Thought it might be fun to try the new Live Writer plug-in Polaroid Picture find at http://bit.ly/1mrYyW
Sorry, not cracked the problems listed at the end of my last 64 bit dev blog. But added a new one.
My BizTalk project required the reading of data from an Excel spreadsheet – don’t ask….
Now previously I have used: the Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0 provider. This allows you to treat the spread sheet as any normal data source. See sample below
1: string strConn = "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;" + "Data Source=E:\\DEMO\\FileLocs\\Excel\\Data.xls;" + "Extended Properties=Excel 12.0;";
2: DataSet ds = new DataSet();
3: //You must use the $ after the object
4: //you reference in the spreadsheet
5: OleDbDataAdapter da = new OleDbDataAdapter("SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]", strConn);
Of course this time I get an error telling me that :
The problem, of course, is that the provider comes from Access install and as Office is 32 bit the driver just isn’t being recognised.
So to get this to work the solution is to target the project to run on x86 cpu’s.
To do this means changing the properties of the project:
So change from Any CPU to x86 and all is sweetness and light!
Not really 64 bit deving though…..
Now shall I install Office 2010 tech preview 64 bit and try again…mmmm..maybe…
Over the last few months I have made the move to 64 bit – Windows 7 RTM on my laptop and Windows 2008 standard server with hyper-v on my dev box.
I’m also running 64 bit Office 2010 and a number of other 64 bit goodies. But it is in the area of development I’m really having ‘fun’.
So first off it was time to setup a 64 bit dev image:
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Std (64 bit)
- SQL Server 2008 (64 bit)
- Visual Studio 2008 (32 bit only)
- BizTalk 2009 Developer Edition (64 bit)
- Windows SharePoint Server 3.0 (64 bit)
- Office 2007 (32 bit only)
So the ‘fun’ is that not is all as it seems!!! Initial problems occurred during following the BizTalk install. In fact during the BizTalk configuration and in particularly configuring the BizTalk BAM Portal.
The process completed with a number of failures: of most interest here was the BAM Portal.
What I discovered is provided the understanding of my issues:
- The configuration wizard is a 32-bit process; therefore it requires certain components which allow it to communicate with 64-bit SQL Server.
- Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) portal components must run in IIS using 32-bit ASP.NET 3.5. BAM Portal will run on 64-bit hardware in WOW mode.
Now the first challenge was what the hell is WOW mode. Turns out it is WOW64 and this stands for Windows(32) on Windows64 (note it should be W32OW64 but not quite as catchy).
So for BAM we must be running Internet Information Services (IIS) 6 in a 64-bit environment and therefore set IIS to 32-bit mode to run the BAM portal.
This means when we installed IIS we also needed to install the IIS6 Compatibility pack.
To check:
- Run Server Manager
- Select Roles
- Select Web Server (IIS)
- Scroll right panel until the configuration display is shown (see diagram below)
- Check for IIS 6 Management Compatibility and see if it says it is installed.
- If not installed, click Add Role Services on right of screen. Select the IIS 6 Management Compatibility and install.
Having completed that bit we now need to get it into WOW64 mode!!
To set a 64-bit mode IIS installation to 32-bit mode:
-
Open a command prompt and run the adsutil command. To do this, click Start, click Run, and then type cmd.
-
Type the following at the command prompt: cscript c:\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 1.
-
Close the command prompt.
After all that you’ll find that the BAM portal will now configure. This of course has left me with a new problem typified by the following screen:
![[biztalkconfig.jpg]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TRDeiMVJzrs/SecI4GTOkxI/AAAAAAAAAAw/j6X7afxKDTU/s1600/biztalkconfig.jpg)
It seems that the EDI/AS2 install also has various 32 bit dependencies but more of that another day!!
The other thing misconception that this 64 bit exercise has now dispelled is that the BAM Portal does not use WSS 3.0 (Windows SharePoint Services 3.0) as I had thought before!! It is just a pure ASP.net portal.
Other issues I now have are centred around WSS 3.0 64 bit – haven’t managed to get it to run yet, and of course the BizTalk SharePoint Adapter.
Finally some more factoids around this 64 bit adventure:
Adapter support figure
By default, all adapters can run in 32-bit mode on 32-bit Windows and on WOW64 on 64-bit Windows. The following adapters can run in native 64-bit mode (in either IIS or BTSNTSVC as the host process):
- HTTP
- SOAP
- File
- SMTP
- MSMQ
- MQSeries
- WCF
For lots more factoids go to :
BizTalk Server 64-Bit Support
Before we had Azure and the various bits and pieces that became Azure at PDC 2008 Microsoft had a number of disparate groups working on various ‘cloudy’ projects. these included BizTalk Services, Red dog, Mesh and the Live framework to name a few. Then at PDC 2008 with the wave of a marketing teams wand they all be became Azure or Azure Services or Azure platform or …well anyway the over-arching message was that they were all part of Azure!! Furthermore we were presented with the vision below…
Now I had been in on the game some months earlier as I was attending various ‘Azure’ design reviews. Even then I felt this didn’t sit well. In particular ‘Live services’ seemed to be cobbled onto what, in the main, is a great cloud vision. Live services and the Live framework are from the ‘fun’ side of Microsoft where X-Box and hotmail and consumer driven software lives so this seemed so out of place with the ‘serious’ business and enterprise focus of the Azure Platform.
So it has come as no surprise that Microsoft is announcing they will shutting down the Live Framework Community Technology Preview (CTP). The Live Framework is moving to reside under Windows Live and although it was running under the Azure umbrella moving to Windows Live does not mean that it won’t be available to the Azure Platform, according to information in an email from Angus Logan, Senior Technical Product Manager for the Windows Live Platform:
We launched a CTP of the Windows Azure platform at PDC in October 2008 to collect feedback and input from the community. One of the strongest and most consistent pieces of feedback we’ve received from the community has been around the scope of the Windows Azure platform. Customers and Partners have indicated that they would like clarity around the composition of the platform, and that it should offer operating system, database and connectivity capabilities. We’re acting on this feedback: At this time, the Windows Azure platform comprises Windows Azure, SQL Azure and .NET Services.
Live Services are an integral part of Microsoft’s Software + Services story. While Live Services are not a part of the Windows Azure platform, developers can continue to use Live Services in building rich and compelling solutions on the Windows Azure platform. The same also holds true for SharePoint Services and CRM Services. Customers and partners will continue to have the opportunity to utilize these services, plus the Windows Azure Platform, to meet their business objectives.
So get ready for PDC 2009 in November, Microsoft will begin to talk about how the Live Framework and how it will be integrated into the next release of Windows Live.
It has taken its time but I think we are there now! A clear Azure message – for now!!
IDG News Service —
Microsoft on Tuesday released technology previews of SQL Azure, the database for its Azure cloud infrastructure platform, and SQL Server
StreamInsight, its entry in the CEP (complex event processing) arena.
Microsoft issues SQL Azure, CEP platform previews | ITworld
As previously mentioned I have lived with Beta and RC before arriving at Release. Downside has been the re-builds. The upside and this is Goodie #2 is the ability to use VHD’s mounted as ‘real’ hard drives has been a saviour!
I have setup a number of Virtual drives and when I boot in I re-mount them. I have a Data drive (docs and outlook achieve), Software Installs drive (my downloads drive really), Code drive and finally and iTunes drive.
Once a week I copy off each VHD to my NAS at home.
So when re-building my machine I simply copied them off. Re-built, installed the basics, re-copied them back and re-mounted.
As the say where I’m from: job’s a goodun!
I’ve been living with Windows 7 for sometime – through Beta, RC and now Release (Thanks to MSDN).
I have to admit it is a much better option than Vista. Furthermore I’m now running the 64 bit with now driver issues.
Now my setup is not your standard run of the mill Dell or HP box..I’m running it on an Apple MacBook Pro 17” laptop under bootcamp and it just works and works well!
So Goodies 1: Boot camp 2.1 64 bit, Leopard to run Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit on a MacBook Pro….
The community technology preview (CTP) was made available on Tuesday, along with a preview of a SQL Server driver for building PHP applications for the Azure platform.
The Azure Services Platform, first announced at a developer conference last year, is Microsoft's move into the rapidly growing cloud-computing market. As with all cloud platforms, the idea is to provide scalable, hosted services on a pay-per-use basis, running remotely in Microsoft's datacentres.
SQL Azure Database, a key component of the platform, is a rival to Amazon's SimpleDB. Unlike that service, however, it is a relational database.
Other components of the Azure Services Platform include Windows Azure, for running applications and storing data, .NET services for linking the applications to the distributed infrastructure, and Live services for linking Azure to Microsoft's Live web applications.
"With SQL Azure, developers building Web 2.0, ASP.NET and PHP applications can use familiar tools and data models to develop on a pay-as-you-grow, secure, scalable and highly available database service at minimal infrastructure cost," Microsoft senior program manager David Robinson wrote in a blog post on Tuesday, adding that "there are really no comparable solutions available today".
SQL Azure's relational data model supports Microsoft and Sybase's proprietary extension to the SQL database language, Transact-SQL. Robinson said there was a high degree of compatibility with SQL Server, allowing for easy migration of business and web applications to the cloud.
The free trial of SQL Azure Database will last until November, when the service is fully rolled out. There will be two editions, a Web Edition storing up to 1GB of data and costing $9.99 (£6) per month, and a more capacious Business Edition that stores up to 10GB at $99.99 per month.
http://bit.ly/3vPXLv
BizTalk Server 2009 standard edition has a two CPU limit on it so you would think even if it was on a box with four CPU’s you’d only need two licenses. Not so you’d need four!! Read here a quote from the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009 pricing and licensing FAQ:
The BizTalk Server 2009 STD engine can technically use only two processors on the server, even if it consists of more processors. For deployments where BizTalk Server 2009 is used, you need to buy the same number of processor licenses that Windows Server will utilize on that server. For example, if you have BizTalk Server 2009 STD installed on a four-processor server and the Windows operating system is utilizing all four processors, because the server’s performance is benefiting from all four processors running the operating system, you need to purchase four licenses of BizTalk Server 2009 STD.
http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/pricing-licensing-faq.aspx
Microsoft have provided and excellent standards agreed format called XPS. Vista comes ready installed with an XPS viewer for XP you can download it. The issue is if your preferred browser is Firefox you will not be able to view XPS files.
The solution is simple:
- Download the IE tab addin for Firefox
- Install it
- Then the clever bit open options
- Set up a URL thus: /^file:\/\/\/.*\.(xps)$/
- Jobs a good ‘un.
Now if you click on and XPS file Firefox will open and IE tab and load it!!
After upgrading to Microsoft® Office 2007 is the default for all documents is the .???x format for example new Word documents now end in .docx instead of .doc.
Although the new file type offers many improvements over the old one, it can be troublesome to use if you work with many people that have older versions of Office. There are workarounds available from Microsoft, but it's usually easier just to send them something you know they can open.
One way to solve the problem is to simply change the default file format to the previous Office formats. In the case of Word 2007 that’s to DOC.
To do this go into Word 2007 and click the Office Button | Word Options | Save | Save files in this format | Set this to "Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)" and click OK.
For Excel and it’s the same principle.
Microsoft code name “Geneva”, an open platform for simplified user access based on claims. This release consists of three components: Geneva Framework for .NET developers, Geneva Server for IT Pros, and Windows CardSpace Geneva for users.
Find out more here
So the secret’s out!
Microsoft’s Cloud will give us a number of key aspects.
First is the foundation or Windows Azure, this can be seen as the cloud OS but is much, much more than that. It is an infinitely scalable Computation, Storage and Management system providing hyper-visor powered virtualization for cloud hosted apps be it web or otherwise.
Next we have the application building blocks or Azure services. Here we find the gestation of BizTalk services and SQL data services. We have .Net services covering the service bus, workflow and access control (federated identity and more). Next along we have SQL services today giving us database, data sync and reporting with ETL, reference data and others hot on its heels. And then we have Live services the Mesh, Contacts and Calendar functions and again more to come.
The future promises Sharepoint and CRM services as building blocks to add even more to the mix.
And finally sat on this is and will be Microsoft’s own application offerings of Sharepoint online, CRM online, Office Live and Windows live.
This is a major future gamble for Microsoft and as such the other announcements this week almost act as supporting acts – take the example of ‘Oslo’ introduced as part of the cloud message allowing users to model on and off premise.
This is a great start to an exciting PDC. My only concern is that Live services feel a little like an aftr though or blot on…
So the secret’s out!
Microsoft’s Cloud will give us a number of key aspects.
First is the foundation or Windows Azure, this can be seen as the cloud OS but is much, much more than that. It is an infinitely scalable Computation, Storage and Management system providing hyper-visor powered virtualization for cloud hosted apps be it web or otherwise.
Next we have the application building blocks or Azure services. Here we find the gestation of BizTalk services and SQL data services. We have .Net services covering the service bus, workflow and access control (federated identity and more). Next along we have SQL services today giving us database, data sync and reporting with ETL, reference data and others hot on its heels. And then we have Live services the Mesh, Contacts and Calendar functins and again more to come.
The future promises Sharepoint and CRM services as building blocks to add even more to the mix.
And finally sat on this is and will be Microsoft’s own application offerings of Sharepoint online, CRM online, Office Live and Windows live.
This is a major future gamble for Microsoft and as such the other announcements this week almost act as supporting acts – take the example of ‘Oslo’ introduced as part of the cloud message allowing users to model on and off premise.
This is a great start to an exciting PDC. My only concern is that Live services feel a little like an aftr though or blot on…