Proof of Concept

Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket

Kevin Shyr — Thu, 05 May 2011 20:35:57 GMT

One stop shop for data: https://datamarket.azure.com/

SQL Azure Labs >> Configure OData Services

http://www.odata.org/

Windows Virtual PC vs. Hyper-V Virtual Machines vs. Windows Virtual PC after XPMode installation Advantages and Disadvantages

Kevin Shyr — Thu, 05 May 2011 13:29:24 GMT

Hyper-V Virtual Machines

Advantage:

64-bit support
dynamic memory allocation
multi-core CPU
Can install Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 and later

Disadvantage:

Can't get sound to work on those machines yet
[Updated 2011-05-05] This is disappointing, but I guess it fits most people's requirement as most people don't use Hyper-V for personal development environment. Guess I'll just have to set up those machines for remote connect.
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/john_paul_cook/archive/2009/09/14/enabling-sound-on-hyper-v.aspx
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/hyper-v-troubleshooting-enabling-audio-over-rdp.aspx
Trying to add an new wireless adapter to create a new virtual network is a pain.

Windows Virtual PC after XPMode installation

Advantage:

USB connection
Direct access to all host drives

Disadvantage:

Not really intuitive management UI at first
No 64-bit support
No Windows 7

Regular Virtual PC

Advantage:

Simple and quick to get started
Virtual hard drive created here has the least problem getting migrated into other setup.

Disadvantage:

Not scalable at runtime
No 64-bit support
No windows 7 support

Calling SSRS report using either T-SQL or SSIS

Kevin Shyr — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:53:19 GMT

[Update: 2009-12-30]

We got it working using SSIS. Read this post: http://geekswithblogs.net/LifeLongTechie/archive/2009/12/08/final-note-on-creating-pdf-using-ssrs-and-ssis.aspx

[Original post]

Would love to know if there is a way to kick off a SSRS report and pass some parameters into it via T-SQL or SSIS. Unfortunately, we can't have MS SQL Enterprise edition.

Guess this is the true list of possible solutions:

VB script
PowerShell
WMI script
batch file
T-SQL

Sad thing is I know how to make this work with Crystal report, and I hope I can find a similar API for SSRS to make this work. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Update: 2009-12-01]

Looks like this is very promising: http://ryanfarley.com/blog/archive/2006/01/27/15689.aspx

Using script task to get it: http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=5919

Looks like the way to go is build with SSIS, use script component to call for each parameter.

Proof of concept project - Home infrastructure

LifeLongTechie — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:26:15 GMT

Some of you have been seeing some pictures of me putting heat sinks into 2 old computers to

reduce noise
provide adequate cooling for the system to run 24/7

I want to blog this for several reasons:

To keep track of what I've been doing
To perhaps get some suggestions of any better way of doing it.

The 3 computers I'm working with have the following specs:

P-4 1.6 GHz, 1.5 GB PC-133 SDRAM, 120 GB IDE
P-4 2.6 GHz, 2 GB PC-2700 DDR, 320 GB IDE, 800 GB RAID-0 SATA
P-4 2.8 GHz, 2 GB PC-3200 DDR, 400 GB RAID-1 SATA

These are the physical box. For proof of concept purpose, all necessary servers will be installed as virtual PC/Servers.

[Update 2009-10-13]

First up:
Domain controller running 2008. In my concept, this will be on the in-house network and will only connect to the internet for updates. I don't plan on having a server to push out updates because I'd like the end users to have the options to update as fast as possible, but I'm also looking into the possibility of having my web server be the windows update server.