Franky's Notes: Biztalk

Showing posts with label Biztalk. Show all posts

Reading Notes #73

Labels: activedirectory, ad, AWS, azure, Backup, bigdata, Biztalk, cloud, database, EF, php, PowerShell, readingnotes, servicebus, sql, watk, website, wif

Cloud

A Refresh of the Windows Azure Authentication Library Developer Preview (Vittorio Bertocci) - Really nice a complete post. Explain the new change and improvement of the Azure Authentication Library (AAL).
Adding Auth and Logging out of an iOS Windows Azure Mobile Services App (Chris Risner) - Nice explanation of a real life situation. This post is done using the iOS but it's true for all other platform also.
Windows Azure SQL Database Management (Shay Yannay) - This post explain how you could do a PowerShell script to speed up your deployment by automating the database creation and some other tasks.
Adding multiple endpoints to your Windows Azure Virtual Machines by using a CSV file - Really useful script to automatize endpoint creation on Azure VM. I really need to see how this script works.
Visual Studio Identity Support Works with .Net 4.5 Only - Good! That confirmed some assumption that I made.
Connecting Windows Azure Web Sites to On-Premises Databases Using Windows Azure Service Bus - Very nice article that combine multiple elements on-premise and in the cloud. It clearly reflect the reality of many companies. Also available in video on Channel9.
Windows Azure Training Kit - November 2012 - What?! Already! Wow that what I call staying up to date.
PHP 5.4 available in Windows Azure Web Sites - Great news for the PHP developers. It will be a lot easier now for them.
Windows Azure Virtual Machines - Make Sure You Follow the Documentation (Buck Woody) - Good advice. It will save us a lot of time.
Windows Azure Active Directory Processes 200 Billion Authentications - Connecting People, Data and Devices Around The Globe (Bill Hilf) - Very interesting post that explain Active directory in numbers and also gives different possible scenarios.
[…]respond to 9,000 requests per second and in the U.S. the average authentication takes less than 0.7 seconds. […]
easyJet transforms business model with cloud and Azure (HowieT) - Interesting real life story about a company who leverage is legacy application and then use this to build something completely new.
Configuring Online Backup for Windows Server 2012 - Good tutorial about how to configure the great feature of Windows Server 2012 such as online backup (with Windows Azure).
Amazon Web Services Blog: Enable Single Sign On to the AWS Management Console - Great news using Active Directory in business context is so convenient!
Cloud is begging for governance, analyst argues | ZDNet (Joe McKendrick) - Interesting article; the cloud is still young and people still need to learn.
Google’s approach to Big Data is BigQuery (Scott Matteson) - Very interesting post learn more about BigQuery and Google Sql Database.
[…]the first 100GB of data you process each month is free[…]
Windows Azure Mobile Services: A Robust Back End for Your Device Applications - Great article that explain how Windows Azure Mobile services works truth a nice tutorial. You must read that.

Integration

October Images of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 Available for Windows Azure Virtual Machines (Stephen W. Thomas) – Aah… That great I will also to that then. Looking forward to try the new BizTalk 2013.

Programming

Use Big Data to gain insight about small business customers (David Gitonga) - Interesting post that explains how BigData could be you in your business... even if you are in a small company.
Combining Files in PowerShell (Robert Bernstein) - Nice PowerShell tips.
SqlDependency with Entity Framework 5.0 - Very nice tutorial that explain how to get change notification with EF and beyond... Good job.

Miscellaneous

10 Simple Things you should do to Protect your Privacy - Good tips... and I think I should do more of them.
Why Great Teams Build Great Products - Does (n x developer) = output? Really? This post explains why.
6 Concrete Ways to Improve Business Communication - Nice way to improve
What are the best and worst things about working at Microsoft? - Learn the truth about was it is to work at one of the biggest tech company.
How to Publish Your Blog on Amazon Kindle (Guest Blogger) - Since I’m a Kindle user I confirm that I would love to see more 0blog available on this platform.

~Frank

Reading Notes #71

Labels: AWS, azure, azureconf, Biztalk, blob, channel9, cloud, enzo, integration, Migration, PowerShell, readingnotes, sql, storage

Cloud

Bootstrapping a Virtual Machine with Windows Azure (Michael Washam) - Nice quick tutorial about going forward with startup task but with vm.
WaIISHost.exe.config does not work with Windows Azure SDK 1.8 - Nice catch and nice workaround.
How to upload an Image to Windows Azure Storage using Mobile Services (Nick Harris) - Nice tutorial to upload directly your images (gif, jpeg) into blob storage.
Backup SQL Database Federation (Herve Roggero)- Introduction to a very useful tool call Enzo Cloud Backup that gives you the ability to backup and restore Azure Federation Database. These options are available through a graphic interface and API. You can even setup a schedule.
Windows Azure Virtual Machine: A look at Windows Azure IaaS Offerings (Part 1) (admin) - Nice recap of the offer of Azure from PaaS to IaaS.
Developing a Support Plan for Cloud Applications (Buck Woody) - Quick post about the importance of thinking about a good support plan of your cloud applications.
Embrace the Cloud: Your Customers Are! (Clayton M) - 4 out of 10 of your customer are using the cloud. If you don't move, they will continue without you. This is the main premise of this post.
Free online Windows AzureConf this Wednesday (Scott Gu) - Nice conference with some amazing presentations that you should really watch. When this post will be publish the video should be available on Channel9.
Amazon S3 Now Supports Archiving Data to Amazon Glacier - AWS announce a very cheap archive solution for S3.
Microsoft Acquires StorSimple (Michael_Park) - News from the acquisition of StorSimple, the great product to extend really easily your local storage.
Upgrading to Azure SDK 1.8 (Tyler Doerksen) - Great post the pass through some migration issue that you can have when a VS2010 Azure project is open the first time in VS2012.
Practical Azure #2: What About Blob? - Great video on everything you should know on Azure Blob.

Integration

BizTalk Server 2013 BETA–Window 8 Configuration issues (Saravana Kumar) - This post expose some issue when installing BizTalk 2013 on a real computer and how to fix it.

Programming

The Internet is not a black box. Look inside. (Scott Hanselman) - Nice demonstration of why we should use all our nice tools...
Great Apps Are Inspired by Pure Imagination (Jonathan Rozenblit) - Good initiative to get a lot of ideas, tricks and contacts wild doing some nice code...

Miscellaneous

LinkedIn Endorsements Changes Everything. Here's Why (Dave Kerpen) - A little change on Linkedin web site that could have a big effect on your profile.
The Computer Backup Rule of Three (Scott Hanselman) - Nice post about the importance of doing backup. Be scare and do it!
Tagging Comes to Readability (David Sleight) - Great add-on to a great tools. I'm a big fan of Readability and looking forward to upgrade my script using the API.
10 Leadership Practices to Stop Today (Paul Spiegelman) - What your score...? Is it time to change?
5 Ways to Use Images to Make Your Posts Irresistible (Darren Rowse) - Maybe it's my photographic background but I found that post to be absolutely true. The web is graphic so you must use image for all type of posts or articles.

~Frank

Reading Notes #70

Labels: access, azure, Backup, bizspark, Biztalk, cloud, cmdlets, CodePlex, database, DynamoDB, integration, Javascript, readingnotes, sql, ssdt, typescript, website

Cloud

Let's see : Attach an Azure blob drive in windows 7. (Nicolas Dorier) - A lot of information in this post where Nicolas Dorier explain how he pass through all the problems.
New Powershell command line goodies for Windows Azure at #bldwin (Glenn Block) - This post explains some of the new features in the last release of Azure Powershell cmdlets.
A tool to simplify and automate your SQL Azure database backup - Make backup is so important that it shouldn’t be human related. Here are some tools to help you reaching this goal.
Disaster and the Cloud - An actual story about how the cloud helps in a disaster recover situation.
Why should a startup use Windows Azure? (Shaymaa A) - If you are in a start-up bookmark this short post, because it's the perfect page to get started with BizSpark.
Windows Azure: Automated UI testing using the power of cloud (Anuj Chaudhary) - Nice deep dive in a test case scenario using Windows Azure around the globe.
Here's What's New with Windows Azure (Bill Hilf) - Recap of the Windows Azure related news at the //Build event.
The Developer Movement & Windows Azure (Marc Gagné) - Goodies alert! How to get 3000 points and some great goodies...
Manu Cohen-Yashar's Blog - I did search where the old portal link was... here is the answer.
Microsoft Access 2013: A Cool New Rapid Development Tool for the Cloud (Gregory Leake) - Great news about Office 2014 and really nice way to use Azure...
Top 5 Cool New Things with Windows Azure Web Sites (Nir Mashkowski) - Nice walkthrough the last new features of Windows Azure Website.
Continuous Deployment with Windows Azure Websites and Bitbucket - Nice since I also use Bitbucket for some of my personal projects... I looking forward to try this!
Announcing: New System Views for Windows Azure SQL Database (Gregory Leake) - Good news about the Azure SQL database, it's now possible to query the even log and views.
Un voyage vers le cloud sur Windows Azure présenté par Matricis Informatique - Présentation en français sur Windows Azure a Montréal.

Programming

The Hanselminutes Podcast - Loud and clear. The best description of what is TypeScript and why I should start using it.
What's New? (amazon.com) - Nice update for DynamoDB.
SSDT Team at PASS Summit - List of the presentation about SSDT at the PASS Summit.
Reactive Extensions (Rx) is now Open Source (Scott Hanselman) - Learn more about Rx and is new open source status.
TypeScript - Tutorial (typescriptlang.org) - Directly from the official TypeScript website, this tutorial get you up and ready in a few. Well explain. And a really nice repl page.

Integration

BizTalk Server 2013 BETA (Saravana Kumar) - A lot of people was seeing it dead, but BizTalk 2013 is stronger than ever with a lot of the great improvement and new features... be ready!

Miscellaneous

Infographics Are Hot, Your Boring Data Is Not (Janine Popick) - It's a fact that it's a lot easier to understand data with a visual support, this post points out 5 tools to help.
Your Employee Is an Online Celebrity. Now What Do You Do? (Alexandra Samuel) - Witch question should be questions should be asked to validate if the co-existence between co-branded employee and the company.
A retrospective of an unproductive day - Nice tips to feel better in those days when you feel like you did nothing...

Reading Notes #69

Labels: activedirectory, AWS, azure, Biztalk, cloud, esb, glimpse, mapping, Migration, murally, nodejs, readingnotes, servicebus, TechDays, Tools, tutorial, typescript, vs2012, website

Cloud

This Site Now Powered By Windows Azure Websites! (Chris) - In this post Chris is sharing is experience when moving is web site to Windows Azure.
Declarative Architectures in Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - In this post Buck is sharing method and third party to design architecture where the cloud is part of the solution.
Windows Azure Store Preview - Quick post to introduce some feature of the new Windows Azure Store.
How to use MongoDB from PHP in Windows Azure Web Sites - Really nice tutorial that explain how to create the just announced MongoDB as a service and use it from a Windows Azure website.
Announcing Second Generation Standard instances for Amazon EC2 and a price reduction for M1 instances - AWS announce a new generation of EC2 instance with nothing less than 50% more computational capability/core.
SQL Data Sync now available in the East and West US Data Centers! - Announce of SQL Data Sync availability in two data center.
Where in the world is SQL Data Sync? - Nice catch, learn how from the new Azure portal to access the Azure data sync page.
Episode 92 - iOS SDK for Windows Azure Mobile Services (Nick Harris, Nathan Totten) - Great episode that show how easy it is now to use Windows Azure with iOS.
Episode 93 - Real-World Windows Azure with Mural.ly (Nick Harris, Nathan Totten) - An amazing video take 45 minutes and watch this podcast. It's energizing to see someone with so much passion. And try Mural.ly.
Single Sign On with Windows Azure Active Directory: a Deep Dive - Nice deep dive that stay clear even if very detailed.

Programming

Your Visual Studio, Your Colors - Great it will now be easier than even to customize the color of VS2012 with is new add-on.
TechDays 2012, une nouvelle ère débute - A lot of great opportunities are coming this fall for all Canadian.
Développer un site web avec node.js et tous les outils - Wow. Perfect tutorial to get started with Node.js. It explains how to setup a nice working environment, sometime saving tips, etc. (en francais)
Windows Identity Foundation Tools for Visual Studio 2012 RTM (Vittorio Bertocci) - I missed that one when it came out... Great tool!
The Hanselminutes - Glimpse gets a benefactor - can open source and commercial software live together? - If you’re doing web development you should listen this and you must try Glimpse.
The Hanselminutes - What is Typescript and why with Anders Hejlsberg - Loud and clear. The best description of what is Typescript and why I should start using it.
Podcast Update with Guest Spots and a New Show - October 2012 (Scott Hanselman) - A list of interesting podcast in different domains suggested by Scoot Hanselman.

Integration

BizTalk Mapper Patterns: How to Map Hierarchical Schema to a Name Value Pair - Nice post that describe the pros and cons of four method to accomplish a mapping from hierarchical schema to a name value pair.
BizTalk Server 2010 ESB Training Kit (Saravana Kumar) - Free resources, this is a link to bookmark.
Service Bus Messaging: Queues, SB-Messaging Adapter (Steef-Jan Wiggers) - Great tutorial using Windows Azure Service Bus with BizTalk.

Miscellaneous

Windows 8 upgrade: your hardware and software options explained (Sean Hollister) - The perfect post to help everyone to takes the good decision regarding Windows 8.A link to share.

~Frank

Reading Notes #68

Labels: azure, Biztalk, cloud, coffeescript, dataservices, diagnostics, EF, integration, Javascript, nodejs, NoSQL, readability, readingnotes, Script, servicebus, sql, ssdt, vm, windows8

Cloud

Getting Database Connection Information in Windows Azure Web Sites - Great clarification about how to access connection string in Azure using PHP or Node.js
Node.js specific diagnostics for Windows Azure - Great source of detailed information that will speed-up your next bug investigation.
How To Create a Base Disk or Image in Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Share It Across Accounts (Stephen W. Thomas) - Great tutorial to prepare a master custom virtual image for Azure.

[…]Shan McArthur has a great blog post on the difference between an Image and a Disk. […]

Trying Out the New Windows Azure Portal Support for Relay Services - Nice walk around of the new Windows Azure features focusing on the service bus capabilities.
Jolicloud Pivots Again, Now As A Start Page For Cloud Services — Have they Cracked It This Time? (Mike Butcher) - I really like the idea being Jolicloud. I'm not sure I will use it that often, but it's a good idea.
Readability Comes to Jolicloud (David Sleight) - Nice! Jolicloud is useful when on the road. Now I can keep track of me reading too.
Announcing Public Availability of Service Bus for Windows Server (Service Bus 1.0) (Himanshu_Singh) - Great news. We will now be able to develop with the Service Bus for Windows server than switch, if we want, to Windows Azure Service Bus on prod, transparently!

[…]APIs exposed for developing applications are consistent with those of the public cloud service, making it easy to develop applications for either and switch between the two. […]

Exporting and Importing VM settings with the Azure Command-Line Tools - Great idea! Very useful! I can easily see one or two script staying on my desktop waiting to be double click...
.NET 4.5 now supported with Windows Azure Web Sites (Scott Gu) - Perfect timing, ready to upgrade and be able to use the last version of EF.
Using Trace in Windows Azure Cloud Applications (Himanshu Singh) - Useful tips to get easily a nice trace from Windows Azure project.
Windows 8 and Windows Azure: Convergence in the Cloud - Nice article from MSDN Mag. This tutorial explain how to build a windows 8 application that pull data from Windows Azure.

Integration

BizTalk 2010 R2 CTP: Azure Service Bus Integration–Part 5 Sending messages to Service Bus Queues using Sessions (Kent Weare) - Nice demo using session, I like this alternative.

Programming

What is SSDT? - Since I try this tool I can’t live without.
Analyse : Différentes façons d'intégrer un script Javascript - Nice analyse I will bookmark it to use it as reference.
CoffeeScript 1.4.0 Released, No Sign of Source Maps - Good news for Node.js user.
Welcome to Windows 8! (Paul Laberge) - Know your options as developer.

Miscellaneous

Bounce Rates High? Why? (Darren Rowse) - Nice post that explain how to understand your blog bounce rate.
3 Characteristics of Amazing Presentations (Margaret Heffernan) - Quick tips to improve easily your presentation.
The Undercover Interview Technique (Jeff Haden) - Interesting point of view but I prefer the coffee meeting, where you meet few co-worker in a relax context.
5 Goals Every Blogger Should Set Up in Google Analytics - Nice post that explain clearly how to setup goals and their utility.
Book review: Think Like a Programmer - <sigh> So let ready only the chapter one than...

~Frank

Reading Notes #64

Labels: Agile, appdynamics, async, azure, Biztalk, cloud, CodePlex, deploy, git, Migration, monitoring, PowerShell, readingnotes, Ruby, sql, tool, Tools, vs2012, website

Cloud

Drunk on Cloud Kool-Aid? Time To Sober Up (Justin Moore) - It's never all white or all black. This post put some gray in the picture of what will be the cloud in five years.
Book Review: Cloudonomics–The Business Value of Cloud Computing - If after reading this review you don't download the sample or read at least the table of content, it mean you are the author.
Windows Azure Interactive Feature Map - An amazing interactive picture or the ultimate Windows Azure features Map!
BizTalk Virtual Machine in Windows Azure using Quick Create (Steef-Jan Wiggers) - Simple and efficient tutorial that show all steps to create a VM in Windows Azure with BizTalk.
Comparison: SkyDrive vs Apple vs Google vs Dropbox - Nice one shot overview.
How to Remove an Orphaned Windows Azure Virtual Machine Disk and Remove a Lease Conflict on a VHD Blob (Stephen W. Thomas) - Again PowerShell is showing us who’s the king. I'm looking forward to see this tool. Since Azure is supposed to be really user friendly (not like scripts) then this tool should be great.
Announcing Updates to Windows Azure SQL Database (Gregory Leake) - Great new. It's a long time since we saw a Sql Azure database update.
Cloudy Thoughts by SyntaxC4 - Nice recap of many (if it is not all) possible database that you can use when using Windows Azure.
#CloudFail: Six pitfalls to avoid with enterprise cloud deployment (Bart Copeland) - Excellent post! Even if the cloud is not for everyone, it have good chance that it could for you...
Hybrid cloud model: update on Microsoft IT application migration (Tony Scott) - Overview of the Microsoft IT application migration, and Show case.

[…]Microsoft IT Showcase recently published an article with details of our experience [download Using Windows Azure to Create a Multi-Platform Application][…]

Keeping your options open in a cloud solution (Buck Woody) - One thing that is great about Windows Azure is that you can use anything with it. Not only Microsoft language or application, not event only Azure services.
Moving a website to Azure while adding Continuous Deployment from Git (Scott Hanselman) - Nice walkthrough of moving a website to Azure using new features.
Guest Post: What’s the Big Deal with AppDynamics Windows Azure Monitoring? (Himanshu Singh) – Nice post that introduced AppDynamics and explained what it can do for our Azure application.
Why Can't I Always Change the Region when Creating a Windows Azure Virtual Machine? (Stephen W. Thomas) - Nice catch! Be aware of this little difference between the different create VM methods.
Azure Store XRay - Amazing tool to monitor easily your Windows Azure storage.
Cloning Windows Azure Virtual Machines - Nice post. Very well explain through the Azure portal.
Cloud Cover Show Episode 90 - Windows Azure Web Sites Update - Great show about the new feature in Windows Azure SQL Database: Link db.[video]

Programming

Agile path ways into the Azure Universe – Access Control Service [ACS] - Great tutorial that explain step by step how to test ACS in a Behaviour Driven Development (bdd) way using QStory and Selinum.
Avoid shooting yourself in the foot with Tasks and Async - Nice post that explain some "particularities" of some new feature in the .Net framework 4.5 related to asynchronous tasks.
Migrating a Database to SQL Azure using SSDT - Great tutorial of an amazing tool. The SSDT is a must!
5 mistakes that make you look like a Rails n00b - Nice tips that will make your code better, and not only in Ruby, for all language.
A First Look at SQL Server Data Tools - Include in the new visual studio 2012, and downloadable for 2008 and 2010, this amazing tool is a must for all developer. And it's free! .[video]
Visual Studio 2012 Takes “Ease” Up a Notch (Jonathan Rozenblit) - Oh what a great a time saver.

Miscellaneous

Windows 8 Shortcut Keys (John Evdemon) - Since I'm just starting to use Windows 8 this post is clearly useful.
3 Easy Exercises to Boost Your Creativity (2012| Comment Nadia Goodman| September 26) - I will not go that far, but the main goal is there. If you want be create the next Instagram, you must train your creativity.
This Is The Biggest Reason Talented Young Employees Quit Their Jobs (The Brilliant Blog Annie Murphy Paul) - I wish my old bosses had the chance to read this nice post.

Reading Notes #63

Labels: Agile, apprenda, azure, Biztalk, cloud, CodePlex, github, log, readingnotes, scrum, servicebus, storage, topics, website

This week a little bit less of notes since I went to the Windows Azure Global Summit at Seattle, where I met many interesting persons. A lot of amazing things are coming for Windows Azure... but this is for another post!

Cloud

Great Free Courses on Building HTML5 apps using ASP.NET Web API, Knockout.js and jQuery (Scott Gu) - Great post with a lot of amazing news for all developers.

[…] Read this getting started tutorial to walkthrough how you can build (in less than 5 minutes) a simple Windows 8 “To-do List” app that is cloud enabled using Windows Azure Mobile Services. Or watch this video of me showing how to do it step by step.[…]

BizTalk 2010 R2 CTP: Azure Service Bus Integration–Part 1 (Kent Weare) - Great tutorial, easy to follow that show new features included in the BizTalk 2010 R2.
BizTalk 2010 R2 CTP: Azure Service Bus Integration–Part 2 Brokered Message Properties (Kent Weare) - Nice tutorial, good way to bind those two great tools such as Biztalk and Azure. More two come in this serie about service bus and topics.
Deploying Azure Websites with Git (Tyler) - Nice tutorial that how easy it is to manage our website with the new Github integration into the Windows Azure portal.
What is the Difference Between Apprenda and Windows Azure? (Toddy Mladenov) - Interesting comparison between Windows Azure and Apprenda. I didn't know that last one, but it looks nice. It needs more investigation.
Windows Azure Mobile Services Preview Walkthrough–Part 4: Customizing the Windows Store App’s UI (Roger Jennings) - Nice tutorial. This is the fourth of a serie but it could be read easily alone if you only interested of deploying an app in the Windows store.
Logging Using Azure Table Storage (Michael R Duffy) - I'm use to see more logging solution using the Windows Azure storage with blob than with table. But it makes sense since now storage is so cheap. Great post.
Connecting to Windows Azure Service Bus from BizTalk Server 2010 R2 CTP - Great post that explain how to leverage BizTalk using the Windows Azure Service Bus with topics.
Innovation Across Multiple Screens and How Your App Idea Fits In (Paul Laberge) - Quick post about a more and more popular idea: 3 screens and a cloud.

Programming

Generate Kindle (MOBI) ebooks with your ASP.NET Web API - Nice demo that show the pipeline of how those "send to Kindle" services.
Why I’m done with Scrum (Jimmy Bogard) - Interesting thoughts about Agile method. Pros and cons.

Miscellaneous

Turns out I’ll be writing a book - Nice idea. I hope this book will be published. I will love read this book.
Everything's broken and nobody's upset (Scott Hanselman) - It is good to know you’re not alone. Scott told all the issue he as in... One week!?
Everything’s Amazing and Nobody’s Happy (Richard Seroter)- Nice reply to the post of Scott Hanselman. I'm must say I going on Seroter side. ;)
The Art of Writing Functional Specs (Part 1) – What is a Functional Specification? (Saveen Reddy) - Interesting thoughts about how should be written functional specs.
What to Do When You Have to Work with Someone You Don’t Like (Peter) - Nice post, which forces us to think about our self.

Reading Notes #60

Labels: AWS, azure, Biztalk, cloud, frankysnotes, IaaS, monitoring, nodes, readingnotes, services, tips, Tools, tutorial, wasabi, win8

Cloud

Windows Azure Cloud Services and Virtual Networks (Neil Mackenzie) - Good tips about how to manage your Windows Azure Network.
Active in Cloud, Amazon Reshapes Computing (Quentin Hardy) - Nice post that recap how Amazon Web Service evolve in time and is changing today’s business.
Autoscaling Azure with WASABi – Part 2 (Paul Bouwer) - Quick demo with Windows Azure Autoscaling Block - Wasabi.
ScottGu's Blog - Great! This new service is awesome. Learn more in this post or follow the references to go dipper.

[…]Read this getting started tutorial to walkthrough how you can build (in less than 5 minutes) a simple Windows 8 “Todo List” app that is cloud enabled using Windows Azure Mobile Services. Or watch this video of me showing how to do it step by step. […]

Announcing BizTalk Server 2010 R2 CTP Availability in Windows Azure Virtual Machines (Himanshu Singh) - That a good news. Since BizTalk is not a two clicks install, having it in an image, will save a lot of time.
Introducing Windows Azure Mobile Services for Windows 8 (David Pallmann) - Nice simple tutorial to build quickly an application with the brand new Windows Azure Mobile Services.
What is Windows Azure Media Services (Ming Feiy) - Lear more about this unrecognized Windows Azure service that is the Azure Media Services
Introducing Windows Azure Mobile Services: A Backend for Your Connected Client Apps (Kirill Gavrylyuk) - Another great quick tutorial to get started with the Windows Azure Mobile Services.
Amazon AWS is the Cloud (for now anyway) - It is true that Amazon web services is a strong well establish cloud provider. And big players like Google and Microsoft will force them to always improve the quality of their services.
IaaS provider comparison reveals market trends for the cloud (Thoran Rodrigues) - It' s not an easy task to compare so many IaaS providers, and this post provide a different angle that we are used to see.
How to add custom MIME mappings to non .NET Windows Azure Websites (Marc) - Nice tips and good catch! Now go update your website...
Cloud Cover Show Episode 88 - Tips and Tricks for Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks – A lot of good tips in this web cast and also a nice demo about how to setup a web farm using Windows Azure vm and web deploy.

Programming

15 things we learned about interface design as developers - Nice post with great tips to improve your interface... yes even if it's only a demo.

[…] 9% of all men are color blind. Use vischeck.com to check how your site or web app looks to those people. […]

Bullet-proof your web service with the right monitoring setup (Nick Hardiman) - In this post learn why monitoring correctly your web services is a must. A lot of references to tools that can help you to achieve this goal are also present.
Azure Node.js developer center homepage redesign - This post explain all steps to get to the new design and the reason why some change were made.
Pinning Useful and Obscure Stuff to the Windows 8 Start Menu (Scott Hanselman) - Nice quick tips to setup your Windows 8 environment the way you like it.

Miscellaneous

PCPlus 312: Dynamic exposures - This nice effect is really easy to do but remember that a tripod is a must and a fix subject too.
Why is Windows 8 “a catastrophe for anyone in the PC space”? (pcgamesn.com) - Euh, I'm very surprised of this virulent critic of Windows 8. I didn't spend a lot of time on it but, wow that the very opposite of everything I heard before.
Intelligence vs. Effort | Arronsw - Nice quick post about the good mindset to have versus effort and unknown.
How to become a great software developer - Great posts that suggest 10 good brain push-ups to become, or stay, a great software developer.
How to Write Like Your Teacher Told You Not To (Karol K) - Interesting post about how you should write a blog post. Its kind the opposite of writing "the good way" at school.
Should Your Company Just Say "No" To Dropbox? (Brian Proffitt) - Good question. Like any powerful tools files sharing in some un-informed hands could be problematic.
The Power of Personal (Darren Rowse) - Interesting topics, it's true that all the post that I had found great was personal.

Reading Notes #59

Labels: Agile, azure, Backup, Biztalk, cloud, database, fault, frankysnotes, IaaS, PaaS, readingnotes, SaaS, sonicagile, sql, win8

Cloud

Fault-tolerance in Windows Azure SQL Database (Himanshu Singh) - Really nice article that explain the fault-tolerance, why it is needed, how it is done (replication, redundancy, detection, etc.).
Do you know your PaaS from your IaaS? (Marc Gagné) - Nice post that differences the PaaS, SaaS and IaaS of Windows and also talk about the Azure DevCamp that is coming to Montreal at beginning of September.
Using a naked domain with a Windows Azure Web Site (David Ebbo) - Something it's good to go and to think differently, to understand how things work. This post is about one of those try.
SQL Azure – Disaster Recovery (Iain Hunter) - This is a mandatory post to read. The solution expose in this post is so simple to do. Everyone who use Windows Azure database should do it.
What is Cloud computing? – Public Cloud v Private Cloud - Nice post that explains what is cloud computing and highlight the difference between private and public cloud.
Azure Howto: Programmatically modify web.config on WebRole Startup - Great tutorial that show very clearly how to modify web.config in a startup task and why it should be done only at time.
Time for a Second Look at Windows Azure? | Cloudline - I agree it's definitely time to look again Azure. With all the new features that just arrived, Windows Azure is a very complete product.
Windows Azure Cloud Cover Show Episode 86 - Windows Azure Active Directory with Vittorio Bertocci - Learn more about Windows Azure Active Directory, look the demonstration of the Graph API and the new Windows Azure Authentication Library. [video]
Windows Azure Table – Simple Approach (Wriju Ghosh) - Nice demo that show in few minutes what you can do with the Windows Azure table storage.[video]

Programming

Meilleures pratiques au niveau infrastructure pour une performance optimale de BizTalk Server (Marc-André Dufresne) - Interesting post from my colleague about how to fine tune the performance on a BizTalk server and about the tool BizTalk Benchmark a CodePlex project that could help you.
How to get Windows 8 Pro from MSDN Subscriptions : Don't Be Iffy (Julie Leman) - Nice tips that will help more than one of us.
Releasing Microsoft ASP.NET Universal Providers Core 1.2 - That a great news. A new version of a so useful tool!
Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Refactor Your Code - Good post. Everyone should agree with those ideas of good code. More often, the problem come from determining how much effort and time to get it done that way.
Announcing SonicAgile – An Agile Project Management Solution - Wow take a look to this great tool! I sure that SonicAgile is waited by the developers since long time.

Miscellaneous

Three cool things to try with your old netbook - Good idea that I also try with my Asus EeePC 701. The Ubuntu Netbook is also a really good option, you will be able to watch all the movies you want, have access to your Wi-Fi network and browse Internet.
Your words are wasted (Scott Hanselman) - Nice post that nails the idea where all developer should have a blog, blog more and doing it on their own controlled domain.
Scrum in 5 Minutes - Really nice post that describe very clearly the basic concepts and roles involve in Agile. It also suggests a book for more detailed explanations and a tool AgileSonic that looks gorgeous. A post to read.

“The problem is that writing code is much more like Finding a Cure for Cancer than Building a Brick Wall.”

10 Steps to Creating Your Freelance Brand Personality - Interesting post not only for freelancer but also for more public people, I mean developer who have a blog.
Be More Productive. Take Time Off. (JASON FRIED) - That a nice idea! This post is about a company that try uncommon thing to boost productivity, and it works more than expected!
How Often Should You Blog? (Hint: The Answer Might Surprise You) (Ali Luke) - Since more and more developer a blogging now (and this is a good thing) founding your prefect sequence is important. For you and your readers.

Reading Notes #56

Labels: Agile, AWS, azure, azurecdnme, Biztalk, cdn, cloud, CodePlex, ec2, EF, github, lucenenet, lync, storage, tool

Cloud

Comparing Windows Azure Blob Storage and Google Cloud Storage (Gaurav) - Always very interesting those posts where two or more products are compared...
Best Practices for Performance Improvements Using Service Bus Brokered Messaging (msdn.microsoft.com) - Nice post with a lot of simple rules that will help to get better results.
Windows Azure End to End Examples - Three different sources of information that could help you learning Windows Azure.
What if we’re all wrong about the cloud? - Interesting thoughts about what is and what should be cloud storage.
Architecting with AWS – Before You Go (Jeremiah Peschka) - Nice post about an architect training on AWS. The equivalent also exists for Azure... even if this post didn't talk about it.
Windows Azure Storage – 4 Trillion Objects and Counting (Brad Calder) - Interesting post about Azure Storage all in numbers.... (Read stats).
What's New? - Wow the perfect monster machine to run those NoSQL databases...
All Things Distributed (Werner Vogel) - Nice post about the new high performance EC2 of AWS. All about the specs and features of this new instance type.
8 Questions to ask an AWS Expert - Good questions and good answers about key features of Amazon web Services AWS.

Programming

What Exactly Is GitHub Anyway? (Klint Finley) - Excellent post that demystify all unknown about GitHub. Nice work! A post that you should definitely read.
Azure CDN – with AzureCdn.Me and MVC3 (Iain Hunter) - Nice post and great tool. The AzureCdn.Me even has a NuGet package... This tool will simplify so much your work with the Azure content delivery network (CDN).
Advanced queries with Lucene.NET (codewrecks.com) - Lucene.NET is the best option to do full text search in Azure. This great post explains how to perform advanced queries.
Entity Framework and Open Source (Scott Gu) - I'm really happy to see that the Entity Framework is now completely open source and on CodePlex. Learn a bit more about version 5 and even 6.
Five Rules to Simplify Large Scale BizTalk Orchestration Development (Stephen W. Thomas) - Simple rules that will help for sure.
Entity Framework Magic Unicorn (and much more!) is now open source with take backs (Scott Hanselman) - Another great post about the even greater Entity Framework. The big news EF is going open source on CodePlex with GitHub. Also see code snippets from EF6.
ASP.NET Web API and Azure Blob Storage (Yao - MSFT) - Super tutorial that show step by step how to manage your Azure Blob Storage by code, by doing a nice helper class.

Miscellaneous

5 Sleep Mistakes You Don’t Know You’re Making (And How They’re Hurting Your Blog) (Guest Blogger) - Interesting post. How many of those rules do you follow... and do you have any sleeping issue?
The Patient Knows What’s Wrong with Him - Nice thoughts, we shouldn't expect the solution from the user... only partial information. The analogy with the doctor is a really good idea, I’m sure I will reuse it someday...

[…]And the user exclaimed with a snarl and a taunt, “It’s just what I asked for, but not what I want!” That was 30 years ago, and I doubt the poem was new then.[…]

Windows Azure Quietly Puts Its Pieces Into Place (Alexander Haislip) - Nice post talking about the global strategy of Microsoft.
ScrumMaster Tales – New People on the Team (Mark Levison) - Nice post about a new people in an Agile team. When some frictions popup what you should do...
Is Daddy on a call? A BusyLight Presence indicator for Lync for my Home Office (Scott Hanselman) - I definitely want one of those. The idea is so simple but so genius! Nice post.

~Frank

Reading Notes #51

Labels: ajax, AWS, azure, bcp, Biztalk, cache, cloud, git, linux, loadbalancer, NoSQL, PowerShell, readingnotes, report, SQLAzure, storage, vm

The Cloud Storage

Cloud

Setting up a webfarm using Windows Azure Virtual Machines (Maarten Balliauw) - Nice post that explains how to build a web farm with a free load balancer using the brand new Windows Azure. This post pass-through all steps putting the emphasis on important notion to have a nice web farm up and running.

[…]Sysprep ensures the machine can be cloned into a new machine, getting its own settings like a hostname and IP address. A non-sysprepped machine can thus never be cloned.[…]

GitHub for Windows Azure Websites (Maarten Balliauw) - This tutorial is very easy to follow and will help to to setup a Windows Azure Website that will use Git as sources instead of regular package.
Windows Azure Service Management API Cheat Sheet with PowerShell (Michael Washam) - Nice PowerShell script sample that show how easy it is to manage the new Azure capabilities thru the API.
Reintroducing Windows Azure, Part 1: The New Management Portal (David Pallmann) - Nice first post of a series of four this one introduce the new Azure portal with also a quick recap of the "stuff".
Reintroducing Windows Azure, Part 2: Windows Azure Web Sites (David Pallmann) - This second post of the nice series presents all the new features around the Windows Azure Websites. Enjoy!
Microsoft Gives Windows Azure Amazonian Facelift (Cade Metz) - After June 7, Windows Azure is definitely a cloud platform or cloud infrastructure or cloud... something that must be considerate if you planning to go in the cloud.
Episode 83 - Windows Azure June 2012 Release - This is the longest episode of the Cloud Cover Show, but a great one! It talks about so many things... Find the time, it's a must.
Updates to Windows Azure Storage – Reduced Transaction Pricing and Geo Replication (Gaurav) - Everything you need to know on Azure Storage and is geo replication feature (this post as been updated).
10x Price Reduction for Windows Azure Storage Transactions - Nice recap of all the novelties about Azure Storage.
Thoughts on AWS (Arthur) - Nice post. A real AWS environment is break down to expose every part and the author gives is opinion about it.
Can you use BizTalk in Azure Virtual machine for production use? (saravana) - Nice post that explain the details that you must know before using the cloud for your production environment. This is following this one.
The cloud will cost you, but you’ll be happy to pay (Service Mesh Dave Roberts) - Very interesting post that explain the Jevons paradox and is application the cloud computing.
Loading data to SQL Azure the fast way - Incredibly complete post. The perfect post to before you get started with massive data import into SqlAzure.
Windows Azure Virtual Machines (Michael Washam) - Amazing post that wrap-up everything about the brand new Azure virtual machine and virtual network. All the features are deeply explains. A must for all it peoples.
Reintroducing Windows Azure, Part 3: Virtual Machines (David Pallmann) - Third post in the series this one focus on windows VM. How to create, configure, connect and use them.
Reintroducing Windows Azure, Part 4: Linux Virtual Machines (David Pallmann) - Same thing as the previous one except this one is about Linux VM.
Windows Azure SQL Reporting is now available - That great news a good reporting tool is always important. More to come.

Programming

Marked As Pertinent - The perfect post to read when looking for a NoSql (or a key/value store), because this post compare a lot of them.
Nuno Filipe Godinho - Very nice feature. You don’t need any more to uninstall Azure SDK to install a new one! Even more you have a new dropdownlist that will act as a filter in visual studio when creating your new project.
DFW Ajax Users Group - Nice post that presents the characteristics of the two main architecture of site (with sample) and explains why most actual sites are in fact hybrid.
Using the Windows Azure Cache Preview with SDK 1.7 - Nice demo of Azure Cache preview and a quick fix on a potential problem you could have trying it with the emulator.

Miscellaneous

4 Things Great Leaders Do Better Than You (Les McKeown) - Inspiring post.
What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast (Laura Vanderkam) - Nice post. I'm a morning guy since I was a teenager and I kept this morning habit. It’s incredible how many things we can do!

[…]Come up with a plan and assemble what you need, but whatever you do, don’t label this vision as impossible[…]

How to Stop Sucking and Be Awesome Instead (Jeff Atwood) - Seriously not serious. download the slides...Awesome.

~Frank