Creating a Cloud Distribution Point with Windows Azure and ConfigMgr 2012

This week I decided to start with Windows Azure. One of the biggest reasons for that, was that I knew that with ConfigMgr 2012 SP1, which is currently still in BETA, it is possible to create a Cloud Distribution Point based on Windows Azure. So that’s what I decided to start with this week.

Prerequisites

First I started with figuring out how exactly Windows Azure works. It’s actually quit easy to set-up, but after another good look at ConfigMgr 2012 I figured that it’s not even necessary to do anything within Azure. The following things are a prerequisite for creating a Cloud Distribution Point:

  • Create a Windows Azure subscription.
  • Create a certificate for the management of Windows Azure.
  • Add the management certificate to Windows Azure.
  • Create a certificate for the new cloud serivce.

Configuration

The configuration was actually quit easy and, as always, a nice wizard. To create a Cloud Distribution Point navigate to Administration > Overview > Hierarchy Configuration > Cloud, click Create Cloud Distribution Point and follow the next steps:

On the General page, fill in a Subscription ID, add a Management Certificate and click Next. CCDPW_Gen
On the Settings page, a Service Name will be generated, Browse to a certificate for the cloud service and click Next. CCDPW_Set
On the Alerts page, configure alerts and click Next. CCDPW_Ale
On the Summary page, click Next. CCDPW_Sum
On the Completion page, click close. CCDPW_Com

Result

As always I like to show the results of the actions. This time I will do it with a few small screenshots instead of log files. The log files where the most actions are logged are the CloudMgr.log and the DistMgr.log. First take a look at the results in the ConfigMgr Console, there is now a Cloud Service and a new Distribution Point:CloSerCloDP

Now let’s have a look at Windows Azure, to see what’s created there. There should be a Storage Account and a Cloud Service:AzuSer

AzuConAlso a more closer look look the Storage Account will show that the Cloud Distribution Point is created. The contentservice-master-container, the deploymentcontainer, the publickeystore and the wad-control-container are default containers, but to show that the server-side is working I already uploaded content and that’s the content-ptn0001b container.

For more information see: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh272770.aspx#BKMK_InstallCloudSiteSystems

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