Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 6.5 — the newest version of Microsoft’s own cloud migration evaluation tool — is now available, bringing with it a bevy of new features designed to make it easier to move from on-premises into the public or private cloud.
The headlining feature is the ability to consolidate server workloads with the enhanced Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track capacity planning tool, according to the official blog. That’s unsurprising, considering that Microsoft’s trying to build some buzz around its private cloud strategy. Similarly unsurprising is the inclusion of deeper analytics when it comes to migrating on-premises applications to Windows Azure.
Also new to MAP 6.5 are the discovery of Windows devices, usage tracking for Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) and “the discovery of Oracle instances on Itanium-based servers with HP-UX to assist in the planning of migration to SQL Server.” In other words, Microsoft wants to make it as easy as possible to stay within its ecosystem as you move to the cloud, even if you’ve been using Oracle SQL.
If any of this sounds interesting, that same blog entry goes more in-depth. It also includes tools for making sure endpoints are ready for the latest Microsoft software, including Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 9, and visibility into which clients are ready for a hypothetical migration to the Microsoft Office 365 productivity suite.
But long story short: If you’re moving workloads or applications from a Windows environment into the cloud, Microsoft’s tool is probably worth a look.
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