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• Azure eBook Update #1 &ndash; 16 authors so far!

  - by Eric Nelson

  I just wanted to share with folks where we are up to with the Windows Azure eBook (Check out the original post for full details) I have had lots of great submissions from folks with some awesome stuff to share on Azure. Currently we have 16 authors and 25 proposed articles. There is still a couple of days left to submit your proposal if you would like to get involved (see the original post ) and some topic suggestions below for which we don’t currently have authors. It is official – I’m excited! :-) Article Area Accepted Wikipedia Explorer: A case study how we did it and why. CaseSetudy Optional Patterns for the Windows Azure Platform (picking up 1 or 2 patterns that seem to be evolving) Architecture Optional Azure and cost-oriented architecture. Architecture Yes Code walkthrough of a comprehensive application submitted to newCloudApp contest CaseSetudy Yes Principles of highly scalable apps on Azure Compute Optional Auto-Scaling Azure Compute Yes Implementing a distributed cache using memcached with worker roles Interop Yes Building a content-based router service to direct requests to internal HTTP endpoints Compute Optional How to debug an Azure app by with a custom TraceListener & the AppFabric Service Bus AppFabric Yes How to host Java apps in Azure Interop Yes Bing Maps Tile Servers using Azure Blog Storage Interop Yes Tricks for storing time and date fields in Table Storage Storage Yes Service Runtime in Windows Azure Compute Yes Azure Drive Storage Optional Queries in Azure Table Storage Optional Getting RubyOnRails running on Azure Interop Yes Consuming Azure services within Windows Phone Interop Yes De-risking Your First Azure Project Architecture Yes Designing for failure Architecture Optional Connecting to SQL Azure In x Minutes SQLAzure Yes Using Azure Table Service as a NoSQL store via the REST API Storage Yes Azure Table Service REST API Storage Optional Threading, Scalability and Reliability in the Cloud Compute Yes Azure Diagnostics Compute Yes 5 steps to getting started with Windows Azure Introduction Yes The best tools for working with Windows Azure Tools Author Needed Understanding how SQL Azure works SQLAzure Author Needed Getting started with AppFabric Control Services AppFabric Author Needed Using the Microsoft Sync Framework with SQL Azure SQLAzure Author Needed Dallas - just a TV show or something more? Dallas Author Needed Comparing Azure to other cloud offerings Interop Author Needed Hybrid solutions using Azure and on-premise Interop Author Needed

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• TechEd Europe early bird saving &ndash; register by 5th July

  - by Eric Nelson

  Another event advert alert :-) But this one comes with a cautious warning. I spoke at TechEd Europe last year. I found TechEd to be a huge, extremely well run conference filled with great speakers and passionate attendees in a top notch venue and fascinating city. As an “IT Pro” I think it is the premiere conference for Microsoft technologies in Europe. However, IMHO and those of others I trust, I didn’t think it hit the mark for developers in 2009. There was a fairly obvious reason – the PDC was scheduled to take place only a couple of weeks later which meant the “powder was being kept dry” and (IMHO) some of the best speakers on developer technologies were elsewhere. But I’m reasonably certain that this won’t be repeated this year (Err… Have I missed an announcement about “no pdc in 2010”?) Enjoy: Register for Tech·Ed Europe by 5 July and Save €500 Tech·Ed Europe returns to Berlin this November 8 – 12, for a full week of deep technical education, hands-on-learning and opportunities to connect with Microsoft and Community experts one-on-one.  Register by 5 July and receive your conference pass for only €1,395 – a €500 savings. Arrive Early and Get a Jumpstart on Technical Sessions Choose from 8 pre-conference seminars led by Microsoft and industry experts, and selected to give you a jumpstart on technical learning.  Additional fees apply.  Conference attendees receive a €100 discount.   Join the Tech·Ed Europe Email List for Event Updates Get the latest event news before the event, and find out more about what’s happening onsite.  Join the Tech·Ed Europe email list today!

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• Open Source on .NET evening at UK Tech Days April 14th #uktechdays

  - by Eric Nelson

  That fine chap http://twitter.com/serialseb is pulling together an interesting evening of fun on the Wednesday in London and I for one will definitely be there. Lots of goodness to learn about. If you are a .NET developer who still isn’t looking at Open Source, then the 14th is a great opportunity to see what you are missing out on. Current program: OpenRasta - A web application framework for .net An introduction to IoC with Castle Windsor FluentValidation, doing your validation in code CouchDB, NoSQL: designing document databases Testing your asp.net applications with IronRuby Building a data-driven app in 15 minutes with FluentNHibernate Register now Related Links: FREE Windows Azure evening in London on April 15th including FREE access to Windows Azure

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• 45minute video on introduction to Windows Azure and running Ruby on Rails in the cloud

  - by Eric Nelson

  Last week I presented at Cloud and Grid Exchange 2010. I did an introduction to Windows Azure and a demo of Ruby on Rails running on Azure. My slides and links can be found here – but just spotted that the excellent Skills Matter folks have already published the video. Watch the video at http://skillsmatter.com/podcast/cloud-grid/looking-at-the-clouds-through-dirty-windows  P.S. I really need to shed a few pounds!

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• Slides and links from Cloud Computing Congress session on Windows Azure Platform

  - by Eric Nelson

  On Tuesday (16th March 2010) I presented on Azure to a none technical audience at the Cloud Computing Congress. Great audience, lots of folks, lots of questions during and after – although it did feel odd to do a session with no code :-) Lots of people asked me for my slide deck – which is a 30minute none technical overview. I will get it on my slideshare.net (which is being temperamental) but in the meantime I have hosted it on skydrive. or download link. Related Links: Steve Ballmer on Cloud Computing – We’re all in UK Azure Online Community – join today. UK Windows Azure Site Start working with Windows Azure TCO and ROI calculator for Windows Azure

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• How To Teach Independence

  - by Glenn Nelson

  In my IB Computer Science class I am routinely asked by... pretty much everyone how to do X or implement Y. I'm the only person with any significant programming experience in the class and I do not necessaries mind teaching people about programming but so many of the questions could be simply solved by doing a little investigating. What are some ways I could try to teach my fellow students how to be self-reliant programmers? All I can really think of is being a Google ninja & learning how to use an API.

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• Save the dates &ndash; Tech.Days 2011 23rd to 25th of May in London

  - by Eric Nelson

  In May Microsoft UK (and specifically my group) will be delivering Tech.Days – a week of day long technical events plus evening activities. We will be covering Windows Phone 7, Silverlight, IE 9, Windows Azure Platform and more. I’m working right now on the details of what we will be covering around the Windows Azure Platform – and it is shaping up very nicely. There is a little more detail over on TechNet – but for the moment, keep the dates clear if you can. P.S. I think the above is called a “teaser” in marketing speak.

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• Internet Explorer 9 Preview 2 link + webcasts for developers

  - by Eric Nelson

  At Web Directions last week in London (10th and 11th June 2010) I promised several folks I would put up a blog post to more information on IE 9.0. True to my word (albeit a little later than I had hoped), here is what I was thinking of: Install First up, Install Preview 2 and try out the demos I was showing at the conference. Remember that IE9 Preview installs side by side with IE8/7 etc. It is not a beta nor is it intended to be a full browser. It is a … preview :-)   Including good old SVG-oids :-) Learn And then check out the following webcasts which were recorded in March this year at MIX: In-Depth Look At Internet Explorer 9 Presenter:  Ted Johnson & John Hrvatin VisitMIX URL: http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/CL28 Slides: Download Videos: MP4 Small WMV Large WMV High Performance Best Practices For Web Sites Presenter: Jason Weber VisitMIX URL: http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/CL29 Slides: Download Videos: MP4 Small WMV Large WMV HTML5: Cross Browser Best Practices Presenter: Tony Ross VisitMIX URL: http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/CL27 Slides: Download Videos: MP4 Small WMV Large WMV Internet Explorer Developer Tools Presenter: Jon Seitel VisitMIX URL: http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/FT51 Slides: Download Videos: MP4 Small WMV Large WMV SVG: The Past, Present And Future of Vector Graphics For The Web Presenter: Patrick Dengler, Doug Schepers VisitMIX URL: http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/EX30 Slides: Download Videos: MP4 Small WMV Large WMV Day 2 Keynote containing IE9 Presenter: Dean Hachamovitch VisitMIX URL: http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/KEY02 Slides: Download Videos: MP4 Small WMV Large WMV

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• Interviews by Software Companies

  - by Glenn Nelson

  I have been chosen as one of the 12 final people for a full out scholarship to the college of my choice and it is paid for by a software company so long as I major in Computer Science.I have already had to write an essay on what has most shaped my life (Programming being it) and that was the basis for the interview decision. I now have to go in for an interview with people from the company for the final decision in a week. I do believe I have a good foundation in computer science already. I have roughly 4 years of programming experience in Java, C++, ASM and your typical web stuff. I have done everything from making my own CMS for my site to an assembler to network file transfer applications. That said what types of questions should I expect in an interview of this sort? Do I seem reasonably knowledgeable?

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• GuestPost: Announcing gmStudio V9.85 for VB6/ASP/COM re-engineering

  - by Eric Nelson

  Mark Juras of GreatMigrations.com kindly sent me an article on gmStudio which I have posted on my old VB focused goto100 site. gmStudio is a programmable VB6/ASP/COM re-engineering tool that enables an agile tool-assisted rewrite methodology and helps teams dramatically lower the total cost, risk, and disruption of ambitious migration projects without sacrificing quality, control, or time to market. You can find the rest of the article over on goto100. Figure 1: the gmStudio Main Form

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• Installing all the bits to demo Entity Framework 4 on the Visual Studio 2010 Release Candidate

  - by Eric Nelson

  Next week (17th March 2010) I am presenting on EF4 at www.devweek.com in London (and Azure on the 18th). Today I wanted to get all the latest bits on my demo machine and also check if there are any cool new resources I can point people at. Whilst most of the new improvements in Entity Framework come with the Visual Studio 2010 RC (and the RTM), there are a couple of separate items you need to install if you want to explore all the features. To demo EF4 you need: Visual Studio 2010 RC Download and install the Visual Studio 2010 Release Candidate. In my case I went from the Ultimate Edition but it will work fine on Premium and Professional. POCO Templates See the team blog post for a detailed explanation. Use the Extension Manager inside Visual Studio 2010: And install the updated POCO templates for either C# or VB (or both if you are so inclined!): Code First Next you will also need to install Code First (formally called Code Only). This is part of the Entity Framework Feature CTP 3. See the team blog post for a detailed explanation. Download the CTP from Microsoft downloads and run the setup. This will give you a new dll for Code First Optionally (but I recommend it) install LINQPad for the RC Download LINQPad Beta for .NET 4.0 Related Links 101 EF4 Resources

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• Live examples of the Windows Azure Platform running Java and Ruby on Rails

  - by Eric Nelson

  At QCon in March we had a booth focused on interoperability out of which came the idea to create an application implemented in both Java and Ruby on Rails, running on top of the Windows Azure Platform. Nothing fancy, just an application to capture attendees view on Microsoft and Interoperability. It was implemented by Active Web Solutions, long time fans of Azure. Wroth a quick squint :-) Check out the related links below for info to get you up and running. Check out The Java version http://ukinterop.cloudapp.net/  The Ruby on Rails version http://rubyukinterop.cloudapp.net/ (run out of time to finish this one) Related Links: Tomcat Solution Accelerator http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/winazuretomcat AzureRunMe http://azurerunme.codeplex.com/ UK Azure Online Community – join today. UK Windows Azure Site Start working with Windows Azure

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• The best Windows 7 virtual desktop tool by far&hellip; Dexpot

  - by Eric Nelson

  [Oh – and Windows XP, Vista etc] Every so often I yearn for the virtual desktop functionality that is implemented so well under Linux. Unfortunately every time I start looking for a great tool for Windows I ultimately end up disappointed. But … I think this time around I have actually found one that will outlast the first day or two and become a must have. Check out http://www.dexpot.de/ So far this is 100% stable, 100% sensible and offers awesome functionality, yet still is very simple to use. There is a detailed look at the many features on the site but a couple that do it for me: Desktop Manager and next/previous tray icons make it easy to navigate around: Announcement of Desktop as a desktop takes focus: And best of all, Windows 7 preview integration And… it is FREE for private use and you get 30 days to try it out for professional use (e.g. me)

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• Making the most of next weeks SharePoint 2010 developer training

  - by Eric Nelson

  [you can still register if you are free on the afternoons of 9th to 11th – UK time] We have 50+ registrations with more coming in – which is fantastic. Please read on to make the most of the training. Background We have structured the training to make sure that you can still learn lots during the three days even if you do not have SharePoint 2010 installed. Additionally the course is based around a subset of the channel 9 training to allow you to easily dig deeper or look again at specific areas. Which means if you have zero time between now and next Wednesday then you are still good to go. But if you can do some pre-work you will likely get even more out of the three days. Step 1: Check out the topics and resources available on-demand The course is based around a subset of the channel 9 training to allow you to easily dig deeper or look again at specific areas. Take a lap around the SharePoint 2010 Training Course on Channel 9 Download the SharePoint Developer Training Kit Step 2: Use a pre-configured Virtual Machine which you can download (best start today – it is large!) Consider using the VM we created If you don't have access to SharePoint 2010. You will need a 64bit host OS and bare minimum of 4GB of RAM. 8GB recommended. Virtual PC can not be used with this VM – Virtual PC only supports 32bit guests. The 2010-7a Information Worker VM gives you everything you need to develop for SharePoint 2010. Watch the Video on how to use this VM Download the VM Remember you only need to download the “parts” for the 2010-7a VM. There are 3 subtly different ways of using this VM: Easiest is to follow the advice of the video and get yourself a host OS of Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V and simply use the VM Alternatively you can take the VHD and create a “Boot to VHD” if you have Windows 7 Ultimate or Enterprise Edition. This works really well – especially if you are already familiar with “Boot to VHD” (This post I did will help you get started) Or you can take the VHD and use an alternative VM tool such as VirtualBox if you have a different host OS. NB: This tends to involve some work to get everything running fine. Check out parts 1 to 3 from Rolly and if you go with Virtual Box use an IDE controller not SATA. SATA will blue screen. Note in the screenshot below I also converted the vhd to a vmdk. I used the FREE Starwind Converter to do this whilst I was fighting blue screens – not sure its necessary as VirtualBox does now work with VHDs. or Step 3 – Install SharePoint 2010 on a 64bit Windows 7 or Vista Host I haven’t tried this but it is now supported. Check out MSDN. Final notes: I am in the process of securing a number of hosted VMs for ISVs directly managed by my team. Your Architect Evangelist will have details once I have them! Else we can sort out on the Wed. Regrettably I am unable to give folks 1:1 support on any issues around Boot to VHD, 3rd party VM products etc. Related Links: Check you are fully plugged into the work of my team – have you done these simple steps including joining our new LinkedIn group?

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• Windows Azure BidNow Sample &ndash; definitely worth a look

  - by Eric Nelson

  [Quicklink: download new Windows Azure sample from http://bit.ly/bidnowsample] On Mondays (17th May) in the  6 Weeks of Windows Azure training (Now full) Live Meeting call, Adrian showed BidNow as a sample application built for Windows Azure. I was aware of BidNow but had not found the time to take a look at it nor seems it running before. Adrian convinced me it was worth some a further look. In brief I like it :-) It is more than Hello World, but still easy enough to follow. Bid Now is an online auction site designed to demonstrate how you can build highly scalable consumer applications using Windows Azure. It is built using Visual Studio 2008, Windows Azure and uses Windows Azure Storage. Auctions are processed using Windows Azure Queues and Worker Roles. Authentication is provided via Live Id. Bid Now works with the Express versions of Visual Studio and above. There are extensive setup instructions for local and cloud deployment You can download from http://bit.ly/bidnowsample (http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/BidNowSample) and also check out David original blog post. Related Links UK based? Sign up to UK fans of Windows Azure on ning Check out the Microsoft UK Windows Azure Platform page for further links

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• WordPress is now nicely supported on SQL Server (and SQL Azure for that matter)

  - by Eric Nelson

  WordPress is enormously popular for blogs and full websites thanks to an awesome eco system which has built up around it, the simplicity (relatively) of getting it up and running plus the flexibility to “bend it” in all sorts of directions. When I say bend, check out the following which are all WordPress sites My “back up blog” http://iupdateable.wordpress.com/  My groups “odd site” :) http://ubelly.com My favourite “cheap games” site http://www.frugalgaming.co.uk/  WordPress users typically run their sites on Linux and MySQL, although PHP (the language in which WordPress is written) can be happily run on Windows. Both fine technologies in their own right, but for me (and probably a fair few others) I would love to use WordPress but with the technologies I know best (aka Windows, IIS and SQL Server). However, that has proven to be actually rather tricky in practice to get working – until now. Earlier last month OmniTI released a patch for WordPress which provides SQL Server and SQL Azure support.  In parallel with that some fine folks inside Microsoft have also created http://wordpress.visitmix.com which contains information about running WordPress on the Microsoft platform with a particular focus on SQL Server and SQL Azure.  Top stuff! To run WordPress with SQL Server: Download and Install the WordPress on SQL Server Distro/Patch And then you will quite likely need to migrate: Check out how to Migrate to Windows and SQL Server by Zach Owens who is moving his blog to Windows and SQL Server Enjoy Related Links Running PHP on IIS on Windows http://php.iis.net/  If PHP is not your thing, then the following Blog engines are .NET based BlogEngine http://www.dotnetblogengine.net/ DasBlog http://www.dasblog.info/ Subtext http://subtextproject.com/ (which happens to power http://geekswithblogs.net where my main blog is http://geekswithblogs.net/iupdateable)

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• SQL Azure Roadmap gets a little clearer &ndash; announcements from Tech Ed

  - by Eric Nelson

  On Monday at Tech?Ed 2010 we announced new stuff (I like new stuff) that “showcases our continued commitment to deliver value, flexibility and control of data through data cloud services to our customers”. Ok, that does sound like marketing speak (and it is) but the good news is there is some meat behind it. We have some decent new features coming and we also have some clarity on when we will be able to get our hands on those features. SQL Azure Business Edition Extends to 50 GB – June 28th SQL Azure Business Edition database is now extending from 10GB to 50GB The new 50GB database size will be available worldwide starting June 28th SQL Azure Business Edition Subscription Offer – August 1st Starting August 1st, we will have a new discounted SQL Azure promotional offer (SQL Azure Development Accelerator Core) More information is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/offers/. Public Preview of the Data Sync Service  - CTP now Data Sync Service for SQL Azure allows for more flexible control over data by deciding which data components should be distributed across multiple datacenters in different geographic locations, based on your internal policies and business needs.  Available as a community technology preview after registering at http://www.sqlazurelabs.com SQL Server Web Manager for SQL Azure - CTP this Summer SQL Server Web Manager (SSWM) is a lightweight and easy to use database management tool for SQL Azure databases, to be offered this summer. Access 10 Support for SQL Azure – available now Yey – at last! Microsoft Office 2010 will natively support data connectivity to SQL Azure – we can now start developing those “departmental apps” with the confidence of a highly available SQL store provisioned in seconds. NB: I don’t believe we will support any previous versions of Access talking to SQL Azure. The Pre-announced Spatial Data Support to Become Live – Live now* At MIX in March we announced spatial was coming and apparently it is now here - although I need to check. Related Links UK based? Sign up at http://ukazure.ning.com SQL Azure Team Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlazure/

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• Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 1.2 (June 2010)

  - by Eric Nelson

  Yey – we have a public release of the Windows Azure Tools which fully supports Visual Studio 2010 RTM and the .NET 4 Framework. And the biggy I have been waiting for – IntelliTrace support to debug your cloud deployed services (Requires  VS2010 Ultimate) Download today http://bit.ly/azuretoolsjune New for version 1.2: Visual Studio 2010 RTM Support: Full support for Visual Studio 2010 RTM. .NET 4 support: Choose to build services targeting either the .NET 3.5 or .NET 4 framework. Cloud storage explorer: Displays a read-only view of Windows Azure tables and blob containers through Server Explorer. Integrated deployment: Deploy services directly from Visual Studio by selecting ‘Publish’ from Solution Explorer. Service monitoring: Keep track of the state of your services through the ‘compute’ node in Server Explorer. IntelliTrace support for services running in the cloud: Adds support for debugging services in the cloud by using the Visual Studio 2010 IntelliTrace feature. This is enabled by using the deployment feature, and logs are retrieved through Server Explorer. Related Links: http://ukazure.ning.com for UK fans of Windows Azure IntelliTrace explained

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• Great opportunity to try Windows Azure over the next 7 days if you are a UK developer &ndash; act to

  - by Eric Nelson

  Are you a UK based developer who has been put off from trying out the Windows Azure Platform? Were you concerned that you needed to hand over credit card details even to use the introductory offer? Or concerned about how many charges you might run up as you played with “elastic computing”. Then we might have just what you need. 7 Days of access to the Windows Azure Platform – for FREE (expires June 6th 2010) If you are accepted, you will be given a Windows Azure Platfom subscription that will enable you to create Windows Azure hosted services and storage accounts, SQL Azure databases and AppFabric services without any fear of being charged between now and Sunday the 6th of June 2010. No credit card is required. Important: At the end of Sunday your subscription and all your code and data you have uploaded will be deleted. It is your responsibility to keep local copies of your code and data. Apply now To apply for this offer you need to: email ukdev AT microsoft.com with a subject line that starts “UKAZURETRAIL:” (This must  be present) In the email you need to demonstrate you are UK based (.uk email alias or address or… be creative) And you must include 30 to 100 words explaining What your interest is in the Windows Azure Platform and Cloud Computing What you would use the 7 days to explore Some notes (please read!): We have a limited number of these offers to give away on a first come, first served basis (subject to meeting the above criteria). We plan to process all request asap – but there is a UK bank holiday weekend looming. We will do our best to process all by Tues afternoon (which would still give you 5 days of access) There will be no specific support for this offer. We will not be processing any requests that arrive after Tuesday 1st. In case you were wondering, there is no equivalent offer for developer outside of the UK. This offer is a direct result of UK based training we are currently doing which has some spare Azure capacity which we wanted to make best use of. Sorry in advance if you based outside of the UK. Related Links: If you are UK based, you should also join the UK Windows Azure Platform community http://ukazure.ning.com Microsoft UK Windows Azure Platform page

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• New SQL Azure Development Accelerator Core promotional offer announced

  - by Eric Nelson

  This is (almost) a straight copy and paste but represents an important announcement worthy of a little more “exposure” :-) Starting August 1, 2010, we will release a new SQL Azure Development Accelerator Core promotional offer.  This new offer will give you the flexibility to purchase commitment quantities of SQL Azure Business Edition databases independent of other Windows Azure platform services at a deeply discounted monthly price.  The offer is valid only for a six month term.  You may purchase in 10 GB increments the amount of our Business Edition relational database that you require (each Business Edition database is capable of storing up to 50 GB).  The offer price will be $74.95 per 10 GB per month.  This promotional offer represents 25% off of our normal consumption rates.  Monthly Business Edition relational database usage exceeding the purchased commitment amount and usage for other Windows Azure platform services for this offer will be charged at our normal consumption rates.  Please click here for full details of our new SQL Azure Development Accelerator Core offer.  Related Links: Details of 5GB and 50GB databases have been released http://ukazure.ning.com UK community site Getting started with the Windows Azure Platform

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• 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

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• Register now for the UK Windows Azure Self-paced Interactive Learning Course starting May 10th

  - by Eric Nelson

  [Suggested twitter tag #selfpacedazure] We (myself and David Gristwood) have been working in the UK to create a fantastic opportunity to get yourself up to speed on the Windows Azure Platform over a 6 week period starting May 10th – without ever needing to leave the comfort of your home/office.  The course is derived from the internal training Microsoft gives on Azure which is both fun and challenging in equal parts – and we felt was just too good to keep to ourselves! We will be releasing more details nearer the date but hopefully the following is enough to convince you to register and … recommend it to a colleague or three :-) What we have produced is the “Microsoft Azure Self-paced Learning Course”. This is a free, interactive, self-paced, technical training course covering the Windows Azure platform – Windows Azure, SQL Azure and the Azure AppFabric. The course takes place over a six week period finishing on June 18th. During the course you will work from your own home or workplace, and get involved via interactive Live Meetings session, watch on-line videos, work through hands-on labs and research and complete weekly coursework assignments. The mentors and other attendees on the course will help you in your research and learning, and there are weekly Live Meetings where you can raise questions and interact with them. This is a technical course, aimed at programmers, system designers, and architects who want a solid understanding of the Microsoft Windows Azure platform, hence a prerequisite for this course is at least six months programming in the .NET framework and Visual Studio. Check out the full details of the event or go straight to registration.   The course outline is: Week 1 - Windows Azure Platform Week 2 - Windows Azure Storage Week 3 - Windows Azure Deep Dive and Codename "Dallas" Week 4 - SQL Azure Week 5 - Windows Azure Platform AppFabric Access Control Week 6 - Windows Azure Platform AppFabric Service Bus If you have any questions about the course and its suitability, please email [email protected].

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• Edd strikes again &ndash; IronRuby for Rubyists on InfoQ

  - by Eric Nelson

  Colleague, friend and generally top guy on IronRuby Edd Morgan has just been published over on InfoQ. To wet the appetite… a snippet or three. IronRuby for Rubyists IronRuby is Microsoft's implementation of the Ruby language we all know and love with the added bonus of interoperability with the .NET framework — the Iron in the name is actually an acronym for 'Implementation running on .NET'. It's supported by the .NET Common Language Runtime as well as, albeit unofficially, the Mono project. You'd be forgiven for harbouring some question in your mind about running a dynamic language such as Ruby atop the CLR - that's where the DLR (Dynamic Language Runtime) comes in. The DLR is Microsoft's way of providing dynamic language capability on top of the CLR. Both IronRuby and the DLR are, as part of Microsoft's commitment to open source software, available as part of the Microsoft Public License on GitHub and CodePlex respectively… And Metaprogramming with IronRuby The art and science of metaprogramming — especially in Ruby, where it's an absolute joy — is something that could very easily span an entire article. As you would hope, IronRuby code is fully able to manipulate itself allowing you to bend your classes to your whim just as you would expect with a good dynamic language… And Riding the irails? So let's get to the point. I think it's a solid bet to make that a large proportion of Ruby programmers are familiar with the Rails framework - perhaps it's even safe to assume that most were first led to the Ruby language by the siren song of the Rails framework itself. Long story short, IronRuby is compatible enough to run your Rails app… Now… get yourself over to the full article and also check out some of Edds other work below. Related Links: 5 Steps to getting started with IronRuby Mini Book Review of IronRuby Unleashed by Shay Friedman Guest Post: Using IronRuby and .NET to produce the ‘Hello World of WPF’ – also by Edd Getting PhP and Ruby working on Windows Azure and SQL Azure Guest Post: What's IronRuby, and how do I put it on Rails? – also by Edd

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• A Cautionary Tale About Multi-Source JNDI Configuration

  - by scott.s.nelson(at)oracle.com

  Here's a bit of fun with WebLogic JDBC configurations.  I ran into this issue after reading that p13nDataSource and cgDataSource-NonXA should not be configured as multi-source. There were some issues changing them to use the basic JDBC connection string and when rolling back to the bad configuration the server went "Boom".  Since one purpose behind this blog is to share lessons learned, I just had to post this. If you write your descriptors manually (as opposed to generating them using the WLS console) and put a comma-separated list of JNDI addresses like this: <jdbc-data-source-params> <jndi-name>weblogic.jdbc.jts.commercePool,contentDataSource, contentVersioningDataSource,portalFrameworkPool</jndi-name> <algorithm-type>Load-Balancing</algorithm-type> <data-source-list>portalDataSource-rac0,portalDataSource-rac1</data-source-list> <failover-request-if-busy>false</failover-request-if-busy> </jdbc-data-source-params> so long as the first address resolves, it will still work. Sort of.  If you call this connection to do an update, only one node of the RAC instance is updated. Other wonderful side-effects include the server refusing to start sometimes. The proper way to list the JNDI sources is one per node, like this: <jdbc-data-source-params> <jndi-name>weblogic.jdbc.jts.commercePool</jndi-name> <jndi-name>contentDataSource</jndi-name> <jndi-name>contentVersioningDataSource</jndi-name> <jndi-name>portalFrameworkPool</jndi-name> <algorithm-type>Load-Balancing</algorithm-type> <data-source-list>portalDataSource-rac0, portalDataSource-rac1, portalDataSource-rac2 </data-source-list> <failover-request-if-busy>false</failover-request-if-busy> </jdbc-data-source-params>(Props to Sandeep Seshan for locating the root cause)

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• New Windows Phone 7 Developer Guidance released for building line of business applications

  - by Eric Nelson

  Several partners have been asking about guidance on combining Windows Phone 7 applications with Windows Azure. The patterns and practices team recently released new guidance on Windows Phone 7.  This is a continuation of the Windows Azure Guidance. It takes the survey application and makes a version for Windows Phone 7.  The guide includes the following topics: Prism for Windows Phone 7 Reactive Extensions WCF Services on top of Windows Azure Push Notifications Camera & Voice Panorama Much more... Well worth a read if you are an ISV looking at taking Line of Business applications to Windows Phone 7. Related Links: We have created Microsoft Platform Ready to help software houses develop applications for Windows Azure and On-Premise. Check it out and the goodies it can deliver for little effort.

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