Step-by-Step: Build a SharePoint 2013 Lab in the Cloud on Windows Azure

Leverage Windows Azure as your Lab in the Cloud!

Jan. 7, 2013 03:43 PM

My good friend and colleague, Tommy Patterson, recently blogged about leveraging the Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) preview offering to build a FREE lab environment in the Cloud. You can read Tommy’s step-by-step article at:

Building FREE Lab VMs in the Microsoft Cloud

What about a SharePoint 2013 Lab in the Cloud?
Now that SharePoint Server 2013 has been released, I frequently get asked about ways in which a SharePoint 2013 lab environment can be easily built for studying, testing and/or performing a proof-of-concept. You could certainly build this lab environment on your own hardware, but due to the level of SharePoint 2013 hardware requirements, a lot of us may not have sufficient spare hardware to implement an on-premise lab environment.

This makes a great scenario for leveraging our Windows Azure FREE 90-day Trial Offer to build a free lab environment for SharePoint 2013 in the cloud. Using the process outlined in this article, you’ll be able to build a basic functional farm environment for SharePoint 2013 that will be accessible for approximately 105 hours of compute usage each month at no cost to you under the 90-day Trial Offer.

After the 90-day trial period is up, you can choose if you’d like to convert to a full paid subscription. If you choose to convert to a paid subscription, this lab environment will cost approximately $0.56 USD per hour of compute usage ( that’s right – just 56 cents per hour ) plus associated storage and networking costs ( which can typically be less than $10 USD per month for a lab of this nature ). These estimated costs are based on published Pay-As-You-Go pricing for Windows Azure that is current as of this article’s date.

Note: If you are testing advanced SharePoint 2013 scenarios and need more resources than available in the lab configuration below, you can certainly scale-up or scale-out elastically by provisioning larger VMs or additional SharePoint web and application server VMs. To determine the specific costs associated with higher resource levels, please visit the Windows Azure Pricing Calculator for Virtual Machines.

SharePoint 2013 Lab Scenario
To deliver a functional and expandable lab environment, I’ll be walking through the approach of provisioning SharePoint Server 2013 on Windows Azure VMs as depicted in the following configuration diagram that will require three (3) VMs on a common Windows Azure Virtual Network.

Lab Scenario: SharePoint 2013 on Windows Azure VM

In this lab, we’ll be using a naming convention of XXXlabYYY01, where XXX will be replaced with your unique initials and YYY will be replaced with an abbreviation representing the function of a virtual machine or Windows Azure configuration component (ie., ad, db or app).

Note: This study lab configuration is suitable for study, functional testing and basic proof-of-concept usage. This configuration is not currently supported for pilot or production SharePoint 2013 farm environments.

Prerequisites

The following is required to complete this step-by-step guide:

A Windows Azure subscription with the Virtual Machines Preview enabled.

DO IT: Sign up for a FREE Trial of Windows Azure

NOTE: When activating your FREE Trial for Windows Azure, you will be prompted for credit card information. This information is used only to validate your identity and your credit card will not be charged, unless you explicitly convert your FREE Trial account to a paid subscription at a later point in time.
Completion of the Getting Started tasks in the following article:

DO IT: Getting Started with Servers in the Cloud
This step-by-step guide assumes that the reader is already familiar with configuring Windows Server Active Directory, SQL Server and SharePoint Server 2013 in an on-premise installation. This guide focuses on the unique aspects associated with configuring these components on the Windows Azure cloud platform.

Let’s Get Started!
In this step-by-step guide, you will learn how to:

Register a DNS Server in Windows Azure
Define a Virtual Network in Windows Azure
Configure Windows Server Active Directory in a Windows Azure VM
Configure SQL Server 2012 in a Windows Azure VM
Configure SharePoint Server 2013 in a Windows Azure VM
Export / Import Lab Environment via PowerShell

Exercise 1: Register a DNS Server in Windows Azure

Register the internal IP address that our domain controller VM will be using for Active Directory-integrated Dynamic DNS services by performing the following steps:

Sign in at the Windows Azure Management Portal with the logon credentials used when you signed up for your Free 90-Day Windows Azure Trial.
Select Networks located on the side navigation panel on the Windows Azure Management Portal page.
Click the +NEW button located on the bottom navigation bar and select Networks | Virtual Network | Register DNS Server.
Complete the DNS Server fields as follows:

- NAME: XXXlabdns01
- DNS Server IP Address: 10.0.0.4
Click the REGISTER DNS SERVER button.

Exercise 2: Define a Virtual Network in Windows Azure

Define a common virtual network in Windows Azure for running Active Directory, Database and SharePoint virtual machines by performing the following steps:

Sign in at the Windows Azure Management Portal with the logon credentials used when you signed up for your Free 90-Day Windows Azure Trial.
Select Networks located on the side navigation panel on the Windows Azure Management Portal page.
Click the +NEW button located on the bottom navigation bar and select Networks | Virtual Network | Quick Create.
Complete the Virtual Network fields as follows:

- NAME: XXXlabnet01
- Address Space: 10.---.---.---
- Maximum VM Count: 4096 [CIDR: /20]
- Affinity Group: Select the Affinity Group defined in the Getting Started steps from the Prerequisites section above.
- Connect to Existing DNS: Select XXXlabdns01 – the DNS Server registered in Exercise 1 above.
Click the CREATE A VIRTUAL NETWORK button.

Exercise 3: Configure Windows Server Active Directory in a Windows Azure VM

Provision a new Windows Azure VM to run a Windows Server Active Directory domain controller in a new Active Directory forest by performing the following steps:

Sign in at the Windows Azure Management Portal with the logon credentials used when you signed up for your Free 90-Day Windows Azure Trial.
Select Virtual Machines located on the side navigation panel on the Windows Azure Management Portal page.
Click the +NEW button located on the bottom navigation bar and select Compute | Virtual Machines | From Gallery.
In the Virtual Machine Operating System Selection list, select Windows Server 2012, December 2012 and click the button.
On the Virtual Machine Configuration page, complete the fields as follows:

- Virtual Machine Name: XXXlabad01
- New Password and Confirm Password fields: Choose and confirm a new local Administrator password.
- Size: Small (1 core, 1.75GB Memory)

Click the button to continue.

Note: It is suggested to use secure passwords for Administrator users and service accounts, as Windows Azure virtual machines could be accessible from the Internet knowing just their DNS. You can also read this document on the Microsoft Security website that will help you select a secure password: http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/passwords-create.aspx.
On the Virtual Machine Mode page, complete the fields as follows:

- Standalone Virtual Machine: Selected
- DNS Name: XXXlabad01.cloudapp.net
- Storage Account: Select the Storage Account defined in the Getting Started steps from the Prerequisites section above.
- Region/Affinity Group/Virtual Network: Select XXXlabnet01 – the Virtual Network defined in Exercise 2 above.
- Virtual Network Subnets: Select Subnet-1 (10.0.0.0/23)

Click the button to continue.
On the Virtual Machine Options page, click the button to begin provisioning the new virtual machine.

As the new virtual machine is being provisioned, you will see the Status column on the Virtual Machines page of the Windows Azure Management Portal cycle through several values including Stopped, Stopped (Provisioning), and Running (Provisioning). When provisioning for this new Virtual Machine is completed, the Status column will display a value of Running and you may continue with the next step in this guide.
After the new virtual machine has finished provisioning, click on the name ( XXXlabad01 ) of the new Virtual Machine displayed on the Virtual Machines page of the Windows Azure Management Portal.
On the virtual machine details page for XXXlabad01, make note of the Internal IP Address displayed on this page. This IP address should be listed as 10.0.0.4.

If a different internal IP address is displayed, the virtual network and/or virtual machine configuration was not completed correctly. In this case, click the DELETE button located on the bottom toolbar of the virtual machine details page for XXXlabad01, and go back to Exercise 2 and Exercise 3 to confirm that all steps were completed correctly.
On the virtual machine details page for XXXlabad01, click the Attach button located on the bottom navigation toolbar and select Attach Empty Disk. Complete the following fields on the Attach an empty disk to the virtual machine form:

- Name: XXXlabad01-data01
- Size: 10 GB
- Host Cache Preference: None

Click the button to create and attach the a new virtual hard disk to virtual machine XXXlabad01.
On the virtual machine details page for XXXlabad01, click the Connect button located on the bottom navigation toolbar and click the Open button to launch a Remote Desktop Connection to the console of this virtual machine. Logon at the console of your virtual machine with the local Administrator credentials defined in Step 5 above.
From the Remote Desktop console of XXXlabad01, create a new partition on the additional data disk attached above in Step 10 and format this partition as a new F: NTFS volume. This volume will be used for NTDS DIT database, log and SYSVOL folder locations.

If you need additional guidance to complete this step, feel free to leverage the following study guide for assistance: Windows Server 2012 “Early Experts” Challenge – Configure Local Storage
Using the Server Manager tool, install Active Directory Domain Services and promote this server to a domain controller in a new forest with the following parameters:

- Active Directory Forest name: contoso.com
- Volume Location for NTDS database, log and SYSVOL folders: F:

If you need additional guidance to complete this step, feel free to leverage the following study guide for assistance: Windows Server 2012 “Early Experts” Challenge – Install and Administer Active Directory
After Active Directory has been installed, create the following user accounts that will be used when installing and configuring SharePoint Server 2013 later in this step-by-step guide:

- CONTOSO\sp_farm – SharePoint Farm Data Access Account
- CONTOSO\sp_serviceapps – SharePoint Farm Service Applications Account

If you need additional guidance to complete this step, feel free to leverage the following study guide for assistance: Windows Server 2012 “Early Experts” Challenge – Install and Administer Active Directory

The configuration for this virtual machine is now complete, and you may continue with the next exercise in this step-by-step guide.

Exercise 4: Configure SQL Server 2012 in a Windows Azure VM

Provision a new Windows Azure VM to run SQL Server 2012 by performing the following steps:

Sign in at the Windows Azure Management Portal with the logon credentials used when you signed up for your Free 90-Day Windows Azure Trial.
Select Virtual Machines located on the side navigation panel on the Windows Azure Management Portal page.
Click the +NEW button located on the bottom navigation bar and select Compute | Virtual Machines | From Gallery.
In the Virtual Machine Operating System Selection list, select SQL Server 2012 Evaluation Edition and click the button.
On the Virtual Machine Configuration page, complete the fields as follows:

- Virtual Machine Name: XXXlabdb01
- New Password and Confirm Password fields: Choose and confirm a new local Administrator password.
- Size: Medium (2 cores, 3.5GB Memory)

Click the button to continue.
On the Virtual Machine Mode page, complete the fields as follows:

- Standalone Virtual Machine: Selected
- DNS Name: XXXlabdb01.cloudapp.net
- Storage Account: Select the Storage Account defined in the Getting Started steps from the Prerequisites section above.
- Region/Affinity Group/Virtual Network: Select XXXlabnet01 – the Virtual Network defined in Exercise 2 above.
- Virtual Network Subnets: Select Subnet-1 (10.0.0.0/23)

Click the button to continue.
On the Virtual Machine Options page, click the button to begin provisioning the new virtual machine.

As the new virtual machine is being provisioned, you will see the Status column on the Virtual Machines page of the Windows Azure Management Portal cycle through several values including Stopped, Stopped (Provisioning), and Running (Provisioning). When provisioning for this new Virtual Machine is completed, the Status column will display a value of Running and you may continue with the next step in this guide.
After the new virtual machine has finished provisioning, click on the name ( XXXlabdb01 ) of the new Virtual Machine displayed on the Virtual Machines page of the Windows Azure Management Portal.
On the virtual machine details page for XXXlabdb01, make note of the Internal IP Address displayed on this page. This IP address should be listed as 10.0.0.5.

If a different internal IP address is displayed, the virtual network and/or virtual machine configuration was not completed correctly. In this case, click the DELETE button located on the bottom toolbar of the virtual machine details page for XXXlabdb01, and go back to Exercise 2 and Exercise 3 to confirm that all steps were completed correctly.
On the virtual machine details page for XXXlabdb01, click the Attach button located on the bottom navigation toolbar and select Attach Empty Disk. Complete the following fields on the Attach an empty disk to the virtual machine form:

- Name: XXXlabdb01-data01
- Size: 50 GB
- Host Cache Preference: None

Click the button to create and attach the a new virtual hard disk to virtual machine XXXlabdb01.
On the virtual machine details page for XXXlabdb01, click the Connect button located on the bottom navigation toolbar and click the Open button to launch a Remote Desktop Connection to the console of this virtual machine. Logon at the console of your virtual machine with the local Administrator credentials defined in Step 5 above.
From the Remote Desktop console of XXXlabdb01, create a new partition on the additional data disk attached above in Step 10 and format this partition as a new F: NTFS volume.
Open SQL Server Management Studio from Start | All Programs | Microsoft SQL Server 2012 | SQL Server Management Studio and update default folder locations to the F: volume.
1. Connect to the SQL Server 2012 default instance using your Windows Account.
2. Now, you will update the database's default locations for DATA, LOGS and BACKUP folders. To do this, right click on your SQL Server instance and select Properties.
3. Select Database Settings from the left side pane.
4. Locate the Database default locations section and update the default values for each path to point to the F: volume you previously formatted.
5. Close SQL Server Management Studio.
In order to allow SharePoint to connect to the SQL Server, you will need to add an Inbound Rule for the SQL Server requests in the Windows Firewall. To do this, open Windows Firewall with Advanced Security from Start | All Programs | Administrative Tools.
1. Select Inbound Rules node, right-click it and select New Rule to open the New Inbound Rule Wizard.
2. In the Rule Type page, select Port and click Next.
3. In Protocols and Ports page, leave TCP selected, select Specific local ports, and set its value to 1433. Click Next to continue.
4. In the Action page, make sure that Allow the connection is selected and click Next.
5. In the Profile page, leave the default values and click Next.
6. In the Name page, set the Inbound Rule's Name to SQLServerRule and click Finish
7. Close Windows Firewall with Advanced Security window.
Using the Server Manager tool, join this server to the contoso.com domain and restart the server to complete the domain join operation.
After the server restarts, connect again via Remote Desktop to the server’s console and login with the local Administrator credentials defined above in Step 5.
Open SQL Server Management Studio from Start | All Programs | Microsoft SQL Server 2012 | SQL Server Management Studio and add the CONTOSO\Administrator user to SQL Server with the Sysadmin server role selected.
1. Expand Security folder within the SQL Server instance. Right-click Logins folder and select New Login.
2. In the General section, set the Login name to CONTOSO\Administrator, and select the Windows Authentication option.
3. Click Server Roles on the left pane. Select the checkbox for the Sysadmin server role.
4. Click the OK button and close SQL Server Management Studio.

The configuration for this virtual machine is now complete, and you may continue with the next exercise in this step-by-step guide.

Exercise 5: Configure SharePoint Server 2013 in a Windows Azure VM

Provision a new Windows Azure VM to run SharePoint Server 2013 by performing the following steps:

Sign in at the Windows Azure Management Portal with the logon credentials used when you signed up for your Free 90-Day Windows Azure Trial.
Select Virtual Machines located on the side navigation panel on the Windows Azure Management Portal page.
Click the +NEW button located on the bottom navigation bar and select Compute | Virtual Machines | From Gallery.
In the Virtual Machine Operating System Selection list, select Windows Server 2012, December 2012 and click the button.
On the Virtual Machine Configuration page, complete the fields as follows:

- Virtual Machine Name: XXXlabapp01
- New Password and Confirm Password fields: Choose and confirm a new local Administrator password.
- Size: Large (4 cores, 7GB Memory)

Click the button to continue.
On the Virtual Machine Mode page, complete the fields as follows:

- Standalone Virtual Machine: Selected
- DNS Name: XXXlabapp01.cloudapp.net
- Storage Account: Select the Storage Account defined in the Getting Started steps from the Prerequisites section above.
- Region/Affinity Group/Virtual Network: Select XXXlabnet01 – the Virtual Network defined in Exercise 2 above.
- Virtual Network Subnets: Select Subnet-1 (10.0.0.0/23)

Click the button to continue.
On the Virtual Machine Options page, click the button to begin provisioning the new virtual machine.

As the new virtual machine is being provisioned, you will see the Status column on the Virtual Machines page of the Windows Azure Management Portal cycle through several values including Stopped, Stopped (Provisioning), and Running (Provisioning). When provisioning for this new Virtual Machine is completed, the Status column will display a value of Running and you may continue with the next step in this guide.
After the new virtual machine has finished provisioning, click on the name ( XXXlabapp01 ) of the new Virtual Machine displayed on the Virtual Machines page of the Windows Azure Management Portal.
On the virtual machine details page for XXXlabapp01, make note of the Internal IP Address displayed on this page. This IP address should be listed as 10.0.0.6.

If a different internal IP address is displayed, the virtual network and/or virtual machine configuration was not completed correctly. In this case, click the DELETE button located on the bottom toolbar of the virtual machine details page for XXXlabapp01, and go back to Exercise 2, Exercise 3 and Exercise 4 to confirm that all steps were completed correctly.
On the virtual machine details page for XXXlabapp01, click the Attach button located on the bottom navigation toolbar and select Attach Empty Disk. Complete the following fields on the Attach an empty disk to the virtual machine form:

- Name: XXXlabapp01-data01
- Size: 50 GB
- Host Cache Preference: None

Click the button to create and attach the a new virtual hard disk to virtual machine XXXlabapp01.
On the virtual machine details page for XXXlabapp01, click the Connect button located on the bottom navigation toolbar and click the Open button to launch a Remote Desktop Connection to the console of this virtual machine. Logon at the console of your virtual machine with the local Administrator credentials defined in Step 5 above.
From the Remote Desktop console of XXXlabapp01, create a new partition on the additional data disk attached above in Step 10 and format this partition as a new F: NTFS volume.
In the Server Manager tool, click on Local Server in the left navigation pane and click on the Workgroup option. Join this server to the contoso.com domain and restart the server to complete the domain join operation.
After the server restarts, re-establish a Remote Desktop connection to the server and logon with the CONTOSO\Administrator domain user credentials defined earlier in Exercise 3.
In the Server Manager tool, click on Local Server in the left navigation pane and select IE Enhanced Security Configuration. Turn off enhanced security for Administrators and click the OK button.

Note: Modifying Internet Explorer Enhanced Security configurations is not good practice and is only for the purpose of this particular step-by-step guide. The correct approach should be to download files locally and then copy them to a shared folder or directly to the VM.
Press the Windows key to switch to the Start Screen and launch Internet Explorer. Download the following files to the F:\INSTALL folder:

- SharePoint Server 2013 Evaluation Edition

Make a note of the SharePoint Product Key listed on this page, as you’ll need it for the installation of SharePoint Server 2013.

- ASP.NET 4.5 hotfix for Windows Server 2012 ( KB2765317 )
Navigate to the F:\INSTALL folder and double-click on the downloaded .IMG file to mount it. Copy all files and folders from the mounted .IMG file to F:\INSTALL.
Install the SharePoint Server 2013 software prerequisites by running F:\INSTALL\prerequisiteinstaller.exe. Note that this process may require multiple server restarts to complete. After all required software is successfully installed, continue with the next step in this step-by-step guide.
Install the ASP.NET 4.5 hotfix downloaded to the F:\INSTALL folder in Step 14 above.
Run F:\INSTALL\setup.exe to launch the SharePoint Server 2013 installation process.
When prompted, on the Server Type tab of the setup program, select the Complete installation option.
On the File Location tab of the setup program, change the data path to use the F: volume formatted in Step 12 above.
At the end of the installation process, ensure the checkbox is selected to Run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard Now and click the Close button.
In the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard, when prompted on the Connect to server farm dialog, select the option to Create a new server farm.
On the Specify Configuration Database Settings, specify the following values for each field:

- Database Server: XXXlabdb01
- Username: CONTOSO\sp_farm
- Password: Type the password specified when the sp_farm domain user account was created earlier in Exercise 3, Step 14.
Click the Next > button and accept all other default values in the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard. Click the Finish button when prompted to complete the wizard.
The SharePoint 2013 Central Administration web page should launch automatically. When prompted, click the Start the Wizard button to begin the Initial Farm Configuration Wizard.
When prompted for Service Account, type the CONTOSO\sp_serviceapps domain username and password specified when this account was created earlier in Exercise 3, Step 14.
Accept all other default values and click the Next > button to continue.
On the Create a Site Collection page, create a new top-level Intranet site collection using the following field values:

- Title and Description: Enter your preferred Title and Description for the new site collection
- URL: Select the root URL path – http://XXXlabapp01/
- Select experience version: 2013
- Select a template: Publishing | Publishing Portal

Click the OK button to provision a new top-level Intranet site collection.

After the new top-level Intranet site collection is provisioned, test navigating to the URL for this site collection from within the Remote Desktop session to the server.
On the SharePoint 2013 Central Administration site, configure a Public URL alternate access mapping for accessing the new top-level Intranet site collection from the Internet.
1. On the Central Administration site home page, click the Configure alternate access mappings link.
2. On the Alternate Access Mappings page, click the Edit Public URLs link.
3. On the Edit Public Zone URLs page, select and specify the following values:
  
  - Alternate Access Mapping Collection: SharePoint - 80
  - Internet: http://XXXlabapp01.cloudapp.net
  
  Click the Save button to complete the Alternate Access Mapping configuration.
Close the Remote Desktop session to the server.
Sign in at the Windows Azure Management Portal with the logon credentials used when you signed up for your Free 90-Day Windows Azure Trial.
Select Virtual Machines located on the side navigation panel on the Windows Azure Management Portal page.
On the Virtual Machines page, click on the name of the SharePoint virtual machine – XXXlabapp01.
On the XXXlabapp01 virtual machine details page, click on Endpoints in the top navigation area of the page.
Click the +Add Endpoint button in the bottom navigation bar of the page to define a new virtual machine endpoint that will permit HTTP web traffic inbound to the SharePoint virtual machine.
On the Add an endpoint to a virtual machine form, select the Add Endpoint option and click the button to continue.
On the Specify the details of the endpoint form, specify the following field values:

- Name: Web HTTP
- Protocol: TCP
- Public Port: 80
- Private Port: 80

Click the button to create a new endpoint definition that will permit inbound web traffic to the SharePoint virtual machine.
After the endpoint configuration has been successfully applied, test browsing to the following public URL to confirm that you are able to access the Intranet site collection that is configured on SharePoint:

- URL: http://XXXlabapp01.cloudapp.net

The configuration for this virtual machine is now complete, and you may continue with the next exercise in this step-by-step guide.

Exercise 6: Export / Import Lab Environment via PowerShell

Our functional SharePoint lab environment is now complete, but if you’re like me, you won’t be using this lab environment 24x7 around-the-clock. As long as the virtual machines are provisioned, they will continue to accumulate compute hours against your Free 90-Day Windows Azure Trial account regardless of virtual machine state – even in a shutdown state!

To preserve as many of your free compute hours for productive lab work, we can leverage the Windows Azure PowerShell module to de-provision our lab virtual machines when not in use and re-provision our lab virtual machines when we need them again. Once you’ve configured the PowerShell scripts below, you’ll be able to spin up your SharePoint lab environment when needed in as little as 5-10 minutes!

Note: Prior to beginning this exercise, please ensure that you’ve downloaded, installed and configured the Windows Azure PowerShell module as outlined in the Getting Started article listed in the Prerequisite section of this step-by-step guide.

De-provisioning your lab. Use the PowerShell snippet below to shutdown, export and de-provision your SharePoint lab environment when you’re not using it. Prior to running this script, be sure to edit the first line to reflect the names of each of your VMs and confirm that the $ExportPath location exists.

$myVMs = @("XXXlabapp01","XXXlabdb01","XXXlabad01")
Foreach ( $myVM in $myVMs ) {
Stop-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -Name $myVM
$ExportPath = "C:\ExportVMs\ExportAzureVM-$myVM.xml"
Export-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -name $myVM -Path $ExportPath
Remove-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -name $myVM
}
Re-provisioning your lab. Use the PowerShell snippet below to import and re-provision your SharePoint lab environment when you’re ready to use it again. Prior to running this script, be sure to edit the first two lines to reflect the names of your Virtual Network and VMs.

$myVNet = "XXXlabnet01"
$myVMs = @("XXXlabad01","XXXlabdb01","XXXlabapp01")
Foreach ( $myVM in $myVMs ) {
$ExportPath = "C:\ExportVMs\ExportAzureVM-$myVM.xml"
Import-AzureVM -Path $ExportPath | New-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -VNetName $myVNet
Start-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -name $myVM
}

To ensure safe de-provisioning and re-provisioning of your SharePoint lab environment, note that it is important to preserve the specific order of the VM names listed in both code snippets above to ensure that the dependency order across VMs is properly handled.

What’s Next? Keep Learning!

Now that your SharePoint Server 2013 lab environment is running in the cloud, be sure to explore the resources below to continue your learning:

SharePoint 2013 Early Training & Resources for IT Pros

Includes 14 modules of detailed technical training for IT Pros on the enhancements and new features in SharePoint Server 2013.
Windows Server 2012 “Early Experts” Challenge online study group

MCSA certification on Windows Server 2012 is a requirement for the new MCSE: SharePoint certification track. If you’re interested in preparing for Microsoft certification on SharePoint 2013, the “Early Experts” study group is a great place to start!

	Build Your Lab! Download Windows Server 2012
	Don’t Have a Lab? Build Your Lab in the Cloud with Windows Azure Virtual Machines
	Want to Get Certified? Join our Windows Server 2012 "Early Experts" Study Group

Published Jan. 7, 2013— Reads 7,207
Copyright © 2013 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
Syndicated stories and blog feeds, all rights reserved by the author.

▪ As I Work in the Cloud, I Encounter an 80/20 Rule

▪ Fighting in the Cloud Service Orchestration Wars

▪ Cloud and Open Source Draw Big Wagers

▪ Step-by-Step: Extend Your Network to the Cloud with Windows Azure Virtual Networks

About Keith Mayer

Keith Mayer is a Technical Evangelist at Microsoft focused on Windows Infrastructure, Data Center Virtualization, Systems Management and Private Cloud. Keith has over 17 years of experience as a technical leader of complex IT projects, in diverse roles, such as Network Engineer, IT Manager, Technical Instructor and Consultant. He has consulted and trained thousands of IT professionals worldwide on the design and implementation of enterprise technology solutions.

Keith is currently certified on several Microsoft technologies, including System Center, Hyper-V, Windows, Windows Server, SharePoint and Exchange. He also holds other industry certifications from IBM, Cisco, Citrix, HP, CheckPoint, CompTIA and Interwoven.

Keith is the author of the IT Pros ROCK! Blog on Microsoft TechNet, voted as one of the Top 50 "Must Read" IT Blogs.

Keith also manages the Windows Server 2012 "Early Experts" Challenge - a FREE online study group for IT Pros interested in studying and preparing for certification on Windows Server 2012. Join us and become the next "Early Expert"!

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SYS-CON Events announced today that Rackspace Hosting, the open cloud company, has been named "Platinum Plus Sponsor" of SYS-CON's 12th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 10-13, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York. Rackspace® Hosting (NYSE: RAX) is the open cloud company, delivering open technologies and powering more than 205,000 customers worldwide. Rackspace provides its renowned Fanatical Support® across a broad portfolio of IT products, including Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Hybrid Hosting and Dedicated Hosting. Rackspace has been recognized by Bloomberg BusinessWeek as a Top 100 Performing Technology Company, is featured on Fortune's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For and is included on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Rackspace was positioned in the Leaders Quadrant by Gartner Inc. in the "2011 Magic Quadrant for Managed Hosting." Rackspace is headquartered in San Antonio with offices and data centers around the world.

Cloud Expo Photo Album

By Liz McMillan

10th International Cloud Expo, held on June 11-14, 2012 at the Javits Center in New York City, featured four content-packed days with a rich array of sessions about the business and technical value of cloud computing led by exceptional speakers from every sector of the cloud computing ecosystem. The Cloud Expo series is the fastest-growing Enterprise IT event in the past 10 years, devoted to every aspect of delivering massively scalable enterprise IT as a service. We invite you to enjoy our photo album of the show - we'll be adding new images all week.

The World's 30 Most Influential Cloud Computing Bloggers Live on Cloud Expo Website!

By Carmen Gonzalez

Ulitzer.com announced "the World's 30 most influential Cloud bloggers," who collectively generated more than 24 million Ulitzer page views. Ulitzer's annual "most influential Cloud bloggers" list was announced at Cloud Expo, which drew more delegates than all other Cloud-related events put together worldwide. "The world's 50 most influential Cloud bloggers 2010" list will be announced at the Cloud Expo 2010 East, which will take place April 19-21, 2010, at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center, in New York City, with more than 5,000 expected to attend.

What Is Cloud Computing?

By Kevin Hartig

Cloud computing is becoming one of the next industry buzz words. It joins the ranks of terms including: grid computing, utility computing, virtualization, clustering, etc. Cloud computing overlaps some of the concepts of distributed, grid and utility computing, however it does have its own meaning if contextually used correctly. The conceptual overlap is partly due to technology changes, usages and implementations over the years. Trends in usage of the terms from Google searches shows Cloud Computing is a relatively new term introduced in the past year. There has also been a decline in general interest of Grid, Utility and Distributed computing. Likely they will be around in usage for quit a while to come. But Cloud computing has become the new buzz word driven largely by marketing and service offerings from big corporate players like Google, IBM and Amazon.

Dell Named “Silver Sponsor” of Cloud Expo New York

By Elizabeth White

SYS-CON Events announced today that Dell Inc. has been named "Silver Sponsor" of SYS-CON's 12th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 10-13, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York. For more than 28 years, Dell has empowered countries, communities, customers and people everywhere to use technology to realize their dreams. Customers trust Dell to deliver technology solutions that help them do and achieve more, whether they're at home, work, school or anywhere in their world. Learn more about Dell's story, purpose and people behind its customer-centric approach.

Cloud Expo: Patterns to Bring Enterprise and Social Identity to the Cloud

By Liz McMillan

One of the most compelling promises of the cloud is that you can pull out a credit card and be working in minutes. No purchase orders to fill out, no equipment to wait for on the loading dock. Just instant access to the resources you need, when you need them. But accessibility comes at a price, and an unintentional consequence may be that you create yet another orphaned identity silo. Enterprise IT has spent years consolidating its mishmash of directories, only to discover that cloud now threatens to turn back their hard-won victories. In his session at the 12th International Cloud Expo, Scott Morrison, CTO and Chief Architect at Layer 7 Technologies, will look at strategies to incorporate identity into cloud applications. Enterprise identity or social login can both be a part of your go-to-cloud strategy, but you must plan for this upfront, rather than try to retrofit identity and access control at a later date.

Cloud Expo, Inc. Registers Worldwide Cloud Expo (TM) Trademark

By Roger Strukhoff

Cloud Expo, Cloud Expo East, Cloud Expo West, Cloud Expo Silicon Valley, Cloud Expo Europe, Cloud Expo Tokyo, Cloud Expo Prague, Cloud Expo Hong Kong, Cloud Expo Sao Paolo are trademarks and /or registered trademarks (USPTO serial number 85009040) of Cloud Expo, Inc.

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SYS-CON's Cloud Expo, held each year in California, New York, Prague, Tokyo, and Hong Kong is the world’s leading Cloud event in its 5th year, larger than all other Cloud events put together. For sponsorship, exhibit opportunites and show prospectus, please contact Carmen Gonzalez, carmen (at) sys-con.com.

New York City Expo Floor Plan Revealed

Cloud Expo New York
[June 11-14, 2012]

Floor Plan Revealed

Introducing Big Data Expo

Introducing
There is little doubt that Big Data solutions will have an increasing role in the Enterprise IT mainstream over time. Get a jump on that rapidly evolving trend at Big Data Expo, which we are introducing in June at
Cloud Expo New York.

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Testimonials

“	Cloud Expo was a fantastic event for CSS Corp - we easily exceeded our objectives for engaging with clients and prospects."

AHMAR ABBAS
SVP, Global Infrastructure Management, CSS Corp.

“	With our launch at Cloud Expo, we successfully transformed the company from a relatively unknown European player into the dominant player in the market. Our competitors were taken by surprise and just blown away. We got a huge number of really high quality leads..."

PETE MALCOLM
CEO, Abiquo

“	We were extremely pleased with Cloud Expo this year - I’d say it exceeded expectations all around. This is the same info we got from partners who attended as well. Nice job!"

MARY BASS
Director of Marketing, UnivaUD

“	Cloud Expo helps focus the debate on the critical issues at hand in effect connecting main street with the next frontier."

GREG O’CONNOR
President & CEO, Appzero

Who Should Attend?

Senior Technologists including CIOs, CTOs, VPs of technology, IT directors and managers, network and storage managers, network engineers, enterprise architects, communications and networking specialists, directors of infrastructure Business Executives including CEOs, CMOs, CIOs, presidents, VPs, directors, business development; product and purchasing managers.

Join Us as a Media Partner - Together We Can Rock the IT World!

SYS-CON Media has a flourishing Media Partner program in which mutually beneficial promotion and benefits are arranged between our own leading Enterprise IT portals and events and those of our partners.

If you would like to participate, please provide us with details of your website/s and event/s or your organization and please include basic audience demographics as well as relevant metrics such as ave. page views per month.

To get involved, email Marilyn Moux at marilyn@sys-con.com.

The World's Most Influential Blogs

Optimizing VDI with Flash Storage for Improved ROI

By Walter Hinton

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solutions allow IT organizations to deploy and manage virtual user desktops in the data center, eliminating the tedious management of numerous physical desktops. At the same time, virtual desktops allow end users to maintain their own personal desktops with acces...

Jun. 19, 2013 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 754

A Comparison Between OpenStack and VMware vCloud IaaS Offerings

By Jonathan Gershater

I previously wrote a review of the Microsoft Azure public cloud and included a comparison between Azure and AWS (Amazon Web Services) and will now compare OpenStack and VMware vCloud. For a review of IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) see my blog post and video. This table provides a simple and hi...

Jun. 19, 2013 01:18 PM EDT Reads: 657

What's New in Hyper-V with Windows Server 2012 R2

By Keith Mayer

In this article, we’ll provide an overview of the Hyper-V enhancements in Windows Server 2012 R2. After you review these new capabilities, I’m sure you’ll see why the R2 release is a MAJOR RELEASE – so MUCH MORE than “just another” Service Pack release! This month, we’ll be releasing a new article ...

Jun. 19, 2013 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 710

Is 2013 Half Empty or Half Full?

By Peter Silva

It certainly has been a wild ride thus far for 2013 as we head into the second half. Breaches, hacks, exposures, leaks, along with things like BYOD and SDN should make the next 6 months interesting. From the many headlines in 2012, you’d think organizations would be locked down tight but alas, int...

Jun. 19, 2013 09:15 AM EDT Reads: 474

Installing RDO Grizzly on Centos Using Packstack

By Jonathan Gershater

OpenStack is easily installed using a package called Packstack. Redhat is one of the primary contributors to packstack and my install experience is similar to the installation of RDO, described here The procedure is quite simple: Install Redhat, Fedora or Centos on one or more x86 servers. I inst...

Jun. 19, 2013 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 522

How Software Defined Networking Can Redefine Your IT Infrastructure

By Unitiv Blog

Software defined networking (SDN) has been in the spotlight since its conception in recent years because of the revolutionary potential that this emergent technology has for the future of IT networking. SDN is like a testament to the changing times. It is a confluence of several of the most signific...

Jun. 19, 2013 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 605

Enterprise PaaS Is About Operations

By Lori MacVittie

The notion that PaaS exists solely "in the cloud" as a discrete environment of developer services is hampering the maturation of enterprise PaaS. The three most common answers to "give me an example of PaaS" are: Force.com, Azure, Google. I didn't even need to do an unscientific Internet survey to ...

Jun. 19, 2013 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,137

Navigating Cloud Automation Economics

By Gathering Clouds

One of the key aspects of cloud’s value to an organization is the way in which its implementation and processes can impact the bottom line of a business. Automation, in particular, is an issue in the cloud that can have a major effect on cost, and there are two major ways to think about what generat...

Jun. 19, 2013 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 565

Health Care Cloud Computing Saves 'Obama Care'

By Xenia von Wedel

Interview with CEO Brad Bostic - hc1.com is committed to improving the quality of healthcare while reducing costs. We believe a critical ingredient to averting the current healthcare crisis faced by the US can only occur by improving the way healthcare professionals across the continuum of care man...

Jun. 19, 2013 08:00 AM EDT Reads: 800

Open Source in the Cloud - How Much Should You Care?

By Toddy Mladenov

n the cloud doesn't matter whether you are running on an Open Source platform or not - it is NOT free because you pay for the service. And for long Open Source project have been funded through the services premiums that you pay. I would argue that Open Source vendors have mastered the way they can t...

Jun. 18, 2013 01:36 PM EDT Reads: 1,001

Untitled Document

Past SYS-CON Events

Cloud Expo West
cloudcomputingexpo
2011west.sys-con.com

Cloud Expo East
cloudcexpo
2011east.sys-con.com

Cloud Expo West
cloudcomputingexpo
2010west.sys-con.com

Virtualization Expo West
virtualization
2010west.sys-con.com

Cloud Expo Europe
cloudexpoeurope2010.
sys-con.com

Cloud Expo East
cloudcomputingexpo
2010east.sys-con.com

Virtualization Expo East
virtualizationconference
2010east.sys-con.com

Cloud Expo West
cloudcomputingexpo
2009west.sys-con.com

Virtualization Expo West
virtualizationconference
2009west.sys-con.com

GovIT Expo
govitexpo.com

Cloud Expo Europe
cloudexpoeurope2009.sys-con.com

Cloud Expo 2011 Allstar Conference Faculty

S.F.S. Dell	Singer NRO	Pereyra Oracle	Ryan OpSource
Butte PwC	Leone Oracle	Riley AWS	Varia AWS
Lye Oracle	O'Connor AppZero	Crandell RightScale	Nucci Dell Boomi
Hillier CiRBA	Morrison Layer 7 Tech	Robbins NYT	Schwarz Oracle

What The Enterprise IT World Says About Cloud Expo

"We had extremely positive feedback from both customers and prospects that attended the show and saw live demos of NaviSite's enterprise cloud based services."

–William Toll
Sr. Director, Marketing & Strategic Alliances
Navisite

"More and better leads than ever expected! I have 4-6 follow ups personally."

–Richard Wellner
Chief Scientist
Univa UD

"Good crowd, good questions. The event looked very successful."

–Simon Crosby
CTO
Citrix Systems

"It's the largest cloud computing conference I've ever seen."

–David Linthicum
CTO
Brick Group

Prerequisites

Exercise 5: Configure SharePoint Server 2013 in a Windows Azure VM

What’s Next? Keep Learning!

Cloud expo 2012 NYC interview unboundid

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