Jeff Nuckolls {Microsoft Development Platforms & Tools}

Private Platform as a Service (aka. Windows Azure Appliance)

Jeff Nuckolls — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 04:34:44 GMT

Microsoft will be the first to provide a comprehensive "Private" Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering based on the current Windows Azure Platform, called the " Windows Azure Platform Appliance ". If you know anything about Windows Azure, just take all...(read more)

Migrate existing applications and databases to Azure (step-by-step)

Jeff Nuckolls — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 01:15:28 GMT

Here is a quick/simple 5-step migration of an existing ASP.NET web application and SQL Server database to Windows Azure “Web Roles” and SQL Azure.

It’s intended to be a very simple demonstration to convey the concept and tools used. It does NOT include all features of Azure or various enterprise scenarios such as large database partitioning/scaling, service bus integration, authentication, Worker Roles for background processing, or the multiple storage options available in Azure.

Step 1. Setup your environment, download/install the required tools, and create your Azure Subscriptions.

Step 2. Create a simple ASP.NET web application and SQL Server database using Visual Studio 2010.

Step 3. SQL Server migration to SQL Azure.

Step 4. ASP.NET (on-premise) to SQL Azure hybrid integration.

Step 5. Migrate ASP.NET application Windows Azure.

Hope this was helpful… future screen casts will delve into further details in various areas.

Cloud Computing in Education - (a non-technical business case)

Jeff Nuckolls — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:51:00 GMT

The Power of Choice

Over the years, education has evolved with the decades of change in software platforms and IT. The platform paradigms shifted from the mainframe/midrange, client-server, web/mobile, and services oriented infrastructure/architecture. Each designed to resolve the shortcomings of its predecessor. Today, students are digital natives proving once again that “Moore’s Law” holds true. They expect a seamless user experience across an ever growing variety of computers, mobile phones, embedded devices, and even TVs that are changing at an exponential rate. However, keeping up with the rate of change and providing adequate academic services have challenged the cash-strapped education industry, polarized further by the current economic recession.

The cloud has now emerged as the next wave innovative IT services that address the challenges of today. By providing a familiar Microsoft platform, database/storage, and computing environment across a fabric of virtual servers “as a service”, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform (Windows Azure) offers immediate and tangible returns of your investment. Instead of spending “months of money” per IT initiative on capacity planning, data center real-estate, hardware, staff, and related resources, the cloud provides a scale-on-demand infrastructure, pay-as-you-go subscription pricing model, an SLA with 99.9+% uptime, and 24/7 IT support.

Some have positioned the cloud as the “platform of choice”, while Microsoft sees it as a “choice of platform”. It’s not an “all or nothing” approach, but rather a choice to host your line of business applications, data, and/or services on-premise, in the cloud, or a hybrid of any combination, which we refer to as “Software plus Services”. Choice is especially beneficial to education institutions, which until now, have had little/no choice but to invest heavily into fragmented IT cost centers on-premise.

How can Microsoft’s cloud computing platform (Windows Azure) turn your IT cost center into an IT enabler for teaching and learning?

To help answer this question, let’s meet two education industry leaders.

First meet David. David is the superintendent for a large school district that is embarking upon a Student Lifecycle Management initiative. The goal of this initiative is to track a student’s academic performance, extra circular activities, college-prep projects, and progression from enrollment through graduation and beyond. David knows he can easily leverage information already stored in the districts existing systems, such as their Grade book application, Student Information System, and Learning Management System on-premise, but is challenged at how he will be able to aggregate it, security, and make it accessible post-graduation to the state Department of Education, the student or anyone the student wishes to grant access, such as an employer or higher education institution.

Our second education industry leader is Nancy. Nancy is the provost a local university in the same state as David’s school district. Nancy has collaborated with David in the past about ways to streamline the student admissions process, since David’s district represents the largest percentage of prospective student applying for admission at Nancy’s university.

As part of their discussions, it was clear that David’s “Student Lifecycle Management” initiative could help benefit Nancy as well. If only David could provide Nancy direct access to student transcripts and related academic assets, it would help automate the university’s student admissions process.

Instead of opening up firewall access, providing authentication rights to an FTP server, or creating an on-premise solution, they opted for a platform neutral cloud services solution. David published student transcripts and associated essays and research project to the cloud and provided claims-based authorization to Nancy’s university. The project required no hardware, no IT resources to manage IT environment, and no upfront capacity planning because the solution scaled up and down on-demand.

Nancy enabled her admissions office to more efficiently process student transcripts from David’s school district without having to formally request and wait for postal-services to deliver hard copies by mail and re-enter the data into the university systems.

In summary

This solutions could be further automated in a Software plus Services (S+S) scenario. by which on-premise integration and process management software such as Microsoft BizTalk Server and/or Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services work in conjunction with Windows Azure “services” off-premise, to allow scheduled or real-time message exchanges between the two education institutions.

For Education, the power of Microsoft’s cloud computing platform (Windows Azure) is about choice. The choice to determine what software platform model best meets your needs today and tomorrow while adapting to change.

New Azure screencasts and videos available

Jeff Nuckolls — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:49:00 GMT

As we move towards commercial availability, the evangelism team have started to release the next round of training & readiness materials onto channel 9. See here to get started: http://channel9.msdn.com/azure/ to get started or check out the following screencasts and videos:

· What is Windows Azure - http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/dunnry/What-is-Windows-Azure/

· Windows Azure Storage Overview - http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/dunnry/Windows-Azure-Storage-Overview/

· Deploying Applications on Windows Azure - http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/dunnry/Deploying-Applications-on-Windows-Azure/

· Doug Hauger: Insider the Windows Azure Platform Business Model - http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Charles/Doug-Hauger-Inside-the-Windows-Azure-Platform-Business-Model/

SQL Data Services in Education (Overview)

Jeff Nuckolls — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:26:09 GMT

Having to host, manage, monitor, and scale databases comes at a cost. In Education there is a almost a new need to host a new database daily with often unpredictable growth and scale requirements. Image you want to post student achievement reports for K-12 or IPEDS reports for Higher Education or any other data for consumption by your in-house applications or the public. It would be nice to host this information in a pay-as-you-grow “cloud database” such as SQL Data Services (SDS). (A “cloud database” just refers a database hosted across a fabric of servers in the internet. In this case SDS is Microsoft’s cloud database offering based on SQL Server technologies across a world-wide fabric of servers managed and secured by Microsoft.)

You can have on-campus applications/systems accessing and updating this data that is hosted in the cloud. This database is easily accessible via industry standard REST and SOAP based interfaces.

I have recorded this podcast prior to the public announcement of SQL Data Services at PDC in October 2008, but still very applicable toward the IT and economical benefits of this solution for Education.

Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation

Jeff Nuckolls — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:37:46 GMT

I’m a retired US Marine Corps veteran of foreign wars, so when I bought this bottle of “Jarhead Red” wine the other day, I was touched by the underlining benefits. The proceeds go toward the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation who provide educational assistance to the children of fallen Marines.

Created by Marines for the children of fallen Marines for education scholarships!

If you’d like to learn more about this foundation, make a donation, or receive scholarship benefits visit www.mcsf.com. If you just want to enjoy a nice glass of wine and know that the proceeds went towards a good cause, it’s called “Jarhead Red”.

Software plus Services in Education (Overview)

Jeff Nuckolls — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:18:42 GMT

With already tight budgets in Education, these hard economic times add an extra burden that force IT decision makers to be ever more creative to offset costs and turn IT cost centers into IT enablers for the Business of Education as well as the Teaching and Learning process.

In this podcast I cover the broader impact of Software + Services across the vast IT and economic challenges faced by both K-12 and Higher Education. In later podcasts I will drill down into more specific technologies, solutions, and scenarios; however if you have questions or requests for details in any area, please comment or email and let me know!

I recorder this podcast a few months back, before the Azure Services Platform was publically announced at PDC in October 2008. While you can register for more current and upcoming webcasts/podcasts at www.educationwebcasts.com, the message here is still very applicable. In summary I discuss the benefits of Software + Services in Education.

Hyper-V error: "failed to remove snapshot" when deleting...

Jeff Nuckolls — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:49:00 GMT

Interesting little error I got while attempting to Delete Snapshot Subtree in Hyper-V Manager. I was able to delete every snapshot, but the first one in my tree which would then throw this error message ('MySnapshot' unable to remove snapshot...). It did not appear in Event Viewer, just the message window and it appears that (so far) I'm the only one to come across this as there is no mention of it on the blog-o-sphere or internally at Microsoft, so it was a bit difficult to diagnose. That just goes to show that I must have been doing something really wrong! :-) In fact I was... the problem was that I accidentally created 2 VMs referencing the same VHD (it would be nice if the 'New Virtual Machine Wizard' would have caught this up front). Once I fixed this the error message no longer appeared and I was able to delete snapshots freely.

BTW... in case anyone else struggles with what exactly 'Delete Snapshot Subtree' does. It should probably be renamed to 'Flatten Snapshot Subtree' or 'Merge Snapshot Subtree' because that is exactly what it does... merge and flatten snapshots in the subtree, it doesn't technically delete any of the changes you did in those snapshots, in fact it merges them and flattens them into the parent snapshot or VHD whichever is parent to the snapshot you select when you click 'Delete Snapshot Subtree'. For example, if you wanted to do the following, then selecting 'Delete Snapshot Subtree' on snapshot1 would merge/flatten all subtree snapshots into the VHD in case you wanted to burn it to DVD or put it on a fileshare... you don't have to include the n# GB of snapshots, just the all-inclusive VHD.

Unit Tests with Visual Studio 2008 (screencast)

Jeff Nuckolls — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:06:00 GMT

Test Driven Development (TDD) has long been advocated as a "best practice" in software development. Without picking apart the details with this theory, I'll just summarize the concept:

prior to jumping in with both feet, writing functional code, start with stubbed out methods/functions/classes/etc... (you might use Class Designer for this part)
second, create a test harness that aligns with the functional requirements... these should test for "expected" results and compare them with "actual" results returned from the functional code (class/method/etc...)
finally start adding code to your stubbed classes/methods... and refining this code until your tests harness receives all "expected" results

Creating these test harnesses can be a cumbersome task and seem to take time away from the valuable development time. Visual Studio can automate a majority of this for you saving you tons of time without bolt-on 3rd party tools, and most importantly recover that valuable development time "without" sacrificing quality code!

Instead of rambling, I recorded a quick 7 minute screencast to get you started in Unit Testing with Visual Studio 2008:

Note: This just touches the surface, but will hopefully prove a decent introduction.

Web Tests in Visual Studio 2008 (screencast)

Jeff Nuckolls — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:03:00 GMT

If you are interested in testing your web applications, Visual Studio offers a great way to do this without bolt-on or expensive 3rd party tools. Auto-record, configure, and even generate coded versions (C# or VB) of your web tests, then reuse with/without Load Tests. You can also add Data Sources (databases, CSV files, and XML files), Validation rules, and Extraction rules to your web tests.

Here I have provided a short screencast to demonstrate "some" of the features for creating Web Tests with Visual Studio 2008:

Enjoy!

Stream Silverlight apps in your blog created with Live Writer...

Jeff Nuckolls — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:04:00 GMT

Here is a cool plug-in for Live Writer from James Clarke (http://www.clarkezone.net/default.aspx?channelid=fe2866cb-00b9-4bff-bb11-1b3a88708a84).

Notice I can now just select "Silverlight Streaming Application" from the Insert menu option.

If you have a Live ID (or wish to create one), you can get up to 10gb of FREE space to host your Silverlight videos/apps at http://silverlight.live.com. When you create an account here you will receive an Account ID and Account Key (required for the following step), be able to upload your Silverlight video/apps, so you can reference insert them as follows:

If you have entered your Account ID and Account Key, then select the Refresh button.

Pick your Silverlight application and click Ok.

Now just your blog, that is all there is to it! :-)

Oh, BTW... if you are looking for a super cool tool to record your screencasts, check out Community Clips at http://communityclips.officelabs.com.

Changing Item-level permissions in a Sharepoint List (WSS 3.0) with Elevated Privileges

Jeff Nuckolls — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:03:00 GMT

Most blogs, books, articles, etc... provide some nice sample code, but they all assume that the user is logged on to Sharepoint as a Site Admin or someone with "Full Control" privileges. :-)

What if you need to do something to the currently logged on user (which is NOT a Site Admin with Full Control) that requires elevated permissions... such as changing the user's item-level permission on a document they just added to the List.

Your knee jerk reaction is to steal a commonly published workaround for running code with elevated permissions by using...

SPSecurity.RunWithEleveatedPrivilege(delegate(){....//add your elevated privileged code here... });

The problem is that you have just changed the user context to Sharepoint\System, but you need it to be the actual logged on Domain\UserName, so you can change/lookup/remove/add/etc... that particular user's Group/Role Assignment affiliations and/or permissions.

So here is some sample code (that does NOT assume the logged on user has "Full Control" permissions already, although its ok if they do), that overrides the ItemAdded event handler and does some work requiring elevated permissions, but with the actual user context instead of Sharepoint\System. It first checks if the user is in a particular Group, then based on that will remove their Group affiliations, and ultimately change their permissions ONLY on the file that they just added to the Document Library (this same code example applies to any Sharepoint List). Note that I added a LogEvent method for basic debugging, but as a best practice I would use the Sharepoint Tracing log.

public override void ItemAdded(SPItemEventProperties properties)
{
this.DisableEventFiring();
base.ItemAdded(properties);

    SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate()
    {
        using (SPSite _site = new SPSite(properties.WebUrl))
        {
            using (SPWeb _web = _site.OpenWeb(properties.RelativeWebUrl))
            {

                SPUserToken userToken = _web.AllUsers[properties.UserLoginName].UserToken;
                if (bIsInGroup(properties.WebUrl, properties.RelativeWebUrl, userToken, "Nuckolls University Professors") == false)
                {
                    LogEvent("================Changing Permissions==============");
                    SPListItem _item = _web.Lists[properties.ListId].GetItemById(properties.ListItemId);

_item.BreakRoleInheritance(true);

                    SPRoleAssignmentCollection sr = _item.RoleAssignments;
                    for (int i = sr.Count - 1; i > -1; i--)
                    {
                        sr.Remove(i);
                    }
                    LogEvent("=================Removed All Roles=================");
                    SPUserCollection users = _web.SiteUsers;
                    SPUser student = users[properties.UserLoginName];

                    SPRoleDefinition readerRoleDefinition = _web.RoleDefinitions.GetByType(SPRoleType.Reader);
                    SPRoleAssignment studentRoleAssignment = new SPRoleAssignment(student as SPPrincipal);
                    studentRoleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings.Add(readerRoleDefinition);
                    _item.RoleAssignments.Add(studentRoleAssignment);
                    LogEvent("================Permissions Changes================");
                }
                else
                {
                    LogEvent("This user is in the 'Nuckolls University Professors' group");
                }
                    _web.Dispose();
                }
                _site.Dispose();
            }
        });
    this.EnableEventFiring();
}

private bool bIsInGroup(string siteCollURL, string siteRelativeURL, SPUserToken userToken, string strGroupName)
{
    try
    {
        LogEvent("executed bIsInGroup");
            //Since we need to get site information in context of the "User" (ie. Domain\Steve")
            //instead of the user with elevated previledges (ie. Sharepoint\System), we are
            //creating a new Site object with the "UserToken" and evaluating the "User" with
            //a particular Sharepoint group.
            using (SPSite contextSiteColl = new SPSite(siteCollURL, userToken))
            {
                using (SPWeb contextSite = contextSiteColl.OpenWeb(siteRelativeURL))
                {
                    SPGroup userGroup = contextSite.Groups[strGroupName];
                    if (userGroup != null)
                    {
                        LogEvent(String.Format("Is user in group = {0}", userGroup.ContainsCurrentUser.ToString()));
                        if (!userGroup.ContainsCurrentUser)
                        {
                            return false;
                        }
                        else
                        {
                            return true;
                        }
                    }
                    LogEvent("userGroup = null");
                    return false;
                }
            }
    }
    catch (Exception exception)
    {
        LogEvent("Error checking if user is in a particular group: " + exception.Message.ToString());
    }
    return false;
}

private void ChangeItemLevelPermissions(string user)
{
LogEvent("We should change this user's permission because they are NOT a professor: " + user);
}

private void LogEvent(string debugMsg)
{
    StreamWriter sw = File.AppendText(@"C:\HomeworkListLog.txt");
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
    sb.AppendFormat("[{0}] {1}", DateTime.Now.ToString(), debugMsg);
    sw.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
    sw.Close();
}

I hope this will save you time! And if you've struggling with this for a while, as many others have, then I suggest you should bookmark this blog and get some sleep. :-)

ColdFusion to ASP.NET Migration

Jeff Nuckolls — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:12:00 GMT

When considering a migration from ColdFusion to ASP.NET, you have several options to consider, I’ve touched on just a few here...

Migration options:

Re-write… which is really more like drag-and-drop and configure properties than it is re-writing code
Build on top of Sharepoint – you might find that it makes more sense to leverage Sharepoint as your development platform (which is based on ASP.NET already) vs. building from scratch… especially since it includes a majority of the functionality that you may need in your new application
Use 3^rd party tool to run your Coldfusion code in .NET such as BlueDragon from New Atlanta (some of the webcasts provided below talk about Migration using Blue Dragon below)

Interoperability:

Can ColdFusion and ASP.NET co-exist? Yes they can, in fact here are some resources that may make this process a little easier:

http://www.theserverside.net/news/thread.tss?thread_id=32869
Interoperability between ASP.NET and ColdFusion (Part 1 of 2) http://www.asp.net/learn/webcasts/webcast-113.aspx
Interoperability between ASP.NET and ColdFusion (Part 1 of 2) http://www.asp.net/learn/webcasts/webcast-114.aspx

Additional resources:

Oldie, but goodie whitepaper about ColdFusion to ASP.NET migration: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479305.aspx
Free Webcasts:

Intro to ASP.NET for ColdFusion Developers: Adding ASP.NET to Your Repertoire
Speaker: David Churvis, Productivity Enhancement
We'll show a simple yet real world code comparison between ColdFusion and ASP.NET, so developers can sink their teeth into something more than lecture and demonstrations of assembling drag-and-drop elements. We have two identical applications - one built in ColdFusion and one built in ASP.NET - named Nile.com (a fictitious bookstore) that illustrate these comparisons nicely.
Introduction to ASP.NET for ColdFusion Developers: Building an ASP.NET Application
Speaker: David Churvis, Productivity Enhancement
We'll build the application starting from a blank form, and use a few strategically pre-built items to speed things along and keep the viewers' interest. The idea is to build a small application with all the proper validation, exception handling, and the like layered in as we go along, comparing each topic with its equivalent in ColdFusion. This will give the experienced ColdFusion developer a clear idea of exactly what is involved in building a real world application from the ground up - the only difference is size.

While no migration is easy, I hope this helps you get started.

Migrating from ASP to ASP.NET

Jeff Nuckolls — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:09:00 GMT

Here I have compiled a list of resources to assist anyone interested in making a migration from classic ASP to ASP.NET. If you wish to skip the details below here are a few summarized pointers.

In my humble opinion the easiest approach (using migration wizards) are NOT always the best idea (and sometimes not nearly as easy as you might think), so I would typically recommend re-writing your apps with the following considerations:

Re-writing your classic ASP apps in ASP.NET doesn't alway mean "RE-WRITE"... you will quickly find that much of the functionality, UI, navigation/menus, validation rules, authentication/authorization, etc... can be done via drag-and-drop and/or property setting/configuration setting.
Start with the data access layer and security modules of your existing ASP apps. (Before you go out and start writing your own from scratch, try leveraging some of the code we've made available for you designed with best practices in mind from our Enterprise Library, Application Blocks.)
Migrate your "Include files"... these will include global UI elements (header, menus, footer), global functions (javascript validation, data access functions, other VB Script functions)

Your global UI HTML markup can be migrated into ASP.NET MasterPage files.
Your global functions can be migrated into .NET Class Libraries (if the functionality isn't already made available via Server Controls... in fact I'd check here first)

The rest of this blog will provide further details and resources; however I'd also encourage you to checkout this webcast: http://www.asp.net/learn/videos/video-32.aspx...

ASP to ASP.NET 1.x Migration

While there are tools for migrating from ASP to ASP.NET 1.x, you would still need to open and migrate the ASP.NET 1.x version of your site in Visual Studio 2008 to then migrate it to ASP.NET 3.5. While this may be helpful, there will still be some code rewrites required… the migration tools don’t get everything.

1. Download and Install the ASP to ASP.NET Migration Assistant

a. The migration assistant is 6MB. We recommend that you save it to your local machine before installing it. After completing the installation, follow the instructions in the 'Getting Started' document (go to Start->All Programs->ASP to ASP.NET Migration Assistant->Getting Started)

b. Download the ASP to ASP.NET Migration Assistant

2. Download the ASP to ASP.NET 1.x Migration Guide

a. The ASP to ASP.NET 1.x Migration Guide provides whitepapers, code samples and other resources to help you migrate your skills and applications from ASP to ASP.NET. If you have questions or feedback on the Migration Assistant.

b. Download the ASP to ASP.NET 1.x Migration Guide

3. Download the ASP to ASP.NET Migration Assistant Training

a. This sample application is part of the Migration Assistant best practices guide. After completing the installation, follow the instructions in the 'ASP to ASP.NET Downhill Bikes Migration' document (go to Start->All Programs->ASP to ASP.NET Migration Training)

b. Download the ASP to ASP.NET Migration Assistant Training
Download the Migration Assistant best practices guide

4. Review the ASP to ASP.NET 1.x Migration Assistant Best Practices Guide

a. The Migration Assistant best practices guide walks you through the migration of an ASP sample application to ASP.NET v1.x using the Migration Assistant. The guide then describes how to migrate optimize the migrated application by taking advantage of the features of ASP.NET.

b. Download the ASP to ASP.NET 1.x Migration Assistant Best Practices Guide

ASP to ASP.NET 2.0 +

I would definitely watch these videos on Tips, Trick, Gotchas, and best practices for migrating your classic ASP site to ASP.NET 2.0 (it is still very applicable to migrating to 3.5 as well, just keep in mind that there are some enhancements in 3.0 and 3.5 that you may consider beyond whats available in 2.0. Either way these video are applicable.

1. Migrating from Classic ASP to ASP.NET 2.0 (Part 1 of 2)

2. Migrating from Classic ASP to ASP.NET 2.0 (Part 2 of 2)

Best Practices for .NET Development

There are several links of this launch site for Best Practices, including the plug-and-play reusable modules that we talked about for developing your ASP.NET web architecture and Enterprise Libraries that you can plug into your ASP.NET apps and start taking advantage of out of the box or customize to fit your specific needs:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/practices/default.aspx

Quick Tutorials, Learning Videos, and Labs

These include short learning videos for everything from ASP.NET 3.5 to Visual Studio 2008 features.

· www.asp.net

· www.learnvisualstudio.net

· www.teamsystemrocks.com

· http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/bb188199.aspx

· Learn Visual Studio 2008 – Portal site

· Visual Studio 2008 Virtual Labs

o Try Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 in a virtual lab and learn more about accessing relational data using Language Integrated Query (LINQ) to SQL or how Visual Studio 2008 integrates with .NET Framework 3.5. Virtual labs are simple, with no complex setup or installation required.

· SQL Server 2008 Virtual Labs

o Test drive Microsoft SQL Server 2008 in a virtual lab. See why SQL Server 2008 is at the heart of a comprehensive data programmability platform that enables you to access and manipulate business-critical data from a variety of diverse devices, platforms, and data services across the enterprise.

· Windows Server 2008 Virtual Labs

o Try out the latest version of Windows Server in a virtual lab. Discover how Windows Server 2008 provides a solid foundation for all of your server workload and application requirements while also being easy to deploy and manage.

I hope this helps you along the journey to .NET!

Biztalk POP3 Adapter and WSS Adapter Example

Jeff Nuckolls — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:59:00 GMT

After some extensive research I could not find a good example of how I could receive an Email via the POP3 Adapter for Biztalk Server 2006 R2 that completely parsed out the header content (To, From, Subject, CC, etc...) and the Body (I don't parse the attachments in this example, but here is a sample that does a great job of parsing multiple attachments, thanks to Stephen W. Thomas for posting it.).

* For this article I make a general assumption that you already have a working knowledge about the Biztalk for creating and deploying a basic Biztalk application.

Scenario:

College Admissions process requires that a prospective student submit an Essay as part of their application for admittance to the University. Here the student will be submitting their essays in the body of an email. Instead having someone in the Admissions office monitor a huge inbox, we can automate the process of by parsing out the email and submitting it to a Sharepoint List. For this first example that is as far as we'll take it, but the idea is that once anything is submitted to a Sharepoint List... Sharepoint workflows can be started, staff from the Admission Office can easily search/edit/export these essays, they can be automatically be correlated with other application artifacts (ie. Transcripts, Application Info, Financial records, etc...) based on the application ID or student email to ultimately create a single "student profile" once everything has been received for a particular student. (I'll demonstrate the rest of these other pieces in a separate example.)

Setup a custom List in Sharepoint (WSS or MOSS):

(Details about setting up and configuring Sharepoint and Biztalk are beyond the scope of this example.)

Here I have created a custom List called "Essays for Student Admission Applications" with the following Columns:

Changed the Default "Title" Column name to Submitted By
Essay Response (Multiple lines of text)
Application ID (Single line of text)
Date Submitted (Single line of text)

* I left the defaults for Created By and Modified By as is.

Create a new POP3 Mailboxes and setup the Outlook client:

* Here we are assuming that you have already installed/configured POP3 and SMTP Services or your will be leveraging an existing POP3 mail server (ie MS Exchange Server). (The installation/configuration of POP3/SMTP Services is beyond the scope of this example.)

In this example I installed POP3/SMTP on my local machine and configured it to use my local domain (called nuckolls.edu)
Add a new Mailbox to be used by Biztalk (you must know the password of the account associated with this mailbox)

Added a mailbox associate with a user account (called ProcessApplication@nuckolls.edu)

Add a new Mailbox to simulate the Student (you must know the password of the account associated with this mailbox)

Added a mailbox associate with a user account (ie. jeff@nuckolls.edu)
Create a new Account Profile in Outlook or Outlook Express to send and receive email as this Student. (Steps for this were omitted, assuming this was a reasonably simple step... just make sure it works, by send/receiving email or checking the C:\InetPub\mailroot\Mailbox\nuckolls.edu\YourMailbox.mbx)

Create a new blank Biztalk Application project:

Name the Project TestPOP3
Right-click on the TestPOP3 project in Solution Explorer and select Properties
In the Project Properties window ensure you have done the following:
- Common Properties/Assembly:
  - Assembly Key File = (assign your *.snk key file... if you haven't already created it, create one using the VStudio command prompt and sn.exe -k C:\MyKey.snk)
- Configuration Properties/Build:
  - Application Name = TestPOP3
  - Restart Host Instances = True

Create the initial Biztalk application artifacts (Schemas):

In this example we will need two schemas, one for the inbound email message (we will call EmailSchema.xsd) and one for the outbound Sharepoint message (we will call AdmissionApp.xsd).

Create a new Schema called EmailSchema.xsd
1. Rename the Root node to EmailText
2. Create one Child Field Element named Text with a Data Type = xs:string
3. Promote the Text element as a "Distinguished Field" property.
  
  EmailSchema.xsd should appear as follows:
Create another Schema called AdmissionApp.xsd
1. Rename the Root node to Application
2. Create the following Child Field Elements all with a Data Type = xs:string and promote all of them as "Distinguished Field" properties:
  
  AdmissionApp.xsd should appear as follows:
  
  * Ensure all of the Child Field Elements in both schemas are set to "Distinguished Fields" as follows:

Add a (Flat file disassembler) Pipeline component:

This will be used to help parse out the header and body elements of the text-based email we will receive from the POP3 Adapter.

Add a new Receive Pipeline component to your Biztalk project called GetEmailText.btp
Add a Flat file disassembler to the Disassemble shape on the pipeline designer.
Assign the Document Schema property of the Flat file disassembler = TestPOP3.EmailSchema

Create a Biztalk Orchestration:

This orchestration represents the automated Business Process of receiving an Essay as part of a larger Admissions Application process.

Add an Orchestration:

Right-click on TestPOP3 project in Solution Explorer and Add a new Biztalk Orchestration
Name it EmailProcess.odx

* Your Solution Explorer window should now appear as follows:

* Before we start adding/configuring shapes to the Orchestration Designer... let's first open the Orchestration View window and define some Messages and Variables that we will later use within our Orchestration:

Orchestration Messages and Variables:

Select View-->Other Windows-->Orchestration View (otherwise it should already accessible on the tab next to the Solution Explorer window)
Right-click Messages and create the following Messages:
- In
  - Message Type = TestPOP3.EmailSchema
- Out
  - Message Type = TestPOP3.AdmissionApp
Right-click Variables and create the following Variables:

strEmailAddress
- Type = System.String
strStudentID
- Type = System.String
XMLDOM

Type = System.Xml.XmlDocument

* The Orchestration View should appear as follows:

Orchestration Workflow/Process Designer

Back to the Orchestration Designer we can now start adding some shapes and configuring some properties that will ultimately define our workflow process.

Add a Receive shape
- Active = True
- Message = In
Add a Construct Message shape
- Message Constructed = Out
Drag a Message Assignment shape into the Construct Message shape we just added above

Expression = (add the following to the Expression Editor)

XMLDOM = new System.Xml.XmlDocument();

//NOTE: The following xml can be easily generated by right-clicking on the EmailSchema.xsd file and selecting Generate Instance
//IMPORTANT: The following line of XML should all be on a single line, its on several lines here just for reading purposes only!!!
XMLDOM.LoadXml(@"<ns0:Application xmlns:ns0=""http://TestPOP3.AdmissionApp""><StudentID>StudentID_0</StudentID>
<AppDate>AppDate_0</AppDate><SubmittedBy>SubmittedBy_0</SubmittedBy>
<EssayResponse>EssayResponse_0</EssayResponse>
</ns0:Application>");

Out = XMLDOM;
Out.AppDate = In(POP3.Date);

//Here we chop of the first 11 characters of the "Subject" (which is "Application")and return the rest as the StudentID
strStudentID = In(POP3.Subject);
Out.StudentID = strStudentID.Substring(11);

//Here we do some string manipulations to remove "<" and ">" from the email adddress...
strEmailAddress = In(POP3.ReplyTo);
strEmailAddress = strEmailAddress.Remove(0,1);
strEmailAddress = strEmailAddress.Remove((System.Int32)strEmailAddress.Length -1);

Out.SubmittedBy = strEmailAddress;

Out.EssayResponse = In.Text;

Out(FILE.ReceivedFileName) = "StudentID" + In(POP3.Subject) + ".xml";
XMLDOM = null;
XMLDOM = Out;

//The following if for debugging purponses only...
System.Diagnostics.EventLog.WriteEntry("TestPOP3 Debug Complete Msg", System.String.Format("Out Message = {0}", XMLDOM.InnerXml));

Add a Send shape

Message = Out

Create Logical Send and Receive Ports:

Drag a Port shape from the Toolbox to the "Port Surface" on the left side of the Orchestration Designer

Wizard will start, click Next
Name = Port_In, click Next
Port Type = PortType_In, click Next
Port Binding screen:

Port direction of communication = I'll always be receiving messages on this port
Port Binding = Specify Later

Click Next, Finish

Drag another Port shape from the Toolbox to the "Port Surface" on the right side of the Orchestration Designer

Wizard will start, click Next
Name = Port_Out, click Next
Port Type = PortType_Out, click Next
Port Binding screen:

Port direction of communication = I'll always be sending messages on this port
Port Binding = Specify Later

Click Next, Finish

Assign Logical Port Operations with Send and Receive shapes:

From the Port_In port we just created, Drag the green "Port Connector Line" to the Receive shape
From the Port_Out port we just created, Drag the green "Port Connector Line" to the Send shape

* Your Orchestration should now look as follows:

Build and Deploy your Biztalk Application:

At this point we are ready to build, deploy, and test our application...

Right-click on TestPOP3 and select Build (resolve any errors)
Right-click on TestPOP3 and select Deploy (resolve any errors)

Create Physical Biztalk Port and Define Orchestration Bindings:

Once you have successfully been able to Build and Deploy your Biztalk application, you will find it available in the Biztalk Server Administration console under Applications.

Open up the Biztalk Server Administration console
Drill down into Applications --> TestPOP3
Create a new Receive Port called ReceivePOP3 (accept default settings)

Create a new Receive Location called ReceivePop3Loc

Type = POP3
Receive pipeline = GetEmailText
* Receive Location properties should appears as follows:

Configure the POP3 Adapter:

Mail Server = (The name of your mail server or local machine name if you install POP3/SMTP locally)
Authentication Scheme = Basic
Password = (The password of the ProcessApplication@nuckolls.edu account or account your using to be monitored by Biztalk)I
Polling Interval = 5
Polling Interval Unit = Seconds
* POP3 Adapter properties should appear as follows:

Create a new Send Port called SendEssayToWSS

Type = Windows Sharepoint Services
Send pipeline = XMLTransmit
* Send Port should appear as follows:
Configure the WSS Adapter:

Adapter Web Service Port = 8088 (This is the port that your WSS/MOSS site listens on)
Destination Folder URL = Lists/Essays%20for%20Student%20Admission%20Applications
Namespaces Aliases = ns0="http://TestPOP3.AdmissionApp"
SharePoint Site URL = http://btsmoss:8088/
Column 01 = Submitted By
Column 01 = %XPATH=//ns0:Application/SubmittedBy%
Column 02 = Essay Response
Column 02 = %XPATH=//ns0:Application/EssayResponse%
Column 03 = Application ID
Column 03 = %XPATH=//ns0:Application/StudentID%
Column 04 = Date Submitted
Column 04 = %XPATH=//ns0:Application/AppDate%
* The WSS Adapter properties should appear as follows:

Configure the Orchestration Bindings

In the Orchestrations folder under TestPOP3 in the Biztalk Server Administration console...

Double-click TestPOP3.EmailProcess and select Bindings in the properties window

Host = BiztalkServerApplication
Port_In/Receive Ports = ReceivePOP3
Port_Out/Send Ports = SendEssayToWSS
* The Orchestration Binding properties should appear as follows:

Run and Test your Application:

Finally we are ready to test our application...

Right-click on TestPOP3 in the Biztalk Server Administration console and select Start
Click Start

Open your email client (Outlook or Outlook Express):

Create an email

To = ProcessApplication@nuckolls.edu
Subject = Application9959 (You can use any # following "Application"... ie: Application1234567890, recall our Orchestation parses out the first 11 characters of the Subject line, to return only the Application ID that follows... or StudentID as it is referred to in the schema)
Body = (Type in some essay response text here to be submitted as part of the admissions process.)
* Your email should appear as follows:

Click Send

Confirm the message was sent to Sharepoint:

Open up your Sharepoint site to the custom List we created earlier (ie. http://btsmoss:8088/Lists/Essays%20for%20Student%20Admission%20Applications)
* You should see the message appear in the "Essays for Student Admission Applications" List as follows:

Hopefully this was helpful and will save some time! :-)

Visual Basic 6.0 IDE goes out of support

Jeff Nuckolls — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:40:00 GMT

In just 1 week from today, on April 8, 2008, the Visual Basic 6.0 IDE will no longer be supported. If you haven't converted all your apps to .NET shame on you (I mean that in a pure-poor-humor sort of way, in fact it's widely recognized that migrations aren't always straight forward, each migration strategy may differ depending on several variables... prior planning and a knowledgeable consultant is my best advice), but don't freak out... Microsoft will continue to support the VB 6.0 runtime for all existing application in all the next versions of the Windows OS including Windows Server 2008 and Vista. However; who knows how many years the runtime will be supported, so you might want to start considering a migration plan, if not for supportability concerns, then to take advantage of the performance, security, power of the .NET Framework and the productivity of Visual Studio 2008. (Click here for more information about Visual Basic 6.0 life-cycle and mainstream support.)

Technical References for Migration:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms789186.aspx

Webcast:

Using the Interop Toolkit to Migrate VB 6.0 applications to .NET

Books:

Upgrading Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 to Microsoft Visual Basic .NET w/accompanying CD-ROM

Upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 Applications to Visual Basic .NET and Visual Basic 2005 (Patterns & Practices)

{Get-R-Done!}

Biztalk Adapter for SQL - Issues/Resolutions

Jeff Nuckolls — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:05:00 GMT

Two things that you might encounter while you are attempting to create your schema for your SQL Adapter using the "SQL Transport Schema Generation Wizard":

One thing that seems to be a common problem, is the SQL Transport Schema Generation Wizard diappears or closes unexpectedly right after you have entered your Stored Procedure script or manually added your SQL script and click 'Next'. This KB article speaks to this known issue and how to resolve it, but it might also be because you have been developing/running other local applications that are holding a connection and/or reading/writing to this table otherwise locking it out. In this case you could try closing any other open apps (including VStudio) that may be attached to this database. You might also restart the SQL Service for good measure.
The other issue you may encounter when using the SQL Transport Schema Generation Wizard (perhaps after you've resolved the first issue) is an error message "Failed to execute SQL Statement. Please ensure that the supplied syntax is correct.". Again this error is referenced in the KB article mentioned above, but there are a couple additional ways to resolve this...

Be sure that if your database only accepts Windows authentication only, that you didn't select the 'Use a specific user name and password' on the Data Link Properties pane, instead select 'Use Windows NT Integrated security'.
Check the SQL itself and reference this article "Working with the Biztalk Adapter for SQL" for some tips. I resolved this issue be appends ELEMENTS at the end of my stored procedure as in the following example:

CREATE PROCEDURE SP_GetNewStudentInfo
AS
DECLARE @Process_Date DateTime
SET @Process_Date=GetDate()
Update StudentInfo Set ProcessedDate=@Process_Date Where ProcessedDate is NULL
SELECT StudentID, Lastname, Firstname, Term, GPA, DateofAdmission FROM StudentInfo WHERE ProcessedDate=@Process_Date FOR XML AUTO, ELEMENTS
GO

NOTE: If you add "ELEMENTS" to the Stored Proc as I did here, it will create the schema representing each column as a "Record" node... if you remove "ELEMENTS" it will create the schema representing each column as an "Attribute" node (which may be best if you plan on promoting any of those columns for routing purposes or to inspect their values within an Orchestration).

Hope this helps!

ASP.NET Error Message: Login failed for 'NT AUTHORITY\NETWORKSERVICE'

Jeff Nuckolls — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:06:00 GMT

If you are developing against a local SQL Server 2005 database in Visual Studio you may not notice this error message until you attempt to access an ASP.NET page that attempts to read or write to your database from an external client (or browser not launch via VStudio)... the reason is because VStudio runs with elevated administrative previledges on the local dev machine. While there are several ways to surpress this error, here are a few options you might consider:

Modify the Web.config file to impersonate a user that has appropriate previledges for read/write access to your database.
<system.web>
<identity impersonate="true" userName="username" password="password" />
<system.web>

So you might have noticed that this is a little concerning... putting username/password in the web.config, but you can chose to encrypt this to make it more secure. Otherwise try option #2.
Open SQL Server Management Studio and grant the 'NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE' account to the Role Membership of db_datareader and db_datawriter.
A better option yet would be to force the user to login either via forms-based login or windows-based login and use ASP.NET Membership to control authentication to the site... ensure that appropriate users then are associate with a group that then has reader/writer permission on the database. See here for details: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/yh26yfzy.aspx

Get-R-Done!

Upgrade TFS from the Trial edition to a licensed copy...

Jeff Nuckolls — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:51:00 GMT

If you were an early adopter and/or just testing out Team Foundation Server 2008 and now want to upgrade to a licensed copy without reinstalling on new hardware see this MSDN article for the appropriate steps: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms404852.aspx

(Note if you are a Volume Licensed customer, you may need to call product support because you will not have a Product Key in this case.)

Step-by-step Introduction to LINQ to SQL

Jeff Nuckolls — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:23:00 GMT

Here I’ll give you a quick introduction to LINQ using Visual Studio 2008. Click here to learn more about LINQ in general, otherwise download a 90-day trial Visual Studio 2008 (if you are a student you can download the professional edition for FREE) and fire it up!

First we will look at some very basic LINQ to SQL query using code and the “Linq Relational Designer”, and then we’ll do another example to show you a code/query-free way of doing the same thing using the LinqDataSource.

Linq to SQL (via code and Object Relational Designer)

1. Open Visual Studio 2008 and create a new ASP.NET Web Application (here I’m using C#, but you could just as easily use VB.NET)

a. File-->New-->Project-->Visual C#/Web-->ASP.NET Web Application

Once the project is loaded, we need to first add a database to the project (I am assume that you have SQL Server 2005 Express Edition installed and running… it should have installed with Visual Studio 2008 by default, unless you selected otherwise).

Now I’ll walk you through creating a sample database for this example or use your own existing database for the rest of this example.

2. Right-click the “App_Data” folder and select Add-->New Item

3. Once the Add New Item windows opens select Data/SQL Server Database and name it Students.mdf as follows:

You should now be able to view you database in the “Server Explorer” window as it is below. Now we can start creating your database.

4. Right-click Tables and select Add New Table.

5. Define your columns as follows, be sure to make the StudentID column as an Identity field incrementing by 1.

6. Save your new table as “Students” and then populate it with some fictitious data…

Now we can add a Linq to SQL Class…

7. From Solution Explorer, right-click you LinqDemo web application and select Add-->New Item-->Linq to SQL Classes

8. Name it LinqToStudents.dbml and click Add.

9. The Object Relational Designer should open.

10. From Server Explorer, drag and drop you Students table that you just created into the left pane of your designer surface. It should appear as follows:

11. Save All and Build for good measure…

12. Back to the Default.aspx page let’s Drag and Drop a DataGrid server control from the Toolbox on to Designer View. (auto format it if you want, but don’t configure any datasources at this time).

13. Right-click anywhere on the Default.aspx page and select “View Code”, this should open the Default.aspx.cs class file.

14. Add the following code to the Page_Load event.

LinqToStudentsDataContext linqStud = new LinqToStudentsDataContext();

var allstudents = from stud in linqStud.Students
where stud.StudentID != null
select stud;

GridView1.DataSource = allstudents;
GridView1.DataBind();

15. Now you can click F5 (to run in Debug mode) or Ctrl + F5 (to run without the debugger), if you just click F5 for the first time you might get the following Information Windows letting you know that its modifying the Web.config file for you to allow debugging. Just click OK.

Your application should start up in Internet Explorer and display all of the data from your Students database table in the GridView control.

Albeit a basic example, you have just completed your first Linq To SQL application. CONGRATZ!

Linq to SQL (via code and Object Relational Designer)

Now that we did it the “hard” way (not really), let’s take a look at an even easier way to Linq our GridView control to a SQL table.

1. Using the same project and Default.aspx page in the previous example. Let’s first DELETE all the code you just added to the Page_Load event of the Default.aspx.cs class file and then Save and Close that file.

2. From your Toolbox, drag and drop the LinqDataSource server control (under Data) anywhere onto the Designer View of your Default.aspx page.

3. You can now select “Configure Data Source” from the LinqDataSource you just added as follows:

4. Once the “Configure Data Source” window appears you can the LinqDemo.LinqToStudentsDataContext option from the “Chose your context object” dropdown, and select Next.

5. On the next screen, just accept the defaults and click Finish.

Back to the Default.aspx Designer View… now we can bind the GridView to our newly created LinqDataSource.

6. Select “LinqDataSource1” from the Chose Data Source dropdown list of your GridView control as follows:

7. Save and Run (F5)

Internet Explorer should open and display data from your database if everything was wired up successfully.

Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 Integration

Jeff Nuckolls — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:24:00 GMT

Consider this a pre-post... I received a lot of questions in regards to the integration of VS 2008 and SQL 2008. As of the current date SQL 2008 was just released as a CTP while VS 2008 has already be made publically available. The main things that folks are realizing is the lack of SQL 2008 project templates in VS2008 as well a database validation and other DB Pro tools in support of SQL 2008. I will post a link to some workaround information that should be available on MSDN shortly, but note that this integration "IS" coming... an update to Visual Studio 2008 will be available in conjunction with SQL 2008 when it ships, if not sooner.

Synchronize Active Directory to ADAM with ADAMSync (step-by-step)

Jeff Nuckolls — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 19:24:00 GMT

I have created two sets of step-by-step instructions. The first is for someone who may be already somewhat familiar with using ADAM and ADAM tools, the second is for those who would prefer a little more detail.

Here is the first set of step-by-step instructions (if you'd like more detail see the second set of step-by-step instructions below).

Before we begin you must setup the environment. Create a partition using dsmgmt:

create nc dc=MySchool,dc=edu contoso-sp:389

To use Active Directory to ADAM Synchronizer for the first time

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, click ADAM, and then click ADAM Tools
Command Prompt to open a command window in the ADAM directory.

2. To extend the ADAM schema to match the default Windows Server 2003 schema objects in Active Directory, at the command prompt, type the following command on a single line, and then press ENTER:
ldifde -i -s localhost -c CN=Configuration,DC=X #ConfigurationNamingContext -f MS-AdamSchemaW2k3.ldf

3. To extend the ADAM schema to include schema objects that are required by Active Directory to ADAM Synchronizer, at the command prompt, type the following command on a single line, and then press ENTER:
ldifde -i -s localhost:389 -c CN=Configuration,DC=X #ConfigurationNamingContext -f MS-AdamSyncMetadata.ldf

4. Modify the configuration file MS-AdamSyncConf.xml with the appropriate parameters:
· Replace the value of <source-ad-name> with the name of the source Active Directory domain controller, for example, <source-ad-name>SeattleDC1</source-ad-name>.
· Replace the value of <source-ad-partition> with the distinguished name of the source domain, for example, <source-ad-partition>dc=fabrikam,dc=com</source-ad-partition>.
· Replace the value of <source-ad-account> with the name of an account in the Domain Admins group of the source domain, for example, <source-ad-account>administrator</source-ad-account>.
· Replace the value of <account-domain> with the fully qualified name of the source domain, for example, <account-domain>fabrikam.com</account-domain>.
· Replace the value of <target-dn> with the name of the partition of the target ADAM instance, in this case, <target-dn>o=microsoft,c=US</target-dn>.
· Replace the value of <base-dn> with the base distinguished name of the source domain, for example, <base-dn>dc=fabrikam,dc=com</base-dn>. Important Do not delete any unused fields from this file.

5. Install the configuration file. At a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
ADAMSync /install localhost:389 %windir%\ADAM\MS-AdamSyncConf.xml

6. Synchronize the data from the Active Directory forest to the ADAM configuration set. At a command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:
ADAMSync /sync localhost:389 "o=microsoft,c=US" /log

The /log option displays detailed information about the status of the synchronization. You can also use ADAM ADSI Edit to verify that the data has been synchronized.

That's It!

The next set of instructions is a step-by-step for accomplishing the same thing, but includes more detail.

Jeff’s AD-to-ADAM Sync Instructions

Step 1 (Installing ADAM)

You can install an ADAM instance either by using the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard or by using the ADAM unattended installation process.

Below demonstrates installing ADAM using the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard.

To install ADAM

1. To install ADAM, log on as an administrator, click Start, point to Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.

2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.

3. Select the check box next to Active Directory Services, and then click Details.

4. Select the check box next to Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM), click OK, and then click Next.

5. Review the message that appears. Based on the contents of message, do one of the following:

· If the message "You have successfully completed the Windows Component Wizard" appears, click Finish.

· If an error message appears, make a note of the error, click Finish, and then review the ADAM event messages in Event Viewer.

Step 2 (Create an ADAM Instance)

You have create multiple ADAM instances to support multiple application directories by assigning each ADAM instance a different Instance Name and Port #. The first ADAM instance will default to 389 (Since Active Directory also uses port 389, you should not install ADAM on the Domain Controller.) Then every subsequent ADAM instance you create will increment by 1 starting at 50000 and assign the SSL port # to 50001 (for example: 50000/50001, 50002/50003, etc…), but you can configure it to use which ever port #s you chose.

To create an ADAM instance you have two options:

a. Create an ADAM Instance using a command line tool “dsmgmt.exe”

àORß

b. Create an ADAM Instance using the “ADAM Setup Wizard”

Option A (To install an ADAM instance by using Command line tool “dsmgmt.exe”)

[To avoid Naming Violation schema errors later, create the new ADAM instance as a DC such as DC=MySchool or DC=MySchool,DC=edu]

1. First we will simply list all the existing Naming Contexts to see what is installed. NOTE: Be sure to use the port # of the local ADAM Instance you are working with…. In this case it’s 389 because this is the first ADAM instance I’m creating (every ADAM instance will have a different port #)… For the following command however, the port # doesn’t matter so much because it’s really looking at the ADAM configuration context which is shared by all ADAM instances, but it is still a good practice to use the appropriate port # especially later when we start importing schemas.

C:\WINDOWS\ADAM>dsmgmt

dsmgmt: partition management

partition management: connections

server connections: connect to server adam-poc:389

Binding to localhost:50000 ...

Connected to adam-poc:50000 using credentials of locally logged on user.

server connections: q

partition management: list

Note: Directory partition names with International/Unicode characters will only

display correctly if appropriate fonts and language support are loaded

Found 2 Naming Context(s)

0 - CN=Configuration,CN={5D51FDDE-6E30-4AF8-80E9-0F357AD3EB3D}

1 - CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,CN={5D51FDDE-6E30-4AF8-80E9-0F357AD3EB3D}

[Continue to Create a new ADAM instance]

2. Now we can create a new Naming Context (called “dc=MySchool,dc=edu”) by running the following command:
(NOTE: you can also delete any existing Naming Contexts by running “delete NC dc=xyz,dc=com DomainDNS NULL”… assuming you replace dc=xyz,dc=com with the name of the Naming Context you wish to delete.)

partition management: create NC dc=MySchool,dc=edu DomainDNS NULL

adding object dc=MySchool,dc=edu

partition management: quit

dsmgmt: quit

Option B (To install an ADAM instance by using the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard)

1. To start the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard, click Start, point to All Programs, point to ADAM, and then click Create an ADAM instance. The first page of the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard looks like the following:

2. On the Welcome to the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard page, click Next.

3. On the Setup Options page, you can choose whether to install a unique ADAM instance or join an existing configuration set. Because you are installing the first ADAM instance, click A unique instance (as shown in the following), and then click Next. Later, you will create additional ADAM instances and join them in a configuration set.

4. On the Instance Name page, provide a name for the ADAM instance that you are installing. This name is used on the local computer to uniquely identify the ADAM instance. For this exercise, simply accept the default name of instance1, and then click Next.

5. On the Ports page, specify the communications ports that the ADAM instance uses to communicate. ADAM can communicate using both LDAP and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL); therefore, you must provide a value for each port. For this exercise, accept the default values of 389 and 636, and then click Next.

Note

If you install ADAM on a computer where either of the default ports is in use, the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard automatically locates the first available port, starting at 50000. For example, Active Directory uses ports 389 and 636, as well as ports 3268 and 3269 on global catalog servers. Therefore, if you install ADAM on a domain controller, the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard provides a default value of 50000 for the LDAP port and 50001 for the SSL port.

6. On the Application Directory Partition page, you can create an application directory partition (or naming context) by clicking Yes, create an application directory partition. Or, you can click No, do not create an application directory partition, in which case you must create an application directory partition manually after installation. For this exercise, click Yes, create an application directory partition. When you create an application directory partition, you smust provide a distinguished name for the new partition. For this exercise, type DC=MySchool,DC=EDU as the distinguished name (as shown below), and then click Next.

Note

ADAM supports both X.500-style and Domain Name System (DNS)-style distinguished names for top-level directory partitions.

7. On the File Locations page, you can view and change the installation directories for ADAM data and recovery (log) files. By default, ADAM data and recovery files are installed in %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft ADAM\instancename\data, where instancename represents the ADAM instance name that you specify on the Instance Name page. For this exercise, click Next to accept the default file locations.

Important

When installing ADAM on a computer running Windows XP, you must install these files on the same logical volume. When installing ADAM on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 in a production environment, it is recommended that you install the files on separate physical disks.

Note

ADAM setup installs program files and administration tools in %windir%\ADAM.

8. On the Service Account Selection page, you select an account to be used as the service account for ADAM. The account that you select determines the security context in which the ADAM instance runs. Unless you are installing ADAM on a domain controller, the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard defaults to the Network Service account. For this exercise, click Next to accept the Network service account default. Or, if you are installing ADAM on a domain controller, click This account, and then select a domain user account to use as the ADAM service account.

Note

You can change the ADAM service account after ADAM is installed by using the Dsmgmt command-line tool. When you install ADAM on a domain controller, you must select a domain user account as the ADAM service account.

9. On the ADAM Administrators page, you select a user or group to become the default administrator for the ADAM instance. The user or group that you select will have full administrative control of the ADAM instance. By default, the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard specifies the currently logged on user. You can change this selection to any local or domain account or group on your network. For this exercise, click the default value of Currently logged on user, and then click Next.

10. On the Importing LDIF Files page, you can import into the ADAM schema two .ldf files containing user class object definitions. Importing these user class object definitions is optional. However, these object definitions are required later in this guide so, you should import these definitions now:

a. Click Import the selected LDIF files for this instance of ADAM.

b. Click MS-InetOrgPerson.LDF, and then click Add.

c. Click MS-User.LDF, and then click Add.

d. Click MS-UserProxy.LDF, click Add, and then click Next.

11. The Ready to Install page gives you an opportunity to review your installation selections. After you click Next, the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard begins copying files and setting up ADAM on your computer.

12. When the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard finishes installing ADAM, it displays this message: “You have successfully completed the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard.” When the Completing the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard page appears, click Finish to close the wizard.

Note

If the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard does not complete successfully, an error message describing the reason for the failure appears on the Summary page.

If an error occurs in the Active Directory Application Mode Setup Wizard before the Summary page, you can review the error message that appears. In addition, you can click Start, click Run, and type either of the following:

%windir%\Debug\adamsetup.log

%windir%\Debug\adamsetup_loader.log

The Adamsetup.log and Adamsetup_loader.log files contain information that can help you troubleshoot the cause of an ADAM setup failure.

Step 3 (Create a place to log synchronization events)

3. Must first ensure that the c:\windows\adam\logs directory exists or is created prior to running the following. (Simply create a new directory called “logs” under c:\windows\adam\.)

Step 4 (Define Schema Elements for Synchronization)

1. Define the Objects and Attributes you’d like to have synchronized from Active Directory to your ADAM instance. You have two options…

a. Use the ADSchemaAnalyzer tool to select specific Objects and Attribute to synchronize. NOTE: This tool is good for comparing schemas, but there is also an ADAM Schema mmc snap-in that provide you the ability to add/remove attributes to the Class Objects prior to running ADAMsync (I will discuss this further at the end of Step 6).

àORß

b. Import the AdamSchemaW2K3.LDF and bring over all the default Windows 2003 AD objects and attributes.
<This option is by far easier!>

Option A (Use the ADSchemaAnalyzer Tool)

You can use ADSchemaAnalyzer to help migrate the Active Directory schema to ADAM, from one ADAM instance to another, or from any LDAP-compliant directory to an ADAM instance. You can use ADSchemaAnalyzer to load a target (source) schema, mark the elements you want to migrate, and then export them to the base ADAM schema. You can also compare the two schemas.

Important

When using ADSchemaAnalyzer to create an LDIF file, you should load both a target and a base schema. Otherwise, the resulting LDIF file might not be usable by the ldifde tool

To create an LDIF file with ADSchemaAnalyzer

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to ADAM, click ADAM Tools Command Prompt, and then, at the command prompt, type:

adschemaanalyzer

2. To load a target schema, click File, and then click Load target schema, and then do one of the following:

a. To load the domain Active Directory schema as the target schema, in the dialog box, type your user name, password, and domain, and then click OK.

b. To load a different schema (such as the schema of an Active Directory forest or an another LDAP-compliant directory), in the dialog box, type the server name and port of the directory containing the target schema, type your user name ,password, and domain as needed, and then click OK.

It should look as follows: (NOTE: Use the name of your Domain Controller server… no need to specify the port in this case because AD defaults to 389)

3. To load the schema of your ADAM instance as the base schema, click File, click Load base schema, and then in Server[:port], type the server name and port of the ADAM instance.

4. In the dialog box, click OK.

(NOTE: Use the name of the computer where ADAM is installed and the Port (ie. MyADAMServer:389). Be sure to use the appropriate port on which this particular ADAM instance is running.)

5. In the resulting tree, mark all elements that you want to export to your base schema by right-clicking the element and selecting one of the following options:

a. Auto automatically marks an element as included or excluded in the export. If an element is marked as Auto (included), you can right-click that element, and then click Why auto included? to see the reverse dependency tree for the element.

b. Included marks an element so that it is included in the export. ADSchemaAnalyzer marks all related elements, such as superclasses, auxClasses, must/may contains, defaultObjectCategory, and possSuperiors. ADSchemaAnalyzer includes propsets for included attributes and back-links for links.

c. Excluded marks an element so that it is not included in the export. You can block certain paths in the dependency graph. For example, you might want to import domainDns, but not samAccountDomain (which is an auxClass of domainDns). You can exclude a complete element, such as the samAccountDomain class, or you can exclude a relationship; for example, you can remove the auxClass reference from the domainDns class. If you exclude a relationship, any other classes that reference that element continue to include it.

d. Present means that the element is present on the target server. By default, the top class is marked as present.

(NOTE: If after you load both the target and base schemas you notice some that there were some “mismatch” errors reported on certain Objects/Atributes or you notice some Objects/Atributes appear in Red Text you may experience a problem later when running ADAMSync (ie you receive an “Object Class Violation”)… in this case see my comments about how to resolve this problem using the ADAM Schema mmc snap-in at the end of Step 6.)

In my case I just select the “user” class to import only user information, which as a dependency automatically includes memberOf information from the “group” class.

To create the LDIF file, click File, and then click Create LDIF file. (For example: I saved my LDIF file as “JeffsUserClassOnly.LDF”, I’ll be using this file in the next step when I use ldifde.exe to import the target schema elements from AD (as defined in this LDF file) into my base ADAM schema.)
Run the ldifde.exe command line tool to import the new schema elements from AD into ADAM using the LDF file you created in the previous steps:

(NOTE: You’ll notice that JeffsUsersClassOnly.LDF refers to my custom LDF file we just created above, adam-poc refers to the computer name where I running ADAM on currently, and 389 refers to the port # for this particular ADAM instance we are working with currently.)

C:\WINDOWS\ADAM>ldifde -i -j c:\windows\adam\logs -f JeffsUsersClassOnly.LDF -s

adam-poc -t 389 -c "cn=configuration,dc=x" #configurationNamingContext

Connecting to "adam-poc"

Logging in as current user using SSPI

Importing directory from file "JeffsUsersClassOnly.LDF"

Loading entries.................................................................

................................................................................

...............

239 entries modified successfully.

The command has completed successfully

Now go to “Step 5”!

Option B (Import the AdamSchemaW2K3.LDF) <easiest option!>

This option brings over everything from AD to your ADAM instance, so it may be overkill, but at least you don’t have to figure out what Objects and Attributes dependencies are required for to meet your specific needs. This is good for testing purposes, perhaps later prior to going into production you may want to consider synchronizing only a subset of these Objects and Attributes. NOTE: You may need to use the “-t” parameter to specify the port # for your ADAM Instance if it is anything other than 389, otherwise it will simply default to 389… I specified it below only as a best practice.

C:\WINDOWS\ADAM>ldifde -i -j c:\windows\adam\logs -f MS-AdamSchemaW2K3.LDF -s adam-poc -t 389 -c "cn=configuration,dc=x" #configurationNamingContext

Connecting to "adam-poc"

Logging in as current user using SSPI

Importing directory from file "MS-AdamSchemaW2K3.LDF"

Loading entries.................................................................

................................................................................

.........................................

1009 entries modified successfully.

The command has completed successfully

Now go to “Step 5”!

Step 5 (Import Metadata & Install Configuration File for ADAMSync)

1. Import the AdamSyncMetadata.LDF file to extend the ADAM configuration schema to support AD specific objects and attributes.

C:\WINDOWS\ADAM>ldifde -i -j c:\windows\adam\logs -s adam-poc –t 389 -c CN=Configuration,DC=X #ConfigurationNamingContext -f MS-AdamSyncMetadata.LDF

Connecting to "adam-poc"

Logging in as current user using SSPI

Importing directory from file "MS-AdamSyncMetadata.LDF"

Loading entries..........

9 entries modified successfully.

The command has completed successfully

Copy the existing defaut configuration file for ADAMSynch “MS-AdamSyncConf.XML”

C:\WINDOWS\ADAM>copy MS-AdamSyncConf.XML ADAMSyncDemo.XML

1 file(s) copied.

Modify XML file used as the config point for ADAMSynch. You can use “Notepad.exe” to make modifications by running the following command Notepad should load the XML file appropriately.

C:\WINDOWS\ADAM>notepad.exe adamsyncdemo.xml

For this example we will make minimal changes to the XML file as follows and then Save it:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<doc>

<description>Sample Adamsync configuration file</description>

<security-mode>object</security-mode>

<source-ad-name>DC-POC</source-ad-name>

<source-ad-partition>dc=POC,dc=edu</source-ad-partition>

<source-ad-account></source-ad-account>

<account-domain></account-domain>

<target-dn>dc=MySchool,dc=edu</target-dn>

<query>

<base-dn>dc=POC,dc=edu</base-dn>

etc....

NOTE:

· <description> = This may contain ADAM Instance & Application specific information that describe what this configuration file is used for.

· <source-ad-name> = This is the computer name of the Domain Controller server you are synchronizing from… in my case my domain controller server name is DC-POC

· <source-ad-partition> = This allows you to specify which partition othe Active Directory you are synchronizing from. (For example: dc=BusinessSchool,dc=MyUniversity,dc=edu)

· <target-dn> = This is the root ADAM directory partition you are synchronizing to.

· <base-dn> = This is the root Active Directory domain partition you are synchronizing from.

Install XML File into ADAM by running the following command, modifying the <serverName>:<port#> as follows:

C:\WINDOWS\ADAM>adamsync /install adam-poc:389 ADAMSyncDemo.XML

Done.

Step 6 (Synchronize ADAM with AD using ADAMSync)

Run the adamsync tool modifying the <serverName>:<port#> and naming context dc=xyz,dc=edu as follows:

C:\WINDOWS\ADAM>adamsync /sync adam-poc:389 dc=MySchool,dc=edu

That’s It! If successful. you won’t see anything printed out on the screen… it will just return to a command prompt. Congratz!!! J

However if you do get an error you should have the results written to a log file by using the /log parameter as follows:

adamsync /sync adam-poc:389 dc=MySchool,dc=edu /log c:\windows\adam\logs\mysync.log

NOTE: If you are importing the entire AD to ADAM that has several thousand objects/attributes this log file will grow huge, so be aware of this… and don’t run the logging in production sync scenarios for the sake of resource consumption.

You may confirm that the synchronization was successful by running the ADAM ADSI Edit tool.

Important Note: If your adamsync fails and you run it with the /log switch as described above and find the following error message:

Processing Entry: Page 3, Frame 1, Entry 22, Count 1, USN 0

Processing source entry <guid=d2db15678418e546bd1c58a98e0e6c60>

Processing in-scope entry d2db15678418e546bd1c58a98e0e6c60.

Adding target object CN=NuckollsJeff,OU=Admin,OU=Schools,OU=CentralIT Users,OU=CentralIT,dc=MySchool,dc=edu.

Adding attributes: sourceobjectguid, objectClass, sn, title, description, physicalDeliveryOfficeName, givenName, initials, instanceType, info, company, sAMAccountName, mail, lastagedchange,

Ldap error occured. ldap_add_sW: Object Class Violation.

Extended Info: 0000207D: UpdErr: DSID-0315119D, problem 6002 (OBJ_CLASS_VIOLATION), data -1777014404

Ldap error occured. ldap_add_sW: Object Class Violation.

Extended Info: 0000207D: UpdErr: DSID-0315119D, problem 6002 (OBJ_CLASS_VIOLATION), data -1777014404

Saving Configuration File on DC=MySchool,DC=edu

Saved configuration file.

Then you will want to review the Objects/Attributes that are causing the error, in this case its listed in the above error (sn, title, description, physicalDeliveryOfficeName, givenName, initials, instanceType, info, company, sAMAccountName, mail, lastagedchange)

Resolution:

To recover from this error do the following:

1. Start à Run "mmc /a"

2. When the mmc console opens select File à Add/Remove Snap-in...

a. Select Add

b. When the Add/Remove Snap-in window opens select "ADAM Schema" from the list, then click Add

c. Expand the Classes list, scroll down to the Person class

d. right-click, select Properties

e. Click on the Attributes tab, then Add the following:

· sn

· Title

· Description

· physicalDeliveryOfficeName

· givenName

· initials

· instanceType

· info, company

· sAMAccountName

· mail

· lastagedchange

· displayNamePrintable (even though this one didn’t show up in our error message, you should add this one regardless)

Now try running AdamSync /sync again! Successfully this time! J

Microsoft .NET Public Sector Developer Conference

Jeff Nuckolls — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 07:25:00 GMT

For Education and Government customers, Academic Developers, and Public Sector ISVs, we (Microsoft) are inviting you to attend a day of Developer-Oriented technical sessions, featuring Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server and Microsoft.NET 3.0 (formerly WinFX). You will discover the ability to take control of application lifecycle management using Visual Studio Team System, build next generation web applications using ASP.NET 2.0's new AJAX Framework, and create and integrate workflows into everyday applications using Windows Workflow Foundation. The session on Windows Communication Foundation will help jumpstart your Services Oriented Architecture (SOA).

REGISTER TODAY!

When?

November 16th, 2006

Registration (8:30 am EST)

Event (9:00 - 4:00 pm EST)

Where?

Ft. Lauderdale Marriott North
6650 N. Andrews Ave.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309
954-771-0440

Who should attend?

Developers, Architects and technical managers who wish to understand how to integrate the latest Microsoft technologies.

Agenda?

08:30-09:00	Registration

09:00-10:30	Overview of Visual Studio Team System 2005 Software Development Lifecycle Support

10:30-12:00	Overview of Microsoft's AJAX technologies for ASP.NET Developers

12:00-13:00	Lunch

13:00-14:30	Overview of building Service Oriented Applications with .NET 3.0 & Windows Communication Foundation

14:30-16:00	Overview of building Workflow into .NET Applications with .NET 3.0 & Windows Workflow Foundation

Why standardize on the Microsoft Application/Development Platform?

Jeff Nuckolls — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 07:38:00 GMT

It may be no surprise that there is considerable interest these days for both Private and Public Sector organizations to standardize on Application/Development Platforms; however what is “somewhat” surprising – is how little the “vendor lock-in” argument seems to surface from the non-Microsoft vendors these days. I say “somewhat” because personally I’ve never met anyone who has ever implemented a true enterprise Java-based application server environment that has ported the apps to another application server/platform… primarily because the effort/cost it would take to do so would far out weigh the value/benefits. Also these days, with all of the emphasis on integration and interoperability via XML and SOA (Services Oriented Architecture) – “vendor lock-in” should be an issue regardless.

That being said it may also not be a surprise that Microsoft has an early leader application/stack integration with the Microsoft Application Platform (Windows, SQL Server, BizTalk, and .NET). Now it would seem that every other major software vendor is trying to preach the same story. Many are making software/platform acquisitions and creating glue components. Martin LaMonica (Staff Writer at CNET News.com) wrote a very non-biased article that discusses this in more detail. Below is a summary chart of how Microsoft “stacks up” to other major software vendors.

“Microsoft, IBM and SAP have similar stack strategies. Microsoft covers the broadest ground in terms of products, while IBM and SAP, like Oracle, have some holes.” [Martin LaMonica]

How software makers stack up

Here are my additional 2 cents:
A key component to the Microsoft “stack” is that it’s not just another hodgepodge of software applications acquired and loosely glued together… they are truly integrated as they are built on top of a common/shared set of libraries (.NET & Windows) with the “forefront” of security, performance, integration, and interoperability. For example… at the highest level it may look something as follows:

.NET Development in Academia - ASP.NET on Linux

Jeff Nuckolls — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 01:44:00 GMT

Since I'm always talking to Education institutions (both K-12 and Higher Ed) about .NET Development Tools and Technologies, I thought it would good to share a blog posted from a good friend and former colleague (Alex Lowe) about Students using ASP.NET to create applications on Linux. Although I could go on forever about the benefits of .NET Development on Windows and the productivity of using Visual Studio .NET I think this blog takes a different approach in that it speaks volumes about the power of .NET and the importance of .NET to Academia.

If you are interested in learning more about .NET cirriculum check out the MSDNAA.net Cirriculum Repository.