Search Results

Search found 61552 results on 2463 pages for 'windows azure storage'.

Page 11/2463 | < Previous Page | 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18  | Next Page >

• SQLAuthority News – Windows Azure Training Kit Updated October 2012

  - by pinaldave

  Microsoft has recently released the updated to Windows Azure Training Kit. Earlier this month they have updated the kit and included quite a lot of things. Now the training kit contains 47 hands-on labs, 24 demos and 38 presentations. The best part is that the kit is now available to download in two different formats 1) Full Package (324.5 MB) and 2) Web Installer (2.4 MB). The full package enables you to download all of the hands-on labs and presentations to your local machine. The Web Installer allows you to select and download just the specific hands-on labs and presentations that you need. This Windows Azure Training Kit contains Hands on Labs, Presentations and Videos and Demos. I encourage all of you to try this out as well. The Kit also contains details about Samples and Tools. The training kit is the most authoritative learning resource on Windows Azure. You can download the Windows Azure Training Kit from here. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Azure, SQL Download, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

  Read the article

• What is the difference between Windows RT and Windows Phone 8?

  - by Rakib Ansary

  From what I have read it seems there are more or less three versions(?) of Windows 8: Windows 8, Windows RT, and Windows Phone 8. While the difference between Windows 8 and Windows RT is clear, I don't understand the difference between Windows RT and Windows Phone 8. The Android parallel, Jelly Bean that runs on Tablets and on Phones doesn't have any differences. Are there any differences between Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 except for the fact that one is for Tablets (Windows RT) and the other is for Phones (Windows Phone 8)?

  Read the article

• OData.org updated, gives clues about future SQL Azure enhancements

  - by jamiet

  The OData website at http://www.odata.org/home has been updated today to provide a much more engaging page than the previous sterile attempt. Moreover its now chockful of information about the progress of OData including a blog, a list of products that produce OData feeds plus some live OData feeds that you can hit up today, a list of OData-compliant clients and an FAQ. Most interestingly SQL Azure is listed as a producer of OData feeds: If you have a SQL Azure database account you can easily expose an OData feed through a simple configuration portal. You can select authenticated or anonymous access and expose different OData views according to permissions granted to the specified SQL Azure database user. A preview of this upcoming SQL Azure service is available at https://www.sqlazurelabs.com/OData.aspx and it enables you to select one of your existing SQL Azure databases and, with a few clicks, turn it into an OData feed. It looks as though SQL Azure will soon be added to the stable of products that natively support OData, good news indeed. @Jamiet Related blog posts: OData gunning for ubiquity across Microsoft products Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

  Read the article

• Deploy code to Windows Azure from Dropbox

  - by Gopinath

  There is a lot of innovation happening at Windows Azure team these days under the leadership of ScottGu. The recent updates to Windows Azure published couple of days ago allows us to deploy code to Windows Azure websites straight from Dropbox. It’s very easy and simple to use. Authorize Windows Azure account to talk to Dropbox and whenever you want to deploy latest code from Dropbox just click it button. Boom! The latest code from Dropbox will be automatically deployed on Windows Azure. Everything works like magic. Wow, isn’t this a cool feature for those who don’t want to maintain their version control systems like Git, Svn or TFS? This is a big deal to many developers who maintain their personal websites source code on Dropbox. Wondering why developers maintain their source code in Dropbox? It’s easy to use Dropbox(zero learning curve) and setting up a source control systems demands lot of administrative activities as well as money for hosting them. Here is a quick walk through of deploying code to Windows Azure from Dropbox. Though I’m not going to user this feature for deploying code of my website coziie.com (I’ve a personal SVN server hosted), I’m going to recommend to all my friends who maintain their source code on Dropbox.  For more details read the detailed post on ScottGu’s blog.

  Read the article

• Moving data files failing

  - by Miles Hayler

  Trying to migrate data from C: to D: via the SBS console is failing. The wizard starts running but drops out in the first few seconds. I'll post the full logs, but the important lines appear to be as follows: An exception of type 'Type: System.IO.FileNotFoundException, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' has occurred. Message: The system cannot find the file specified. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070002) Stack: at TaskScheduler.TaskSchedulerClass.GetFolder(String Path) at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.WindowsTaskScheduler..ctor(String taskPath, String taskName) BaseException: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.StorageException: GetServerBackupTaskStatus: fail to find the task --- ErrorCode:0 I've been googling for days with no luck. I have found that mscorlib is a component of .net, and I've discovered multiple instances of the file in %windir%, %windir%\winsxs, %windir%\Microsoft.net Anyone come across and fixed this one before? --------------------------------------------------------- [1516] 110315.190856.1105: Storage: Initializing...C:\Program Files\Windows Small Business Server\Bin\MoveData.exe [1516] 110315.190856.2875: Storage: Data Store to be moved: Exchange [1516] 110315.190856.5305: TaskScheduler: Exception System.IO.FileNotFoundException: [1516] 110315.190856.5605: Exception: --------------------------------------- An exception of type 'Type: System.IO.FileNotFoundException, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' has occurred. Timestamp: 03/15/2011 19:08:56 Message: The system cannot find the file specified. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070002) Stack: at TaskScheduler.TaskSchedulerClass.GetFolder(String Path) at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.WindowsTaskScheduler..ctor(String taskPath, String taskName) [1516] 110315.190856.5625: Storage: Exception Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.WindowsTaskSchedulerException: [1516] 110315.190856.5635: Exception: --------------------------------------- [b]An exception of type 'Type: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.WindowsTaskSchedulerException, Common, Version=6.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' has occurred.[/b] Timestamp: 03/15/2011 19:08:56 Message: Failed to find the task path Stack: at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.WindowsTaskScheduler..ctor(String taskPath, String taskName) at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.ServerBackupUtility.GetServerBackupTaskStatus() --------------------------------------- An exception of type 'Type: System.IO.FileNotFoundException, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' has occurred. Timestamp: 03/15/2011 19:08:56 Message: The system cannot find the file specified. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070002) Stack: at TaskScheduler.TaskSchedulerClass.GetFolder(String Path) at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.WindowsTaskScheduler..ctor(String taskPath, String taskName) [1516] 110315.190856.5665: Storage: Error Retrieving Server Backup Task Status: ErrorCode:0 BaseException: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.StorageException: GetServerBackupTaskStatus: fail to find the task ---> ErrorCode:0 BaseException: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.WindowsTaskSchedulerException: Failed to find the task path ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: The system cannot find the file specified. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070002) at TaskScheduler.TaskSchedulerClass.GetFolder(String Path) at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.WindowsTaskScheduler..ctor(String taskPath, String taskName) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.WindowsTaskScheduler..ctor(String taskPath, String taskName) at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.ServerBackupUtility.GetServerBackupTaskStatus() --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.ServerBackupUtility.GetServerBackupTaskStatus() at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.MoveData.Helper.get_ServerBackupTaskState() [1516] 110315.190857.6216: Storage: Backup Task State: Unknown [1516] 110315.190857.9347: Storage: Launching the Move Data Wizard! [1516] 110315.190857.9397: Wizard: Admin:QueryNextPage(null) = Storage.MoveDataWizard.GettingStartedPage [1516] 110315.190857.9417: Wizard: TOC Storage.MoveDataWizard.GettingStartedPage is on ExpectedPath [1516] 110315.190857.9577: Wizard: Storage.MoveDataWizard.GettingStartedPage entered [1516] 110315.190857.9657: Wizard: Admin:QueryNextPage(Storage.MoveDataWizard.GettingStartedPage) = Storage.MoveDataWizard.DiagnoseDataStorePage [1516] 110315.190857.9657: Wizard: TOC Storage.MoveDataWizard.DiagnoseDataStorePage is on ExpectedPath [1516] 110315.190857.9657: Wizard: Admin:QueryNextPage(Storage.MoveDataWizard.DiagnoseDataStorePage) = Storage.MoveDataWizard.NewDataStoreLocationPage [1516] 110315.190857.9657: Wizard: TOC Storage.MoveDataWizard.NewDataStoreLocationPage is on ExpectedPath [1516] 110315.190857.9657: Wizard: Admin:QueryNextPage(Storage.MoveDataWizard.NewDataStoreLocationPage) = null [1516] 110315.190857.9697: Wizard: ---------------------------------- [1516] 110315.190857.9697: Wizard: The pages visted: [1516] 110315.190857.9697: Wizard: Current Page := [TOC Storage.MoveDataWizard.GettingStartedPage] [1516] 110315.190857.9697: Wizard: [TOC] : TOC Storage.MoveDataWizard.DiagnoseDataStorePage [1516] 110315.190857.9697: Wizard: [TOC] : TOC Storage.MoveDataWizard.NewDataStoreLocationPage [1516] 110315.190857.9697: Wizard: Step 1 of 3 [1516] 110315.190907.0406: Wizard: Admin:QueryNextPage(Storage.MoveDataWizard.GettingStartedPage) = Storage.MoveDataWizard.DiagnoseDataStorePage [1516] 110315.190907.0416: Wizard: Storage.MoveDataWizard.GettingStartedPage exited with the button: Next [1516] 110315.190907.0416: WizardChainEngine Next Clicked: Going to page {0}.: Storage.MoveDataWizard.DiagnoseDataStorePage [1516] 110315.190907.0496: Wizard: Storage.MoveDataWizard.DiagnoseDataStorePage entered [1516] 110315.190907.0606: Wizard: Admin:QueryNextPage(Storage.MoveDataWizard.DiagnoseDataStorePage) = Storage.MoveDataWizard.NewDataStoreLocationPage [1516] 110315.190907.0606: Wizard: Admin:QueryNextPage(Storage.MoveDataWizard.NewDataStoreLocationPage) = null [1516] 110315.190907.0606: Wizard: ---------------------------------- [1516] 110315.190907.0606: Wizard: The pages visted: [1516] 110315.190907.0606: Wizard: [TOC] visited: TOC Storage.MoveDataWizard.GettingStartedPage [1516] 110315.190907.0606: Wizard: Current Page := [TOC Storage.MoveDataWizard.DiagnoseDataStorePage] [1516] 110315.190907.0616: Wizard: [TOC] : TOC Storage.MoveDataWizard.NewDataStoreLocationPage [1516] 110315.190907.0616: Wizard: Step 2 of 3 [19772] 110315.190907.0656: Storage: Starting System Diagnosis [19772] 110315.190907.0656: Storage: Getting Data Store Information [19772] 110315.190907.1086: Storage: Create the list of storage and DB directory path [19772] 110315.190907.1246: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingTasks..ctor [19772] 110315.190907.1546: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingTasks.Initialize [19772] 110315.190907.1596: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.Initialize [19772] 110315.190907.1606: Messaging: Exchange install path: C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\bin [19772] 110315.190908.4157: Messaging: E12 Monad runspace created ID: Microsoft.PowerShell [19772] 110315.190908.4237: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190908.4287: Messaging: Executed management shell command: get-exchangeserver [19772] 110315.190910.2369: Messaging: End Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190910.2369: Messaging: End Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.Initialize [19772] 110315.190910.5699: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingTasks.GatherAdminInfo [19772] 110315.190910.5699: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190910.5719: Messaging: Executed management shell command: get-user -Identity "dmagroup.local\Administrator" [19772] 110315.190911.0870: Messaging: End Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190911.0880: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190911.0880: Messaging: Executed management shell command: get-mailbox -Identity "d2ae2bf0-48a7-4ce9-9e72-bb3c765454ac" [19772] 110315.190911.1300: Messaging: End Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190911.1310: Messaging: User Administrator is mail enabled and can use MessagingManagement to send mail. [19772] 110315.190911.1310: Messaging: Email address used for user: [email protected] [19772] 110315.190911.1440: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190911.1440: Messaging: Executed management shell command: get-group -Identity "Domain Admins" [19772] 110315.190911.1630: Messaging: End Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190911.1640: Messaging: User Administrator is a member of Domain Admins and can use MessagingManagement to manage Exchange. [19772] 110315.190911.1640: Messaging: End Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingTasks.GatherAdminInfo [19772] 110315.190911.1640: Messaging: MessagingManagement enabled for Exchange management: True [19772] 110315.190911.1640: Messaging: MessagingManagement enabled for mail submission: True [19772] 110315.190911.1640: Messaging: End Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingTasks.Initialize [19772] 110315.190911.1640: Messaging: End Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Tasks.TaskMoveExchangeData.CreateDataStoreDriveList [19772] 110315.190911.1670: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.Initialize [19772] 110315.190911.1670: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190911.1670: Messaging: Executed management shell command: get-storagegroup -Server "SERVER01" [19772] 110315.190911.2990: Messaging: End Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190911.3070: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.Initialize [19772] 110315.190911.3070: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190911.3070: Messaging: Executed management shell command: get-mailboxdatabase -Server "SERVER01" [19772] 110315.190911.4440: Messaging: End Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190911.4520: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.Initialize [19772] 110315.190911.4520: Messaging: Begin Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190911.4520: Messaging: Executed management shell command: get-publicfolderdatabase -Server "SERVER01" [19772] 110315.190911.5240: Messaging: End Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Messaging.Management.MessagingRunspace.StaticExecute [19772] 110315.190911.5510: Storage: Data Store Drive/s Details:Name=C:\,Size=12675712420 [19772] 110315.190911.5510: Storage: Data Store Size Details: Current Total Size=12675712420 Required Size=12675712420 [19772] 110315.190911.5510: Storage: MoveData Task can move the Data Store=True [19772] 110315.190911.8401: Storage: An error was encountered when performing system diagnosis : ErrorCode:0 BaseException: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.StorageException: WMI error occurred while accessing drive ---> System.Management.ManagementException: Not found at System.Management.ManagementException.ThrowWithExtendedInfo(ManagementStatus errorCode) at System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection.ManagementObjectEnumerator.MoveNext() at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.DriveUtil.IsDriveRemovable(String drive) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.DriveUtil.IsDriveRemovable(String drive) at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.DataStoreInfo.LoadAvailableDrives() at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.MoveDataUtil.CanMoveData(DataStoreInfo storeInfo, MoveDataError& error) at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.MoveData.DiagnoseDataStorePagePresenter.DiagnoseDataStore(Object sender, DoWorkEventArgs args) [1516] 110315.190912.0331: Storage: An error occured during the execution: System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> ErrorCode:0 BaseException: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.StorageException: Diagnosing the Data Store failed (see the inner exception) ---> ErrorCode:0 BaseException: Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.StorageException: WMI error occurred while accessing drive ---> System.Management.ManagementException: Not found at System.Management.ManagementException.ThrowWithExtendedInfo(ManagementStatus errorCode) at System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection.ManagementObjectEnumerator.MoveNext() at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.DriveUtil.IsDriveRemovable(String drive) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.DriveUtil.IsDriveRemovable(String drive) at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.DataStoreInfo.LoadAvailableDrives() at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.Common.MoveDataUtil.CanMoveData(DataStoreInfo storeInfo, MoveDataError& error) at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.MoveData.DiagnoseDataStorePagePresenter.DiagnoseDataStore(Object sender, DoWorkEventArgs args) at System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker.WorkerThreadStart(Object argument) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.MoveData.DiagnoseDataStorePagePresenter.backgroundWorker_RunWorkerCompleted(Object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at System.RuntimeMethodHandle._InvokeMethodFast(Object target, Object[] arguments, SignatureStruct& sig, MethodAttributes methodAttributes, RuntimeTypeHandle typeOwner) at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks) at System.Delegate.DynamicInvokeImpl(Object[] args) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallbackDo(ThreadMethodEntry tme) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallbackHelper(Object obj) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.runTryCode(Object userData) at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.RuntimeHelpers.ExecuteCodeWithGuaranteedCleanup(TryCode code, CleanupCode backoutCode, Object userData) at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallback(ThreadMethodEntry tme) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.InvokeMarshaledCallbacks() at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.DebuggableCallback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam) at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessageW(MSG& msg) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(Int32 dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context) at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context) at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.Wizards.Framework.WizardFrameView.Create() at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Common.Wizards.Framework.WizardChainEngine.Launch() at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.MoveData.MainClass.LaunchMoveDataWizard() at Microsoft.WindowsServerSolutions.Storage.MoveData.MainClass.Main(String[] args)

  Read the article

• SSAS Multithreaded sync with Windows 2008 R2

  - by ACALVETT

  We have been happily running some of our systems on WIndows 2003 and have had an upgrade to W2K8 R2 on the list for quite some time. The upgrade has now completed and we can start taking advantage of some of the new features which is the reason for this post. For a long time we have used the sample Robocopy script from the SQLCat team to synchronize some of our larger SSAS databases. If your wondering what i mean by large, around 5 TB with a good few thousand partitions. The script works like a dream...(read more)

  Read the article

• From HttpRuntime.Cache to Windows Azure Caching (Preview)

  - by Jeff

  I don’t know about you, but the announcement of Windows Azure Caching (Preview) (yes, the parentheses are apparently part of the interim name) made me a lot more excited about using Azure. Why? Because one of the great performance tricks of any Web app is to cache frequently used data in memory, so it doesn’t have to hit the database, a service, or whatever. When you run your Web app on one box, HttpRuntime.Cache is a sweet and stupid-simple solution. Somewhere in the data fetching pieces of your app, you can see if an object is available in cache, and return that instead of hitting the data store. I did this quite a bit in POP Forums, and it dramatically cuts down on the database chatter. The problem is that it falls apart if you run the app on many servers, in a Web farm, where one server may initiate a change to that data, and the others will have no knowledge of the change, making it stale. Of course, if you have the infrastructure to do so, you can use something like memcached or AppFabric to do a distributed cache, and achieve the caching flavor you desire. You could do the same thing in Azure before, but it would cost more because you’d need to pay for another role or VM or something to host the cache. Now, you can use a portion of the memory from each instance of a Web role to act as that cache, with no additional cost. That’s huge. So if you’re using a percentage of memory that comes out to 100 MB, and you have three instances running, that’s 300 MB available for caching. For the uninitiated, a Web role in Azure is essentially a VM that runs a Web app (worker roles are the same idea, only without the IIS part). You can spin up many instances of the role, and traffic is load balanced to the various instances. It’s like adding or removing servers to a Web farm all willy-nilly and at your discretion, and it’s what the cloud is all about. I’d say it’s my favorite thing about Windows Azure. The slightly annoying thing about developing for a Web role in Azure is that the local emulator that’s launched by Visual Studio is a little on the slow side. If you’re used to using the built-in Web server, you’re used to building and then alt-tabbing to your browser and refreshing a page. If you’re just changing an MVC view, you’re not even doing the building part. Spinning up the simulated Azure environment is too slow for this, but ideally you want to code your app to use this fantastic distributed cache mechanism. So first off, here’s the link to the page showing how to code using the caching feature. If you’re used to using HttpRuntime.Cache, this should be pretty familiar to you. Let’s say that you want to use the Azure cache preview when you’re running in Azure, but HttpRuntime.Cache if you’re running local, or in a regular IIS server environment. Through the magic of dependency injection, we can get there pretty quickly. First, design an interface to handle the cache insertion, fetching and removal. Mine looks like this: public interface ICacheProvider {     void Add(string key, object item, int duration);     T Get<T>(string key) where T : class;     void Remove(string key); } Now we’ll create two implementations of this interface… one for Azure cache, one for HttpRuntime: public class AzureCacheProvider : ICacheProvider {     public AzureCacheProvider()     {         _cache = new DataCache("default"); // in Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching, see how-to      }         private readonly DataCache _cache;     public void Add(string key, object item, int duration)     {         _cache.Add(key, item, new TimeSpan(0, 0, 0, 0, duration));     }     public T Get<T>(string key) where T : class     {         return _cache.Get(key) as T;     }     public void Remove(string key)     {         _cache.Remove(key);     } } public class LocalCacheProvider : ICacheProvider {     public LocalCacheProvider()     {         _cache = HttpRuntime.Cache;     }     private readonly System.Web.Caching.Cache _cache;     public void Add(string key, object item, int duration)     {         _cache.Insert(key, item, null, DateTime.UtcNow.AddMilliseconds(duration), System.Web.Caching.Cache.NoSlidingExpiration);     }     public T Get<T>(string key) where T : class     {         return _cache[key] as T;     }     public void Remove(string key)     {         _cache.Remove(key);     } } Feel free to expand these to use whatever cache features you want. I’m not going to go over dependency injection here, but I assume that if you’re using ASP.NET MVC, you’re using it. Somewhere in your app, you set up the DI container that resolves interfaces to concrete implementations (Ninject call is a “kernel” instead of a container). For this example, I’ll show you how StructureMap does it. It uses a convention based scheme, where if you need to get an instance of IFoo, it looks for a class named Foo. You can also do this mapping explicitly. The initialization of the container looks something like this: ObjectFactory.Initialize(x =>             {                 x.Scan(scan =>                         {                             scan.AssembliesFromApplicationBaseDirectory();                             scan.WithDefaultConventions();                         });                 if (Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.RoleEnvironment.IsAvailable)                     x.For<ICacheProvider>().Use<AzureCacheProvider>();                 else                     x.For<ICacheProvider>().Use<LocalCacheProvider>();             }); If you use Ninject or Windsor or something else, that’s OK. Conceptually they’re all about the same. The important part is the conditional statement that checks to see if the app is running in Azure. If it is, it maps ICacheProvider to AzureCacheProvider, otherwise it maps to LocalCacheProvider. Now when a request comes into your MVC app, and the chain of dependency resolution occurs, you can see to it that the right caching code is called. A typical design may have a call stack that goes: Controller –> BusinessLogicClass –> Repository. Let’s say your repository class looks like this: public class MyRepo : IMyRepo {     public MyRepo(ICacheProvider cacheProvider)     {         _context = new MyDataContext();         _cache = cacheProvider;     }     private readonly MyDataContext _context;     private readonly ICacheProvider _cache;     public SomeType Get(int someTypeID)     {         var key = "somename-" + someTypeID;         var cachedObject = _cache.Get<SomeType>(key);         if (cachedObject != null)         {             _context.SomeTypes.Attach(cachedObject);             return cachedObject;         }         var someType = _context.SomeTypes.SingleOrDefault(p => p.SomeTypeID == someTypeID);         _cache.Add(key, someType, 60000);         return someType;     } ... // more stuff to update, delete or whatever, being sure to remove // from cache when you do so  When the DI container gets an instance of the repo, it passes an instance of ICacheProvider to the constructor, which in this case will be whatever implementation was specified when the container was initialized. The Get method first tries to hit the cache, and of course doesn’t care what the underlying implementation is, Azure, HttpRuntime, or otherwise. If it finds the object, it returns it right then. If not, it hits the database (this example is using Entity Framework), and inserts the object into the cache before returning it. The important thing not pictured here is that other methods in the repo class will construct the key for the cached object, in this case “somename-“ plus the ID of the object, and then remove it from cache, in any method that alters or deletes the object. That way, no matter what instance of the role is processing the request, it won’t find the object if it has been made stale, that is, updated or outright deleted, forcing it to attempt to hit the database. So is this good technique? Well, sort of. It depends on how you use it, and what your testing looks like around it. Because of differences in behavior and execution of the two caching providers, for example, you could see some strange errors. For example, I immediately got an error indicating there was no parameterless constructor for an MVC controller, because the DI resolver failed to create instances for the dependencies it had. In reality, the NuGet packaged DI resolver for StructureMap was eating an exception thrown by the Azure components that said my configuration, outlined in that how-to article, was wrong. That error wouldn’t occur when using the HttpRuntime. That’s something a lot of people debate about using different components like that, and how you configure them. I kinda hate XML config files, and like the idea of the code-based approach above, but you should be darn sure that your unit and integration testing can account for the differences.

  Read the article

• Upgrade to Genuine Windows 8 Pro from non genuine Windows 7

  - by mark

  I have a computer with non-genuine windows 7 (cracked with windows loader). I was thinking of buying / upgrading to Windows 8 Pro. I ran Windows8-UpgradeAssistant.exe and was said that I can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro. Can I perform a clean upgrade (format and install) from my current windows 7 to windows 8? In future, in order to re-install Windows 8 do I need to re-install the non-genuine Windows 7 and install on top of it? If my hard disk crash, or I want to install on a new hard disk (clean install), do I need to install windows 7 again before upgrading to Windows 8? If I don't like Windows 8, can I downgrade to Windows 7 genuine?

  Read the article

• Storage Configuration

  - by jchang

  Storage performance is not inherently complicated subject. The concepts are relatively simple. In fact, scaling storage performance is far easier compared with the difficulties encounters in scaling processor performance in NUMA systems. Storage performance is achieved by properly distributing IO over: 1) multiple independent PCI-E ports (system memory and IO bandwith is key) 2) multiple RAID controllers or host bus adapters (HBAs) 3) multiple storage IO channels (SAS or FC, complete path) most importantly,...(read more)

  Read the article

• Storage Configuration

  - by jchang

  Storage performance is not inherently complicated subject. The concepts are relatively simple. In fact, scaling storage performance is far easier compared with the difficulties encounters in scaling processor performance in NUMA systems. Storage performance is achieved by properly distributing IO over: 1) multiple independent PCI-E ports (system memory and IO bandwith is key) 2) multiple RAID controllers or host bus adapters (HBAs) 3) multiple storage IO channels (SAS or FC, complete path) most importantly,...(read more)

  Read the article

• The History of Digital Storage [Infographic]

  - by Jason Fitzpatrick

  From punch cards to hard drives to cloud based storage, how we stash our data away has changed quite a bit in the last century. Courtesy of Mashable, we have an infographic detailing the evolution of storage and comparing storage size, speed, and prices over the decades. Hit up the link below for a higher resolution image. The History of Digital Storage [Mashable] How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates How to Get Pro Features in Windows Home Versions with Third Party Tools HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using?

  Read the article

• Implementing the Reactive Manifesto with Azure and AWS

  - by Elton Stoneman

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/EltonStoneman/archive/2013/10/31/implementing-the-reactive-manifesto-with-azure-and-aws.aspxMy latest Pluralsight course, Implementing the Reactive Manifesto with Azure and AWS has just been published! I’d planned to do a course on dual-running a messaging-based solution in Azure and AWS for super-high availability and scale, and the Reactive Manifesto encapsulates exactly what I wanted to do. A “reactive” application describes an architecture which is inherently resilient and scalable, being event-driven at the core, and using asynchronous communication between components. In the course, I compare that architecture to a classic n-tier approach, and go on to build out an app which exhibits all the reactive traits: responsive, event-driven, scalable and resilient. I use a suite of technologies which are enablers for all those traits: ASP.NET SignalR for presentation, with server push notifications to the user Messaging in the middle layer for asynchronous communication between presentation and compute Azure Service Bus Queues and Topics AWS Simple Queue Service AWS Simple Notification Service MongoDB at the storage layer for easy HA and scale, with minimal locking under load. Starting with a couple of console apps to demonstrate message sending, I build the solution up over 7 modules, deploying to Azure and AWS and running the app across both clouds concurrently for the whole stack - web servers, messaging infrastructure, message handlers and database servers. I demonstrating failover by killing off bits of infrastructure, and show how a reactive app deployed across two clouds can survive machine failure, data centre failure and even whole cloud failure. The course finishes by configuring auto-scaling in AWS and Azure for the compute and presentation layers, and running a load test with blitz.io. The test pushes masses of load into the app, which is deployed across four data centres in Azure and AWS, and the infrastructure scales up seamlessly to meet the load – the blitz report is pretty impressive: That’s 99.9% success rate for hits to the website, with the potential to serve over 36,000,000 hits per day – all from a few hours’ build time, and a fairly limited set of auto-scale configurations. When the load stops, the infrastructure scales back down again to a minimal set of servers for high availability, so the app doesn’t cost much to host unless it’s getting a lot of traffic. This is my third course for Pluralsight, with Nginx and PHP Fundamentals and Caching in the .NET Stack: Inside-Out released earlier this year. Now that it’s out, I’m starting on the fourth one, which is focused on C#, and should be out by the end of the year.

  Read the article

• Windows 8 upgrade advisor in windows xp not starting

  - by TBohnen.jnr

  I really hope someone can help me as I am stuck and can't figure out what to do next. I am trying to upgrade from windows xp sp3 (Media Centre edition) Steps I've followed: Clean install from XP SP3 Professional disc Installed all drivers downloaded upgrade advisor and ran where it just closed after like 2 seconds without even showing the screen changed to have a selected startup after finding guidance on the internet, this still did not make a difference Does anybody have an idea? I've looked for logs but can't find anything.

  Read the article

• MySQL unstable behavior with external stroge

  - by onurozcelik

  In our project we are using MySQL 5.0.90(InnoDB engine) server with an external storage. We store MySQL data files in an external storage. When the external storage down for a reason we have unstable behaviours. So we made some tests. In Windows Server 2008 We closed external storage physically. MySQL service stoped and we could not reach the server. Then we opened the storage unit and we could not start service until we reconfigured MySQL. We made storage unit offline from operating system. After 3-4 minutes and some insert trials(some insert trials succeded) MySQL service stoped and we could not reach the server. Then we made storage unit online and we could start the service(not automatically). In Windows Server 2003 We made storage unit offline. After 3-4 minutes and some insert trials(some insert trials succeded) MySQL service stoped and we could not reach the server. Then we made storage unit online we could not start the service until we reinstalled MySQL. Before reinstall we tried to reconfigure but it did not work. We closed external storage physically. MySQL service stoped and we could not reach the server. After that we opened the storage unit and we could start service(not automatically) We expect service to autostart after storage unit is online/open. But these tests show unstable behaviors. Is there any solutions to this.

  Read the article

• AZURE - Stairway To Heaven

  - by Waclaw Chrabaszcz

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/Wchrabaszcz/archive/2014/08/02/azure---stairway-to-heaven.aspx  Before you’ll start reading please start to play this song.   OK boys and girls, time get familiar with clouds. Time to become a meteorologist. To be honest I don’t know how to start. Is cloud better or worse than on campus resources … hmm … it is just different. I think for successful adoption in cloud world IT Dinosaurs need to forget some “Private Cloud” virtualization bad habits, and learn new way of thinking. Take a look: - I don’t need any  tapes or  CDs  (Physical Kingdom of Windows XP and 2000) - I don’t need any locally stored MP3s (CD virtualization :-) - I can just stream music to your computer no matter whether my on-site infrastructure is powered on. Why not to do exactly the same with WebServer, SQL, or just rented for a while Windows server ? Let’s go, to the other side of the mirror. 1st  - register yourself for free one month trial, as happy MSDN subscriber you’ve got monthly budget to spent. In addition in default setting your limit protects you against loosing real money, if your toys will consume too much traffic and space. http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial/ Once your account is ready forget WebPortal, we are PowerShell knights. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9811175&clcid=0x409 #Authenticate yourself in Azure Add-AzureAccount #download once your settings file Get-AzurePublishSettingsFile #Import it to your PowerShell Module Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile "C:\Azure\[filename].publishsettings" #validation Get-AzureAccount Get-AzureSubscription #where are Azure datacenters Get-AzureLocation #You will need it Update-Help #storage account is related to physical location, there are two datacenters on each continent, try nearest to you # all your VMs will store VHD files on your storage account #your storage account must be unique globally, so I assume that words account or server are already used New-AzureStorageAccount -StorageAccountName "[YOUR_STORAGE_ACCOUNT]" -Label "AzureTwo" -Location "West Europe" Get-AzureStorageAccount #it looks like you are ready to deploy first VM, what templates we can use Get-AzureVMImage | Select ImageName #what a mess, let’s choose Server 2012 $ImageName = (Get-AzureVMImage)[74].ImageName $cloudSvcName = '[YOUR_STORAGE_ACCOUNT]' $AdminUsername = "[YOUR-ADMIN]" $adminPassword = '[YOUR_PA$$W0RD]' $MediaLocation = "West Europe" $vmnameDC = 'DC01' #burn baby burn !!! $vmDC01 = New-AzureVMConfig -Name $vmnameDC -InstanceSize "Small" -ImageName $ImageName   `     | Add-AzureProvisioningConfig -Windows -Password $adminPassword -AdminUsername $AdminUsername   `     | New-AzureVM -ServiceName $cloudSvcName #ice, ice baby … Get-AzureVM Get-AzureRemoteDesktopFile -ServiceName "[YOUR_STORAGE_ACCOUNT]" -Name "DC01" -LocalPath "c:\AZURE\DC01.rdp" As you can see it is not just a new-VM, you need to associate your VM with AzureVMConfig (it sets your template), AzureProvisioningConfig (it sets your customizations), and Storage account. In next releases you’ll need to put this machine in specific subnet, attach a HDD and many more. After second reading I found that I am using the same name for STORAGE and SERVICE account, please be aware of it if you need to split these values. Conclusions: - pipe rules ! - at the beginning it is hard to change your mind and agree with fact that it is easier to remove and recreate a VM than move it to different subnet - by default everything is firewalled, limited access to DNS, but NATed outside on custom ports. It is good to check these translations sometimes on the webportal. - if you remove your VMs your harddrives remains on storage and MS will charge you . Remove-AzureVM -DeleteVHD For me AZURE it is a lot of fun, once again I can be newbie and learn every page. For me Azure offers real freedom in deployment of VMs without arguing with NetAdmins, WinAdmins, DBAs, PMs and other Change Managers. Unfortunately soon or later they will come to my haven and change it into …

  Read the article

• Windows 7 on laptop hard drive does not boot after installing Windows to Go on external hard drive

  - by user1687031

  Just successfully installed and ran Windows 8's Windows to Go on a USB external hard drive. However, after shutting down and removing the USB hard disk, whey I to start my laptop (with only Windows 7 installed), but it doesn't boot and trying to repair it doesn't work. It seems that Windows 8 had corrupted the partition table on the laptop's hard drive, causing Windows 7 to fail to boot. How do I fix that and avoid future problems of the same type?

  Read the article

• How to Easily Put a Windows PC into Kiosk Mode With Assigned Access

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Windows 8.1′s Assigned Access feature allows you to easily lock a Windows PC to a single application, such as a web browser. This feature makes it easy for anyone to configure Windows 8.1 devices as point-of-sale or other kiosk systems. In the past, setting up a Windows PC in kiosk mode involved much more work, requiring the use of third-party software, group policy, or Linux distributions designed around kiosk mode. Assigned Access is available on Windows 8.1 RT, Windows 8.1 Professional, and Windows 8.1 Enterprise. The standard edition of Windows 8.1 doesn’t support Assigned Access. Create a User Account for Assigned Access Rather than turn your entire computer into a locked-down kiosk system, Assigned Access allows you to create a separate user account that can only launch a single app — such as a web browser. To set this up, you must be logged into Windows as a user with administrator permissions. First, open the PC settings app — swipe in from the right or press Windows Key + C to open the charms bar, tap Settings, and tap Change PC settings. In the PC settings app, select Accounts and select Other accounts. Use the Add an account button to create a new Windows account. Select  the “Sign in without a Microsoft account” option and select Local account to create a local user account. You could also create a Microsoft account, but you may not want to do this if you just want a locked-down account with only browser access. If you need to install apps from the Windows Store to use in Assigned Access mode, you’ll have to set up a Microsoft account instead of a local account. A local account will still allow you access to the preinstalled apps, such as Internet Explorer. You may want to create a user account with a blank password. This would make it simple for anyone to access kiosk mode, even if the system becomes locked or needs to be rebooted. The account will be created as a standard user account with limited permissions. Leave it as a standard user account — don’t make it an administrator account. Set Up Assigned Access Once you’ve created an account, you’ll first need to sign into it. If you don’t, you’ll see a “This account has no apps” message when trying to enable Assigned Access. Go back to the welcome screen, log in to the new account you created, and allow Windows to go through the first-time account setup process. If you want to use a non-default app in kiosk mode, install it while logged in as that user account. Once you’re done, log out of the other account, log back in as your administrator account, and go back to the Other accounts screen. Click the Set up an account for assigned access option to continue. Select the user account you created and select the app you want to limit the account to. For a web-based kiosk, this can be a web browser such as the Modern version of Internet Explorer. Businesses can also create their own Modern apps and set them to run in kiosk mode in this way. Note that Microsoft’s documentation says “web browsers are not good choices for assigned access” because they require more permissions than average Modern (or “Windows Store”) apps. However, if you want to provide a kiosk for web-browsing, using Assigned Access is a much better option than using Guest Mode and offering up a full Windows desktop. When you’re done, restart your PC and log in as the Assigned Access account. Windows will automatically open the app you chose and won’t allow a user to leave that app. Standard Windows 8 features like the charms bar, app switcher, and Start screen won’t appear. Pressing the Windows key once will do nothing. To sign out of Assigned Access mode, press the Windows key five times — quickly — while signed in. You’ll be sent back to the standard login screen. The account will actually still be logged in and the app will remain running — this method just “locks” the screen and allows another user to log in. Automatically Log Into Assigned Access Whenever your Windows device boots, you can log into the Assigned Access account and turn it into a kiosk system. While this isn’t ideal for all kiosk systems, you may want the device to automatically launch the specific app when it boots without requiring any login process. To do so, you’ll just need to have Windows automatically log into the Assigned Access account when it boots. This option is hidden and not available in the standard Control Panel. You’ll need to use the hidden netplwiz Control Panel tool to set up automatic login on boot. If you didn’t create a password for the user account, leave the Password field empty while configuring this. Security Considerations If you’re using this feature to turn a Windows 8.1 system into a kiosk and leaving it open to the public, remember to consider security. Anyone could come up to the system, press the Windows key five times, and try to log into your standard administrator user account. Ensure the administrator user account has a strong password so people won’t be able to get past the kiosk system’s limitations and tamper with the system. Even Windows 8′s detractors have to admit that it’s an ideal system for a touch-screen kiosk device, running either a browser or another specific application. Assigned Access finally makes this easy to set up on Windows systems in the real world — no IT experience, third-party software, or Linux distributions necessary.     

  Read the article

• Windows 7 Desktop/Start Menu Redirection: Server O/S: Windows Server 2003 And Server 2008

  - by VerGuy

  Hi, I am new here so I am might be asking a question which has already been answered [however I can't see it in the suggested answers above] I manage a network which is split into a parent domain and a child domain. Recently I have been looking at when to migrate to Windows 7. The child domain users [authenticated by the 2008 based (child) domain] get the redirected Desktop [as expected] but not the Start Menu. The parent domain users [authenticated by the 2003 based (parent) domain] get neither desktop nor Start Menu redirected. Does anyone here know how to successfully redirect the properties for these users as desired? Many thanks.

  Read the article

• Windows 7 Desktop/Start Menu Redirection: Server O/S: Windows Server 2003 And Server 2008

  - by Moody Tech

  Hi, I am new here so I am might be asking a question which has already been answered [however I can't see it in the suggested answers above] I manage a network which is split into a parent domain and a child domain. Recently I have been looking at when to migrate to Windows 7. The child domain users [authenticated by the 2008 based (child) domain] get the redirected Desktop [as expected] but not the Start Menu. The parent domain users [authenticated by the 2003 based (parent) domain] get neither desktop nor Start Menu redirected. Does anyone here know how to successfully redirect the properties for these users as desired? Many thanks.

  Read the article

• Windows Azure Recipe: Mobile Computing

  - by Clint Edmonson

  A while back, mashups were all the rage. The idea was to compose solutions that provided aggregation and integration across applications and services to make information more available, useful, and personal. Mashups ushered in the era of Web 2.0 in all it’s socially connected goodness. They taught us that to be successful, we needed to add web service APIs to our web applications. Web and client based mashups met with great success and have evolved even further with the introduction of the internet connected smartphone. Nothing is more available, useful, or personal than our smartphones. The current generation of cloud connected mobile computing mashups allow our mobilized workforces to receive, process, and react to information from disparate sources faster than ever before. Drivers Integration Reach Time to market Solution Here’s a sketch of a prototypical mobile computing solution using Windows Azure: Ingredients Web Role – with the phone running a dedicated client application, the web role is responsible for serving up backend web services that implement the solution’s core connected functionality. Database – used to store core operational and workflow data for the solution’s web services. Access Control – this service is used to authenticate and manage users identity, roles, and groups, possibly in conjunction with 3rd identity providers such as Windows LiveID, Google, Yahoo!, and Facebook. Worker Role – this role is used to handle the orchestration of long-running, complex, asynchronous operations. While much of the integration and interaction with other services can be handled directly by the mobile client application, it’s possible that the backend may need to integrate with 3rd party services as well. Offloading this work to a worker role better distributes computing resources and keeps the web roles focused on direct client interaction. Queues – these provide reliable, persistent messaging between applications and processes. They are an absolute necessity once asynchronous processing is involved. Queues facilitate the flow of distributed events and allow a solution to send push notifications back to mobile devices at appropriate times. Training & Resources These links point to online Windows Azure training labs and resources where you can learn more about the individual ingredients described above. (Note: The entire Windows Azure Training Kit can also be downloaded for offline use.) Windows Azure (16 labs) Windows Azure is an internet-scale cloud computing and services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services which can be used individually or together. It gives developers the choice to build web applications; applications running on connected devices, PCs, or servers; or hybrid solutions offering the best of both worlds. New or enhanced applications can be built using existing skills with the Visual Studio development environment and the .NET Framework. With its standards-based and interoperable approach, the services platform supports multiple internet protocols, including HTTP, REST, SOAP, and plain XML SQL Azure (7 labs) Microsoft SQL Azure delivers on the Microsoft Data Platform vision of extending the SQL Server capabilities to the cloud as web-based services, enabling you to store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. Windows Azure Services (9 labs) As applications collaborate across organizational boundaries, ensuring secure transactions across disparate security domains is crucial but difficult to implement. Windows Azure Services provides hosted authentication and access control using powerful, secure, standards-based infrastructure. Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone The Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone is designed to make it easier for you to build mobile applications that leverage cloud services running in Windows Azure. The toolkit includes Visual Studio project templates for Windows Phone and Windows Azure, class libraries optimized for use on the phone, sample applications, and documentation Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS The Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS is a toolkit for developers to make it easy to access Windows Azure storage services from native iOS applications. The toolkit can be used for both iPhone and iPad applications, developed using Objective-C and XCode. Windows Azure Toolkit for Android The Windows Azure Toolkit for Android is a toolkit for developers to make it easy to work with Windows Azure from native Android applications. The toolkit can be used for native Android applications developed using Eclipse and the Android SDK. See my Windows Azure Resource Guide for more guidance on how to get started, including links web portals, training kits, samples, and blogs related to Windows Azure.

  Read the article

• Windows API BackupRead failing with error 50 on Windows Storage Server 2008 R2

  - by Jason F

  We have a backup application that uses the Windows API BackupRead. It works correctly on Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2008 R2. It does not work on Storage Server 2008 R2. It always fails with error 50 - The request is not supported. The documentation for BackupRead gives no indication that it will not work with Storage Server 2008 R2. Anyone else have any experience using this API on Storage Server 2008 R2?

  Read the article

• Visual Studio Load Testing using Windows Azure

  - by Tarun Arora

  In my opinion the biggest adoption barrier in performance testing on smaller projects is not the tooling but the high infrastructure and administration cost that comes with this phase of testing. Only if a reusable solution was possible and infrastructure management wasn’t as expensive, adoption would certainly spike. It certainly is possible if you bring Visual Studio and Windows Azure into the equation. It is possible to run your test rig in the cloud without getting tangled in SCVMM or Lab Management. All you need is an active Azure subscription, Windows Azure endpoint enabled developer workstation running visual studio ultimate on premise, windows azure endpoint enabled worker roles on azure compute instances set up to run as test controllers and test agents. My test rig is running SQL server 2012 and Visual Studio 2012 RC agents. The beauty is that the solution is reusable, you can open the azure project, change the subscription and certificate, click publish and *BOOM* in less than 15 minutes you could have your own test rig running in the cloud. In this blog post I intend to show you how you can use the power of Windows Azure to effectively abstract the administration cost of infrastructure management and lower the total cost of Load & Performance Testing. As a bonus, I will share a reusable solution that you can use to automate test rig creation for both VS 2010 agents as well as VS 2012 agents. Introduction The slide show below should help you under the high level details of what we are trying to achive... Leveraging Azure for Performance Testing View more PowerPoint from Avanade Scenario 1 – Running a Test Rig in Windows Azure To start off with the basics, in the first scenario I plan to discuss how to, - Automate deployment & configuration of Windows Azure Worker Roles for Test Controller and Test Agent - Automate deployment & configuration of SQL database on Test Controller on the Test Controller Worker Role - Scaling Test Agents on demand - Creating a Web Performance Test and a simple Load Test - Managing Test Controllers right from Visual Studio on Premise Developer Workstation - Viewing results of the Load Test - Cleaning up - Have the above work in the shape of a reusable solution for both VS2010 and VS2012 Test Rig Scenario 2 – The scaled out Test Rig and sharing data using SQL Azure A scaled out version of this implementation would involve running multiple test rigs running in the cloud, in this scenario I will show you how to sync the load test database from these distributed test rigs into one SQL Azure database using Azure sync. The selling point for this scenario is being able to collate the load test efforts from across the organization into one data store. - Deploy multiple test rigs using the reusable solution from scenario 1 - Set up and configure Windows Azure Sync - Test SQL Azure Load Test result database created as a result of Windows Azure Sync - Cleaning up - Have the above work in the shape of a reusable solution for both VS2010 and VS2012 Test Rig The Ingredients Though with an active MSDN ultimate subscription you would already have access to everything and more, you will essentially need the below to try out the scenarios, 1. Windows Azure Subscription 2. Windows Azure Storage – Blob Storage 3. Windows Azure Compute – Worker Role 4. SQL Azure Database 5. SQL Data Sync 6. Windows Azure Connect – End points 7. SQL 2012 Express or SQL 2008 R2 Express 8. Visual Studio All Agents 2012 or Visual Studio All Agents 2010 9. A developer workstation set up with Visual Studio 2012 – Ultimate or Visual Studio 2010 – Ultimate 10. Visual Studio Load Test Unlimited Virtual User Pack. Walkthrough To set up the test rig in the cloud, the test controller, test agent and SQL express installers need to be available when the worker role set up starts, the easiest and most efficient way is to pre upload the required software into Windows Azure Blob storage. SQL express, test controller and test agent expose various switches which we can take advantage of including the quiet install switch. Once all the 3 have been installed the test controller needs to be registered with the test agents and the SQL database needs to be associated to the test controller. By enabling Windows Azure connect on the machines in the cloud and the developer workstation on premise we successfully create a virtual network amongst the machines enabling 2 way communication. All of the above can be done programmatically, let’s see step by step how… Scenario 1 Video Walkthrough–Leveraging Windows Azure for performance Testing Scenario 2 Work in progress, watch this space for more… Solution If you are still reading and are interested in the solution, drop me an email with your windows live id. I’ll add you to my TFS preview project which has a re-usable solution for both VS 2010 and VS 2012 test rigs as well as guidance and demo performance tests.   Conclusion Other posts and resources available here. Possibilities…. Endless!

  Read the article

• Announcing the New Windows Azure Web Sites Shared Scaling Tier

  - by Clint Edmonson

  Windows Azure Web Sites has added a new pricing tier that will solve the #1 blocker for the web development community. The shared tier now supports custom domain names mapped to shared-instance web sites. This post will outline the plan changes and elaborate on how the new pricing model makes Windows Azure Web Sites an even richer option for web development shops of all sizes. Free Shared Reserved # of Sites 10 100 100 Egress 165MB/Day 5GB/Month Included 5GB/Month Included Storage 1GB 1GB 10GB Throttling CPU/Memory/Egress CPU/Memory Unlimited Price Free $.02/hr per site, per instance $.08/hr per core Setting the Stage In June, we released the first public preview of Windows Azure Web Sites, which gave web developers a great platform on which to get web sites running using their web development framework of choice. PHP, Node.js, classic ASP, and ASP.NET developers can all utilize the Windows Azure platform to create and launch their web sites. Likewise, these developers have a series of data storage options using Windows Azure SQL Databases, MySQL, or Windows Azure Storage. The Windows Azure Web Sites free offer enabled startups to get their site up and running on Windows Azure with a minimal investment, and with multiple deployment and continuous integration features such as Git, Team Foundation Services, FTP, and Web Deploy.  The response to the Windows Azure Web Sites offer has been overwhelmingly positive. Since the addition of the service on June 12th, tens of thousands of web sites have been deployed to Windows Azure and the volume of adoption is increasing every week. Preview Feedback In spite of the growth and success of the product, the community has had questions about features lacking in the free preview offer. The main question web developers asked regarding Windows Azure Web Sites relates to the lack of the free offer’s support for domain name mapping. During the preview launch period, customer feedback made it obvious that the lack of domain name mapping support was an area of concern. We’re happy to announce that this #1 request has been delivered as a feature of the new shared plan. New Shared Tier Portal Features In the screen shot below, the “Scale” tab in the portal shows the new tiers – Free, Shared, and Reserved – and gives the user the ability to quickly move any of their free web sites into the shared tier. With a single mouse-click, the user can move their site into the shared tier. Once a site has been moved into the shared tier, a new Manage Domains button appears in the bottom action bar of the Windows Azure Portal giving site owners the ability to manage their domain names for a shared site. This button brings up the domain-management dialog, which can be used to enter in a specific domain name that will be mapped to the Windows Azure Web Site. Shared Tier Benefits Startups and large web agencies will both benefit from this plan change. Here are a few examples of scenarios which fit the new pricing model: Startups no longer have to select the reserved plan to map domain names to their sites. Instead, they can use the free option to develop their sites and choose on a site-by-site basis which sites they elect to move into the shared plan, paying only for the sites that are finished and ready to be domain-mapped Agencies who manage dozens of sites will realize a lower cost of ownership over the long term by moving their sites into reserved mode. Once multi-site companies reach a certain price point in the shared tier, it is much more cost-effective to move sites to a reserved tier.  Long-term, it’s easy to see how the new Windows Azure Web Sites shared pricing tier makes Windows Azure Web Sites it a great choice for both startups and agency customers, as it enables rapid growth and upgrades while keeping the cost to a minimum. Large agencies will be able to have all of their sites in their own instances, and startups will have the capability to scale up to multiple-shared instances for minimal cost and eventually move to reserved instances without worrying about the need to incur continually additional costs. Customers can feel confident they have the power of the Microsoft Windows Azure brand and our world-class support, at prices competitive in the market. Plus, in addition to realizing the cost savings, they’ll have the whole family of Windows Azure features available. Continuous Deployment from GitHub and CodePlex Along with this new announcement are two other exciting new features. I’m proud to announce that web developers can now publish their web sites directly from CodePlex or GitHub.com repositories. Once connections are established between these services and your web sites, Windows Azure will automatically be notified every time a check-in occurs. This will then trigger Windows Azure to pull the source and compile/deploy the new version of your app to your web site automatically. Walk-through videos on how to perform these functions are below: Publishing to an Azure Web Site from CodePlex Publishing to an Azure Web Site from GitHub.com These changes, as well as the enhancements to the reserved plan model, make Windows Azure Web Sites a truly competitive hosting option. It’s never been easier or cheaper for a web developer to get up and running. Check out the free Windows Azure web site offering and see for yourself. Stay tuned to my twitter feed for Windows Azure announcements, updates, and links: @clinted

  Read the article

• Windows Azure SDK 1.3 addresses early adopter feedback

  - by Eric Nelson

  At the end of November 2010 we released a new version of the Windows Azure SDK which contains many new features driven by the great feedback of early adopters plus a shiny new portal. New Portal implemented in Silverlight: The new portal is implemented using Silverlight and replaces the (IMHO rather clunky) original HTML + JavaScript portal. It is 100% better although does still have a few bugs. Enjoy! P.S. You can if you wish still use the old portal:   New runtime functionality: The following functionality is now generally available through the Windows Azure SDK and Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio and the new Windows Azure Management Portal: Elevated Privileges and Full IIS. You can now run a portion or all of your code in Web and Worker roles with elevated administrator privileges. The Web role now provides Full IIS functionality, which enables multiple IIS sites per Web role and the ability to install IIS modules. Remote Desktop functionality enables you to connect to a running instance of your application or service in order to monitor activity and troubleshoot common problems. Windows Server 2008 R2 Roles: Windows Azure now supports Windows Server 2008 R2 in its Web, worker and VM roles. This new support enables you to take advantage of the full range of Windows Server 2008 R2 features such as IIS 7.5, AppLocker, and enhanced command-line and automated management using PowerShell Version 2.0. New runtime functionality – in beta: Windows Azure Virtual Machine Role: Support for more types of new and existing Windows applications will soon be available with the introduction of the Virtual Machine (VM) role. You can move more existing applications to Windows Azure, reducing the need to make costly code or deployment changes. Extra Small Windows Azure Instance, which is priced at $0.05 per compute hour, provides developers with a cost-effective training and development environment. Developers can also use the Extra Small instance to prototype cloud solutions at a lower cost. Windows Azure Connect: (formerly Project Sydney), which enables a simple and easy-to-manage mechanism to set up IP-based network connectivity between on-premises and Windows Azure resources, is the first Windows Azure Virtual Network feature that we’re making available as a CTP. You can sign up for any of the betas via the Windows Azure Management Portal. Improved processes and simplified operations New portal! (see above) Access to new diagnostic information including the ability to click on a role to see role type, deployment time and last reboot time A new sign-up process that dramatically reduces the number of steps needed to sign up for Windows Azure. New scenario based Windows Azure Platform forums to help answer questions and share knowledge more efficiently. Multiple Service Administrators: Windows Azure now supports multiple Windows Live IDs to have administrator privileges on the same Windows Azure account. The objective is to make it easy for a team to work on the same Windows Azure account while using their individual Windows Live IDs.   Related Links Please also let us know through Microsoft Platform Ready if and when you intend to build an application using the Windows Azure Platform. Or indeed if you already have (Well done). You will get access to some great benefits if you do (more on that in a future post). It also really helps us better understand the demand out there which directly impacts how we will plan the next six months of activities around the Windows Azure Platform. Visit Microsoft Platform Ready to tell us about your plans for your applications UK based? Interested in the Windows Azure Platform? Join http://ukazure.ning.com Get started with the Windows Azure Platform http://bit.ly/startazure

  Read the article

• How to fake Azure Table Storage in .NET for Unit Testing?

  - by Erick T

  I am working on a system that uses Azure Table Storage. In other systems (e.g., SQL, File based, etc), I can write a fake that allows me to test my data persistence logic. However, I can't see an easy way to create a fake for the Azure Table Service. I could create a new IIS project that behaves the same way, but that isn't a good way to write a unit test, it is more of an integration test. Any thoughts on how to unit test data access code that uses the Azure Table Storage client? Thanks, Erick

  Read the article

< Previous Page | 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18  | Next Page >