A while back I started my path with Windows Azure and in general the surrounding technologies and changes that have happened since the start of it.
Finding resources now has become rather easy, from the blog posts to the amazing resources available through the Training Kits and such.
But the books have also been key. And that where the Windows Azure Step by Step by Roberto Brunetti and published by Microsoft Press, has been a great book. It gives a well rounded intro into Cloud Services in general. Providing great background on the different types of Cloud Services, describing the differences between Software, Platform and Infrastructure as a Service.
Then moving on to describing and providing a great starting point to development for Windows Azure development, from the experience within the Portal itself to the tools in Visual Studio.
It then moves to provide an introduction and great examples of what it is to work with the Roles Azure has, and the functionality that can be achieved by looking into those Roles and also working with App Fabric. Then moves into working with Web Roles. It explains it from start to finish, how to start the project, how to build it and then deploy it.
It describes the Storage capabilities built into Windows Azure and later in the book it introduces SQL Azure.
This is a great introductory book to Azure and the developments process, however, based on the changes and evolving components perhaps there are other resources that do provide an updated view into Windows Azure and SQL Azure. Let’s hope there is a second edition to this book, it does serve as a great starting point.
I have used Source Control since the first release, and even then it was a great option for bringing source control for the DB. Well a great tool just got better and better rounded in the process.
Again, the integration with multiple repositories like SVN or in my case TFS is great. What makes it even better is the near zero interaction a DBA would have to have with Visual Studio in order to drive the solution from managing a few stored procedures or tables to driving a database change management process.
The focus, of course, is to deliver a solution that allows you to develop a solution. Yes, I did say develop. This is intended to serve the results it needs when we establish a process to move from Dev to QA to Prod. Assisting in establishing baselines and the call for release points.
Let’s start from the process of enrolling your database to be under Source Control. What is needed? a source control repository, and the path to where, within that repository, you will be storing the scripts and change records. This is where the work starts, obviously, you will do an initial baseline entry as your objects get created. This is specially true if you already have a database you will work with, and now you are tracking progress and changes for it. If you are used to the process of checking in your changes and checking out the items to change, well this should be no different.
As you work with the changes, you will determine when your changes or work reaches the maturity or desired point for the solution to move from Dev to QA. Here is where there are differences from the previous version of the product. How do we make this happen? We establish baselines, then we take those baselines and migrate them to the desired server. This makes use of Schema Compare where you can generate a change record or use the script that was generated from Source Control.
In my lab and testing process I have been using TFS 11, Visual Studio 11 and SQL Server 2008 R2. I am waiting for compatibility with SQL Server 2012, but I am guessing that will not be too far down the road.
It has been a busy time, but the intention is to have a step by step process of a scenario that makes use of the items talked about above.
But, so far, great changes and additions to an already great product.
I have been working with Database Development and the aspects that come with it, the pain and the joy of moving from Dev to QA and then on to Production. Source Control has a place in Dev, and that is where the baselines should be established.
Where am I going with this? I have been working with Redgate’s Source Control 3.0, and I am seeing some features that are great for the process of moving from Dev to … well something that allows for quite a level of control. We are not only talking about scripting the structure of a database, but creating a baseline, working with migration scripts, and integrated with Redgate’s Schema Compare.
There is a detailed paper that will be posted here in the next day or so to provide step by step information of the process to define your baseline in Dev and then take it to the desired destination.
In the meantime, check the Webinars Redgate has regarding this process and products.
On March 16th I had the pleasure of presenting the Requirements Management: From Vision to Mission to Success talk at the CodepaLOUsa event in Louisville, KY.
Here is the presentation:
This past week was just massive in the amount of Betas, evaluations, review guides and educational material that were released.
We saw Windows 8 come out in a Customer Preview, the same for Windows 8 Server. There are plenty of things to go over and review, but that is a number of posts coming.
If you have been using the TFS Preview, then you pretty much had an idea what you would be looking for in TFS coming out and of course the announcement of TFS Express was exciting.
Anyhow, here are a couple of links that I would recommend you check out. It is the new version of the TFS 11, VS 11, ALM 11 VHD, along with some other nice materials to give it a good go.
Thanks to Brian Keller for producing outstanding material for us to review and at the same time strengthen the quality of the discussion with peers and clients.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/briankel/archive/2011/09/16/visual-studio-11-application-lifecycle-management-virtual-machine-and-hands-on-labs-demo-scripts.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/briankel/archive/2011/10/16/demomates-for-visual-studio-11-alm-demos.aspx
While at a client location this week I ran into the situation of their SharePoint deployment recognizing a handful of people by their Display Name and others (a lot more) by their “domain\username” account.
And since they had User Profile in place they felt something was just not right, and if you combine that and the fact most of the information available around that issue tells you it is a profile issue, you can understand the frustration of going back to the sync process and correcting in AD, trying this and that and nothing would fix it.
How else to fix it? Over time I have come to just rely on man’s best friend, I should say “SharePoint’s best friend, PowerShell will always have “a fix for that”. If we look at what is available, there is Get-SPUser and Set-SPUser.
What does Get-SPUser give me?
(more info on Get-SPUser)
The main thing I was after was to review the info on the user information store (details from AD) passed on to SharePoint. And there it was, it gave me back the username and the Display Name. The command used:
Get-SPUser –Web http://<name of web app>
Time to try what options Set-SPUser would allow me to use.
(More info on Set-SPUser)
As the premise for PowerShell goes, we are now used to seeing the type of commands, like Get which will help us retrieve information. Then we have Set, which will help us modify/change values.
The command to do a one user sync would like this:
Set-SPUser –Identity ‘<domain>\<username> –SyncFromAD –Web http://<name of web app>
And we are set …
What is it you say? What if this is to be done for every user?
Keep in mind PowerShell has an iterative nature.
Therefore, what if we combined both commands above to retrieve the user and then pass it on to the next command to synchronize from AD.
Here it is:
Get-SPUser –Web http://<name of web app> | Set-SPUser –SyncFromAD
Ok, that is it for now, give it a go and enjoy Display names with your SharePoint deployment.
It seems 2012 has started with an even faster pace than 2011 did. And with that the activities for a year full of promise have started.
So far this year I am scheduled to be at the following events in Q1.
Inaugural Office 365 Saturday in Redmond: February 25th, 2012.
codepaLOUsa, Louisville, KY: March 15-17, 2012.
There have been changes and more changes going on, but will be back to post and go through a memory dump of the challenges I have encountered, but more importantly, the solutions that have come from that.
One of the main attraction points to this offering in my review is how does it fit into the work I do and solutions I recommend. Right off, the fact it has capabilities described as Silverlight focus/MVVM , makes it something that intrigued me. I tested the different capabilities it has from using it in WinForms and WPF as well, and Silverlight.
One of the main points is the C1DataSource, it shows a level of simplicity through the property dialogs that allows you to move right along with, for example, how you need to present, filter (server side) and sort data. The same can be said on how simple it is to implement different paging options, it does take into consideration working with this from a client side as well as managing it server side.
A big advantage here is the ability to connect to any of the “data-bound” capable built-in controls and components. For example, being able to work with the built-in DataGridView or a TextBox for that matter.
So, yes the focus does fall on the C1DataSource component, among the process is the creation of an application wide object that will support any C1DataSource within the scope of the same application. This allows for a unified approach that does not require synchronization among objects as long as they are within the same application scope.
In most of my review and evaluation I had close to zero code added and had a functional data driven solution. For example, in creating a Master-detail form, the process needed was to add a couple of DataGridViews, one pointed to the Customers Entity and the other pointed to the Orders Entity. And yes, that was it, by selecting a Customer then I was able to see the Orders that had been placed. We can get more creative and go further by adding perhaps a DropDown that gives me a list of Customers and then based on my selection the Orders would be displayed on the Grid. This where we would make use of the Server-Side filters (again, depends on the volume of data).
So, what is it that goes on in the back? The C1DataSource is a Data Set, and the ViewSource property helps us define DataViews. The truth of the matter is, it just flows!
All in all, a great tool. However, I do feel their documentation needs some reworking. I am picky when it comes to this as I have been involved in creating/writing Hands-on Labs. And many times assumptions can be made on the level of knowledge an individual may have. In light of this, I will be creating a set of videos that highlights the main elements of the functionality and different implementations. The goal is to make sure tools like this get used, but more importantly get used the right way.
In the meantime look into the videos provided through the ComponentOne Website: http://www.componentone.com/SuperProducts/StudioEntityFramework/Videos/
Let me clarify what I mean by “3 role” environment. When looking at the division of roles with products, solutions or environments, it has been very normal to break it down into IT Pros (Admins), Developers and End Users. And many approach SharePoint in the same style. Does it fit? Sure. Is it the most effective approach? HECK NO!
Let’s look at it piece by piece. Now the question is where do we start?
We need to redefine this. In all cases leaving it as IT Pros, Developers and End Users is too broad. It really does not push to truly have an understanding what the solution should be about. Within the IT Pro role, you have server admins, dbas, infrastructure/solution architects and in many situations the farm administrator is not part of those roles.
Developers are also part of this mix, but this can also be a complex breakdown, as you will likely have your developers, designers, web developers and so on. And within the End User community it is even more complex. I have in the past referred to SharePoint as a solution that is an End User owned solution. Yes, many IT folks do not like that. Why? Because they feel they are losing control of the platform and they will end up supporting, fixing and in the end stuck with it. Yes, that is also part of the reality of many SharePoint deployments. And not only in deployments, the way people are being trained is this same way. There are training materials that I have seen change their approach. I will cover the materials I have experienced having a change in the mindset and style of delivery.
In this series, I will go deeper into each role and the importance of understanding the breakdown. All in all, it meshes with a topic that has been a passion for me over the last couple of years and that is looking to Application Lifecycle Management to help us define that breakdown. ALM is not a software development approach, it goes beyond software development. It goes deeper into being the overarching umbrella that will include the solution ideation/planning, planning/implementation, implementation/stabilization, and stabilization/operations. We talk Governance, Taxonomy and many other topics that many have considered fluff, but are they fluff? When I look at the process, many would refer to End Users receiving their piece once, and only when, Operations has a hand in it. There is some truth to it, but in the effort of driving user adoption, acceptance and so on, we will expand that activity and therefore the involvement. And diving into ownership.
So, come along with me in this series and let’s explore what my thoughts are and keep me posted on what your thoughts are, and how they may align.
Part 2: How IT Pros are involved.
Part 3: Here come the Developers, guard your deployment
Part 4: Let the End User own it
Part 5: From Meal Plans to Learning Plans
The updates are installed, all you want to do now is get connected, authenticated and get going.
The first step needed here is to open Visual Studio 2010, once opened then you need to get to Team Explorer. Once there, you will click on the Connect to Team Project button on the toolbar.
If you had a connection defined to another TFS environment, this will be adding one more, so you click on Servers…
On the next dialog, you will click on Add…
Then you will proceed to provide the details of your Team Foundation Server Preview account. Standard details, you will be using HTTPS, no path and the standard default port number. It will look similar to the settings on the screenshot (just making sure yours do show up, and also verify the Preview of the address. Then click OK.
At this point you will be prompted for authentication to the TFS Preview environment with Windows Live ID.
Once authenticated, you will be able to see the entry in your server list.
Then be able to see any your DefaultCollection and Team Projects, and click Connect.
And once connected you will see the listing of them in Team Explorer.
Once you have configured your online preview, then you can proceed to connect to it using Visual Studio 2010.
In order to get Live ID authentication working and such, there is an update you need to apply. This is something that can be accessed through the Administration page, and then clicking on download software.
Clicking on that link will take you to the Visual Studio ALM + Team Foundation Server Blog. From this page, you will be able to download the needed component to connect and authenticate to the TFS Preview. The direct link to that page is as follows:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudioalm/archive/2011/09/14/tfs-preview-downloads.aspx
The update requires you have Service Pack 1 for VS 2010 installed. If you are going to be using Microsoft Test Manager, the same applies. The links also include downloads for Eclipse components, Build server functionality and download of the Visual Studio 11 Developer Preview.
Upon download of the software update, you can launch the installation.
Accept the license terms
Get the installation going
Once it completes, click finish
Once you have successfully signed in to your environment, you are at the welcome screen, from here we will need to go to Administration.
Once there, if you have not done so already, add a Team Project to your Collection.
Once there, provide a Name, give a description and select your Process Template, then Click on Create Project.
It will run through the process of creating your team project
Once it completes, you will see the following message and click on Close.
The next post is about navigating to the Team Project and connecting to TFSPreview using Visual Studio.
About a month ago, Microsoft announced the release of Lync for Mac. If you have access to TechNet or MSDN you likely have access to download this tool. Among the benefits of the tool, being able to connect to Office 365. Exciting news, yet for some odd reason it was a battle if you had upgraded to Lion (have not heard of anyone having issues that is running on Snow Leopard). Microsoft then released an update for Lync for Mac.
Now, after the update, it was still no dice for me. Upon further research there were two additional items needed. One was removing an “unknown” certificate that made its way to the Keychain. The other was to manually declare the Internal and External servers for it.
Here is a summary then of the “fixes”
1) Get the update for Lync for Mac, if AutoUpdate has not gotten it, run it manually by going to Help (on any of the Microsoft Office for Mac Apps), from there Check for Updates.
2) Check Keychain Access for an “unknown” certificate, and delete it. To get access to this, you need to go to Applications > Utilities > Keychain Access
3) Modify the Connection Settings for Internal and External Servers to point to: sipdir.online.lync.com:443 (some have reported to not need this, in my case it was needed)
Hope this helps if you are having issues connecting to Office 365 and taking on a really great tool across the Mac and Windows platforms.