Gotta love free utilities from Microsoft

XML Notepad 2006 is a quick down and dirty free utility from Microsoft for editing, viewing and managing XML files.  Doesn't have many of the features of XMLSpy, but at no cost, its definatley better then using notepad.  I also wish it had a grid view for some editing of basic XML files, but maybe it will come in a later release.

Working on SSIS

It has been a while since I've posted a blog, but I've been very busy on a conversion project.  For those of you who have never ported Cobalt to another language, don't do it.  Especially when its supposed to be an automated conversion.  DOES NOT WORK!!!!

Anyhow, I'll be posting some blogs on SSIS in the coming days.  I've been learning a lot about it and I'm really liking the potential.  Stay tuned...

Google vs. Microsoft

Who doesn't like competition? Well if you're like me and like to see big boys compete, then you'll love this anticipated release of Google Spreadsheet. Surely it won't have the robust capabilities of Excel, but it should cater towards the high percentage of people who just want standard spreadsheet capabilities.

Here's some thought:

Microsoft	Google
Word	Writely (Purchased in March 2006)
Excel	Spreadsheets
Outlook	Gmail
PowerPoint	Presentations
Access	?

Google on top of their game

Here's a quick post on a couple google features that not many people are aware of:

GMAIL for business:
https://www.google.com/hosted/Home

Google Web Analytics:
http://www.google.com/analytics/

Virtual Server LAN Configuration Settings

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have always wanted to know what the optimal setting for configuring network cards on virtual machines are. Because I have Active Directory on a guests OS, I don't like to boot using my company LAN.  Especially since it is DHCP enabled and Active Directory "should" be on a static IP.  I can give my guest OS a static IP, but I can't garantee against IP conflict, nor do I want static IPs for VMs popping up on the corporate network. 

So for a while I've set both of my VM's to a guest only virtual adapter: An adapter with "Network adapter on physical computer set to None (Guest Only)").  I then configured my guests to static IPs on a 10.1.0.X subnet. This allows both VM's to speak to each other but it still does not allow direct file sharing between host/guest or get the guests on the Internet.  To solve that I added a second adapter to each guest and by default set it to Not Connected. Since I typically don't need the internet, I leave it off.  But during the times I do need the connectivity I can switch the adapter to an active adapter with internet connectivity on my host OS.  This is convenient because you can perform this step without shutting down your guest OS.

I still felt there was a better way to do this.  I looked into the Microsoft Loopback adapter. The Microsoft Loopback adapter is a tool for testing in a virtual network environment where access to a network is not feasible.  Once I installed the loopback adapter on my host, I added it to my virtual server network adapters.  Then you can configured a guest to use the loopback adapter instead of the None (Guest Only) one. 

The result is something like this where the host has:
IP:           10.1.0.1 (as long as its a private range)
Subnet:    255.255.255.0

And the guests with:
IP:           10.1.0.X (Same private range as host)
Subnet:    255.255.255.0

Bingo! They can now talk to each without going out on a network.  I still have a second adapter that I keep on each guest just in case I want to get out on the internet, but I don't need it for file sharing anymore.  Hope this helps some people!!!

New features for IIS 7.0 in Vista/Longhorn

I had some time on my hand and decided to look into IIS 7.0. Although the information is scarce, I was able to find a few good sources. Overall I’m very pleased with the direction MS is taking their web server. It seems that each new release has increased security, better configuration management and improved performance with fine tuning options. I would summarize IIS 7.0 key features into the following talking points:

• Delegation of Administration
• Improved Diagnostic capabilities with better error management and reporting
• Highly extensible through new public API

Before I get into the details of more of the new features, let’s talk about when it will be available. So far it is available on the current Vista and Longhorn CTP builds. This will give developers and administrators an early look into the new features. There is no ability to get IIS 7.0 on Windows XP Pro, nor will there be. However, there is a change to the desktop version of IIS 7.0. It will be available on both the Home and Professional versions of Vista. Previously, users with Home licenses of Windows were able to download and install Visual Studio express, but where never able to install IIS. This will change with IIS 7.0

Some of the core capabilities of IIS 7.0 (This list is generated by me, so expect differences in the feature list provided by Microsoft):

Feature	Description
Security	Additional steps have been taken to lock the server. IIS 7.0 takes the entire core features in IIS and has the available componentized into separate modules. These would include things like CGI applications, ISAPI Legacy, etc. that previously was installed by default but not turned on. IIS 7.0 will not have these installed by default.
Installation	A much more fine grained installation experience that allows users to install only what they need. This will improve the patching experience because you don't have to install patches for software installed that are not being use. There will also be benefits from a overall memory footprint standpoint. IIS 6 had about 12 installation options. IIS 7.0 now has some 40 installation options with "intelligent defaults".
Extensibility	IIS 7.0 will have all of the new features that are built off of IIS 6.0 as well as a new Public API. Microsoft IIS development team and customers can use the same win32 API used to build IIS 7.0 to build additional features on top of the product. Microsoft will make these new modules available through the web. This new feature will allow customers to do everything that core IIS team does. These new modules can include more advanced authentication schemes, replace directory listing modules with improved interfaces, add additional configuration management options, and much more. Additionally, Project templates will be made available to create new IIS 7.0 modules for Visual Studio. This should provide for a rich ecosystem and community around IIS to improve the overall product.
Scripting	WMI Scripting will be able to hook into some of the new IIS 7.0 features to generate reports or add monitoring capabilities. IIS 6.0 had a WMI Provider that allowed you to script against the Metabase. With IIS 7.0, wrappers have been built to include the entire web platform configuration including administration and asp.net configuration.
Administration	IIS delegation will allow server administrators to delegate specific settings for sites to remote administrators. This will be very helpful for hosting providers and administrators of servers with a large number of virtual servers. Remote administrators can now use their IIS 7.0 administration tools to connect to remote servers and administer the sites that they have access to. Access on what the remote administrators can perform are configurable.

There will be site up soon dedicated to IIS: http://www.iis.net/ which will be similar to www.asp.net with videos, information and guides with roadmaps.

Some additional references on the web that are interesting:

Microsoft.Web.Administration in IIS 7

ScottGu’s Blog with new features listing

FTP Online Article

New blog environment

I haven't posted much to my old MSN blog site becaue we were getting ready to publish a new blog environment for all MetroStar employees.  Now that it's up, there should be more activity :).

Visio Templates for SharePoint

I've been looking for this for a while and Ferry over at tamtam made it happen. For those of you who use visio regularly for design or visual conceptualization of system designs, you'll appreciate this new template with the stencils needed to design a SharePoint Site. Its very good for layout and designers who need to get their ideas approved before spending an abundance of time authoring a solution.


Click here to access the templates.