Windows Server

Traveling to PDC’09? Take along new technical videos!

From the New R2 Learning Center on Channel9

From the New Parallel Computing Platform Video Series

PDC’09 Session Recommendations

Monday (all-day workshops)

- Patterns of Parallel Programming: A Tutorial on Fundamental Patterns and Practices for Parallelism (10:00-5:45, 502A)

- Architecting and Developing for Windows Azure (10:00-5:45, Petree Hall C)

- Microsoft Technology Overview (10:00-5:45, 515A)

- Software in the Energy Economy (10:00-5:45, 408A)

- Getting the Most out of Microsoft Silverlight 3 (10:00-5:45, 515B)

- Windows 7 Developer Boot Camp (10:00-5:45, Petree Hall D)

Tuesday

- Simplifying Application Packaging and Deployment with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (11:00-12:00, 408A)

- Building Location Aware Applications with the SQL Server Spatial Library (12:30-1:15, 408A)

- Concurrency Fuzzing & Data Races (12:30-1:15, 515B)

- Building Live Media Viewing Experiences Using Internet Information Services (IIS) Smooth Streaming and the Smooth Streaming Player SDK (1:30-2:30, 515A)

- C++ Forever: Interactive Applications in the Age of Manycore (1:30-2:30, 515B)

- Accelerating Applications Using Windows HPC Server 2008 (1:30-2:30, 502A)

- Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Kernel Changes (1:30-2:30, Petree Hall C)

- Data-Intensive Computing on Windows HPC Server with the DryadLINQ Framework (3:00-4:00, 515A)

- Microsoft BizTalk Server Futures and Roadmap (3:00-4:00, 502A)

- Manycore and the Microsoft .NET Framework 4: A Match Made in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (4:30-5:30, 502A)

Wednesday

- Making Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Fly (12:30-1:15, 408B)

- Improving Application Compatibility and Quality for Windows Server 2008 R2 (1:30-2:30, 515B)

- Windows PowerShell: An Automation Toolbox for Building Solutions That Span Small Businesses, Enterprises, and Cloud Services (3:00-4:00, 408A)

- The State of Parallel Programming (3:00-4:00, Petree Hall C)

- Building Your Administration GUI over Windows PowerShell (4:30-5:30 pm, 408A)

Thursday

- Lighting up Windows Server 2008 R2 Using the ConcRT on UMS (8:30-9:30, 408A)

- PLINQ: LINQ, but Faster! (8:30-9:30 am, 515A)

- What’s New for Windows Communication Foundation 4 (10:00-11:00, Petree Hall D)

- F# for Parallel and Asynchronous Programming (10:00-11:00 am, 515A)

- Introduction to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 StreamInsight (10:00-11:00, 502A)

- Advanced Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 StreamInsight (10:00-11:00, 502A)

- Developing Rich Reporting Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (11:30-12:30, 502A)

- Axum: A .NET Language for Safe and Scalable Concurrency (10:00-11:00 am, 408B)

- Developing Applications for Scale-Up Servers Running Windows Server 2008 R2

(10:00-11:00 am, 408A)

- Extending Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.x (1:45-2:45, 515B)

- Using Classification for Data Security and Data Management (1:45-2:45, 408B)

New R2 Developer Learning Center

Windows Server 2008 R2, “Not your average R2!”

Explore this significant Windows Server release via a self-paced training course of videos and hands-on-labs with a focus on performance, web, management, and other server solution scenarios.   Learn about developing applications for “many-core” scale, enable efficient “trigger-started” services, explore new Windows PowerShell features, create integrated solutions with the File Classification Infrastructure, build Web Platform extensions, and automate your dev-test environment with VHD and Hyper-V API’s.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Developer Lab

December 8-10, 2009

Join from your office!

This event is a 3-day remote-access "code-fest" type event for developers. The event is for Microsoft Partners and Customers seeking to incorporate R2 features into their new or existing applications and enterprise solutions.   Participation occurs entirely within an online collaboration infrastructure and requires only an internet connection to attend.

Key Topics

“Many-Core Scale” Application Development

The Parallel Computing Platform for .NET and C++ Application Developers

The Extensible Web Platform and How to Write IIS 7.x Extensions

The Web Platform for PHP Developers

VHD and Hyper-V APIs

Participant Requirements

Got an idea for a Windows Server based solution?   This event is less about training and more about architecting your solution.   Send us a note about your project using the contact form and we’ll respond with more details. 

The Parallel Computing Platform @ PDC’09

Attending PDC’09? 

Envision building highly concurrent “many-core” applications using Visual Studio 2010?

Interested in focused “chalk-talk” sessions directly with members of the PCP Team?  

Avoid the crowd…  contact us directly and receive an invitation to join a “PCP Tech-Talk” session.  

· Engage in small group or one-on-one discussions.

· Gain architectural insight directly from Subject Matter Experts.

· Invite your entire product development team!

Experience “best practices” discussions with a focus upon…

· New Visual Studio Parallel Development, Debugging, and Profiling tools

· The .NET Parallel Extensions

· The New C++ Concurrency Runtime

· New Windows 7 and R2 Platform Technologies and how to use them.

· Start influencing the next release now;  after discussing the parallel computing features of Visual Studio 2010, tell us what else is on your wish list!

· And more…

Got Cores? Get the Core Info Utility

Check-out the new SysInternals utility, CoreInfo, for discovery of Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) nodes, processor-groups, sockets, cache and processor configuration information on Windows 7 (x64) and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Learn more about this technology at MSDN Code Gallery.

New Channel9 Learning Centers

Learning Centers are a new one-stop place to find demonstration videos, hands-on-labs, sample code, and links to topical resources.

You’ll want to see the Windows 7 and Visual Studio 2010 Learning Centers.

[HINT] Watch for the Windows Server 2008 R2 Learning Center coming soon!

Visual Studio 2010 Beta2 Now Available

Windows Server 2008 R2 represents the latest evolution of the Windows Server operating system and supports high-end hardware systems with large numbers of microprocessors.  R2 features enhanced support for Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) computer architectures and new User-Mode Scheduling (UMS) API's that effectively enable application developers to "minimize contention and maximize locality" within parallel computing applications.  These new platform capabilities are extended via libraries such as the C++ Concurrency Runtime and the .NET Parallel Extensions along with complementary tools support within Visual Studio 2010.

Recommendations:

1.  Get your hands on the evaluation release of R2.

2.  Get Visual Studio 2010 beta2.

3.  Check-out the C++ Concurrency Runtime and .NET Parallel Extensions.

4.  Watch Channel9 for the latest information on The Parallel Computing Platform.

Windows 7 (+R2) Developer Boot Camp at PDC09

Windows 7 (x64) and Windows Server 2008 R2 share the same OS kernel.   Learn more about the new operating system with a major focus on client development.   Learn from top Windows engineers, including Mark Russinovich, Landy Wang, and Arun Kishan.  This FREE Boot Camp is for PDC’09 registrants.

Topics include:

• Kernel  and architectural improvements.
• New shell integration points: taskbar, libraries, and search.
• Applied tips for getting the most out of today’s hardware with the sensor & location platform, multitouch, and the new graphics libraries (Direct2D, DirectX 11) that take advantage of the GPU.

Register here.

Evaluate Windows Server 2008 R2 Today! The Easy Way…

A super-convenient way to evaluate Windows Server 2008 R2 is to use Hyper-V (or your favorite virtualization product) and create a new VM using the recently published evaluation VHD file.   Use the following instructions for this method:

1.  Download the VHD file.

2.  Use the instructions provided on the downloads page from within Hyper-V to create a new Virtual Machine and import the VHD file.

An alternate method is to “boot” into the VHD file.   For this approach, you’ll need to have either Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 as your base operating system as the latest “boot manager” is VHD integration aware.  Please first review the following resources (note that you will use the VHD file from step 1 above and not create your own):

1.  TechNet Edge

2.  Windows Forums

A more advanced usage scenario is to use the original VHD file as a “parent disk” and create a “child disk” or “differencing disk”.   The advantage is that your original VHD file remains unchanged.   Additionally, you may use multiple differencing disks to experiment with varying server configurations.   This approach requires the diskpart system utility.   From an Administrative cmd.exe window, issue the following commands:

1.  c:\>  diskpart

2.  diskpart>   create vdisk file=c:\VHD\child1.vhd  parent=c:\VHD\original.vhd

PowerShell Means “Powerful Automation”!

Announcing a new webcast series for both Developers and IT-Pro’s.

PowerShell V2 introduces many new features including remote sessions, an integrated script environment, debugging tools, and much more. 

Top Developer Technologies of Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows® Server® 2008 R2 builds upon the exceptional legacy of Windows Server 2008.  R2 is an incremental release to Windows Server 2008 – and only the second time that Windows Client and Server releases are shipped simultaneously (Windows 2000 Server® was first).  While Windows 7 is available in both 32- and 64-bit versions, R2 is the first 64-bit only Server release.   Some of the key new features areas in Windows Server 2008 R2 include:

• A Computing Platform That Scales
• Extend Your Existing Windows Service with the New Windows Web Services API
• Server Core is Now for .NET Applications Too
• PowerShell V2 means Powerful Automation
• New and Extensible File Classification Infrastructure
• Managed Service Accounts, Background Services, and Instrumentation
• The Uber-Extensible Web Platform
• VHD and Hyper-V APIs Enable Creative New Solutions

Developers will appreciate these extensible platform technologies.   Learn more about R2 for Developers at MSDN Channel9 and download the new Developer Training Kit.

A Computing Platform That Scales

Windows Server 2008 R2 represents the latest evolution of the Windows Server operating system and corresponding support for high-end hardware systems with large numbers of microprocessors.  The 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 support more than 64 Logical Processors (LP) on a single computer.

Microsoft has tested R2 with 256 processor systems; the largest systems available at present.  New commodity computer systems will soon appear that leverage NUMA architectures.  A system with 4 CPU sockets, 8 processor-cores per socket and with Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT) enabled per core, will readily achieve 64 Logical Processors.  

R2 features enhanced support of Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) computer architectures along with new User-Mode Thread Scheduling (UMS) technology.    UMS enables custom thread-level scheduling within your own application.   For certain categories of computing scenarios, this avoids the overhead of kernel transitions and context switching.  New API's are available for both NUMA and UMS technologies.  

Many high-end multi-core server-class software solutions may now be developed with NUMA and/or UMS integration in order to achieve linear performance scaling.  Parallel Computing and High Performance Computing solution developers may find NUMA awareness essential for performance scalability.

Both .NET and C++ developers will appreciate how these new platform capabilities are extended via libraries such as the C++ Concurrency Runtime and the .NET Parallel Extensions along with complementary tools support within Visual Studio 2010.

Learn more about platform scalability and NUMA API's at MSDN Channel9 and see extensive documentation at the MSDN Library.   Check-out the Native-Concurrency blog.

Extend Your Existing Windows Service with the New Windows Web Services API

The WS-* web services industry standard protocols are widely accompanied by managed-code end-point implementations.   With the Windows Web Services API (WWSAPI), you can connect your native client applications with web services as well as implement native web services.  WWSAPI, new with Windows 7 (client) and Windows Server 2008 R2 (server), is an implementation of WS-* family of protocols for SOAP based web services.  It enables several solution scenarios including:

· The ability to build web services in native C/C++ code on both Windows client and server.

· Achieve interoperability with web services implemented using Windows Communication Foundation, ASP.NET XML Web Services, and even services implemented using non-Microsoft implementations of WS-* protocols.

· The ability to build web services with minimal service startup time and minimal working-set dependencies.

· The ability to use web services in resource-constrained deployment environments.

· Avoid costly managed-native inter-op scenarios and achieve high performance web service end-point implementations. 

Learn how to develop with WWSAPI at MSDN Channel9 and find detailed samples on MSDN Code Gallery.

Server Core is Now for .NET Applications Too

Server Core is a minimal installation option for Windows Server and is available with the following Windows Server editions:

· Windows Server 2008 R2 Web Edition

· Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition

· Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition

· Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Edition

Server Core system deployments provide significant benefits within an Enterprise network including:

· Reduced Server Attack Surface

· Reduced Management and Patching Requirements

Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core introduces support for subsets of the 2.0/3.0/3.5 .NET Framework in addition to a number of other new optional features and roles.   These additions extend the role of Server Core system deployments to not only enterprise network service hosting but also to application hosting.   The Framework additions make it possible to run an almost full-featured version of ASP.NET as well as Windows PowerShell.   Application Developers should ensure their Enterprise Solutions integrate well with the Server Core deployment environment.

Take a tour of Server Core application development scenarios via MSDN Channel9 and find detailed samples on MSDN Code Gallery.