Vincent Belllet's Blog [MSFT] - EN

Silverlight 4 & ASP.NET MVC Beta 2 available!

VincentBellet — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:54:30 GMT

Following the different PDC announces, you have now Silverlight 4 and ASP.NET MVC beta versions available.

Feel free to go to each website to get product and further information:

SL4 Beta: http://www.silverlight.net/getstarted/silverlight-4-beta/
ASP.NET MVC Beta: http://www.asp.net/mvc/

Enjoy!

SQL Server 2008: Slipstreamed with SP1

VincentBellet — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:38:42 GMT

In this post, we will see how to prepare a slipstreamed installation of SQL Server 2008 RTM with its Service Pack 1.

What?

A slipstreamed version is in reality an installation package modified to integrate product updates such as service packs.

More and more Microsoft products allow to make this procedure and to be honest with you it becomes really simple to prepare slipstreamed package on your own.

Why?

I’m sure you already know why we do this kind of thing! Of course, it allows to deploy a product with its service pack integrated, so no need anymore to install the product and then the desired service pack. Products such as MOSS 2007 are very easy to slipstream thanks to a dedicated “updates” folder. Concerning SQL Server 2008, it is also quite simple.

Procedure step by step

IMPORTANT: this example uses the default language of SQL Server 2008 setup, so the English package. So if you use a localized setup, be careful to download the corresponding service pack and edit below commands according to your own needs.

First, copy installation content of SQL Server 2008 RTM setup to a temporary folder. Let’s say C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1 On the right a snapshot of the SQL Server 2008 setup, root folder.
Download SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 from the following address: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=66ab3dbb-bf3e-4f46-9559-ccc6a4f9dc19&displaylang=en We highly recommend to download SP1 for each architecture and not only for the one you are supposed to use.	SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-IA64-ENU.exe SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x64-ENU.exe SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x86-ENU.exe
Once downloaded, you need to extract package source for each service pack executable package. You can use the following commands from a command prompt (cmd, powershell) to proceed. It will extract the SP1 source of each architecture to a new created folder, named “PCU”	SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-IA64-ENU.exe /x:c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU SQLServer2008SP1-KB968369-x64-ENU.exe /x:c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU Server2008SP1-KB968369-x86-ENU.exe /x:c:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU
Next step, you have just to copy/paste the setup.exe and setup.rll files from the PCU folder to the SQL Server 2008 root folder (it should be the parent folder of PCU if you respected the different steps).
Now, the last step is to update the files of each architecture. From PCU\<Architecture> you copy all files (not folders) except Microsoft.SQL.Chainer.PackageData.dll and paste them in root folder\<Architecture. If you ve respected the different paths of this post, it should be from C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\PCU\<Architecture> to C:\SQLServer2008_FullSP1\<Architecture>
Your files are now updated, final step is to define the PCU source folder. You have just to open the DefaultSetup.ini file contained in each architecture folder. Relative path You can indicate the PCU Source as a relative path but you will have to launch the installation from the setup path to proceed. Absolute path You can also use an absolute path, very practical if you know the full path and if it does not change constantly.	Relative path example: PCUSOURCE=".\PCU" Absolute path example: PCUSOURCE=”\\Server\Products\SQLServer2008SP1\PCU”

Now your slipstreamed installation of SQL Server 2008 SP1 is ready! You can use this installation on a shared folder on your network or to make an ISO for example

Vincent

Microsoft Autocollage? What? How? Why?

VincentBellet — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:05:10 GMT

Hey guys,

There is a great tool which is developed by our friends from MSR (Microsoft Research) to compile a set of pictures and mix them to get a really nice result

It is not just a tool which takes pictures one by one, it takes in account a big number of factors such as face recognition, colors, forms….

Personally, I love to use this tool to compile my best shots to show such previews or best of!

Here some collages I ve done with my personal pictures taken in New-York and Canada recently:

Start Autocollage

When you start the application, the image browser will display pictures from the last open folder or from your personal image folder.

On the right panel, you have 2 different subpanels:

Action
- You can create your collage and save it one done
- You can email it or define your background picture with it directly
- Choose the number of picture which will compose your collage
- Define collage and application settings via the options button
Image Browser
- Define the file location of your pictures

Autocollage options – 3 tabs


Output This tab enables to define the size and the orientation of the collage. You have some predefined formats but you can also define yours.	Input This tab is very interesting. You can “force” the autocollage process to give priority to some given pictures in the collage (ranking) You can also choose to see or not when autocollage detects faces during picture loading.	Registration Some common information about application version, your registration number…

Autocollage – How to proceed?

Ok we are set and ready to go!

Start defining your picture location with the image browser. You should see your pictures loaded:

The next step is to define the number of pictures you want for your collage. In the version 1.1 of the application, minimum is 7 and maximum is 50. Note that obviously more the number of pictures is more time it will take to proceed.

Define ranking

If you choose in the options to define ranking with your pictures. If you click on a picture, it will be resized and you will see the autocollage symbol Clicking on this symbol you will see the different ranking symbols:

Click on the desired picture. You see the autocollage symbol on the top left. This symbol represents an “automatic ranking”
Click once and you will get another symbol. This “1” represents the notion of “top ranked” picture.
Click once again. This “2” represents the notion of “second ranked” picture
Click once again The up arrow means “prefer this image”
Click once again The down arrow means “avoid this picture”

Collage creation

Once your customizations are ok, click on the Create button from the action panel on the right.

After few seconds, you will see the result!

Once done, you have all options to save, send, share it

You can get more information from the official website and also get it from: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/cambridge/projects/autocollage/

Vincent

SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP: Installation Step by Step

VincentBellet — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:47:00 GMT

Hey,

You will find below the different steps to install SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP. As you will see, it is quite the same procedure as the August CTP and also SQL Server 2008 RTM.

The main difference is the ability to deploy the gemini service to a Sharepoint 14 farm as a setup role. It’s is one of the main new feature with R2.

Comparing to the August CTP, you have another setup role. Actually, you can install all SQL Server features with default values for the service accounts. Quite interesting for development platforms or to test the products.

The below installation show all steps to install SQL Server 2008 R2 with all features and defining service accounts information.

R2 great features R2

MDS : Master Datamanagement offer
Geo maps, mashup report creation with Reporting Services, we will also appreciate a ReportBuilder 3.0 still more closed by your needs everyday!
StreamInsight : complex event processing offer

Enjoy!

Installation on the same machine with August CTP?

The first step is obviously to uninstall the old version and to restart the machine.

The second step will be to remove manually the ReportServer data files to avoid any error during the CTP November installation. Go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.YourInstanceName\MSSQL\DATA (folder by default) and remove the 4 ReportServer files:

Installation Steps Novembre CTP

Welcome screen As you can see you do not see big changes comparing to the welcome screen of SQL Server 2008 RTM.
Installation screen After clicking on “Installation” on the left panel, you see all installation options. From this screen, you can install a new instance, add features to an existing instance, create a cluster, add a node to an existing cluster…
Setup support rules
Product Key By default, the CTP from MSDN/TechNet is pre pinned.
License terms Click accept but also to send information to Microsoft, why? It’s important for a CTP stage to have all possible feedbacks from you to improve the product until the RTM version!
Setup support files
Setup support rules By clicking on the show details button you can see whether your configuration respects SQL Server 2008 R2 requirements.
Setup role As mentioned in the beginning of this post, you have 3 setup roles with this CTP. I will write another post for the AS deployment with MOSS 14 farm. Select the SQL Server feature installation
Feature selection If you want to have an exhaustive view about this CTP, feel free to install all features. If you are familiar with the SQL Server 2008 RTM you will find the same items.
Installation Rules
Instance configuration From this screen, you can choose to install a default instance (MSSQLSERVER) or a named instance, it depends on your needs.
Disk space requirements Checks the size of the installation drive.
Server configuration – Service accounts tab Here you will define your service accounts. Just for a reminder, a best practice is to define a dedicated windows service account for each SQL Server service. You can also define the startup type of each service. If you install the product to use it periodically, feel free to select a manual startup.
Server configuration – Collation tab You can select the collation for the SQL Server databases as well as the Analysis Services DBs.
Database engine configuration – Account provisioning An important step to define the kind of security access you need for your instance. A best practice is to use the windows authentication type. However, to test and so on I advise to use a mix authentication type.
Database engine configuration – Data directories tab This screen is also very important to define the location of the different SQL Server files. For example, a good practice is to have data files on another drive than the instance files. It depends on your needs and the kind of environment you are installing to.
Database engine configuration – FILESTREAM tab If you want to activate the FILESTREAM feature. This feature appeared with SQL Server 2008 RTM.
Analysis services configuration – Account provisioning As the database engine configuration, you have to define the administrator for your AS instance.
Analysis services configuration – Data directories Once again, as the DB engine config, you have to specify the files location.
Reporting Services configuration You have 3 possibilities. If you know you will use RS independently, choose the native mode. If you know you will deploy your RS reports on SharePoint websites, use the SharePoint integrated mode. If you do not know yet how you will consume your RS reports, choose the last option. It can be defined later with the “Reporting Services Configuration Manager” tool.
Error Reporting Once again, please choose to send error information to Microsoft as it will help us to improve the product until the RTM version.
Installation Configuration rules
Ready to install Check whether all features you wish are planned to be installed.
Installation Progress
Complete installation step You are set!
Check files installation C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server by default You can note your instance folders are named with the following pattern: %Product%10_50.%InstanceName% With SQL Server 2008 RTM it was: %Product%10.%InstanceName%
Check SQL Server services One way to check is everything works fine is to check SQL Server services. Start the “SQL Server Configuration Manager” tool. You will see the installed SQL Server services as well as their running status.

SQL Server 2008 R2: November CTP ready for download!

VincentBellet — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:02:00 GMT

Hey guys,

You follow up very closely this great product development? After the august CTP, now you have the November one so go to the download page and enjoy it!

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2.aspx

Vincent

Power Pivot: THE official blog

VincentBellet — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:37:00 GMT

To follow up information from the product team and so on….just one address: http://blogs.msdn.com/gemini

Enjoy!

I want to customize more and more my Windows 7

VincentBellet — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:14:00 GMT

As you know, today is a great for us as we launch our famous Windows 7 officially!

You will appreciate some new features such as to customize your windows with lots of themes and with an easy way!

To provide you a maximum of content, you have lots of new themes.

GO here to download: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/personalize

Do not forget you can create your own theme as well.

Vincent

BING….is pleased to present…search engine with Twitter!

VincentBellet — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:41:00 GMT

Still some doubts about our innovative power??

Ok let’s go, we have just added a new feature on our famous search engine….you can now search againts tweets that are grouped by themes! Note that this feature is only provided on the US version at this time.

http://www.bing.com/twitter?mtk=en-us

Let’s see the page of today:

Note: as a big surprise, Windows 7 takes part of the main subjects today!

Click on the theme of your choice and get tweets:

If you follow the different features we are releasing on our search engine, you can understand why Google is so nervous now about Bing!:

http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-well-what-do-you-know-google-is-actually-nervous-about-microsoft-bing-2009-10

Vincent

BI: Gemini…becomes Power Pivot for Excel 2010!

VincentBellet — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:31:00 GMT

I’m sure you all heard about Gemini….s great add-in for Excel 2010 to improve data analysis directly from your favorite client application….Excel!

You need further information about Power Pivot? Really simple, we put online a dedicated website http://www.powerpivot.com/

You will be able to follow instructions to go deeper and learn how to use it.

You can subscribe to release notifications and stay tuned on Facebook/Twiter…become a fan as well!

Vincent

DEV: Visual Studio, MSDN….a great day for developers!

VincentBellet — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:29:00 GMT

Here we go!

We announced some important news around the development ecosystem!

Visual Studio 2010

Download Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1
Official site: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/default.mspx
A new logo!
.NET framework 4.0, all products around VSTS: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/try/default.mspx#download

MSDN

New look!
More offers such Team Foundation Server
Simplify your choice: 9 core developer products to 4!
http://msdn.microsoft.com

Vincent

Do you need SharePoint 2010 resources?

VincentBellet — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:04:00 GMT

At the SharePoint conference in Las Vegas we announced some further information about SharePoint 2010.

This is a really important release for us and you!

To understand why, you have a lot of resources you can use:

SharePoint 2010 Website - to view SharePoint 2010 in action
SharePoint 2010 forum- for SharePoint 2010 questions
SharePoint 2010 PressPass- for the SPC 2009 keynote video, a Q&A with Jeff Teper, and more
SharePoint 2010 Developer Center - for developer info (MSDN)
http://www.mssharepointitpro.com - for IT Pro information (TechNet)
http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint - for more SharePoint information

Vincent

TFS2008: Tips and tricks to fix potential errors after installation

VincentBellet — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:25:00 GMT

Hi all,

After having some problems recently to install a TFS platform, I decided to post some tips and tricks about it.

Even if your favorite search engine (just in case I precise Bing www.bing.com ) is your best friend to troubleshoot errors with a copy/paste of the error number or/and error descriptions, you can have multiple causes for the same error. You will find mine below and even if it does not fix your problem, it’s a kind of checklist.

TFS31001: Team Foundation cannot retrieve the list of team projects

This error is most of time linked to security permissions
If you try to access to http://<yourreportserver/reports/pages/folder.aspx and you do not see folder content with your admin account
If you try to access to the TFS webservice /services/v1.0/ServerStatus.asmx">http://<yourapptiersserv>/services/v1.0/ServerStatus.asmx and you get a 403 error. With Fiddler, you determine the authentication process is ok and you just do not have permissions
Potential solution: Run your Visual Studio/Team Explorer as an administrator

TFS31002: Unable to Connect to this Team Foundation Server

This error is also linked to security permissions
Check your server name syntax, check in IIS your application pools are started as well as your TFS windows services
On my side the problem was linked to the Workgroup edition, you have to declare your users/groups as licensed users.

TFS30224: Failed to retrieve projects from the report server

Check if your reportserver is up
Check if the Reporting Services service is started
One solution is to reinstall the SP1 of TFS2008 after the installation of Team Explorer.

Vincent

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Application Servers-Gartner: Microsoft as a leader

VincentBellet — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:55:00 GMT

A new time, Microsoft is considered as a leader on this market by the Gartner group. A new proof of Microsoft’s capabilities in building, deploying and supporting applications!

Lots of innovations continue notably with SaaS (Software as a Service) and cloud-enabled application servers (SEAP)

Do not forget the PDC dates mid-november, a great period to launch officially our cloud offers. http://microsoftpdc.com/

More details about Gartner’s report: http://www.gartner.com/technology/media-products/reprints/microsoft/vol11/article3/article3.html

Team Foundation Server 2010: new version, new installation possibilities

VincentBellet — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:36:00 GMT

As you might know, TFS 2010 is really closed from us now, just few months to wait for.

I would like to remind you some great possibilities around the installation process we will have:

No architecture restriction: TFS will be installed on x86 and x64 architectures!
Installation on clients and servers operating systems…haven’t you ever tried to test TFS without setting up a server machine?!
Installation on DCs…a real need for small organizations

If you already work with TFS, you know it can be a pain to install and configure, on the link below you will see how much it has been simplified!

For more details, see my colleague’s post from the TFS team right here: http://blogs.msdn.com/bharry/archive/2009/10/01/tfs-2010-for-sourcesafe-users.aspx

Vincent

Get Windows 7 regional themes?

VincentBellet — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:44:09 GMT

You like your local theme when you selected your regional settings during Windows 7 installation….but you might want to use other available themes.

Really simple, type the following address in your explorer: C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT and you will get the different themes, for each region you have a “theme” folder.

Enjoy!

More details: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3476/access-international-themes-in-windows-7/