MS Architect Forum 12 Feb 2009

Venue Details:	When is the Event: 1:00pm Thursday 12 February 2009. Where is the Event: Microsoft’s Wellington offices, Mana Room - Level 12 Vodafone on the Park (formerly Mobil House), 157 Lambton Quay (the building behind Midland Park)
Title:	Cloud Economics for non-economists by Chris J.T. Auld
Description:	This session aims to bring the Cloud hype back down to ground. Learn how to discuss the cloud in terms that your CxO will understand. What sort of business model is amenable to the cloud? What does computing as a utility do for your balance sheet? How does cloud based computing companies to continue to innovate in these credit and capital constrained times? Why are advertising based businesses well suited to cloud deployment? Whether you're in start-up mode or have already crossed the tipping point this session will help you determine if the cloud makes sense for your business.
About Chris J.T Auld:	Chris is Director, Strategy and Innovation for Intergen. His appointment was the result of Intergen’s acquisition in February 2007 of Kognition which Chris had established in 2003. Chris has worked with high-level national and multinational clients such as Microsoft and Telecom New Zealand. Chris works closely with large organisations to assist them in propelling their strategy and maximising innovation, undertaking ‘adventurous’, high risk, high return projects wherever possible to add value. Chris’s vision is to revolutionise large businesses through dynamism, passion and leading-edge innovation. Known for his evangelical, ‘arm-waving’ style and his enthusiasm and drive, Chris brings an abundance of excitement and energy to every project he undertakes.

Transaction Isolation Levels

I was trying to think of an easy way to memorise/understand these.  What do others think of this approach?

Transaction Isolation Level	Lost Update	Dirty Read	Non-Repeatable Read	Phantom Reads	Shared Locks	Schema Stability Lock	Alternate Reality	Update Conflicts
Read committed	N	N	Y	Y	Acquired for read, released immediately		N
Read uncommitted	N	Y	Y	Y	Not acquired for read	Acquired	N
Repeatable read	N	N	N	Y	Acquired for read, held for duration		N
Serializable	N	N	N	N	Locks range or entire table		N
Snapshot	N	N	N	N	Not acquired for read		Y	Y
Read committed snapshot	N	N	Y	Y	Not acquired for read		Y	N

Web Application Stress Tool - 401 Unauthorized Errors

Problem	I'm using the Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool.  It's meant to hit a web page repeatedly for testing purposes.  However, when I check the results, they were all "401 - Unauthorised".
Explanation	It turns out that if anonymous access is disabled on the web site you are accessing due to the way IIS evaluates authentication, this behavior is expected. In Operations Manager, the default evaluation for a Web Application is to generate a Critical Alert if an HTTP return code of 400 or anything above comes back. In IIS, even if anonymous authentication is disabled for the site, it is still evaluated and will always return a 401. The aggregated results (The outcome) will succeed but the 401 return code will cause the test to fail...
Solution	The simplest fix (for development and testing purposes) is to enable anonymous access to the site.

Unable to create SQL ENDPOINT

Problem	I'm doing a SQL Server CREATE ENDPOINT lab.  I have stopped the IIS Admin service, as recommended in the documentation.  I am connected to SQL Server as a Local Admin user (with full SA rights).  But still the CREATE ENDPOINT statement was failing: CREATE ENDPOINT GetEngineeringList STATE = STARTED AS HTTP ( SITE = 'localhost' ,   PATH = '/sql/employees' , AUTHENTICATION=(INTEGRATED), PORTS=(CLEAR) ) FOR SOAP ( WEBMETHOD 'GetEngineeringEmployees' (   name = 'AdventureWorks.dbo.GetEngineeringEmployees' ,   schema =STANDARD ), WSDL= DEFAULT ,   DATABASE = 'AdventureWorks' , BATCHES=ENABLED )
Explanation	Contrary to logic, the CREATE ENDPOINT statement does not run with the rights of the issuing user.  It runs with the rights of the SQL Server service account.  That account doesn't have rights to the PATH I specified.
Solution	Reserve the PATH using this command: EXECUTE sp_reserve_http_namespace N 'http://localhost:80/sql/employees'

Proxy Authentication Required

Problem	I'm coding up a Live Mesh sample.  I'm using Visual Studio to attempt to create a programmatic link to the Mesh.  I run it.  It was failing.
Explanation	(407) Proxy Authentication Required. So, my app was attempting to authenticate to the Windows Live Passport service, but the Telecom Web Proxy wasn't allowing my credentials through.  I needed a way of tunneling through the Telecom Web Proxy.
Solution	// Set the system proxy with valid server address or IP and port System.Net.WebProxy pry = new System.Net.WebProxy("akisa-ary1.telecom.tcnz.net", 8080); // The DefaultCredentials automatically get username and password pry.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials; // Deprecated: GlobalProxySelection.Select = pry; WebRequest.DefaultWebProxy = pry;

MCP Perks

On Sunday 23 November 2008, Sarah Grant from Microsoft ran a survey of the MCP programme, asking our opinions of the MCP benefits.  Here was my original post:

An MCP Exam voucher would be an incentive of interest to me.  I already get TechNet via work, never bother with eLearning (much prefer instructor-led or Training Kits) and can’t read e-books (prefer paper).

I try to do 2-3 exams per year.  I don’t always succeed.

Today (20 January 2009) I got this response from Sarah!

Hi James

Very happy to meet you too!  Thank you so kindly for your time to reply to my questions on the Born to Learn Blog.  I appreciate that you time and thoughts on this topic –especially the insight of what your business provides for you.

As a little gift – to continue your certifications (!)-  please accept a free exam voucher for any MCP exam (including Microsoft Dynamics) at a Prometric Testing Center near you. 

Maybe .Net 3.5 is calling you?

I’m a PC  and best wishes on your next exam

Sarah Grant

Very cool.

Exam 70-441

Exam Number	070-441
Title	Designing Database Solutions by Using Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Date	Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Candidate ID	DT1645310
Passing Score	700
Your Score	850
Result	Pass

Sectional Results

1. Designing Database Testing and Code Management Procedures, 86%
2. Designing an Application Solution for SQL Server 2005, 87%
3. Designing Database Objects, 85%
4. Designing a Database, 84%
5. Developing Applications That Use SQL Server Support Services, 84%