Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 6.5 now available for download

Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 6.5 is now available for download. The MAP Toolkit makes it easy to assess your current IT infrastructure for a variety of technology migration projects. This Solution Accelerator provides a powerful inventory, assessment, and reporting tool to simplify the migration planning process.

Overview
The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit is an agentless, automated, multi-product planning and assessment tool for quicker and easier desktop and server migrations. MAP provides detailed readiness assessment reports and executive proposals with extensive hardware and software information, and actionable recommendations to help organizations accelerate their IT infrastructure planning process, and gather more detail on assets that reside within their current environment.

MAP also provides private and public cloud planning assessments, and server utilization data for Hyper-V server virtualization planning; identifying server placements, and performing virtualization candidate assessments, including ROI analysis for server consolidation with Hyper-V.

Other significant new features in MAP 6.5 include the discovery of active Windows devices, Software 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.

MAP is one of the tools provided by the Microsoft Solution Accelerators team. The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit, Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, and Security Compliance Manager provide tested guidance and automated tools to help organizations plan, securely deploy, and manage new Microsoft technologies-easier, faster, and at less cost. All are freely available, and fully-supported by Microsoft.

Download Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 6.5 (December 1, 2011)
The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit v6.5 is now available for download at the link below. Download the files appropriate for you.

• Getting_Started_Guide.en.doc
• AP_Sample_Documents.zip
• MAP_Training_Kit.zip
• Microsoft_Assessment_and_Planning_Toolkit_Setup.exe
• readme.en.htm

The MAP Toolkit includes the following components:

• Microsoft_Assessment_and_Planning_Toolkit_Setup.exe. Installation package containing the tool, release notes, Getting Started Guide and toolkit help (chm file).
• readme_en.htm. Available as a separate download. Provides information to read before installing the MAP Toolkit, including installation prerequisites and known issues.
• Getting_Started_Guide.en.doc. Provides information about toolkit installation, environment preparation, and assessment scenarios supported by toolkit wizards and the UI.
• MAP_Training_Kit.zip. Available as a separate download. Contains sample databases and training materials.
• MAP_Sample_Documents.zip. Available as a separate download. Contains sample reports and proposals.

Key Features and Benefits of MAP 6.5
Here are key features and benefits of MAP 6.5:

• Discover Oracle instances on Itanium-based servers for migration to SQL Server.
  MAP 6.5 adds to the heterogeneous database inventory and reporting capability with Oracle compete and the discovery of Oracle instances on Itanium-based servers with HP-UX to assist in the planning of migration to SQL Server. Reporting also provides an estimate of the complexity of migration and suggests candidates for migration to SQL Server. Use this information to determine total cost of ownership for maintaining Oracle and the potential return on investment (ROI) from switching to SQL Server.

• Accelerate planning for the private cloud with Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track Onboarding.
  Planning your private cloud just got easier. Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track Onboarding, an updated assessment available with MAP 6.5, provides consolidation guidance and validated configurations with preconfigured Hyper-V Fast Track Infrastructures including computing power, network, and storage architectures. Get a quick analysis of server consolidation on Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track Infrastructures to help accelerate your planning of P2V migration to Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track. Each assessment also provides guidance on next steps using Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track.

• Assess your software usage and evaluate your licensing needs.
  The Software Usage Tracking feature in MAP 6.5 includes enhancements in terms of product coverage and the ability to track devices. The Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) scenario measures server and client usage for the FEP product, a recent addition to the Microsoft Core Client Access License (CAL) Suite. Active Devices is a new inventory scenario that allows organizations to report Windows devices that are active on the network. This information is useful in Enterprise Agreement scenarios as well as for maintaining Active Directory information for the environment.

MAP Toolkit 6.5 requirements are found within the Download details - Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit website.