Lamont Harrington's Blog

I've just moved my blog feed over to FeedBurner.  For those of you out there who aggregate posts on this blog, please update to my new feed.  This blog still supports the original DasBlog-based syndication service so those who are currently aggregating shouldn't be affected at all.  But for new vistors who wish to aggregate, please use http://feeds.feedburner.com/LamontHarringtonsBlog as your new feed.

Came across this blog post by Dare Obasanjo, PM on the Windows Live Team, about our approach to data center management where he highlights a paper written by Michael Isard of Microsoft Research, called Autopilot: Automatic Data Center Management, which describes the technology that Windows Live and Live Search uses to manage their web server farms. 

The paper provides a high-level overview of AutoPilot, while Dare’s post goes into more of its practical implementation.  Both are definitely worth reading

The Patterns & Practices Team have recently released v1.0 of the web services security guide (in PDF format) that shows how to make the most out of WCF.  With end-to-end application scenarios, it shows you how to design and implement authentication and authorization in WCF. Learn how to improve the security of your WCF services through prescriptive guidance including guidelines, Q&A, practices at a glance, and step-by-step how tos. It's a collaborative effort between patterns & practices, WCF team members, and industry experts.

The guide has been released on CodePlex and is available for download.

An interesting panel discussion video was recently released to the TechEd Online Library that focuses on extending the role/disciplines of the Architect into the area of providing mentoring. 

Taken from the TechEd Online Library:

"There are many disciplines that a software architect must master in order to do the job: requirements definition, use cases, modeling, layering, object orientation, service orientation, methodologies, and so on. In addition, as we are typically project leaders, we are usually tasked with mentoring others on the team in the understanding, adoption and application of these disciplines. This panel discussion focuses on the use of blogs, social networking and other online tools and content repositories that can be used to enhance and deliver mentoring to architects, developers and project teams."

If you have a hi-bandwidth connection, click here to view the video.

If you have a low-bandwidth connection, click here to view the video.

Few sample .NET applications have had more impact on the .NET development community than the Terrarium sample application that was released during the version 1.0 release cycle of the .NET Framework.  This solution created a community of .NET enthusiasts that far exceeded the expectations of the .NET Framework team.  It showcased a "production-level" end-to-end reference solution that highlighted key features of the .NET Framework and showcased the power and creativity .NET can bring to software development.  I recalled that for many months I inquired as to when the source code for this application was going to be released, because, as you may recall, only the binaries were made available.  Sure you could decompile the executable and supporting libraries, or use great tools like Lutz Roeder's .NET Reflector, but there's nothing like having the Visual Studio projects openly released for all to see!!

Well, Terrarium is BACK!!   The project was resurrected by the Windows SDK Team and MVP Bil Simser has volunteered to coordinate development efforts for the project.

Head on over to CodePlex and be a part of the effort! For all you .NET Framework "old heads" like myself who looked at Terrarium as an amazing solution to dissect, learn from, and foster new ideas around the creation of solution architectures, I emplore you to check out the project. 

Thanks Windows SDK Team for evolving the solution and thanks Bil for stepping up to take on coordination for the effort.

Fun times (especially for me) are ahead!   Especially with the introduction of WPF, WCF, WF, LINQ, Silverlight and an assortment of other technology goodies, this solution is sure to continue to evolve into something that we'll all continue to be proud to showcase as a premier .NET solution.

Application Request Routing for IIS7 is a proxy based routing module that forwards HTTP requests to content servers based on HTTP headers and server variables, and load balance algorithms.  Application Request Routing can be used to:

• Increase application availability and scalability.
• Better utilize content server resources.
• Facilitate application deployment including pilot management and A/B testing.
• Lower management costs and create opportunities for shared hosters.

Application Request Routing relies on URL rewrite module to inspect the incoming HTTP requests to make the routing decisions, and therefore, the URL rewrite module is required to enable Application Request Routing features.

Download the Modules:

• Microsoft URL Rewrite Module for IIS 7 (x86)
• Microsoft URL Rewrite Module for IIS 7 (x64)
• Microsoft Application Request Routing for IIS 7 (x86)
• Microsoft Application Request Routing for IIS 7 (x64)

Features:

• HTTP based routing decisions
  Unlike hardware load balancers that make the routing decisions at the IP level, Application Request Routing makes the routing decisions at the application level.  Working with URL rewrite module, powerful routing rules can be written based on HTTP headers and server variables.
• Load balance algorithms
  A user selected load balance algorithm is applied to determine which content server is most appropriate to service the HTTP requests.  Six algorithms are provided.
• Health monitoring
  Both live traffic and specific URL test are used to determine the health of content servers.  A set of configuration parameters are provided to define the meaning of server health.
• Client affinity
  Using a cookie, Application Request Routing can affinitize all requests from a client to a content server.  It differentiates the clients behind NAT, so each client is treated independently.  This feature requires that the clients accept cookies.
• Host name affinity
  “Host name affinity” is a specific feature for shared hosters. It changes the deployment topology to minimize and streamline administration and to create additional business opportunities.  For more information on this scenario refer to Overview of Shared Hosting Deployment Using Application Request Routing.
• Multiple server groups
  Application Request Routing can manage multiple server groups, which are logical groupings of content servers in an environment.  This feature allows Application Request Routing to be used in pilot management and A/B testing scenarios.
• Management and monitoring via UI
  All configuration settings and aggregated runtime statistics of Application Request Routing are managed and viewable via IIS Manager.
• Failed Request Tracing Rules
  Specific traces have been added to quickly troubleshoot and diagnose Application Request Routing.

Using the module:

These articles explain how to configure and achieve the core scenarios using Application Request Routing.  It is recommended that the articles are read in the following order as the scenarios get richer with each article:

• Install Application Request Routing
• Define and Configure an APplication Request Routing Server Group
• HTTP Load Balancing using Application Request Routing
• Configure 3-tier deployment architecture using Application Request Routing
• Pilot Program Management using Application Request Routing
• Shared Hosting using Application Request Routing
• Using Failed Request Tracing Routes to Troubleshoot Application Request Routing

The Patterns & Practices team has recently released the Composite Application Guidance for WPF which provides guidance for "componetizing" the development of enterprise-class WPF applications across multiple development teams, with each team owning a piece of the application, and then seamlessly integrating these pieces into one homogenous application.

Included in the guidance package is a reference implementation of WPF application, CFI Stock Trader, that models this guidance, reusable library code (called the Composite Application Library), documentation, quick start tutorials and hands-on labs.

You can download the bits here or to learn more about what the guidance entails, head on over to the developer center on MSDN.

I can't wait to try this stuff out!

Version 1.2 of the Visual Studio extensions for WSS has been released and available for download.  Version 1.2 provides support for Visual Studio 2008 in building SharePoint-based solutions.  The following tools are included:

Visual Studio 2008 Project Templates

• Web Part
• Team Site Definition
• Blank Site Definition
• List Definition
• Empty SharePoint Project

Visual Studio 2008 Item Templates

• Web Part
• Custom Field
• List Definition (with optional Event Receiver)
• Content Type (with optional Event Receiver)
• Module
• List Instance
• List Event Handler
• Template

SharePoint Solution Generator

Used to generate a Site Definition project from an existing SharePoint site.

Note here that this release only works for Visual Studio 2008.  If you're still doing development using Visual Studio 2005, you'll need to install Version 1.1 of VSeWSS which can be downloaded here.