Let me state this for the record – I was right to be afraid! <grin>

Let’s talk about how I was introduced – Wegner Clawed.  Watch it for yourself.  If you aren’t laughing hysterically then there’s something wrong with you.  And for the record I am not related to Joe Wegner (at least I hope not)!

Next, Wade’s Funky Fresh Beat – a tribute to both Wegner Clawed and the funky beat in my post Using Social Web Providers in Less than 5 Minutes.  I’m moved that Steve took the time to put this together.

Of course, we did manage to spend some time talking about the Service Bus, and even showed a few demos (with a funky beat, I might add).

All-in-all, I had a ton of fun (despite losing a bit of dignity).  Can’t wait to come on again!

So, when I deployed my database to SQL Azure (using the SQL Azure Migration Wizard) I was confounded by the following error:

I was caught off guard by this error, as I was pretty sure my connection string was valid – after all, I had copied it directly from the SQL Azure portal.  Then I realized that this was the first time I had attempted to use EF4 along with SQL Azure; my first thought was, “oh crap!”

After a little bit of frantic research I found the following question on the SQL Azure forums.  Raymond Li of Microsoft made the suggestion to set the ‘TrustServerCertificate’ property to True.  So, I updated my connection string from …

<add name="BidNowDataContext"

	connectionString="metadata=

		res://*/BidNowDataContext.csdl|res://*/BidNowDataContext.ssdl|

		res://*/BidNowDataContext.msl;

	provider=System.Data.SqlClient;

	provider connection string="

		Server=tcp:SERVERNAME.database.windows.net;Database=BidNow;

		User ID=USERNAME@SERVERNAME;Password=PASSWORD;

		Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;""

	providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />

… to …

<add name="BidNowDataContext"

	connectionString="metadata=

		res://*/BidNowDataContext.csdl|res://*/BidNowDataContext.ssdl|

		res://*/BidNowDataContext.msl;

	provider=System.Data.SqlClient;

	provider connection string="

		Server=tcp:SERVERNAME.database.windows.net;Database=BidNow;

		User ID=USERNAME@SERVERNAME;Password=PASSWORD;

		Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;trustServerCertificate=true;

		""

	providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />

… and voilà!  It worked!

Turns out that when Encryt=True and TrustServerCertificate=False, the driver will attempt to validate the SQL Server SSL certificate.  By setting the property TrustServerCertificate=True the driver will not validate the SQL Server SSL certificate.

Of course, once I learned tried this I came across an article on MSDN called How to: Connect to SQL Azure Using ADO.NET to says to set the TrustServerCertificate property to False and the Encrypt property to True to prevent any man-in-the-middle attacks, so I guess I should include the following disclaimer: Use at your own risk!

Customers have been asking for a way to backup databases with SQL Azure for a long time, and the new database copy capabilities will provide a lot of support.  From the SQL Azure Team Blog:

Support for database copy: Database copy allows you to make a real-time complete snapshot of your database into a different server in the data center. This new copy feature is the first step in backup support for SQL Azure, allowing you to get a complete backup of any SQL Azure database before making schema or database changes to the source database. The ability to snapshot a database easily is our top requested feature for SQL Azure, and goes above and beyond our database center replication to keep your data always available. The MSDN Documentation with more information is entitled: Copying Databases in SQL Azure.

Good stuff.  So, if you want to rename a database, you can do this …

// Rename a database

ALTER DATABASE database1 modify name=database2

… if you want to make a copy of a database, you can do this …

// Create a consistent copy of a database

CREATE DATABASE database2 AS COPY OF database1

… and finally, if you want to track the copy progress of a database, you can do this …

// Keep track of the copy progress

SELECT * FROM sys.dm_database_copies

There is also some great “How-To” documentation that’s been published to MSDN that you should take a look at:

Guidelines for Connecting to SQL Azure Database

How to: Connect to SQL Azure Using sqlcmd

How to: Connect to SQL Azure Using ADO.NET

How to: Connect to SQL Azure Through ASP.NET

How to: Connect to SQL Azure Through WCF (ADO.NET) Data Services

How to: Connect to SQL Azure Using PHP

How to: Connect to SQL Azure Using the ADO.NET Entity Framework

And don’t forget about “Houston”.  Microsoft project Microsoft Project Code-Named “Houston” (Houston) is a light weight web-based database management tool for SQL Azure. Houston, which runs on top of Windows Azure is now available in multiple datacenters reducing the latency between the application and your SQL Azure database.

Enjoy!

The solution I proposed was to leverage the Application Warm-Up Extension for IIS 7.5, which will proactively load and initialize processes before the first request arrives.  While this is acceptable, I’ve found a better solution using the Windows Server AppFabric Autostart (thanks to conversations with Ron Jacobs).

Windows Server AppFabric Autostart is a feature introduced in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.  The primary use cases are for reducing the latency incurred by the first message and to host WCF transports/protocols for which their are no listener adapters.  As you can see, initializing the host so that it connects to the Service Bus is another benefit.

To set this up, ensure that you have installed Windows Server AppFabric on your machine.  I personally recommend you use the Web Platform Installer to do this for you (I detail how to do this in the first part of my post on Getting Started with Windows Server AppFabric Cache).  Once you have this installed, follow these steps:

1. Open IIS Manager.  Navigate to your web application.
2. Click on Configure in Actions pane.
3. Configure the application to either autostart all the services by choosing Enabled or specific services by choosing Custom.
4. If you specified Custom, navigate to the configuration panel for that specific service and turn autostart to Enabled.

Pretty straightforward.  I think you’ll like this solution, as it keeps everything within the AppFabric family.

Below is a walkthrough on how to configure this scenario.  In addition to this post, I recommend you take a look at this article on MSDN.

1. Thoroughly review Getting Started with Windows Server AppFabric Cache to get everything setup.
2. Open up the Cache PowerShell console (Start –> Windows Server AppFabric –> Caching Administration Windows PowerShell).  This will automatically import the DistributedCacheAdministration module and use the CacheCluster.
3. Start the Cache Cluster (if not already started).  Run the following command in the PowerShell console:
   

   Start-CacheCluster

4. Create a new cache that you will leverage for your session state provider.  Run the following command in the PowerShell console:

   New-Cache MySessionStateCache

5. Create a new ASP.NET Web Application in Visual Studio 2010 targeting .NET 4.0.  This will create a sample project, complete with master page which we’ll leverage later on.
6. Add references to the Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.Client and Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.Core.  To do this, use the following steps (thanks to Ron Jacobs for the insight):
   1. Right-click on your project and select Add Reference.
   2. Select the Browse tab.
   3. Enter the following folder name, and press enter:

      %windir%\Sysnative\AppFabric

   4. Locate and select both Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.Client and Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.Core assemblies.
7. Add the configSections element to the web.config file as the very first element element in the configuration element:

   <!--configSections must be the FIRST element -->
   

   <configSections>
   

     <!-- required to read the <dataCacheClient> element -->
   

     <section name="dataCacheClient"
   

           type="Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheClientSection,
   

             Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.Core, Version=1.0.0.0,
   

             Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"
   

           allowLocation="true"
   

           allowDefinition="Everywhere"/>
   

   </configSections>

8. Add the dataCacheClient element to the web.config file, after the configSections element.  Be sure to replace YOURHOSTNAME with the name of your cache host.  In the PowerShell console you can get the HostName (and CachePort) by starting or restarting your cache).

   <dataCacheClient>
   

     <!-- cache host(s) -->
   

     <hosts>
   

       <host
   

           name="YOURHOSTNAME"
   

           cachePort="22233"/>
   

     </hosts>
   

   </dataCacheClient>

9. Add the sessionState element to the web.config file in the system.web element.  Be sure that the cacheName is the same as the cache you created in step 4.

   <sessionState mode="Custom" customProvider="AppFabricCacheSessionStoreProvider">
   

     <providers>
   

       <!-- specify the named cache for session data -->
   

       <add
   

         name="AppFabricCacheSessionStoreProvider"
   

         type="Microsoft.ApplicationServer.Caching.DataCacheSessionStoreProvider"
   

         cacheName="MySessionStateCache"
   

         sharedId="SharedApp"/>
   

     </providers>
   

   </sessionState>

10. Now, we need a quick and easy way to test this.  There are many ways to do this, below is mine.  I loaded data into session, then created a button that writes the session data into a JavaScript alert.  Quick and easy:

    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    

    {
    

        // Store information into session
    

        Session["PageLoadDateTime"] = DateTime.Now.ToString();
    

        // Reference the ContentPlaceHoler on the master page
    

        ContentPlaceHolder mpContentPlaceHolder =
    

            (ContentPlaceHolder)Master.FindControl("MainContent");
    

        if (mpContentPlaceHolder != null)
    

        {
    

            // Register the button
    

            mpContentPlaceHolder.Controls.Add(
    

                GetButton("btnDisplayPageLoadDateTime", "Click Me"));
    

        }
    

    }
    

    // Define the button
    

    private Button GetButton(string id, string name)
    

    {
    

        Button b = new Button();
    

        b.Text = name;
    

        b.ID = id;
    

        b.OnClientClick = "alert('PageLoadDateTime defined at " +
    

            Session["PageLoadDateTime"] + "')";
    

        return b;
    

    }

11. Now, hit control-F5 to start your project.  After it loads, click the button labeled “Click Me” – you should see the following alert:
    

That’s it!  You have now configured your ASP.NET web application to leverage Windows Server AppFabric Cache to store all Session State. 

While I was putting this together, I encountered two errors.  I figured I’d share them here, along with resolution, in case any of you encounter the same problems along the way.

Configuration Error

Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration

file required to service this request. Please review the specific error

details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: ErrorCode<ERRCA0009>:SubStatus<ES0001>:Cache

referred to does not exist. Contact administrator or use the Cache

administration tool to create a Cache.


If you received the above error message, it’s likely that the cacheName specified in the sessionState element is wrong.  Update the cacheName to reflect the cache you created in step #4.

Configuration Error

Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration

file required to service this request. Please review the specific error

details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: ErrorCode<ERRCA0017>:SubStatus<ES0006>:There is

a temporary failure. Please retry later. (One or more specified Cache

servers are unavailable, which could be caused by busy network or

servers. Ensure that security permission has been granted for this

client account on the cluster and that the AppFabric Caching Service

is allowed through the firewall on all cache hosts. Retry later.)


If you received the above error message, it’s likely that the host name specified in the dataCacheClient is wrong.  Update the dataCacheClient host name to reflect the name of your host.  Note: it’s likely that it’s just your machine name.

Hope this help!

I recommend you break this up into three steps:

• Installing Windows Server AppFabric
• Configuring Windows Server AppFabric Cache
• Testing Windows Server AppFabric Cache with Sample Apps

I think this article will serve as a good tutorial on getting started, and we can refer back to it as the basis for more advanced scenarios.

Installing Windows Serve AppFabric

1. Get the Web Platform Installer.
2. Once it is installed and opened, select Options.
   
3. Under Display additional scenarios select Enterprise.
   
4. Now you’ll see an Enterprise tab.  Select it, and choose Windows Server AppFabric.  Click Install.  This will start a multi-step process for installing Windows Server AppFabric (which in my case required two reboots to complete).
   

Configuring Windows Server AppFabric Cache

1. Open the Windows Server AppFabric Configuration Wizard (Start –> Windows Server AppFabric –> Configure AppFabric).
2. Click Next until you reach the Caching Service step.  Check Set Caching Service configuration, select SQL Server AppFabric Caching Service Configuration Store Provider for the configuration provider, and click Configure.
   
3. Check Create AppFabric Caching Service configuration database, confirm the Server name, and specify a Database name. Click OK.
   
4. When asked if you want to continue, click Yes.
   
5. You will receive confirmation that your database was created and registered.
   
6. On the Cache Node step, confirm the selected port nodes.
   
7. You will be asked to continue and apply the configuration settings; select Yes.
   
8. On the last step you’ll click Finish.
9. Open up an elevated Windows PowerShell window.
10. Add the Distributed Cache administration module

    Import-Module DistributedCacheAdministration

11. Set the context of your Windows PowerShell session to the desired cache cluster with Use-CacheCluster.  You can run this without parameters to use the connection parameters provided during configuration.

    Use-CacheCluster

12. Grant your user account access to the cache cluster as a client.  Specify your user and domain name.

    Grant-CacheAllowedClientAccount domain\username

13. Verify your user account has been granted access.

    Get-CacheAllowedClientAccounts

14. Start the cluster.

    Start-CacheCluster

Testing Windows Server AppFabric Cache with Sample Apps

1. Grab a copy of the Microsoft AppFabric Samples, which are a series of very short examples.
2. Extract the samples locally.
3. Open up CacheSampleWebApp.sln (..\Samples\Cache\CacheSampleWebApp).
4. Right-click the CreateOrder.aspx file and select Set As Start Page.
5. Hit F5 to start the solution.
6. Confirm that the cache is functioning by creating a sample order, getting the sample order, and updating the sample order.

Once you accomplish these three steps, you’ll have the basis for building more complex caching solutions.

I hope this helps!

Adding a Ws2007HttpRelayBinding endpoint that uses TransportWithMessageCredential security mode to a ServiceHost that also exposes a local MEX endpoint (not visible through the Service Bus) using the mexHttpsBinding, causes the local MEX endpoint to stop working. Invoking the MEX endpoint results in an InvalidOperationException.

If you are not experiencing this bug, there is no need for you to download the new version of the SDK.

Here’s the post from the Windows Azure AppFabric team blog.

I decided to use Microsoft Expression Encoder 3 – a great tool.  The best part is that there’s an SDK and set of assemblies that you can use in your own applications.

Note: if you are using a 64-bit machine, be sure to set the platform target of your application to x86, or else you will get compilation errors from the Encoder assemblies.

Below you’ll find the application I wrote.  Let me explain my goals:

• Multi-thread the application to encode more than one video at a time.
• Leverage the multitude of cores in my machine.
• Limit the number of threads (I chose the core count as a baseline).
• Use source video and audio source to reduce quality lose.

In order to do this, I had to do two things: 1) find a way to pass in the file name into thread, and 2) keep track of the number of threads and limit them to the number of cores in the machine.

I spent a bit of time looking for a good approach.  In the end, I chose to use the delegate ParameterizedThreadStart, which takes a parameter of type object.  This way, I can create a thread using an instance of this delegate instead of just ThreadStart, and the overload to Thread.Start allows me to specify a value that is passed to this new thread.  (Be careful, though, as it only accepts a single parameter (although it can be a collection) and isn’t type-safe.)  Additionally, with this approach I was able to leverage a counter, and sleep whenever the counter is going to exceed the number of cores in my machine.

Here’s all the code.  For this to function, I imported the following assemblies (yes, you need Expression Encoder 3):

• Microsoft.Expression.Encoder
• Microsoft.Expression.Encoder.Types
• Microsoft.Expression.Encoder.Utilities
• WindowsBase

// This method is used to look-up the core the thread is using

[DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]

public static extern int GetCurrentProcessorNumber();

static string inputFolder = @"C:\temp\Videos";

static string outputFolder = @"C:\temp\OutputVideo";

static int count;

static int maxNum;

static void Main(string[] args)

{

    // Start the counter at zero

    count = 0;

    // Grab the processor count

    maxNum = Environment.ProcessorCount;

    // Iterate through the AVI files

    foreach (var fileName in System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(inputFolder, "*.avi"))

    {

        // Sleep/wait for a core to free up

        while (count > (maxNum - 1))

        {

            Thread.Sleep(500);

        }

        // Increment the counter

        count++;

        // Create the thread with the delegate

        Thread t = new Thread(new ParameterizedThreadStart(EncodeFile));

        // Start the thread, passing in the file name

        t.Start(fileName);

    }

}

public static void EncodeFile(object ofileName)

{

    string fileName = (string)ofileName;

    MediaItem mediaItem = new MediaItem(fileName);

    mediaItem.OutputFormat = new WindowsMediaOutputFormat();

    // Use source video profile if available

    if (mediaItem.SourceVideoProfile != null)

    {

        mediaItem.OutputFormat.VideoProfile = mediaItem.SourceVideoProfile;

    }

    else

    {

        mediaItem.OutputFormat.VideoProfile = new AdvancedVC1VideoProfile()

        {

            Size = mediaItem.MainMediaFile.VideoStreams[0].VideoSize,

            Bitrate = new ConstantBitrate(1000)

        };

    }

    // Use source audio profile if available

    if (mediaItem.SourceAudioProfile != null)

    {

        mediaItem.OutputFormat.AudioProfile = mediaItem.SourceAudioProfile;

    }

    else

    {

        mediaItem.OutputFormat.AudioProfile = new WmaAudioProfile();

    }

    // Create a job and the media item for the video we wish to encode.

    Job job = new Job();

    job.MediaItems.Add(mediaItem);

    // Set up the progress callback function

    job.EncodeProgress

        += new EventHandler<EncodeProgressEventArgs>(OnProgress);

    // Set up the completed callback function

    job.EncodeCompleted

        += new EventHandler<EncodeCompletedEventArgs>(job_EncodeCompleted);

    // Set the output directory and encode

    job.OutputDirectory = outputFolder;

    // Do not create a job subfolder

    job.CreateSubfolder = false;

    // Encode

    job.Encode();

}

static void job_EncodeCompleted(object sender, EncodeCompletedEventArgs e)

{

    // Decrement the counter

    count--;

}

static void OnProgress(object sender, EncodeProgressEventArgs e)

{

    // Write out information

    Console.WriteLine(

        count.ToString() + " : " +

        GetCurrentProcessorNumber().ToString() + " : " +

        System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.ManagedThreadId.ToString() + " : " +

        e.Progress + " : " +

        e.CurrentItem.ActualOutputFileName);

}

Good stuff.

I’m running it from the console, so you will have to make some modifications if you want it to run in a more sophisticated application.  Works for me, though – I just start it up at the end of the day.  Here you can see the information that’s written out to the console (note the variety of cores leveraged):

It’s fun to see my machine working this hard.  Every core is pegged.

Hope someone finds this useful.  Anyone see a better way to approach this?

(Ours is the second down on the left.)

While this article is by no means exhaustive, we did try to explain some of the common patterns and scenarios we faced when helping customers migrate their applications into Windows Azure.  I hope you find it valuable.

Quick summary of new capabilities in the Access Control Service:

• Integration with Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) and tooling
• Out-of-the-box support for popular web identity providers including: Windows Live ID, OpenID, Google, Yahoo, and Facebook
• Out-of-the-box support for Active Directory Federation Server v2.0
• Support for OAuth WRAP, WS-Trust, and WS-Federation protocols
• Support for the SAML 1.1, SAML 2.0, and Simple Web Token (SWT) token formats
• Integrated and customizable Home Realm Discovery that allows end-users to choose their identity provider
• An OData-based Management Service that provides programmatic access to ACS configuration
• A Web Portal that allows administrative access to ACS configuration

Try this out yourself.  Use Visual Studio, install Windows Identity Foundation, and go to https://portal.appfabriclabs.com/.

For detailed information and a more verbose walkthrough (i.e. including explanations), listen to Justin Smith’s walkthrough and interview.