The Server & Tools Division of Microsoft is responsible for the many server platforms and systems we use.  Recently they launched a new blog that reflects the importance of Windows Server 2012 to the construction of private clouds called the “Server & Cloud Blog”

Ramping up for a new year of system upgrades and migrations to the newest version of this flagship product, on Dec. 19, 2012, the Server & Cloud Blog launched what will become a series of posts on best practices for Migrating to Microsoft’s Windows Server 2012.

Interviewed in this first post is Rand Morimoto, Ph.D, president of Walnut Creek, Calif.-based consultancy Convergent Computing. A Microsoft MVP, Morimoto has written on topics such as internet security, electronic messaging, and network communications. As an MVP he has enjoyed the opportunity to perform “early-adopter” deployments of Windows Server 2012 for over two and a half years, and shares his already extensive experience in this blog post.

Morimoto begins by pointing out that many cloud “solutions” present an all-or-nothing-at-all proposition to users that creates an immediate challenge.  By comparison, Windows Server 2012 allows them to move some workloads. Cites Morimoto, “Windows Server 2012 and new functions around Hyper-V, Storage Spaces, and IIS Web have been initial workloads that organizations have been shifting to cloud-based workloads.”

The interviewer then focuses on migration away from VMware’s platform to Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V. Rand Morimoto provides one of the most detailed and meaningful responses yet in response to these questions, focusing especially on the many VMware limitations that Microsoft has skillfully removed. 

Morimoto closes with a very cogent observation that highlights the foundational importance of establishing a solid operating platform for flexible and reliable application delivery, the goal of every IT department, and also the key role Windows Server 2012 plays in both onprem traditional and private cloud implementations. He states:

“…the “operating system” and its ancillary features and functions are like plumbing, it’s there, it’s needed, but it’s not strategic.  Obviously it all has to work well, but just like switches, routers, storage, the operating system and for that matter the hypervisor are underlying components…   We have found this integration of on-premise and cloud, with Windows (Server) 2012 being the foundation of the on-premise datacenter as well as the direct tie to the cloud the enterprises we work with.”

This post is well worth the read, as we anticipate this entire series will be.