Hopefully everybody has been reading and enjoying the “What’s New in 2012 R2?” series from our VP Brad Anderson.    If you haven’t been following along, check it out!  http://blogs.technet.com/b/in_the_cloud/archive/tags/what_2700_s+new+in+2012+r2/

All this new stuff that has been coming out so quickly (2012, 2012 SP1, and soon 2012 R2 in only about a year and a half) can sometimes feel daunting to keep up with.  We’re here to help you get up to speed on all the new technology though!  We have recently published two very timely and informative courses on System Center to help you get the knowledge you need.

Customizing and Extending System Center Course

The first one is an entire 6 part series on customizing and extending System Center 2012.  Here’s the abstract:

This course focuses on extensibility and customization with System Center 2012 SP1, enabling customer and partners to create their own plugins with the System Center components. First you will learn how to create service templates in Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) allowing management of a multi-tiered application as a single logical unit. Next you will learn the basics of creating a custom Integration Pack using Orchestrator (SCO) to enable you to integrate custom activities within a workflow. The next two modules look at Operations Manager (SCOM) extensibility through creating Management Packs to monitor any datacenter component and Dashboards to visualize the data. The final two modules look at Service Manager (SCSM) Data Warehouse and reporting to generate datacenter-wide information, and then how to customize Service Catalog offerings to enable end-users to create self-service requests through a web portal.

· VMM: Service Templates – Damien Caro (Microsoft IT Pro Evangelist)

· SCO: Integration Packs – Andreas Rynes (Microsoft Datacenter Architect)

· SCOM: Management Packs – Lukasz Rutkowski (Microsoft PFE)

· SCOM: Dashboards – Markus Klein (Microsoft PFE)

· SCSM: Data Warehouse & Reporting – Travis Wright (Microsoft PM)

· SCSM: Service Catalogs – Anshuman Nangia (Microsoft PM)

Go here to take the course:

http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training-courses/system-center-2012-sp1-extensibility

Private and Hybrid Cloud Jump Starts

These two jump start events are a comprehensive view of how to build a private cloud with Windows Server and System Center and how to embrace a “hybrid cloud”.  Pete Zerger (MVP) was the instructor and Microsoft evangelists Symon Perrriman and Matt McSpirit were the hosts for the events.  If you haven’t seen a presentation by the famous Pete Zerger, you need to!

Part 1: Symon & Pete: Build a Private Cloud with Windows Server & System Center Jump Start:http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training-courses/build-a-private-cloud-with-windows-server-system-center-jump-start

Part 2 :Matt & Pete: Move to Hybrid Cloud with System Center & Windows Azure Jump Start:http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training-courses/move-to-hybrid-cloud-with-system-center-windows-azure-jump-start

Enjoy!