Specifications

Best Practices for Virtualizing and Managing Exchange 2013

Orchestrator

 Custom automation: System Center 2012 SP1 Orchestrator provides tools to build, test, debug,

deploy, and manage automation in your environment. These automated procedures, called

runbooks, can function independently or start other runbooks (Figure 52). The standard activities

defined in every installation of Orchestrator provide a variety of monitors, tasks, and runbook

controls, which you can integrate with a wide range of system processes. Each activity in a

runbook publishes data that is available to any subsequent activity in that runbook. You can use

this published data to provide dynamic decision-making capabilities (like creating emails, alerts,

log files, accounts, and more).

Figure 52: Sample runbook in Orchestrator

Your IT organization can use Orchestrator to improve efficiency and reduce operational costs to

support cross-departmental objectives. Orchestrator provides an environment with shared access

to common data. By using Orchestrator, you can evolve and automate key processes between

groups and consolidate repetitive manual tasks. You can automate cross-functional team

processes and enforce best practices for incident, change, and service management by creating

runbooks that are customized for your requirements. Through automation, regularly recurring

tasks reduce the number of manual and error-prone activities in your environment, helping to

improve reliability and predictability.

 Cross-platform integration: Orchestrator integrates with System Center, other Microsoft

products, and non-Microsoft products to enable interoperability across the data center.

Orchestrator improves efficiency across multiple tools, systems, and departments by eliminating

or crossing technology and organizational process structures. You can extend the capabilities of

Orchestrator with integration packs that include additional functionality for both Microsoft and

non-Microsoft products and technologies. Orchestrator activities and integration packs reduce