalis 6.3 | Orchestrator Beta | Orchestrator Release |
| OS Support for Server components | Windows Server 2003 SP2, 2003 R2 SP2, 2008, 2008 R2 | Windows 2008 R2 | Windows 2008 R2 |
| OS Support for Client components | Windows Server 2003 SP2, 2003 R2 SP2, 2008, 2008 R2 Windows XP, Vista, 7 |
Windows 2008 R2 Windows 7 x86 and x64 |
Windows 2008 R2 Windows 7 x86 and x64 |
| Database Support for Datastore | SQL 2005, 2008 Oracle |
SQL 2008 R2 | SQL 2008 R2 |
| System Center IPs | Existing System Center products | Existing System Center products | Existing System Center products (updated) System Center 2012 |
| All other IPs (Microsoft 3rd party and community) |
Functional based on the OS model they support. Existing IP support matrix |
Expect all IPs that have been remediated to support 2008 R2 to function. QIK based IPs should be tested and remediation may be required. New Beta IPs expected in the Orchestrator Beta timeframe: Active Directory, FTP, VMware vSphere and IBM Tivoli Netcool Omnibus. |
All Microsoft IPs that have been remediated will support 2008 R2 and Orchestrator. QIK based IPs should be tested and remediation may be required. More information about IPs being updated and the release cycle to be communicated at a later date. |
| Export/Import from Opalis to Orchestrator | All information is exported. | Import Encrypted data that is included in an imported runbook must be re-entered (e.g. passwords) Runbooks not in pipeline mode will be marked “Checked Out” and require remediation. Export Export from Orchestrator and import to Opalis is not supported. |
Import Encrypted data is re-encrypted using the new crypto model automatically. Runbooks not in pipeline mode will be marked “Checked Out” and require remediation. Export Export from Orchestrator and import to Opalis is not supported. |
| Web Console | Operator Console JBOSS and OSS based |
Orchestration Console IIS and Silverlight based |
Orchestration Console IIS and Silverlight based |
| QIK | As per current release | No changes | New QIK features to be communicated at a later date. |
| Installer experience | Opalis installation experience JBOSS and Java separate installer |
New installer experience including pre-requisite installation | New installer experience including pre-requisite installation |
| PowerShell Provider | N/A | No | Yes |
| SNMP | As per existing release | No support for SNMP v3 | Updates to be communicated at a later date. |
| Activity changes (foundation and legacy) |
As per current release | Legacy Activities removed: Legacy Text / File Management Activities: Manage Text File Create Folder (Legacy) Delete Folder (Legacy) Copy File (Legacy) Delete File (Legacy) Move File (Legacy) Rename File (Legacy) Get File Status (Legacy) Monitor File (Legacy) Monitor Folder (Legacy) Non-Pipeline Mode Legacy Activities: Filter Email Process Email Read Email Filter Exchange Email Process Exchange Email Read Exchange Email Foundation Activities used for Legacy Mode: Wait Infrequently Used or Obsolete: Pager Purge event log Send pop-ups Monitor Event Log Capacity Monitor Performance Send Popup |
As per Beta. Further changes and updates to be communicated at a later date. |
| Other Activity changes (per IP) | As per current release | Changes specific to each IP as it is remediated | Changes specific to each IP as it is remediated |
So what more will we see in System Center Orchestrator?
- Dynamic Silverlight console
- Consistency across Versions
- Opalis 6.3 & Orchestrator
- PowerShell
- Protection of existing investments in Opalis 6.3
- Powerful Web Service
- Interface from anywhere to System Center
- Reporting
- No new interfaces, just leverage of existing structures
- Script based interaction with System Center Orchestrator
Want to know more? Visit Jakob’s blogpost or visit the official Microsoft blogpost. Below are some screenshots of the upcoming System Center Orchestrator release:
