One of the prerequisites for teaching mobile development in many institutions is the availability of access to iOS, Android and Windows. So from recent discussions with a number of institutions re this summer hardware refresh one of the key questions is how can I make Windows Phone 8 development labs available in our Apple Mac’s lab?

So the following is a quick guide to how to do this

One of the key requirement of the Windows Phone 8 SDK is that the host machine needs to have Hyper-V capability and must be running Windows 8 Pro 64 bit edition.

The majority of all new computer hardware PC and Mac’s has the necessary hardware, and it is possible to install the SDK in a virtual environment running Windows 8 and still use the Emulator on both Windows and OSX.

So what are the options?

1. Use Boot Camp, dual boot into Windows 8 Pro, and go from there.

2. Use Boot Camp, Dual boot into Windows 7 and use a Virtual Machine

3. Use a OSX with a Virtual Machine Client to run multiple host operating system 

Using Boot Camp is the preferred option and would be free, additionally this would provide native performance and a great experience to students.

However I am aware a number of IT Department aren't ready to roll out Windows 8 as the institution wide Managed Desktop Environment and a number of institutions local IT Support team have result to utilising VM clients as interim step.

The following is a step by step guide to the requirement and how and to’s of setting up Windows Phone 8 SDK under a Virtual Machine

Running a VM within VM

Even the VMware Workstation approach is really just a hack – running VMs in VMs is by no means a good idea, but it will solve the problem

So the first thing to check is the Hardware

You will need

• 64bit host operating system  
• At least 8GB of RAM for the host machine so that you can assign 4GB to the Virtual Machine
• 30-40GB of free space.

Testing SLAT Capability of the Hardware

You will also need the following software for testing of your PC Hardware:

• Download Coreinfo tool. This is used to check if your computer is capable of running Windows 8 with Hyper-V. Run the steps described below in First Check – Does my computer support Windows 8 and Hyper-V? section before downloading the remaining softwares so that you don't lose time if your computer is not supported. 

Getting the SDK

• Download the Windows Phone 8 SDK. You can do this after installing the VM so that you can download the tool from within it.

First Check – Does my computer support Windows 8 and Hyper-V?

The first step is to check if your computer supports Windows 8 Hyper-V or not. If it does then you will be able to Install a VM Client of your choice and enable it on the VM.

Assuming that you have already downloaded the Coreinfo tool, the next steps are:

• Open the command prompt by clicking on start -> type CMD, then right-click "Command Prompt" and Run as administrator
• Go to the folder where you downloaded the tool to and type: coreinfo.exe –v

Example:

C:\Tools>Coreinfo.exe -v
 
Coreinfo v3.1 - Dump information on system CPU and memory topology
Copyright (C) 2008-2012 Mark Russinovich
Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com
 
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2620M CPU @ 2.70GHz
Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7, GenuineIntel
HYPERVISOR - Hypervisor is present
VMX * Supports Intel hardware-assisted virtualization
EPT * Supports Intel extended page tables (SLAT)

If you have a SLAT enabled CPU (marked by an asterisk), you can proceed with this guide. If not, you may consider upgrading your hardware.

What if your Hardware isn't SLAT Enabled?

The only viable option is physical handsets, you then simply need t developer unlocked device you won't need the Emulator, you can install the SDK and then use the device for testing. In this case you can use Windows 8 basic edition (instead of pro/enterprise) and you can skip the instructions on editing manually the .VMX file and the HYPER-V setup.

How to setup a Virtual Machine on a host operating system?

The following guide uses evaluation versions of VMWare Workstation/Fusion as an example  but you could use other solutions such as Parallelshttp://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Wiki/Windows_Phone_8_SDK_on_a_Virtual_Machine_with_Working_Emulator

This post consolidates all of the WIT field mapping configuration templates and examples that we are aware of and that you could use as a starting point when considering the use of TFS Integration Tools to migrate work item types.

Do you know of more which should be on this list? If yes, please add a comment to this post contact me with the details.

Known templates

Other samples

The out-of-the-box documentation also contains the Configuration File Overview document and a wealth of real-world example configuration files.

This post is part of an ongoing series of Rangers introductions. See Ranger Index (Who is Who?)for more details.

Who you are?

I’m a tester on Visual Studio ALM team with focus on the real world end-to-end scenarios.

Outside work I enjoy a wild range of activities – watching my son growing, dedicating time to hiking and other outdoor activities when weather cooperates, and using all vacation time I have on traveling. I have a long list of places to visit (although it gets shorter), but I was lucky to discover several special places I keep coming back to which feel like home to me.

What makes you “tick”?

Efficiency and productivity, happy marriage of smart processes and right tools, so people can get their job done fast and have time to enjoy everything else this world has to offer. Working with smart and passionate people and seeing the result of my work impacting a product feels great too!

Where you live?

I’m originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, but I have been living in Redmond, WA since 2000.

Where is the place you call home?

I’m pretty happy to live where I’m now, but I see myself sometime in the future spending summer in the Pacific Northwest, spring and fall in Sedona (or in some other charming place in Southwest), and winter in Hawaii – ambitious, but why not?!

Why are you active in the Rangers program?

Coming from a product group, I really appreciate the second chance opportunity to contribute to projects that are directly inspired by customer needs and fill the gap.

What is the best Rangers project you worked in and why?

I’m a relatively new to the Rangers community, so I have no real credits yet, but I plan to contribute to a family of projects targeting Build – Release – Deploy space, because that's where the help is needed.

Today at Engadget Expand, I announced that Kinect for Windows SDK 1.7 will be made available this coming Monday, March 18. This is our most significant update to the SDK since we released the first version a little over a year ago, and I can’t wait to see what businesses and developers do with the new features and enhancements.

On Monday, developers will be able to download the SDK, developer toolkit, and the new and improved Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) from our website. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek:

Kinect Interactions give businesses and developers the tools to create intuitive, smooth, and polished applications that are ergonomic and intelligently based on the way people naturally move and gesture. The interactions include push-to-press buttons, grip-to-pan capabilities, and support for smart ways to accommodate multiple users and two-person interactions. These new tools are based on thousands of hours of research, development, and testing with a broad and diverse group of people. We wanted to save businesses and developers hours of development time while making it easier for them to create gesture-based experiences that are highly consistent from application to application and utterly simple for end users. With Kinect Interactions, businesses can more quickly develop customized, differentiated solutions that address important business needs and attract, engage, and delight their customers.

Kinect for Windows Interactions transform how people interact with computers in
settings ranging from retail to education, training, and physical therapy.

Kinect Fusion is one of the most affordable tools available today for creating accurate 3-D renderings of people and objects. Kinect Fusion fuses together multiple snapshots from the Kinect for Windows sensor to create accurate, full, 3-D models. Developers can move a Kinect for Windows sensor around a person, object, or environment and “paint” a 3-D image of the person or thing in real time. These 3-D images can then be used to enhance countless real-world scenarios, including augmented reality, 3-D printing, interior and industrial design, and body scanning for things such as improved clothes shopping experiences and better-fitting orthotics. Kinect Fusion is something many of our partners have been asking for and we’re thrilled to be delivering it now.

The updated SDK also includes an enhanced developer toolkit and additional developer resources, including:

• OpenCV and MATLAB Samples to allow developers to build advanced Kinect-enabled applications while using industry standards.
• Kinect for Windows Code Samples on CodePlex, marking the first time that select Kinect for Windows code samples will be available through an open-source resource, enabling existing and potential partners to explore and develop new scenarios.

Kinect Fusion enables developers to create accurate 3-D renderings in real time.

Seeing is believing
We demonstrated Kinect Interactions and Kinect Fusion live, onstage at Engadget Expand. You can watch the webcast of those demos now—and then come back to download the latest SDK on March 18. It’s fully compatible with all previous commercial releases, so we encourage everyone to upgrade to the new version. There’s no reason not to!

As always, we are constantly evolving the technology and want to know what you think. And we love hearing about the solutions you’re developing with Kinect for Windows, so please join us at Facebook and Twitter.

The Kinect for Windows sensor, together with the SDK, can help you create engaging applications that take natural voice and gesture computing to the next level.

Bob Heddle, Director
Kinect for Windows

Key Links

• Engadget Expand website
• Kinect for Windows developer downloads

SQL Server memory works in different ways in 32-Bit and 64-Bit operating systems.  Let us have a deep dive in this blog on how SQL Server memory works in 32-Bit and 64-Bit systems. We will also see how SQL Server memory managers behave differently on different memory models. Let us start with how SQL Server is designed to work on 32-Bit operating systems and then jump to 64-Bit memory model.

1. 32-Bit SQL Server memory architecture

In the Win32 memory architecture, each process has a 4 GB address space. By default, 2 GB of that address space is accessible from user mode(Application like SQL Server) and the remaining 2 GB is accessible from kernel mode

So in 32 Bit windows architecture 2 GB of memory is maximum available for SQL Server.
Note: When /3GB switch is enabled user mode address space becomes 3GB and kernel mode becomes 1 GB. When 32-Bit SQL Server is running on 64-Bit windows (WOW64) It gets 4GB of user address space .It can also leverage AWE on WOW64 mode and can use more than 4GB.

SQL Server "User address space" is broken into two regions: MemToLeave and Buffer Pool

Size of MemToLeave (MTL) and Buffer Pool (BPool) is determined by SQL Server during start up as below.

MTL (Memory to Leave)= (Stack size * max worker threads) + Additional space (By default 256 MB and can be controlled by -g).
Stack size =512 KB per thread for 32 Bit SQL Server
I.e = (256 *512 KB) + 256MB =384MB

Additional space to load Dll’s= 256 MB from SQLServer2000. This space is used to store

1. COM objects

2. Extended stored procedure

3. Memory allocated by linked servers (loaded in process ) or other Dll’s loaded  in SQL Server proce

4. Memory allocated by SQL Server memory manger if the allocation size in greater than 8K and need’s contiguous memory (Multiple_pages_kb).

5. SQLCLR

Note: Additional space to load Dll’s can be modified using -g startup parameter.

on any machine with less than 4 processors the Maximum worker Thread’s is
always 256 by default (unless we change the value using SP_configure)

SQL Server Buffer Pool is minimum of “Physical RAM “ or “user mode memory(2GB or 3GB) – MTL-  BUF structures”

BPool = Minimum (Physical memory, User address space – MTL) – BUF structures

To ensure MemToLeave allocations are contiguous SQL Server reserves MTL first, then all the buffer pool regions and finally free MemtoLeave region.

What is in BPOOL?
Data Pages/Index pages and Memory allocated by SQL Server memory  manager, which is accounted for  any of below memory clerk’s. If the memory

request is <= 8 KB

CACHESTORE_PHDR
CACHESTORE_XMLDBTYPE
CACHESTORE_EVENTS
MEMORYCLERK_SQLSTORENG
MEMORYCLERK_XE
CACHESTORE_XPROC
OBJECTSTORE_SNI_PACKET
CACHESTORE_BROKERRSB
OBJECTSTORE_SERVICE_BROKER
MEMORYCLERK_SQLSERVICEBROKERTRANSPORT
MEMORYCLERK_XE_BUFFER
CACHESTORE_XMLDBATTRIBUTE
MEMORYCLERK_SQLOPTIMIZER
USERSTORE_OBJPERM
USERSTORE_TOKENPERM
CACHESTORE_FULLTEXTSTOPLIST
MEMORYCLERK_SQLGENERAL
MEMORYCLERK_SQLHTTP
CACHESTORE_NOTIF
CACHESTORE_XMLDBELEMENT
OBJECTSTORE_LOCK_MANAGER
MEMORYCLERK_SQLBUFFERPOOL
MEMORYCLERK_SQLSOAP
MEMORYCLERK_TRACE_EVTNOTIF
CACHESTORE_CONVPRI
MEMORYCLERK_QSRANGEPREFETCH
CACHESTORE_BROKERREADONLY
MEMORYCLERK_SQLCLRASSEMBLY
MEMORYCLERK_SOSNODE
CACHESTORE_STACKFRAMES
MEMORYCLERK_SQLCONNECTIONPOOL
MEMORYCLERK_SQLSERVICEBROKER
CACHESTORE_OBJCP
MEMORYCLERK_SQLQUERYPLAN
OBJECTSTORE_SECAUDIT_EVENT_BUFFER
OBJECTSTORE_LBSS
MEMORYCLERK_FULLTEXT
CACHESTORE_TEMPTABLES
CACHESTORE_BROKERTBLACS
MEMORYCLERK_SQLXML
USERSTORE_SXC
MEMORYCLERK_BHF
CACHESTORE_SQLCP
CACHESTORE_SYSTEMROWSET
USERSTORE_SCHEMAMGR
MEMORYCLERK_SQLQUERYCOMPILE
CACHESTORE_BROKERTO
CACHESTORE_BROKERKEK
MEMORYCLERK_SNI
MEMORYCLERK_FULLTEXT_SHMEM
CACHESTORE_BROKERUSERCERTLOOKUP
USERSTORE_DBMETADATA
CACHESTORE_VIEWDEFINITIONS
MEMORYCLERK_SQLQUERYEXEC
CACHESTORE_BROKERDSH
MEMORYCLERK_SQLSOAPSESSIONSTORE
MEMORYCLERK_SQLQERESERVATIONS
MEMORYCLERK_HOST
MEMORYCLERK_SQLCLR
MEMORYCLERK_SQLXP
MEMORYCLERK_SQLUTILITIES

What is in MTL(Non-Bpool)?

COM Objects
SQL Server CLR
Memory allocated by Linked Server OLEDB Providers and third party DLL’s loaded in SQL Server process
Extended Stored Procedures:
Network Packets
Memory consumed by memory managers. If the memory request is > 8 KB and needs contiguous allocation.

What is BUF structures?
SQL Server maintains a BUF structure for each page. This structure is used to track status information associated with each buffer, such as the buffer latch, a pointer to the actual 8 KB page, status bits that indicate whether the page is dirty, has an IO in progress etc.
Note: When AWE is enabled BUF structure is maintained for entire RAM to adjust Max server memory with out restarting SQL Server.

What is PAE?
PAE is the added ability of the 32 Bit processor to address more than 4 GB of physical memory. Enable /PAE
in boot.ini to make operating system take advantage of physical memory over 4GB in system.

What is AWE in SQL Server?

When AWE is enabled, SQL Sever 32-Bit will be able to address more than 4 GB of physical memory using AWE allocator API’s.

Note:  In 32-Bit SQL Server Only data pages an index pages can be placed in AWE memory. So the memory available for other SQL Server memory objects is still limited to user address apace.

Memory allocated using  AWE allocator API’s are not part of Process working set ,hence can not be paged out and not visible in as private bytes or working set in task manger and perfmon.
Lock pages in memory privilege is required for startup account of SQL Server to use AWE allocator API’s.
In 64-Bit systems sp_configure ‘awe enabled’ does not have any functionality, If you have LPM privilege for Startup account of SQL Server AWE allocator API’s are used to allocate memory.   

What is /3GB Switch?

/3GB switch is used in the Boot.ini file.

When we enable /3GB. User address space of SQL Server or any application that uses IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE will increase to 3GB restricting kernel-mode address space to 1GB.

When the physical RAM in the system exceeds 16 GB and the /3GB switch is used, the operating system will ignore the additional RAM until the /3GB switch is removed. This is because of the increased size of the kernel required to support more Page table Entries

How AWE works and What are AWE allocator APIS?

AWE API’s enables  programs to address more memory than the 4 GB that is available through standard 32-bit addressing.

How AWE APIS’s are used ?
Allocate address space for mapping AWE pages. 
ADD=VirtualAlloc(lpaddress,size,MEM_RESERVE | MEM_PHYSICAL,PAGE_READWRITE);
Allocate physical memory which can not to paged.
bResult=AllocateUserPhysicalPages(GetCurrentProcess(),&sizemap,aRAMPages);
MAP a view of that page into your address space,
bResult=MapUserPhysicalPages(ADD,sizemap,aRAMPages);

2. 64-Bit SQL Server memory architecture

In the 64-Bit windows each process gets up to 8 TB of address space, Hence there was no need for SQL Server to leave certain amount of addressable memory for Non-Bpool allocations.

There are three types of memory model’s in 64-Bit SQL Server.

1. Conventional – Normal physical page size (4 / 8KB),memory can be paged, dynamic
2. Locked – Normal physical page size (4 / 8KB), Bpool can not be paged, dynamic, Requires startup account of SQL Server to have "Lock pages in memory" privilege,Memory is allocated by  using Address Windowing Extensions (AWE) API’s
3. Large – Large physical page size ( > = 2MB), Non-pageable, static, Memory is committed at startup,”Max server memory” is recommended, requires startup account of SQL Server to have "Lock pages in memory" privilege

Memory calculations in 64-Bit SQL Server are straight forward.
SQL Server calculates the size of RAM during the startup and reserve it , minimum of (reserved space, “Max server memory”) is used as Bpool.

Similar to 32-Bit SQL Server, there will be memory allocations outside Bpool in 64-Bit SQL Server , which is called as Non-Bpool allocations.

Who allocates memory outside Bpool?

1. COM Objects
2. SQL Server CLR
3. Memory allocated by Linked Server OLEDB Providers and third party DLL’s loaded in SQL Server process
4. Extended Stored Procedures:
5. Network Packets
6. Memory consumed by memory managers. If the memory request is greater than 8 KB and needs contiguous allocation. 
7. Backup
8. Memory for threads (stack size is 2 MB in 64-BIT SQL )

Max server memory controls only the Bpool, it doesn’t control Non-Bpool allocations, this is the reason for SQL Server’s memory usage being greater than "Max Server memory".

Key points:

1. When “Lock pages in memory is used” operating system can not page out Bpool, Non-Bpool allocations can still be paged.

2.  SP_configure “awe enabled” option doesn’t have any use in 64-Bit SQL Server.

3. “Max Server Memory” limits only Bpool, hence SQL Server memory usage will be greater than “Max server memory”

4.  If your operating system is windows2003 (Windows2008 is your call) make sure you cap the SQL Server MAX Server Memory after considering the memory required by other applications, Operating system, Drivers , SQL Server Non- Bpool allocations etc.

Note: Above architecture is applicable till SQL Server 2008 R2. SQL Server 2012 (Denali) has made many changes to the memory manager to govern the SQL Server memory consumption in efficient way compared with earlier versions. To learn SQL Server 2012 Memory refer THIS LINK

So here's a question: why aren't our European masters hounding a certain well-known company to stop them installing unwanted software on our computers? If Microsoft included an update in every patch Tuesday that changes the user's default web browser to Internet Explorer I'm sure there would be an outcry. Yet every time a hole in the Flash plugin is fixed they insist on fiddling with people's computers in a way that, if not actually illegal, seems to cause some users no end of hassle.

Halo rekan-rekan mahasiswa peserta Imagine Cup 2013! Terima kasih untuk rekan-rekan yang sudah mengirimkan submission nya sesuai batas waktu tanggal 15 Maret 2013 kemarin. Banyak yang bertanya apakah submission nya sudah kami terima. Agar kalian bisa mengecek sendiri, berikut adalah daftar submission per kategori yang kami terima sesuai batas waktu. FYI, saat ini proses penjurian sedang berlangsung dan kami akan mengumumkan para Semi Finalis sesuai jadwal, yaitu hari Senin tanggal 18 Maret 2013. Untuk semua peserta, semoga sukses!

Kategori Games

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Often times, applications that we’re deploying to the cloud may expect Windows Server Active Directory to be present for authentication and identity management.  With Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks, we can deploy Windows Server Active Directory on the Windows Azure cloud platform to support these security needs.  Best of all, you can test and pilot this scenario for FREE by using our Windows Azure 90-Day Free Trial program.

Ready? Active Directory … To the Cloud!

There’s actually two options for supporting Active Directory authentication and identity management in the Windows Azure cloud: Windows Azure Active Directory and Windows Server Active Directory on Windows Azure VMs.  In this article, we’ll be focusing on implementing the second option, but for an overview of both options with practical usage scenarios, check out the following article:

• READ IT: Options for Building Active Directory in the Cloud with Windows Azure

In this article, we’ll be working through the steps involved with provisioning a new Windows Server 2012 Active Directory Forest in the Cloud with Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks.

Windows Server Active Directory Lab Scenario

In this step-by-step guide, I’ll be working through the approach of building a new Windows Server Active Directory Forest using a single Windows Azure Virtual Machine and Virtual Network as depicted in the following diagram:

Lab Scenario: Active Directory Forest on Windows Azure

This lab scenario will serve also serve as the basis for future Step-by-Step guides, where we will be adding Replica Active Directory Domain Controllers and Member Servers to this same Virtual Network in the Windows Azure cloud.

Prerequisites

The following is required to complete this step-by-step guide:

• A Windows Azure subscription with the Virtual Machines Preview enabled.
   
  DO IT: Sign up for a FREE Trial of Windows Azure
   
  NOTE: When activating your FREE Trial for Windows Azure, you will be prompted for credit card information.  This information is used only to validate your identity and your credit card will not be charged, unless you explicitly convert your FREE Trial account to a paid subscription at a later point in time. 
   
• Completion of the Getting Started tasks in the following article:
   
  DO IT: Getting Started with Servers in the Cloud
   
• This step-by-step guide also assumes that the reader is already somewhat familiar with configuring Windows Server 2012 Active Directory in an on-premise deployment.  For a primer on What’s New in Windows Server 2012 Active Directory, join our Windows Server 2012 “Early Experts” study group and review the following study guide:
   
  DO IT:Complete the “Early Experts” Installer Quest – Installing Active Directory
   
  Join Us! We already have thousands of IT Pros working together to study the new Cloud OS capabilities of Windows Server 2012.  Along the way, you may want to check out the other “Early Experts” Knowledge Quests, too. 
   
• Apprentice Quest– Technical Overview of Windows Server 2012
• Installer Quest– Install, Configure and Manage Active Directory
• Explorer Quest– Group Policy and Server Management
• Networker Quest– IPv4 and IPv6 Core Network Services
• Virtualizer Quest– Install, Configure and Manage Hyper-V Server Virtualization
• Cloud Quest - Build a lab network in the Cloud with Windows Server 2012

Complete each Knowledge Quest at your own pace based on your schedule.  You’ll receive your very own “Early Experts” Certificate of Completion, suitable for printing, framing or sharing online with your social network!

Windows Server 2012 “Early Experts” Certificate of Completion

Let’s Get Started!

In this Step-by-Step guide, you will learn how to:

• Register a DNS Server in Windows Azure
• Define a Virtual Network in Windows Azure
• Deploy a new Windows Server 2012 VM in Windows Azure
• Configure a Windows Server Active Directory Forest in a Windows Azure VM
• Export / Import Lab Virtual Machines

Estimated Time to Complete: 60 minutes

Exercise 1: Register a DNS Server in Windows Azure

Register the internal IP address that our domain controller VM will be using for Active Directory-integrated Dynamic DNS services by performing the following steps:

1. Sign in at the Windows Azure Management Portal with the logon credentials used when you signed up for your Free 90-Day Windows Azure Trial.
    
2. Select Networks located on the side navigation panel on the Windows Azure Management Portal page.
    
3. Click the +NEW button located on the bottom navigation bar and select Networks | Virtual Network | Register DNS Server.
    
4. Complete the DNS Server fields as follows:
    
   - NAME: XXXlabdns01
    
   - DNS Server IP Address: 10.0.0.4
    
5. Click the REGISTER DNS SERVER button.

Exercise 2: Define a Virtual Network in Windows Azure

Define a common virtual network in Windows Azure for running Active Directory, Database and SharePoint virtual machines by performing the following steps:

1. Sign in at the Windows Azure Management Portal with the logon credentials used when you signed up for your Free 90-Day Windows Azure Trial.
    
2. Select Networks located on the side navigation panel on the Windows Azure Management Portal page.
    
3. Click the +NEW button located on the bottom navigation bar and select Networks | Virtual Network | Quick Create.
    
4. Complete the Virtual Network fields as follows:
    
   - NAME: XXXlabnet01
    
   - Address Space: 10.---.---.---
    
   - Maximum VM Count: 4096 [CIDR: /20]
    
   - Affinity Group: Select the Affinity Group defined in the Getting Started steps from the Prerequisites section above.
    
   - Connect to Existing DNS: Select XXXlabdns01– the DNS Server registered in Exercise 1 above.
    
5. Click the CREATE A VIRTUAL NETWORK button.

Exercise 3: Deploy a New Windows Server 2012 VM in Windows Azure

In this exercise, you will provision a new Windows Azure VM to run a Windows Server 2012 on the Windows Azure Virtual Network provisioned in Exercise 2.

1. Sign in at the Windows Azure Management Portal with the logon credentials used when you signed up for your Free 90-Day Windows Azure Trial.
    
2. Select Virtual Machines located on the side navigation panel on the Windows Azure Management Portal page.
    
3. Click the +NEW button located on the bottom navigation bar and select Compute | Virtual Machines | From Gallery.
    
4. In the Virtual Machine Operating System Selection list, select Windows Server 2012, December 2012 and click the button.
    
5. On the Virtual Machine Configuration page, complete the fields as follows:
    
   - Virtual Machine Name: XXXlabad01
    
   - New Password and Confirm Password fields: Choose and confirm a new local Administrator password.
    
   - Size: Small (1 core, 1.75GB Memory)
    
   Click the button to continue.
    
   Note: It is suggested to use secure passwords for Administrator users and service accounts, as Windows Azure virtual machines could be accessible from the Internet knowing just their DNS.  You can also read this document on the Microsoft Security website that will help you select a secure password: http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/passwords-create.aspx.
    
6. On the Virtual Machine Mode page, complete the fields as follows:
    
   - Standalone Virtual Machine: Selected
    
   - DNS Name: XXXlabad01.cloudapp.net
    
   - Storage Account: Select the Storage Account defined in the Getting Started steps from the Prerequisites section above.
    
   - Region/Affinity Group/Virtual Network: Select XXXlabnet01– the Virtual Network defined in Exercise 2 above.
    
   - Virtual Network Subnets: Select Subnet-1 (10.0.0.0/23)
    
   Click the button to continue.
    
7. On the Virtual Machine Options page, click the button to begin provisioning the new virtual machine.
    
   As the new virtual machine is being provisioned, you will see the Status column on the Virtual Machines page of the Windows Azure Management Portal cycle through several values including Stopped, Stopped (Provisioning), and Running (Provisioning).  When provisioning for this new Virtual Machine is completed, the Status column will display a value of Running and you may continue with the next exercise in this guide.
    
8. After the new virtual machine has finished provisioning, click on the name ( XXXlabad01 ) of the new Virtual Machine displayed on the Virtual Machines page of the Windows Azure Management Portal to open the Virtual Machine Details Page for XXXlabad01.

Exercise 4: Configure a Windows Server Active Directory Forest in a Windows Azure VM

In this exercise, you will install and configure a new Windows Server 2012 Active Directory Forest on the VM deployed in Exercise 3.

1. On the Virtual Machine Details Page for XXXlabad01, make note of the Internal IP Address displayed on this page.  This IP address should be listed as 10.0.0.4. 
    
   If a different internal IP address is displayed, the virtual network and/or virtual machine configuration was not completed correctly.  In this case, click the DELETE button located on the bottom toolbar of the virtual machine details page for XXXlabad01, and go back to Exercise 2 and Exercise 3 to confirm that all steps were completed correctly.
    
2. On the virtual machine details page for XXXlabad01, click the Attach button located on the bottom navigation toolbar and select Attach Empty Disk.  Complete the following fields on the Attach an empty disk to the virtual machine form:
    
   - Name: XXXlabad01-data01
    
   - Size: 10 GB
    
   - Host Cache Preference: None
    
   Click the button to create and attach the a new virtual hard disk to virtual machine XXXlabad01.
    
3. On the virtual machine details page for XXXlabad01, click the Connect button located on the bottom navigation toolbar and click the Open button to launch a Remote Desktop Connection to the console of this virtual machine.  Logon at the console of your virtual machine with the local Administrator credentials defined in Exercise 3 above.
    
   Wait for the Server Manager tool to launch before continuing with the next step.
    
4. In the Server Manager window, format the disk attached in Step 2 above by launching the Computer Management tool from the Tools menu located on the top navigation bar.
    
1. In the Computer Management window, click on Disk Management in the left navigation pane.
    
2. When prompted with the Initialize Disk dialog box, click the OK button to continue.
    
3. Right-click on the unallocated disk space on Disk 2 and select New Simple Volume… from the pop-up menu.
    
4. In the New Simple Volume Wizard, click the Next button on each page to accept all default values. 
    
5. Click the Finish button on the last page of the wizard to create a new F: volume.
    
6. When the new volume has finished the formatting process, close the Computer Management window.
    
5. In the Server Manager window, install Active Directory Domain Services by launching the Add Roles and Features wizard from the Manage menu located on the top navigation bar.
    
1. In the Add Roles and Feature Wizard dialog box, click the Next button three times to advance to the list of Roles to install.
    
2. In the list of roles, check the checkbox for the Active Directory Domain Services role.  When prompted to add additional features, click the Add Features button.
    
3. Click the Next button until you advance to the Confirm installation selections page of the wizard.  Click the Install button to begin the installation process.
    
4. When the installation of Active Directory Domain Services has completed, do not click the Close button.  Instead, click the link titled Promote this server to a domain controller.  
    
   This will launch the Active Directory Domain Services Configuration Wizard.
    
5. In the Active Directory Domain Services Configuration Wizard dialog box, select the deployment operation for Add a new forest.
    
6. In the Root domain name: field, enter contoso.comas the name of the root domain in the new Active Directory forest.  Click the Next button.
    
7. On the Domain Controller Options page of the wizard, enter and confirm a recovery password in the Directory Services Restore Mode (DSRM) password fields.  Click the Next button.
    
8. On the DNS Options page of the wizard, ignore the warning message and click the Next button to continue.
    
9. On the Additional Options page of the wizard, accept the default value for NetBIOS domain name and click the Next button.
    
10. On the Paths page of the wizard, change the Database folder, Log files folder and SYSVOL folder paths to begin with F: instead of C:. Click the Next button.
     
11. On the Review Options page, click the View Script button.  A PowerShell script snippet will be displayed in a Notepad window.  This snippet includes the cmdlets needed to Install a new Active Directory forest via PowerShell with the options selected in the wizard.  Save this snippet to your Documents folder for future reference as a file named PSSnippet-Install-ADDSForest.ps1 and close the Notepad window.
     
12. On the Review Options page, click the Next button.
     
13. On the Prerequisites Check page, ignore the warnings displayed and click the Install button.  The warnings displayed are due to the dynamic IP addressing used within Windows Azure Virtual Networks and do not apply to this cloud environment.
     
    The Active Directory Domain Services configuration process will be begin for the new AD Forest.
     
    When the Active Directory configuration process is complete, the server will automatically restart.

Exercise 5: Export / Import Lab Virtual Machines

Our Windows Server 2012 Active Directory Forest VM is now functional in our cloud-based lab, but if you’re like me, you may not be using this lab VM 24x7 around-the-clock.  As long as a virtual machine is provisioned, it will continue to accumulate compute hours against your Free 90-Day Windows Azure Trial account regardless of virtual machine state – even in a shutdown state!

To save our compute hours for productive study time, we can leverage the Windows Azure PowerShell module to automate export and import tasks to de-provision our virtual machine when not in use and re-provision our virtual machine when it is needed again. 

In this exercise, we’ll step through using Windows PowerShell to automate:

• De-provisioning lab virtual machines when not in use
• Re-provisioning lab virtual machines when needed again. 

Once you’ve configured the PowerShell snippets below, you’ll be able to spin up your cloud-based lab environment when needed in just a few minutes!

Note: Prior to beginning this exercise, please ensure that you’ve downloaded, installed and configured the Windows Azure PowerShell module as outlined in the Getting Started article listed in the Prerequisite section of this step-by-step guide.  For a step-by-step walkthrough of configuring PowerShell support for Azure, see Setting Up Management by Brian Lewis, one of my peer IT Pro Technical Evangelists.

1. De-provision the lab. Use the Stop-AzureVM and Export-AzureVM cmdlets in the PowerShell snippet below to shutdown and export lab VMs when they are not being used.  
    
   # Specify the Name of the VM to Export
    
   $myVM = "XXXlabad01" 
    
   # Stop the VM prior to exporting it
    
   Stop-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -Name $myVM 
    
   # Set the Export folder path for the VM configuration file.  Make sure this folder exists!
    
   $ExportPath = "C:\ExportVMs\ExportAzureVM-$myVM.xml" 
    
   # Export the VM to a file
    
   Export-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -name $myVM -Path $ExportPath  
    
   # After you've confirmed that the Export file exists, delete the VM
    
   Remove-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -name $myVM
    
2. Re-provision the lab. Use the Import-AzureVM and Start-AzureVM cmdlets in the PowerShell snippet below to import and start lab VMs when needed again.
    
   # Specify the Name of the VM to Import
   
   $myVM = “XXXlabad01" 
    
   # Specify the Name of the Virtual Network on which to Import the VM
    
   $myVNet = "XXXlabnet01"
   
   # Specify the Import Path of the VM’s exported configuration file.
    
   $ImportPath = "C:\ExportVMs\ExportAzureVM-$myVM.xml"    
    
   # Import the VM to Windows Azure
    
   Import-AzureVM -Path $ImportPath | New-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -VNetName $myVNet  
    
   # Start the VM
    
   Start-AzureVM -ServiceName $myVM -name $myVM

Completed! What’s Next?

The installation and configuration of a new Windows Server 2012 Active Directory Forest running on Windows Azure is now complete.  To continue your learning about Windows Server 2012, explore these other great resources:

• Join the Windows Server 2012 “Early Experts” Challenge study group to learn more about Windows Server 2012! and prepare for MCSA Certification!
   
• Learn more about Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks with this FREE Online Training!
   
• Complete the other Hands-On Labs in the "Early Experts" Cloud Quest to request your certificate of completion ... Become our next "Early Expert"!

Reference: http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithmayer/archive/2013/01/17/step-by-step-building-a-windows-server-2012-active-directory-forest-in-the-cloud-with-windows-azure.aspx#.UUHLgcb8LPb

Windows というとやはりビジネスの匂いがする、そうよく言われます。マイクロソフトもかなり長いことエンタープライスだ、ミッションクリティカルでも Windows だと言ってきた気がします。Windows Server や SQL Server が社内の結構重要なシステムで使われたり、Exchange Server が重要なメールの基幹を支えているとこで使っていただいている状況というのはそういうことを言い出した当時では考えられなかったです。そう思い起こすとそこまで来たんだなぁと思うわけですね。

ここまで書いたそうしたシステムは企業の IT 戦略と密着したものになっているので当然情報システム化予算の中で捻出することになるし、支払いの一方通行になります。普通。

ここ 5 年以上起こっているインターネットに面した様々なシステムはこれと比してどうなんでしょう？本業とか実業の BtoC システムであれば社内と何ら変わりないかもしれません。では企業概要が掲載されているコーポレートのページはどういう予算でやっていますか？

Windows ストア アプリは実は Web サイト運営に近いと思います。一般の開発者にとっては一獲千金の機会かもしれませんが、企業にとってこのアイテムをどう活用するかというのは結構 色々な道が考えられます。故にビジネスで Windows ストア アプリを活用する際、そこには深く検討する必要が潜んでいます。

マイクロソフトはビジネス面での Windows 8 活用を日本語では確かにそれほど発信できていないのですが、本社ではこの課題に結構取り組んだ情報発信をしてきています。こちらは完璧に従来の企業システムの発想で見た時にどういうストア アプリを作る発想が存在するのかという話です。下記は Build 2012 でのセッションです。

Building Windows 8 LOB apps
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/2-104

*LOB apps = Line of Business apps ≒ 業務アプリケーション

これのスライド21に業務システムでまだ未着手のエリアでストア アプリの活用が有効なものが載っています。

PoS、製品カタログ、ワークフロー管理、ダッシュボード、監視と対処、フィールド業務（建築現場とか）

これ以外にも結構今後出てくると思いますが、スタート地点としてはいいピックアップではないでしょうか。Windows 8 からの大きな特徴としてはタブレット型のデバイスへの本格的な対応とタッチですから、業務としてそれが活きるものをピックすればいいということになります。経営層がキーボードを駆使しなくてもダッシュボードがタッチで見れると経営に役立つ（現場は嫌かも 笑）、ショールームとかカタログがいっぱい存在するようなエリアで1台で全部まかなえるとか最高ですよね。しかも Windows 8 だと周辺機器も豊富、画面サイズも色々選べるわけですからショールームにホワイトボードサイズの画面が各接客エリアにおいてあってもいいわけです。

ちょっと話を戻すと、この Build で取り上げられているものは業務アプリ、しかも Windows ストアに公開しないで Side Loadingという手法で企業端末に配布することも含めてのアプリ活用手法です。つまりは業務アプリケーションなので、今までと多分予算捻出の方法論は変わらないでしょう。無論 より営業部隊からの要請が多そうなものが多い感じはしますが。

この辺を知りたい人が多いので敢えて脱線して書いておきました。

＊

話を完全に戻すと、Windows ストア にあがるアプリケーションはどうビジネスに絡むかということです。繰り返しですが、個人開発者・起業を考えている人たちはアプリの値段そのもの あるいは広告、アプリ内販売を活用して一獲千金を狙うモデルでしょう。

もうそれなりのサイズのビジネスであればどうなんでしょう？

一つ私が個人的に思うことはこの10年間、成長してきたみんなが使い倒しているのは Web の世界の概念だということです。Web サイトへの顧客誘導、SEO・SEM、とにかく呼びたいところに新規顧客を呼び込んできたい、そう思って一生懸命色々なことをみんなやってます。企業がやるソーシャルも結局はそうでしょう。

この話と Windows ストア アプリの関係を今までの業務アプリのモデルと対比したり、特徴をみてみると面白いです。

・LOBの世界では基本的に開発費は払って現場が有効に活用することを踏まえてROIを考える。でも Windows ストア の世界では成功するとなんと開発費を回収し、収入となる可能性があり、ROIはそこまで織り込まないと変なことになる。

・Windows ストアはほかのアプリマーケットよりもかなり自由度が高い。3rd Party 広告、支払 に関して自由なので例えば会員を増やしたいモデルを想定している場合には会員を増やす効果を無料のアプリから入ってくることで実現できる。

・Windows ストアは Web の中核技術である HTML・JavaScript・CSS を使っても作ることができる。これまで Web に投資してきた各企業のエコシステム（サイトデザインを依頼した会社、コンテンツ開発を依頼した会社、Webサイトの素材など）がかなり有効に使えることは大きい。

・Web でよくあることはキャンペーンを張っている商材、サービスが置かれている階層が凄く深いので予算や技、知己を駆使しながら検索で上位に来るように必死になることです。しかし、その階層が深いテーマでキャンペーンアプリを作ればいきなりトップページを開く効果に等しくなります。Windows ストアのスポットライトなどに掲載されるには相当そのアプリ自身の付加価値が必要ですが。（占いがついていて、それがよく当たるとか 笑）

こうして思考を進めていくとわかることがあると思います。そうです。Windows ストアを企業が活用する場合、それはプロモーション効果や広告効果、集客効果が狙えるのです。ただ、開始画面でいきなり Web をそのまま表示しているアプリは審査に通りませんのでそれだけじゃダメです。無料のアプリを利用する価値をそれなりに提供し、最終的に Web に誘導する、そういう設計は OK です。

ただ、アプリが何の目的でできているのか、それはとても利用者にとって重要です。だから無償で提供するアプリの目的もきちんと考察して作るべきです。有料コンテンツの一部が見れるとか、Windows ストア アプリならではの何かの特典があるかなどです。ゲームだったら最初の面だけは実行できるとか。

結果として、Windows ストアのアプリ デザイン、開発はもちろん情報システム予算でやってみるのもありですが、むしろ広告宣伝費などで効果低めな施策をアプリに切り替えてみるという道に皆さんに気づいていただけると今後の日本のビジネスはもっと面白くなりそうです。

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dn189203.aspx

Team Foundation Server

Agile Project Management using TFS 2012

Suliman Battat

Le Big Data c’est aussi les outils qui permettent de découvrir et affiner ses recherches, la pertinence de l’information assemblée en traversant les données. C’est aussi avec la preview du Data Explorer pour Excel 2013, de consommer les flux OData ou des sources telles que Facebook ou Hadoop.

Posted by Kerry Godes - Senior Manager, Worldwide Marketing and Operations

The amount of data available to individuals today is powerful and can spark exciting new insights. But it can also overwhelm. Consequently, organizations are challenged to give employees the tools needed to find and access the most pertinent information, whether across the web or within internal networks.

The Microsoft Data Explorer Preview for Excel 2013 addresses this challenge by providing an intuitive user interface for data discovery and refinement. With the Data Explorer add-in, users can now quickly and easily import data from a variety of sources, including relational, structured, and semi-structured data sets. Sources like Facebook, OData feeds, Windows Azure Marketplace, and big data solutions like Hadoop are now within the reach of any user. View full article...

Suivez moi sur Web• Twitter• Linkedin

We are currently investigating failures related to Hosted Build.  Users may experience slow builds during this period.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

Madhu Kavikondala

Final Update: We are good, we mitigated issue, all build requests should be flowing normally. 

---

Update - Sun, Mar 17 2013 6:46 PM: It appears like all failures we are seeing in the system are occuring for a single customer.  We are looking to mitigate the issue.

---

Initial Update: Sun, Mar 17 2013 6:20 PM

We are currently investigating failures related to Hosted Build.  Users may experience slow builds during this period.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

Madhu Kavikondala

Today's featured wiki article is...

Simple Data Binding in XAML

It was written by my friend and co-Wiki Ninja, Horizon Net.

Data binding is a great way to display your data. This step-by-step tutorial will teach you the basics of data binding. If you are already familiar with data binding you can skip this tutorial.

Data binding provides a simple and consistent way for applications to present and interact with data. Elements can be bound to data from a variety of data sources in the form of common language runtime (CLR) objects and XML.

Let’s create the application stub. For this demo I will use Expression Blend, because its support for XAML-based tooling, especially data binding, is great and designer as well as developers can profit from it.

Keep following the tutorial here:

Simple Data Binding in XAML

This article is available in two other languages:

• German: Einfache Datenbindung in XAML (de-DE)
• Italian: Data binding - Esempio base in XAML (it-IT)

Remember to jump on in! The Wiki is warm.

    - User Ed

For the challenges this month...

March Challenge of the Month

Here is a challenge from Litdev...

Graphical Challenge 2

Write a program with an arrow that rotates to always point towards the mouse.

I'm featuring a solution created by Zock77:

SFP468

Have a great day!

   - Ninja Ed

Upcoming Jump Start: March 19

Register today for this no-cost, live course designed for IT pros interested in improving SharePoint performance with SQL Server settings and configuration.  This is a US live course which is run 2am to 6am Sydney time on March 20.

Step 1:

Sign up for a Windows Store account at http://dev.windows.com/
Click on Sign In at the top right corner.  If you don’t have a Microsoft account, you will need to sign up for one.  You can set this up with an existing email address or get a new one.  Sign up for an individual developer account for $49.  (Are you a student?  You can waive this $49 by signing up for http://dreamspark.com and getting a code for the Windows Store.).

Step 2:

Create your app.

Option 1: Create an information app.  This app will display information in a nice format for the Windows Store.  Download an Excel template here (Choose the format that works for you based on your version of Excel, etc.) and replace the entries in the spreadsheet with the data appropriate for your app.  This can be for your favorite sports team, band, or school.

Option 2: Create a game using a Construct2 template.  Download a Construct2 game template here.  You can use the templates as a starting point or find tutorials on building a game at http://www.scirra.com/tutorials.

Option 3: Create your game using GameMaker or GameSalad.

Step 3:

In order to convert what you built into a Windows 8 app, you will need a privacy statement and images of the following dimensions and names:

You can easily resize images into the necessary dimensions with a tool like Paint.NET, Paint, or Photoshop.

You also need a privacy statement.  A sample privacy statement here.

Step 4:

Submit to the Store!  You will need Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012.  If you used Excel to make an information app, you can find more information on building the app and instructions on converting the app here.  If you’re using Scirra Construct2, check out this tutorial.

Don’t have Windows 8? Come visit me during my Office Hours to port your app to Windows 8 or contact me.  Make sure you have (1) your Excel spreadsheet or your Construct2 project as a single .capx file and (2) required images (for the information app) and (3) your app name, description, publisher name, support information, etc.

For GameMaker YoYo Games and GameSalad apps, please come see me during my Office Hours if you need help.

Step 5:

Once your app is submitted, claim $100 per app at the following links:
http://aka.ms/ikeepthecash (EVERYONE, until 6/30)
http://aka.ms/AppMadnessSubmission (STUDENTS ONLY, until 4/12)

One of the best books I've read recently is Advice is for Winners, by Raul Valdes-Perez.   It's all about how to get advice for better decisions in work and life.  I’ve written a deep review on it:

Book Review: Advice is for Winners

It's a great book whether you are an advice seeker, or serve in a trusted advisor role.   It helps you with either role, because the author shares an in-depth look at what holds back people from taking advice, as well as the qualities that make an advisor more effective.

On a personal note, I've had to learn how to seek advice with skill, back when I first joined Microsoft.  I started out in Developer Support and it really was a team sport.  It was rare for any individual to have all the knowledge to address the complex issues that came our way.  Instead, the key was to be very good at finding the answers and expertise around the world.   It’s true that two-heads are better than one, and there is a lot of power in the collective perspective – if you know how to use it.

When I joined the Microsoft patterns & practices team, I had to learn how to be good at both seeking out experts as well as giving deep advice about how to put our platform together and make the most of it.   One of the biggest challenges I faced on a daily basis was conflicting advice from qualified experts.

At the end of the day, I learned how to use test cases to find and validate the answers and solutions.   To do this well, I need to use scenarios and context both to weed out generic or irrelevant advice, and to be able to test advice.  Interestingly, the key to finding a solution often involved being able to "repro" (reproduce) the problem or challenge.

Once you could "repro" the problem, you could share it with others and get their heads in the game.  Also, often while trying to create a repro, you would find out what the real problem was, or at least, get clarity in the decisions and assumptions.

Sometimes, trying to reproduce the problem wasn't practical, so instead, the goal would be to understand the context or scenario as best you could, and construct a skeletal solution in incremental steps.   This way, when somebody tries to duplicate the solution, if something doesn't work along the way, you can usually backtrack to the basic steps.  Effectively, you can gradually build up from a working foundation, and when a part of it, doesn't work, you can isolate it, and troubleshoot what's different about the particular context (such as security context, or configuration, etc.)

Back to the book … in Advice is for Winners, Raul provides a great distillation and synthesis on the art of getting advice with skill.  What I especially like about the book is that it very much matches what I’ve learned the hard way about giving and getting advice.   Raul does a fantastic job of helping you get over any limiting beliefs or mindset that might hold you back from seeking advice.   He also does a great job of articulating what holds us back from getting the advice we need.  

The backbone of the book is an actionable framework for getting advice that’s principle-based and easy to personalize.  If you aren’t sure how to approach people to ask for help, this framework will help you get over that.  If you aren’t sure how to deal with conflicting advice, the guidance will help you get over that, too.  If you aren’t sure what scenarios to even seek out advice, Raul provides very specific examples and stories.  To bottom line it, what you don’t know, can hurt you, and building your advice seeking skills can be a powerful investment that pays you back for the rest of your life in exponential ways that you can’t yet predict.

For a "movie-trailer” style book review of Advice is for Winners, see Book Review: Advice is for Winners.

Becoming a skilled advice seeker might be one of the best capabilities you can build to improve your personal effectiveness.