We are excited to announce that the Beta 2 release of Windows Server AppFabric is now available for download via http://msdn.microsoft.com/appfabric .  This is the Windows Server AppFabric build that works with the RC (Release Candidate) build of Visual Studio 2010/.NET 4. Windows Server AppFabric is a set of application services focused on improving the speed, scale, and management of Web, Composite, and Enterprise applications.  This release represents our “feature complete” milestone. That is, it contains all the features that we plan to ship in Windows Server AppFabric v1 by Q3 of 2010

 

Some of the new AppFabric "Caching"  features added in this release are –

  • Added PowerShell cmdlets for configuring cache clusters. The commands are New-CacheCluster, Add-CacheHost, Get-CacheClusterInfo, Register-CacheHost, Remove-CacheCluster, Remove-CacheHost, and Unregister-CacheHost. These commands give you granular control of cluster deployment.
  •  The Cache service now throttles when it is under memory pressure. When it is in the throttling state the service will allow all “read” and “delete” requests but will reject all “write” and “update” operations. This prevents the service from engaging in excessive paging. Throttling events get logged to the Event Log and allow administrators to free available memory, add nodes to the cluster, or change the expiration or deletion policy of cached items, for example.
  •  The Cache service now logs information to two ETW channels. The Admin channel is enabled by default and collects all events like Start Cache Service and Stop Cache Service and any unhandled exceptions. The Operational channel is disabled by default. When it is enabled it captures all warnings from the Cache service. The Event Viewer shows the collected data under Applications and Services Logs -> Microsoft -> Windows -> Application Server – System Services.

 

Also checkout http://blogs.msdn.com/endpoint/archive/2010/02/26/windows-server-appfabric-beta-2-available.aspx for more on Hosting and Service Management features in this release.

 

We are excited about our Beta 2 release and would love to hear what you think.

 

Thanks

Windows AppFabric Caching  Team