Windows Azure Virtual
Machine Readiness and Capacity Assessment for Windows Server
Machine Running SQL Server With
the release of MAP Toolkit 8.0 Beta, we have added a new scenario to assess your Windows Azure Virtual
Machine Readiness.
The MAP 8.0 Beta performs a comprehensive assessment of Windows Servers running SQL Server to determine you level of readiness to migrate an on-premise physical or virtual
machine to Windows Azure Virtual Machines.
The MAP Toolkit then offers suggested changes to prepare
the machines for migration, such as upgrading
the operating system or SQL Server. MAP Toolkit 8.0 Beta is available for download here Your participation and feedback is very important to make
the MAP Toolkit work better for you. We encourage you to participate
in the beta program and provide your feedback at
[email protected] or through one of our surveys. Now, let’s walk through
the MAP Toolkit task for completing
the Windows Azure Virtual
Machine assessment and capacity planning.
The tasks include
the following: Perform an inventory View
the Windows Azure VM Readiness results and report Collect performance data for determine VM sizing View
the Windows Azure Capacity results and report Perform an inventory: 1. To perform an inventory against a single
machine or across a complete environment, choose Perform an Inventory to launch
the Inventory and Assessment Wizard as shown below: 2. After
the Inventory and Assessment Wizard launches, select either
the Windows computers or SQL Server scenario to inventory Windows machines. HINT: If you don’t care about completely inventorying a
machine, just select
the SQL Server scenario. Click Next to Continue. 3. On
the Discovery Methods page, select how you want to discover computers and then click Next to continue. Description of Discovery Methods: Use Active Directory Domain Services -- This method allows you to query a domain controller via
the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and select computers
in all or specific domains, containers, or OUs. Use this method if all computers and devices are
in AD DS. Windows networking protocols -- This method uses
the WIN32 LAN Manager application programming interfaces to query
the Computer Browser service for computers
in workgroups and Windows NT 4.0–based domains. If
the computers on
the network are not joined to an Active Directory domain, use only
the Windows networking protocols option to find computers. System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) -- This method enables you to inventory computers managed by System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). You need to provide credentials to
the System Center Configuration Manager server
in order to inventory
the managed computers. When you select this option,
the MAP Toolkit will query SCCM for a list of computers and then MAP will connect to these computers. Scan an IP address range -- This method allows you to specify
the starting address and ending address of an IP address range.
The wizard will then scan all IP addresses
in the range and inventory only those computers. Note: This option can perform poorly, if many IP addresses aren’t being used within
the range. Manually enter computer names and credentials -- Use this method if you want to inventory a small number of specific computers. Import computer names from a files -- Using this method, you can create a text file with a list of computer names that will be inventoried. 4. On
the All Computers Credentials page, enter
the accounts that have administrator rights to connect to
the discovered machines. This does not need to a domain account, but needs to be a local administrator. I have entered my domain account that is an administrator on my local
machine. Click Next after one or more accounts have been added. NOTE:
The MAP Toolkit primarily uses Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to collect hardware, device, and software information from
the remote computers.
In order for
the MAP Toolkit to successfully connect and inventory computers
in your environment, you have to configure your machines to inventory through WMI and also allow your firewall to enable remote access through WMI.
The MAP Toolkit also requires remote registry access for certain assessments.
In addition to enabling WMI, you need accounts with administrative privileges to access desktops and servers
in your environment. 5. On
the Credentials Order page, select
the order
in which want
the MAP Toolkit to connect to
the machine and SQL Server. Generally just accept
the defaults and click Next. 6. On
the Enter Computers Manually page, click Create to pull up at dialog to enter one or more computer names. 7. On
the Summary page confirm your settings and then click Finish. After clicking Finish
the inventory process will start, as shown below: Windows Azure Readiness results and report After
the inventory progress has completed, you can review
the results under
the Database scenario. On
the tile, you will see
the number of Windows Server
machine with SQL Server that were analyzed,
the number of machines that are ready to move without changes and
the number of machines that require further changes. If you click this Azure VM Readiness tile, you will see additional details and can generate
the Windows Azure VM Readiness Report. After
the report is generated, select View | Saved Reports and Proposals to view
the location of
the report. Open up WindowsAzureVMReadiness* report
in Excel. On
the Windows tab, you can see
the results of
the assessment. This report has a column for
the Operating System and SQL Server assessment and provides a recommendation on how to resolve, if there a component is not supported. Collect Performance Data Launch
the Performance Wizard to collect performance information for
the Windows Server machines that you would like
the MAP Toolkit to suggest a Windows Azure VM size for. Windows Azure Capacity results and report After
the performance metrics are collected,
the Azure VM Capacity title will display
the number of Virtual
Machine sizes that are suggested for
the Windows Server and Linux machines that were analyzed. You can then click on
the Azure VM Capacity tile to see
the capacity details and generate
the Windows Azure VM Capacity Report. Within this report, you can view
the performance data that was collected and
the Virtual
Machine sizes. MAP Toolkit 8.0 Beta is available for download here Your participation and feedback is very important to make
the MAP Toolkit work better for you. We encourage you to participate
in the beta program and provide your feedback at
[email protected] or through one of our surveys. Useful References: Windows Azure Homepage How to guides for Windows Azure Virtual Machines Provisioning a SQL Server Virtual
Machine on Windows Azure Windows Azure Pricing Peter Saddow Senior Program Manager – MAP Toolkit Team
