Microsoft Provisioning System (MPS) Versions

Microsoft Provisioning System (MPS) Versions

Below is a table that describes the version of MPS that ships with the associated solution.
Product/Solution MPS Version Notes
Microsoft Provisioning System 1.0 MPS 1.0 Initial Release
Microsoft Solution for Windows-based Hosting 2.5 MPS 1.0
Microsoft Solution for Hosted Exchange 2003 MPS 1.0
Microsoft Solution for Hosted Exchange 2003.1 MPS 1.0
Microsoft Solution for Windows-based Hosting 3.0 MPS 1.1 Support for Windows Server 2003
Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging & Collaboration 3.0 MPS 2.0
Microsoft Solution for Windows-based Hosting 3.5 MPS 2.1 Support for Windows Server 2003 SP1
Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging & Collaboration 3.5 MPS 2.1 Support for Exchange Server 2003 SP2

Overall the underlying technology (Microsoft Provisioning Framework) remains they same, but there have been updates to the engine, providers, installation, configuration, etc. and thus the updates to the version number. Much of these updates have been through improvements, leveraging, and documentation brought forth by the various solutions.

Since I was on this topic, I thought I would also put together a brief list of the key components/features that comes with each solution. This is by no means a complete list for each solution, but does provide some helpful information.
Product/Solution Key Features
Microsoft Provisioning System 1.0

* Runs on Windows Server 2000
* Shared Active Directory
* Provision Hosted Exchange 2000
* Provision IIS 5

Microsoft Solution for Windows-based Hosting 2.5

* First solution documentation to incorporate MPS
* Focused on Dedicated Hosting

Microsoft Solution for Hosted Exchange 2003

* Provision Hosted Exchange 2003
* Provide a Plans database
* Introduction of MPF Configuration Wizard to reduce manual configuration

Microsoft Solution for Hosted Exchange 2003.1

* Change an Active Directory schema to allow for more than 1000 Offline Address Books (OAB) and thus allowing to support an increased number of Outlook 2003 client based organizations (Tested Max was 10,000 OAB's)

Microsoft Solution for Windows-based Hosting 3.0

* Enable the Shared Web Hosting scenario
* Leverage Plans Database introduced in HE 2003
* Provision Shared SQL Server 2000 (SQL Admin Provider for MPF)
* Introduction of the new MPS Deployment Tool which deploys the various MPS components across a number of servers and performs many (but still not all) of the configuration steps that are required prior to using MPS.

Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging & Collaboration 3.0

* Provision Live Communication Server 2005
* Provision Windows SharePoint Services

Microsoft Solution for Windows-based Hosting 3.5

* Support for Windows Server 2003 service pack 1

Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging & Collaboration 3.5

* Upgrade utilities to move an organizations mailbox to a hoster
* Introduction of the Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS) to synchronize an organizations/customer existing Active Directory implementation with their "Hosted" user accounts at the Service Provider's Active Directory.
* Support for Exchange Server 2003 service pack 2 which includes new features for mobile devices (remote wipe, message pushing, etc.)

MPS Overview

MPS is an extensible Windows-based platform that provides an XML-based framework that allows to create customized provisioning solutions for Web, data, and application hosting. This solution includes tasks such as adding new users, updating directory entries, and provisioning applications and services.

MPS providers make possible to automate the tasks required to provision and manage services within a data center. They accept XML requests from the Provisioning Engine and execute provisioning tasks against their respective applications.
MPS Provisioning Engine acts as a provisioning process coordinator and performs data monitoring and logging services. The Provisioning Engine interprets high-level XML requests and expands them into tasks.

Prerequisites:

Set Up a Development EnvironmentIn order to develop for Microsoft Provisioning System (MPS), we recommend that you create a dedicated development environment which is made up of at least a minimal setup for MPS and the hosted service you are developing for, or a lab deployment of the solution reference architecture. In this way, you ensure that the production system is not impacted by any activity during the development phase.
What You Will NeedFollowing is a list of the items you will need if you do not want to deploy the solution completely:

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Machine MPS Distribution from the Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration media Microsoft SQL Server 2005 installation media Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 installation media A domain controller that you have administrative access to (can be a Virtual Server) A server running the service you are creating a provider for, and which you can use to try out your provider (can be a Virtual Server)