Microsoft has released a free book titled: “Microsoft System Center Introduction to Microsoft Automation Solutions“. The book which contains 105 pages gives an introduction to the automation solutions provided by Microsoft in the form of Microsoft Azure Automation and Service Management Automation (SMA).
The book provides considerations on the features of each solution, and how they can be architected to fit your needs. It explores the interfaces you will use to interact with the solutions, including the web-based portals, Windows PowerShell command-line interaction, and programmatic access via the web services. It then covers how you implement and manage automation using runbooks, assets, and Integration Modules, along with how you can use a source control system to manage runbook content.
Finally, some examples of automation scenarios are discussed, providing you with samples that can be used to speed development in your own solution.
The book contains the following sections:
- Chapter 1 – Why Automation?
- Chapter 2 – Understanding automation: Architectures
- Chapter 3 – Understanding automation: Interfaces
- Chapter 4 – Implementing automation
- Chapter 5 – Managaging runbooks
- Chapter 6 – Examples of automation scenarios