At the Microsoft PDC today, I attended a talk entitled, "Web Application Packaging and Deployment". It went into detail about how the Microsoft Web Deployment Tool can significantly ease deployment for ASP.net applications onto a supporting Windows platform. The idea is that the tool will programmatically enable one to deploy all aspects of their application, which addresses some typical challenges of these deployment scenarios, such as configuration modifcations, GAC entries, etc. It will integrate into Visual Studio 2010, and as of Beta 2, now has the ability to create and manage application packaging, and integrates into the IIS7 manager.
During the presentation, Takeshi Eto from DiscountASP.net showed how they have created a developer sandbox for people to try out the new Microsoft Web Deployment tool. This is a great way to see how this technology will work, especially since it is deployed in a shared hosting environment. Anyone can sign up for the sandbox for free, but it is limited to the first 2000 participants. You can sign up at http://labs.discountasp.net.
I'm attending the Microsoft Professional Developer Conference this week. If you're at the PDC or in the LA area, give me a shout out!
As a Web Platform evangelist at Microsoft, I've had many conversations with individuals about the how we could improve Microsoft's IIS Web Server. I've often touted the modular architecture implementation of IIS7, and how it allows both Microsoft and other parties to easily enhance, tweak, and improve the functionality of the web server to meet the specific requirements of the job at hand. To date, many IIS7 modules have been released, both by Microsoft as well as third parties. When examining what kinds of functionality the Microsoft IIS product team should be spending cycles developing modules for, one of the most commonly requested modules was one implementing functionality similar to Apache's Mod-Rewrite.
Last week, the IIS7 team announced a go-live version of an IIS7 module to give this functionality. It's called URL-Rewrite, and you can find more information about it at http://blogs.iis.net/ruslany/archive/2008/09/11/url-rewrite-module-go-live-release.aspx
At a high level, the Microsoft URL Rewrite Module for IIS 7.0 provides flexible rules-based rewrite engine that can be used to perform broad spectrum of URL manipulation tasks, including, but not limited to:
- Enabling user friendly and search engine friendly URL with dynamic web applications;
- Rewriting URL’s based on HTTP headers and server variables;
- Web site content handling;
- Controlling access to web site content based on URL segments or request metadata.
For a full list of features, usage scenarios, and download locations check out: http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/460/using-url-rewrite-module/
Any of my regular blog readers may note that I recently updated my blog design. I know it was long overdue.
I couldn't pass up the opportunity to voice my opinion on how much easier it is to modify CSS settings now! Community Server (which is the software which powers MSDN blogs) gives me the ability to choose a CSS theme, but also to provide my own custom CSS overrides. Using Microsoft Expressions Web 2, I was easily able to suck in the code for my blog. I had to manually change the code from relative to absolute links for the CSS style-sheets that are provided with the MSDN blog site, but once that was done, all of the appearance within the tool looked exactly how it should. Then it was an easy matter to figure out what styles were applying to which piece of code. I could easily detect which rules were being applied and in what order. I'm so happy I didn't have to waste tons of time playing the "I wonder if I can guess which rule is being applied to this area" game. Kudo's to the Expression team for making a great web design product!
Today we're wrapping up the Tier1/451 Group Hosting Transformation Summit.
Here are my thoughts after attending the talks yesterday. Ultimately, it was a good way to get a financial analyst's perspective on concepts such as data center efficiency/real estate concerns, cloud computing, virtualization, and financial capitalization. I was disappointed that the virtualization talks were very vmware centric. In the virtualization panel, they had a rep from vmware, but didn't invite any representation from Microsoft. Perhaps this was because vmworld conference was in town this week. It would have been a much more interesting panel to have a different point of view. Furthermore, there seemed to be some confusion among some in the industry between cloud computing services and virtualization. Another blog to discuss the differences will be forthcoming.
I also felt that that the focus of the talks and panels was too narrow. While concepts such as capitalization and real estate are interesting, it shouldn't dominate the conference. Even the virtualization talks were very watered down. It was a 10,000 ft view of the topics, which is great way to start, but it would have been nice to follow it up with a bit more depth. Basically, they stated that virtualization will continue in importance of helping hosters to move their customers up the value chain as well as begin to attract enterprise business through cloud computing concepts. Data center efficiency is of importance, yet we face slowing of supply for data centers as the credit crunch makes building more difficult. Ultimately the conference talks should have been consolidated into 6 hours.
On a lighter note, Shaun Hirschman won the poker tournament last night, defeating the best that the Hosting Industry executives had to offer. Props to my fellow Web Platform Architect!!!
I'm in Las Vegas for the 2008 Hosting Transformation Summit, which is the 451 Group / Tier1 Research executive hosting summit. Here are some initial observations:
1. The summit has grown! Seems like there are twice as many attendees this year.
2. Still very much an executive level event.
3. I'm interested to see some of the more enterprise-focused hosters in attendance this year (i.e. Verizon and AT&T hosting have booths)
4. Broad, yet relevant topic set on the agenda. It should be interesting to see many of the thought leaders of the Hosting industry presenting over the next two days.
5. The conference is continuing the green conference trend. There was literally no paper handed out with event materials... conference badge is a USB stick with agenda and conference materials.
Stay tuned for more observations.
Lately there has been a great deal of discussion about WS2008 Core amongst the Web Platform Architect Evangelists and several of the great people in the IIS and Commerce/Hosting product teams. Ever since I first learned of LongHorn Core (now Windows Server 2008 Core), I was very excited about the possibilities that such a concept presented in a web hosting scenario.
For any not familiar with Server Core, it is designed to be minimal environment, or in other words, only running exactly what is needed in order to support a specified server function. One of the most visible manifestations of this concept shows itself in the lack of a Graphical User Interface. If you log into a Server Core box, your session will just look like a command prompt. Beyond the lack of a GUI, the minimalist approach of Server Core limits installed binaries to only the subset of the binaries that are required by the supported server roles. Sound familiar to anyone?
My question is, why do you really need a GUI for a web server? Apart from a manual initial configuration, how often do you really need the GUI elements to manage your web server? And even then, it is so easy to automate a build/install of a server, you shouldn't even need a GUI for that. Most people use some kind of web-based control panel anyway, by which the GUI portions of administrations are accomplished via a web site. In my opinion, that is where the GUI belongs, on the Web. Most administrative tasks that you want to do should be programatic, scripted, and automated. In my years of running and administering Unix and Linux-based web servers, I can honestly tell you that I never once used a console/terminal based GUI to manage anything about that environment. I'm glad that Microsoft has finally created a product that fits this model.
Almost.
You see, the current thinking for Server Core is that it will only support specific, pre-defined, server roles. While there are a variety of roles that can be utilized, there are a number of scenarios that aren't supported in server core. For example, as of today, you can implement Server Core with a Web Server role (IIS). Unfortunately not all of the features of IIS are supported on Server Core. Most prominent among these unsupported features is the .Net CLR. Whoops!
There have been many among the IIS product team and hosting focused folks at Microsoft that have been pushing hard to have this fixed. I can't say for sure that we'll be successful, but I have good hopes here :) As I've had some interesting internal discussions about how something like the .Net CLR could be left out of Server Core, I've certainly made my opinion about the matter known. Now I'm sharing it with you, my readers so that I can garner your comments on this matter. I am one voice, but I hope that I can hear from those of you who feel similarly so that we can really draw attention to the importance of this.
Basically, my opinion is that if Server Core is truly a minimalistic install, it should support ANY role that can be run independently of a GUI. A GUI should depend on the platform, not the other way around. There isn't any reason that something running on a server should require a graphic interface to configure something. As long as there is an API or script-based way to accomplish a task, I should be able to push the administration for such a service to a centralized, off-server approach that wouldn't require any type of GUI-based shell on the server itself.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a pessimist. I believe that we'll get there some day. But we need to broaden the definition of Server Core.
I'm really curious what you think. Here is a list of all of the supported roles for Server Core as of today. Check it here to see updates.
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Active Directory Domain Services |
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Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) |
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Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server |
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DNS Server |
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File Services |
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Print Server |
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Streaming Media Services |
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Web Server (IIS) |
The following optional features are also supported:
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Microsoft Failover Cluster |
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Network Load Balancing |
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Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications |
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Windows Backup |
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Multipath I/O |
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Removable Storage Management |
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Windows Bitlocker Drive Encryption |
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Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) |
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Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) |
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Telnet client |
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Quality of Service (QoS) |
So my question to you all is this. What is missing from this list? Are there any other glaring holes that will affect the hosting industry?
Many of you know that I've been talking about IIS7 in road shows, talks, demonstrations, and training labs since I first started working as a Hosting Evangelist in January 2005. This fall, for the first time I'll not be talking about "this cool up-coming technology for you to preview", but delivering labs on how to be prepared for the actual product launch of Windows Server 2008 (with IIS7), which occurs in February 2008. I'm really excited for this opportunity to help you prepare for the most compellig web platform Microsoft has ever created. There are so many benefits of WS2008/IIS7 that directly benefit Hosters, I believe that it will quickly be the de-facto platform for web site hosting.
What does this mean to you? We're going to be launching a 40 city road show to get you ready to launch Windows Server 2008. We've created over 7 technical labs which will train you on the different aspects of Windows Server 2008 and IIS7. If you are a Windows Sysadmin, Engineer, Architect, or just want to be, you won't want to miss us as we're near your city. This is a golden opportunity for Hosting companies to get their tech people ready. Even if you're not hosting Windows today, send your technical people so they can see what Windows Server 2008 is all about. It doesn't matter if your technical background is in Unix, Open Source, or the MS platform, you will find this technology compelling for Hosting.
You can find more information about the Windows Server 2008 Hosting roadshow from our Registration Site. Hope to see you there!
Microsoft is hosting free Microsoft Web Experience events at the Los Angeles Microsoft office
on June 8th and the Denver Microsoft office on June 15th. They will be presenting information
on building the next generation user experience on the web.
They are providing breakfast and lunch, hosting a reception with beer and wine, and attendees are
automatically registered in a drawing for an XBox 360 and a Zune that will be given away at
each event. For more information, visit
http://kaevans.sts.winisp.net/Shared%20Documents/webexperience.aspx
I'm really excited that Microsoft announced yesterday that IIS7 will now be a server role option as part of Windows Server 2008 (formerly known as longhorn) "server core". This means that you'll be able to install a minimalistic footprint for your server (i.e. without a gui shell) and run IIS7. In the past, it was deemed that IIS7 was too large to be put into server core due to its dependence on the .NET CLR, mainly because of the integrated pipeline with ASP.Net.
I'm still trying to figure out exactly what this means now that IIS7 will be part of server core, but I can tell you that I'm really excited that we've taken this step. Stay tuned for more info about this.
Come hear how we architect and run Microsoft.com and get a real world, in the trenches view of the architectural strategies behind running http://www.microsoft.com/, including how we leverage early adoption of Microsoft Technologies (Longhorn, IIS7, SQL 2005, ASP.Net) into th production environment for the largest corporate web site in the world.
Microsoft wants you to experience the next generation of the Web:
New York: May 31st Click Here to Register
Los Angeles: June 8th Click Here to Register
Denver: June 15th Click Here to Register
After a great deal of work with several hosters involved in the IIS7 RDP pilots, we're releasing the fist publicly available draft of the IIS7 Shared Hosting Guidance whitepaper. If you're looking for information about how to deploy IIS7 in a shared hosting scenario, this is a great resource to help you get up to speed and learn from many of the experiences we've had with this to date.
You can find it at http://weblogs.asp.net/hosterposter/archive/2007/05/28/iis7-shared-hosting-guidance.aspx
I had the honor of presenting at this years Mix 07 conference at the Venitian Hotel & Resort in Las Vegas. It was billed as the premier event for Web Developers and Designers for the Microsoft platform. I was able to deliver a session that covered how Microsoft works with partners to deliver world-class hosting solutions built on the Microsoft Web platform. If you weren't able to attend my session at Mix 07, you can view a recording of it online at:
http://int1.fp.sandpiper.net/soma/applications/silverlight/v1/Default.html?title=XBD03 - Web Hosting for Web Designers and Developers&speakers=David Kidd, Derek Curtis, Deven Kampenhout&source=videos/XBD03.wmv
Abstract:
Learn about Windows hosting services and how Service providers meet the needs of the growing designer and developer community by using key products from Microsoft Windows Server. We demonstrate how Windows hosting accounts can scale, be secured, and provide easy access to a broad range of Microsoft tools and technologies. The bottom line is that Windows hosting services allow Developers and Designers to more easily code, deploy, and scale ASP.NET applications.
You can also find other ways of playing the presentation and play all of the other sessions at http://www.visitmix.com/
This week I'm at the Global Hosting Summit in Redmond, WA, USA. It is an invitation-only event where hosting and SaaS ISV partners come to network and exchange ideas, as well as participate in keynote and breakout sessions about the hosting industry and updates from some of the heads of Microsoft in this space. There are also some great talks by industry influentials and analysts.
The best thing about the event in my opinion is the ability to network and have conversations with the C-level execs from some of the most important and successful companies in the industry. There are so many influentials in one place, and it's great to rub shoulders with everyone once a year. This is my third year attending the hosting summit, and it has grown every year!
I really liked listening to Scott Guthrie, who is the GM for the .Net Developer division inside Microsoft. Basically, most of the key people related to hosting on the product side report up through him in some form or another. He brought up Bill Staples who gave a very succinct demo of IIS7. He specifically called out the new UI, the delegated/remote administration capabilities, and impressed everyone with a demo of remotely stored configuration file to easily enable a web-farm scenario. I love Bill's demos. Bill and Scott also talked about the upcoming Longhorn Beta 3, which also has a go-live license program available. Hosters, this is a great way to get your staff and your customers ready for the best server product Microsoft has ever produced!
Morris Miller, from Rackspace and Sequel Ventures, LLC. gave a rather interesting presentation discussing brand positioning. He called out the branding success and lessons learned from Rackspace, compared to the lack of positioning from former hosting giant Interland. He also dispelled some of the myths surrounding some of the "big" players like Google and Microsoft (i.e. Office Live) who are in the hosting game. Basically, the idea is that neither Google nor Microsoft has the agility nor service levels that lend to truly competitive hosting offerings, especially in regards to offering services to fortune 500 companies.
Over lunch, I had a very interesting conversation with a group of people from Data Return and Internap. John Keller, from Internap, rose some very valid concerns regarding the competetive threat presented by Google, with products such as Google's office and hosted email offerings. In this regard, I have several different points of view. First, I percieve Google as a very tangible and real threat to current business models. Nonetheless, I also feel that when it comes to technologies such as Exchange and Office, Microsoft has such a strong stranglehold on marketshare, that it would be difficult for a company like Google to displace it in the short term. The reality is that their "online" offerings offer only a subset of the full functionality of the Office products. Furthermore, for a company to switch to a different office platform requires training and monetary resources that transend the cost of the actual software. While I don't see Google as an immediate threat, the paradigm shift of software from the PC to the network as a service is VERY real. The fact that Google is launching apps in this model proves that they "get" this long term vision. Whether we like it or not, Software as a Service is very real, and will be the future of computing. All of the big players, including Microsoft and Google see this, and the Hosting industry is in a great position to capitalize off of this momentum if they are smart. The hosting companies that survive this next wave are the ones that will be able to transition from simple web and email hosting models to the more complex wave of SaaS.
The SQL Server group at Microsoft has just launched the SQL Server Hosting Toolkit with the release of the Database Publishing Wizard Community Technology Preview 1.
The objective of the SQL Server Hosting Toolkit is to enable a great experience around hosted SQL Server. The Database Publishing Wizard works toward this mission by making it easy to upload a database from a development box up to a shared hoster. In its first incarnation, the Database Publishing Wizard is a command line tool that generates a T-SQL script designed to be executed in the script execution windows provided by most hosters in their database management consoles. In the coming months we'll be adding a GUI, integrating into Visual Studio, and enabling seamless deployment from the tool to an upload service hosters will be able to deploy.
Details on the Database Publishing Wizard as well as the download can be found at http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=sqlhost&title=Database%20Publishing%20Wizard.
Future plans for the Hosting Toolkit can be found at http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?ProjectName=sqlhost&title=Project%20Roadmap
We plan to be releasing advances in the Toolkit frequently so check out this first CTP and give us your feedback!
