2/5/2012
Microsoft has announced the SQL Server 2012 launch will be March 7, 2012. This latest version promises mission critical confidence, blazing fast performance, stunning interactive data visualizations, Cloud on your own terms and Business Intelligence (BI) for everyone/anywhere. You’ll be learning about capabilities such as “AlwaysOn”, "Columnstore Indexes", "Distributed Replay", "Storing and Querying Documents", "StreamInsight", "Master Data Services", "Data Quality Services", "BI Semantic Model" and "Power View".
I will be teaching on SQL Server 2012 over the next few months in the following areas.
Homnick Systems “Hands On Seminars” with the first one taking place on February 15, 2012. Two days Instructor Led Hands-On Training that is truly the most cost effective/efficient to begin your SQL Server 2012 learning experience.
I have been honored to be selected by Microsoft to deliver SQL Server 2012 training events around the world allowing me to feed my wanderlust along with my love for teaching technology. I’ll be involved with three Train The Trainer (TTT) events and a SQL Connections Pre-conference workshop on the following dates:
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Date / Location |
Description |
Registration Inquiries |
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28-Feb-2012
(3 Days)
Redmond, WA, USA |
SQL Server 2012 Update For Developers (Train-the-Trainer)
This delivery is for Microsoft training partners who have been nominated by their respective Microsoft subsidiaries. |
Private - invitation only
DeliverSQL2012help@microsoft.com |
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25-Mar-2012
(2 Days)
Las Vegas, NV, USA |
SQL Server 2012 Update For Developers (SQL Connections Workshop)
This is only public delivery of the workshop by the Data Platform Evangelism team. It will be delivered as a pre-conference workshop at SQL Connections . |
Registration Link |
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17-Apr-2012
(3 Days)
Prauge, Czech Republic |
SQL Server 2012 Update For Developers (Train-the-Trainer)
This delivery is for Microsoft training partners who have been nominated by their respective Microsoft subsidiaries. |
Private - invitation only.
DeliverSQL2012help@microsoft.com |
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24-Apr-2012
(3 Days)
Singapore |
SQL Server 2012 Update For Developers (Train-the-Trainer)
This delivery is for Microsoft training partners who have been nominated by their respective Microsoft subsidiaries. |
Private - invitation only.
DeliverSQL2012help@microsoft.com |
Check out Roger Doherty’s SQL 2012 Cook Book at http://bit.ly/sql2012cookbook for more information on SQL Server 2012 Microsoft Training materials/events.
I’ll also be doing a series of Florida Users Groups talks on SQL Server 2012 starting with the Gold Coast Users Group on February 9, 2012. Sign up at the UG website and you will be notified of meetings across the state of Florida. If you want an event in your area, just let me know. 1/24/2012
Homnick Systems (HSI) has been designated by Microsoft as a Gold Partner in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) for 2012 along with competencies for Software Development, Business Intelligence, Portals/Collaboration (SharePoint) and Cloud Essentials. These designations highlight the business focus that we are giving to a mixture of software development and architecture in our practice delivery areas of consulting, mentoring and training. This next year will see the launch of SQL Server 2012, Visual Studio 11 and Windows 8 (both Server and Client) and HSI looks forward to another great year of helping enterprises to extend productivity in the workplace with these new and also existing Microsoft products. Below are our new Microsoft Partner logo and a brief description of the practice competency areas. The public facing Microsoft Partner website showing our competencies can be found at http://bit.ly/HSPartner. 
The Microsoft Application Lifecycle Management competency demonstrates expertise in providing training and consultation for or deploying Microsoft Visual Studio development system software, including Microsoft Visual Studio Ultimate, Team Foundation Server, Test and Lab Manager.
The Microsoft Software Development competency demonstrates expertise at developing solutions that leverage the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 development system to create the best path from customer ideas to business impact.
The Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) competency demonstrates expertise in implementing business processes used in identifying, extracting and analyzing business data for the purpose of supporting better business decision-making. Business Intelligence (BI) continues to be a top spending priority for chief information officers (CIOs), making accurate BI an increasingly crucial factor in developing an effective business strategy.
The Microsoft Portals and Collaboration competency demonstrates expertise at implementing solutions that leverage Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. In the same way that collaboration is central to business productivity, portals and collaboration solutions have become a tremendous engine for business productivity and efficiency.
The Microsoft Cloud Essentials designation encompasses developing and implementing Cloud Based solutions for the Windows Azure and SQL Azure Cloud Platform and the Office 365 Software as a Service offering. 9/14/2011
Microsoft handed out Windows 8 Samsung Slate 700T devices to 5000 of the developers attending the BUILD Windows Conference this week. Below is a picture of the one I received.
Really cool thing about the Windows 8 approach is that there is a new Metro Natural User Interface optimized for inputs like touch, pen, and we will see what else, however it can be easily converted to a powerful desktop device with all the inputs you know and love, like keyboard, mouse, usb devices, etc. It allows for a consumption based slate that can be turned into a professional developer machine for production purposes. For the developer you can write applications, test them and use the device in day to day work.
I will be using this machine in my presentations on Windows 8 in the coming months with the first one taking place at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida office on September 22, 2011. Check out http://GCUsersGroup.org for more presentations.
Here are the specifications of the machine:
Hardware
- 2nd Generation Intel Core i5
- Samsung Super PLS 1366X768 display
- AT&T 3G included (1yr, 2GB/month)
- UEFI BIOS
- 4GB DDR3
- 64GB SSD
- Sensors, USB, micros SD, HDML, Pen
- Dock w/USB, HDMI, Ethernet
- 11.6” diagonal, 909g, 12.9mm
Software
- Tablet + Development Platform
- Developer Preview Software with Developer Preview Hardware
- Ability to “use” and “develop” on the same platform
- Imaged with Developer Preview
Applications
Tools
Recovery Environment
6/12/2011
Windows 8 was recently announced and previewed and it looks awesome! The Build Windows conference taking place in Anaheim September 9-13 is centered on Windows 8, HTML5, Javascript and C++. Check out the links below for some great preview information.
It certainly looks like a new paradigm is emerging for software development on Windows.
I believe C++ is a great language to build massively parallel programs, take a look at Compositional C++ (ok, I’m a little biased towards CalTech since daughter and new son-in-law are grads :-)).
Additionally, I do not see why HTML5 couldn’t be tooled to program Natural User Interfaces as well as any other presentation layer markup paradigm.
Throw in the familiarity and acceptance HTML/JS/C++ already have and you’ve got your perfect combination to tackle the future….
Getting pretty excited to see what comes out of Build and what actually gets done the few months after that. I’m getting the same feeling as when we transformed from DNA to .Net.
The thing that really impressed me in the unveiling of .Net was that Microsoft made sure not to simply abandon existing developer investments as they unveiled new developer opportunities. I am absolutely sure that this same developer support will be true into the future.
Reminds me of the R.E.M. song from the 80’s, “It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”. 6/6/2011
Over the last six years I have been working on methods to deliver Instructor Led Hands-On Training in an Agile manner. Instructor-Led Training is the process of education in which a live Instructor leads an interactive class of attendees in learning (in our case) complex computer software systems. It is characterized by the following:
1. Instructor delivering concepts through PowerPoint slides.
2. Instructor only demos (step by step examples of the complex system) .
3. Instructor led activities (demos that the students follow along with the instructor on their own computers).
4. The whole experience is completed with the students going through hands-on labs on their own with the instructor available for assistance.
This is absolutely the best way to learn new complex software. Once the original concepts are cemented, the details can be augmented through online methods. If you want to get the most out of your online training budget, it is best to start out a particular software learning regimen with Instructor-Led training.
The drawback to delivering this Instructor-Led Training is that it traditionally required a classroom with computers at a fixed location; so that travel to the classroom was required and the training company incurred the cost of maintaining a physical plant, which added to the cost charged for the class. With an Agile Classroom these impediments to delivering Instructor-Led training can be overcome.
The basic three requirements for this Agile Classroom are as follows:
1. Well lit room set up in classroom style (chairs and tables) with surge protected power outlets for attendee computers
2. A reliable Internet connection for Cloud based or Remote Desktop Deliveries.
3. Overhead projector
So company, hotel or airport conference rooms can be used for this Agile Classroom. This opens a whole new flexibility and cost savings in delivering Instructor-Led training.
The attendee brings their own computer that meets minimum specs to run a Virtual Machine. These are Windows XP+, 2gb of physical memory, available USB port and Remote Desktop Connection. There is added benefit in that the attendee leaves with the content ready for them to continue their studies.
Look to the Agile Classroom to deliver Instructor-Led complex computer software training in the future.
3/29/2011My experience at Microsoft's largest tech conference TechEd http://northamerica.msteched.com dates back to the original TechEd ever held in 1993. Thoughout the 1990's I delivered sessions every year and in the first half of the 2000's every other year. This is is my first year for signing up for sessions since 2006 and I am really excited to get back into the TechEd speaking tour. TechEd has always been a rewarding experience for me and I highly suggest the learning and networking experience for everyone. This is one of those "if I could only go to one tech conference this year", this is the one to attend.
Here's the Abstracts for my two sessions, hope to see you in Atlanta during May 16-19.
2/18/2011In Part I we discussed how you can leverage a shared environment for multiple developers to efficiently create a SharePoint 2010 development environment. There are two ways to create this type of environment, one in a totally shared environment and another where SQL Server (SQL) and Active Directory (AD) are shared across multiple isolated SharePoint Server environments.
In the totally shared environment, a single SharePoint Server Virtual Machine (VM) is shared across multiple developers. This total shared environment still should have separate AD and SQL instances; however, all developers use one VM instance for development efforts. This does require the purchase of Remote Desktop licenses for each of the developers, however, is a very efficient use of installation time, SQL Server and hardware resources. We use the total shared environment in our classrooms and have accommodated 12 developers with sufficient throughput simultaneously building and debugging projects on a single 16gb server. The downside to this approach is that because it is a completely shared environment you need to be careful that developers do not step on each other when deploying Farm Level Solutions and the possibility of an individual developer bringing down the whole developer environment with a catastrophic error. These problem situations can be mitigated through the use of Farm Level Solution naming conventions and snapshotting of the VM state.
The second option of a partially shared SharePoint 2010 development environment entails giving each developer their own VM environment with an instance of SharePoint Server 2010 running. This scenario emulates a single developer box in a VM environment. The SQL and AD still should still be shared; however, there is an individual VM instance of SharePoint 2010 per developer. You do get isolation in this case and we have successfully seen sufficient throughput with 3gb VMs per developer. You no longer have the shared issues of developer efforts colliding. Downside to this approach is having fewer developers per server, Server license considerations and increased SQL resource due to multiple databases for each SharePoint instance.
Each of these approaches should incorporate the use of a Source Control Management system as in any multiple developer scenarios.
10/15/2010
SharePoint 2010 offers the F5 Debug experience that Visual Studio 2010 developers are familiar with. The price of this integration is expensive due to the fact that to use the SharePoint 2010 templates, a copy of SharePoint 2010 has to be running on the developer computer. Given the fact that SharePoint 2010 Server requires an X64 operating System and a minimum of 4 gigabytes of RAM (8 gbs is real minimum), along with the extensive setup requirements, this is no simple setup. Although you can setup in a Windows 7 environment (not ideal) and there are tools to help in this setup along with Boot To VHD options, setting up a SharePoint/Visual Studio 2010 developer can be a painful experience.
Since we do SharePoint 2010 Developer training, we feel this pain every class. Last week we did a class for nine developers and took a different approach that I believe would work for enterprise developer teams. Instead of setting up individual computers for each student, we set up a Windows Server 2008 R2 running the SharePoint/Visual Studio 2010 environment. The hardware was simply a 16gb machine with a 6 core processor. Utilizing Remote Desktop Services we had all nine students Remote Desktop into this co-located server. With all nine students deploying Farm solutions, debugging solutions and creating Site Collections, the throughput was excellent. Actually, we experienced better throughput in the shared environment than running the SharePoint/Visual Studio 2010 on an individual Windows 7.0 8 gb dual core desktop scenario.
SharePoint/Visual Studio 2010 developer environment fits very nicely into the Remote Desktop Services delivery mechanism. Of course, this all depends on hardware deployed, however, this is going to be the approach we will be taking for all future SharePoint/Visual Studio 2010 developer trainings. Due to the capability of sharing resources, instead of recreating them in every desktop, the efficiency savings are huge. Added to that you are developing in a closer approximation of what you are deploying to.
Enterprise development environments should definitely look into this approach as a solution for their SharePoint/Visual Studio 2010 development environment.
Working in a shared SharePoint environment has certain issues that need to be addressed and we did that very successfully in this last class. The "try and break it" approach we implement in the classroom was a great test of the viability of this development environment and it passed with flying colors.
This shared environment even adds some more complications to the mix of a SharePoint/Visual Studio 2010 installation that need to be addressed. However, I believe that it is well worth the effort.
In Part II of this series I will discuss the special circumstances that need be addressed in this shared environment beyond the standard setup. We also worked on an architecture that addresses additional enterprise development concerns that are not seen in the classroom. 9/2/2010
When SQL Server Express is installed with default options it is setup with Integrated Windows Security and the SA (Administrator) account disabled, for example when installed as part of Visual Studio. Additionally, in many cases the SQL Server Management Studio Express is not installed, so that a graphical interface to change to a Mixed Security and enabled SA account does not exist. Many of the ASP.Net templates integrate into ASP.Net Web Matrix like Umbraco and SrewTurn Wiki require this Mixed Security scenario, so here are the steps to change from Integrated to Mixed Security and enable the SA account with a password from the command prompt. This is assuming SQL Server Express 2008 R2, the step 4 key is slightly different with 2008/2005 installs.
1. Launch cmd.exe to enter Command Prompt
2. Run net stop MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS
3. Run regedit
4. In the Registry Editor change the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQLServer\LoginMode value to 2.
5. Close Registry Editor and return to Command Prompt
6. Run net start MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS
7. Run SQLCMD –S .\SQLEXPRESS
8. Enter alter login 'sa' enable
9. Enter alter login 'sa' with password ='MyPassword'
10. Close the Command Prompt, you are done
8/3/2010
Visual Studio LightSwitch was announced this morning and I am pretty excited about the potential for this true Rapid Application Development environment that incorporates Silverlight. You can deploy this on the Cloud or the Desktop and start a polished application almost right out of the File->New box. LightSwitch delivers that RAD environment that VB 6.0 developers are used to, while incorporating the latest/greatest technologies and unlimited extensibility.
You can get more information at http://microsoft.com/LightSwitch and Jason Zander has a step by step at http://bit.ly/dldm1g. A public beta is scheduled for August 23. This product will be delivered as a Visual Studio SKU, so it is baked right into the developer toolset from the beginning. If you are in South Florida area, the Gold Coast Users Group http://GCUsersGroup.org is doing a session on LightSwitch and Web Matrix on September 9 and I’ll be speaking on it at the Southwest Florida CodeCamp http://CodeCamp/SWFLDev.net in Fort Myers on September 25.
Here’s the official blurb on key points for LightSwitch
• Simplified Development: Visual Studio LightSwitch makes it simple for developers to quickly build polished, user-friendly custom business applications that work and look like an off-the-shelf solution, for the desktop and the cloud.
• Speed to Solution: Visual Studio LightSwitch can dramatically decrease the time it takes to build a custom application by automatically handling routine code and letting developers focus on the custom logic that makes their applications unique.
• Flexibility for Today and Tomorrow: Visual Studio LightSwitch gives developers the flexibility to build practical, scalable applications that connect with their existing applications, legacy systems and web services, letting them choose from a wide variety of hosting, deployment and3rd-party plug-in options.
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