Activate your Developer Account to work in the Mesh Sandbox
This was an important topic on the forum after the PDC ‘08 release, so we streamlined the token redemption workflow for Live Framework CTP, and also implemented a way to bypass it altogether. This FAQ post walks you through the account creation and activation in the Mesh Sandbox step-by-step.
1. On the Azure Services Developer Portal (http://lx.azure.microsoft.com) you just need to accept the Privacy Statement in order to be set up with a Developer Account.
Make sure to specify the correct country and language.
Review the Privacy Statement, if you agree, then click on “I Agree”.
2. The account creation process is underway…
3. The account creation process is completed successfully. Click on “Continue”.
4. In this screen you may redeem your Live Mesh CTP invitation code if the throttling is turned ON, or you may redeem your Windows Azure invitation code. Paste the token you were sent by email or obtained by other means (e.g. printed card at an event conference), then click on “Next”.
Right now (since MIX ’09) the throttling is turned OFF for the Live Framework CTP, so if you are interested in Live Mesh or if you do not have a token, simply click on “Cancel”.
5. Now you can create service components for your cloud projects. If you have redeemed a Windows Azure token, the Storage Account and Hosted Services UI will be active. Otherwise it is grayed out.
The same principles applies to Live Framework CTP if the throttling is turned ON, but remember, it is turned OFF right now, so all you have to do is click on “Activate your Live Framework CTP Account”.
Note: You will notice that the UI for Live Services Existing APIs is always turned on.
6. Once you click on “Activate your Live Framework CTP Account” the Developer Account you just created on the Azure Services Developer Portal will be provisioned in the Mesh Sandbox, i.e. you will be able to use http://developer.mesh-ctp.com (vs. http://www.mesh.com which is open to all consumers).
But first of course, you must accept the Terms Of Use. Click on “Accept”.
Note: In the TOU acceptance screen…
- If you click on “Previous” it brings you back to the token redemption page
- If you click on “Cancel” it brings you back to the New Service Components page
7. The account activation is underway… I skipped a beat and it went through too fast for me to capture the account creation screen.
8. The account activation completed successfully.
At this point you may choose to navigate directly to your Live Desktop on http://developer.mesh.ctp.com, which is possible by clicking on the “Live Desktop” link. This is a direct answer to customer feedback by the way.
Or you may want to go back to the New Service Components page to create a Mesh Enabled Web Application of your own, in which case you click on “Continue”.
9. You now see the Live Framework CTP UI is now active, so you can create Mesh Enabled Web Applications.
