Day #1 has been officially launched for the 6 weeks of Azure Program.

Rocky & Christian at Microsoft are busy combining a great community effort with help from myself & Mahesh, Bill Chesnut and others to bring together a great 6 week program about a Journey through Azure (above and beyond technical aspects, but they are also included).

Things like:

- taking an onpremise solution and converting to Azure.

- what your solution may look like in Azure.

- what considerations you’ll need to think about when working in Azure.

- Solution landscape

- Technical azure widgets and what each one does and how it can help you in your solution

- Time for you to go away, plan, contact an instructor, see a webcast and come back to a Q&A session.

It’s got over 340 people registered on it so far and it’s never too late to jump on board.

Read the full story here - http://www.breeze.net/news/breezetalk/let-the-6-week-challenge-begin!.aspx

Hi folks,

What a great time we're in at the moment. Cloud(s) are knocking a the door, local devices, windows 8 etc.

No complaints from me that this world is getting more and more connected.

To maintain those connections and handle new ones - Microsoft BizTalk Server serves as your on-premise middleware platform.

We're running a course shortly on Design, Build and Manage your solutions within BizTalk Server.

We have a wealth of knowledge around Integration and Cloud technologies. As you and I know, integration is all about the systems you're integrating with.

Here's the details - and hope to see you there. Mick (you're new Azure Integration MVP)

Come along to our office for a week of BizTalk 2010 Bootcamp Training!

Agenda

We will take care of you with delicious catering, friendly staff and provide our state of the art BizTalk trainer. There are a limited amount of seats, so book now!

Click here to register

Start: Monday, November 12, 2012

End: Friday, November 16 2012

What is BizTalk?

For your business, BizTalk provides the "glue" to giving you a very good integration foundation for both internal applications as well as the outside world and giving you consistency across those interfaces as well.

BizTalk is a platform that is durable, reliable and fault tolerant right across your services, from email, FTP services, web services, database calls and much more, you will have something that retries all of those for you.

Why BizTalk?

BizTalk provides a level of maturity to customer operations as well as consistency. It is harder for customers to build themselves, the capabilities that BizTalk can offer out of the box. Our experience is that customers often start out building smaller applications here and there with eventually having over 100 applications talking to each other in a very specific way, all in a very ad-hoc approach and all very speciailised. Over time to maintain those systems becomes a big challenge for the client with increased complexity along the way.

Whereas by introducing a uniform, a best practice way of doing something, "business rules" such as within BizTalk, it eases that integration with the company to make it a lot simpler and easier to manage and everyone gets visibility in to the activity of those calls within the applications.

What our customers are doing with BizTalk today

BizTalk being a middleware product is being used in many different scenarios, from simple file transfers right across to complex business process automation.

Customers in one instance are getting real time notifications around FTP, where certain files appear, then systems have to react or respond immediately instead of within a polling interval that may occur at any time during the day. So being able to build out that infrastructure and apply or update databases, all of that happens right across the BizTalk layer, then exposed out via web services.

In-short BizTalk forms another tool in the client toolkit, using the MS integration stack, so on top of not only BizTalk and all of its' capabilities and adapters, we have WCF (Windows Communication Foundation), messaging, MSMQ and many others in the integration stack, not to mention Azure and cloud hybrid solutions we can deploy and employ today. So with clients it's not just about providing BizTalk to solve a problem, it's about using the tools in the toolkit to meet their requirements, whatever the tools may be, to solve their immediate challenge.

Hi folks, you've probably heard a fair bit about the make over of Azure into 'Azure 2.0' (the SDK is still 1.7)

There's some great new tools within VS.NET to manage your environment better, even a Service Bus 'explorer' which was much needed.

I've collected a few links to start with for you guys to read up on when you've got a moment:

Azure 2.0 Details on:

• Windows Azure Powershell Extension - http://cloud.github.com/downloads/WindowsAzure/azure-sdk-tools/windowsazure-powershell.0.6.0.msi
• Command Line Tools Independent of WebPI - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/downloads/
• Virtual Machines - FAQs etc - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/jj156003
• Windows Azure Virtual Network - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/jj156007
  • Get slides from my previous presentation here - Azure Virtual Network 2.0
• Windows Azure Media Services - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh973629
• Create and Deploying WebSite walk through - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/services/web-sites/how-to-create-websites/
  • (like we need this one - seriously takes 3 minutes! - well done MS!)
• Azure Chalk Talk Videos - http://www.meetwindowsazure.com/DigitalChalkTalks
  • Azure Virtual Machines - Part I & Part II
  • Web Sites with ASP.NET (NB: SSL is not supported, but it will arrive when Win Server 2012)
  • Web Sites with node.js
  • Web Sites with OSS Apps & Web Matrix
  • Azure Cross Platform Command Line Tools
  • Cloud Services (aka perviously web+worker roles)
  • Apache Hadoop Based Services On Windows Azure
  • TFS Service Preview Intro
  • Azure Websites - Continuous Integration with TFS.
  • Azure SQL Databases Intro
  • Azure Storage Introduction

Hi guys, I gave an online presentation earlier this afternoon as part of Microsoft Readiness on Azure Virtual Networks.

I had the whole presentation prepared until the http://meetwindowsazure.com announcement, where I had to go to the drawing board and just share all this goodness that was pouring out in Azure V2.0.

Thanks to the healthy turnout for those online and to those who registered, then check the emails for a link shortly.

As promised here’s the slide deck guys that I used through my demos

Presentation:

LIVE Meeting: Ten Must-Have Tools for Windows Azure

Event ID: 1032500970

Hi folks we’re delivering Azure sessions on behalf of Microsoft over the next coming weeks…

Here’s the official timetable, come along they’re free for you!!
(All times are in Australian Eastern Standard Time)

Hi folks, I’m starting off a series Azure training sessions for Microsoft via Live Meeting – yesterday Scotty & I delivered a great presentation with all the main pillars on show.

This session is more about what is inside the Azure ‘Fabric’ and how is this space managed.

In the coming sessions we will delve into creating/configuring applications, deployments etc.

For now – here is the fundamental ‘what’s under the hood’

(Recording will be made available shortly)

You can download from here - http://bit.ly/qEiqLC (UPDATED LINK: Inside Windows Azure, the Cloud Operating System - Mick Badran thanks Mikael.)

We had an action packed 2 days hammering ‘Azurey’ (Azure) discovering all the concepts and most importantly I was trying to get the Why point across.

Why??

Why should we use Azure? When should we use it? Do I *need* to use it? Where can it help me for little effort… etc.. etc..

The students walked out with a trial Azure account which enabled them to continue working on their environment as and when they could.

We had some great discussions and some good fun was had by all.

I thought I would make my slides available – http://bit.ly/oQ0Zcv UPDATED - (case sensitive) – ENJOY!

What a place…the Gold Coast!!!

Any chance to get back there… and this year is looking to be a fantastic 2 day pre-conference training together.

In the training there’ll be no MS speak!! I promise “We’re all in…” …(washing mouth out with soap).

First things first – everyone you speak to will pronounce ‘Azure’ differently (I once had 3 martial arts instructors all speak their own flavour of ‘Korean’ to me).
You’ll get:
1) ‘Aaaaaazzzzre’
2) ‘Azzzz-cloud’

Now here in Australia we’re standardising (our English-Australian) to Azurey!

Azurey is our official term, which fits alongside ‘Timmy’, ‘Barbie’ and ‘Daveo’… but not Shazza.

What I want to explore with you are all the different options and components that you could utilise. Having been through several cloud based solutions and building a cloud based solution over the last 2 years.

So we can use a combination of the available technologies to alleviate some of the in-house problems (e.g. firewall settings, h/w order and provisioning, server space) while still maintaining *very* good ownership over it.

One thing is clear right now – with this new landscape the focus has returned to the Developer to be mindful of what resources they use and HOW they use them.

The price of your solution starts right now from the ground up with the Developer!
(Previously we’ve had limitless memory, disk, cpu, connections, sockets, select * from customers… – developers rarely care)

So the cost model – What do you get charged for?
(short answer – nearly everything)

If you can design a solution with:
1) no use for SQL Azure –as it currently costs a bomb to host a DB.
You could use – SQLCE locally or Azure Storage (Table, Queue, blob) which is cheap as chips.

2) limit your Service Bus Connections – both client and server count as a connection. The connections are averaged out over a day/month and are sampled every 5 mins, but you certainly don’t want to rack up 100s of connections. A cheaper alternative is to expose a WCF Endpoint (via a worker role) and have a process communicate with the Servicebus endpoint handling the requests. This counts for 2 connections (1 client, 1 server) and is well within the 5 pack.

3) Only data out is charged – not in.

4) Compute VM sizes limit bandwith – across all your compute VMs e.g. small, there is bandwidth limitations that is enforced whether you have 1 or 10 VMs. Be mindful of that.

5) We can ‘monitor’ our cloud machines and even get back perf counters on each – just to give you that feel good feeling.

Well anyway I must go tweak some F# (best thing I’ve seen in a long while…another story)

Here’s the official story @ TechEd – hope to see you there folks!

http://australia.msteched.com/preconferencetraining

Official Blurb!

How “the Cloud” can help you integrate – Microsoft for Developers

With the excitement of technology moving towards “the Cloud” come and learn exactly what this means to your business and how your development projects can leverage the Windows Azure Platform without re-architecting your environment. Should you invest in private cloud, move your application to the public cloud, choose a hybrid approach or keep the application on-premise?

This two-day development workshop led by renowned Integration Experts provides delegates with an early opportunity to gain insight and hands-on experience with the Windows Azure Platform including Windows Azure AppFabric, SQL Azure, Windows Server AppFabric and BizTalk AppFabric Connect.

This developer workshop focuses on maximising your existing integration technology investment for an on-premise solution, including architectural design considerations, real world tips and techniques and hands-on experience with using the integration tools available today.

Delivered through workshop style presentations and hands-on lab exercises, this technology focused pre conference training will assist with designing and developing your company roadmap to the Cloud.

Hi folks, as promised here’s my little slide deck for the presentation given last week. We had a great audience with some very interesting questions.

Thanks all that attended as part of the Microsoft Partner Readiness program. Hope you’re enjoying and feel free to give me feedback as to what you’d like to see more of and less of.

Have fun,

Mick.

Well folks we are partnering with Education leaders in the APAC region Excom to deliver to you our Breeze SharePoint 2010 Bootcamp.

I’ve recently come out of that code cave…the place which I’m sure a lot of us know all too well. I discovered people…and conversations again :)

We’ve put together 13 modules of original material and labs to match based on real world examples. For e.g. Integrating with Oracle EB from SharePoint 2010 via the BizTalk Adapter Pack (being a BTS MVP I couldn’t resist that one).

I ran a course in Melbourne the week before last and it was a solid week which the students loved with the average score for the course being 8.2 (with 9 being the top)

Our next city is Sydney this coming month and I’ve managed to grab a couple of seats for you.

To Register in a city near you – click here

Hi folks,

Lately I've had several requests from folks whom want to have a play with BizTalk but don't want to setup the whole infrastructure etc.

Here's a great page from MS Virtual Labs that will get you on your way
(some labs are for BTS2006, others for BTS2009, the same principles apply)

Check it out and if you're ever away from a VM, might be handy a fallback plan.

BizTalk Virtual Lab Material

There's 4 pages and here's a snippet from Page 1

--------------------------------------------------------------

MSDN Virtual Lab: Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 Working with Schemas

After completing this lab, you will be better able to create a new BizTalk project, create an XML schema by using the BizTalk Editor, promote a schema property, create a flat file schema by using the BizTalk Editor, validate a schema and generate a sample instance message, create a strong name and assign it to an assembly, and build a schema project.  ...

4/3/2006 12:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 9/30/2011 11:59 PM | Duration:90 Minutes

Primary Language:   English

Primary Target Audience:   Pro Dev/Programmer

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032296903&culture=en-US

MSDN Virtual Lab: Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 Working with Maps

After completing this lab, you will be better able to create a schema map by using BizTalk Mapper, add functoids to a map, validate a map, and build a schema map project.

4/3/2006 12:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 11/30/2010 11:59 PM | Duration:90 Minutes

Primary Language:   English

Primary Target Audience:   Pro Dev/Programmer

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032296906&culture=en-US

MSDN Virtual Lab: Integrating Business Rules in Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006

After completing this lab, you will be better able to define business rules, call business rules from within an orchestration, build and deploy the business rules project, and start and test the business rules.

5/7/2008 12:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 5/31/2011 11:59 PM | Duration:90 Minutes

Primary Language:   English

Primary Target Audience:   Pro Dev/Programmer

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032379047&culture=en-US

MSDN Virtual Lab: New Features for Deploying and Managing a BizTalk Application in Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006

After completing this lab, you will be better able to assign an application name to a BizTalk Server project, use the BizTalk Server 2006 Administration Console to create receive ports, receive locations, use the BizTalk Server 2006 Administration Console to import port binding information, bind orchestration ports to physical ports, export a BizTalk application to an MSI package, import a BizTalk application from an MSI package, and finally, use the Group Hub to manage suspended messages.  ...

4/3/2006 12:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 12/31/2010 11:59 PM | Duration:90 Minutes

Primary Language:   English

Primary Target Audience:   Pro Dev/Programmer

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032296904&culture=en-US

MSDN Virtual Lab: Connected Commerce with Commerce Server 2007

After completing this lab, you will be better able to educate attendees on integrating Commerce Server 2007 with ERP or CRM systems and external business trading partners by utilizing the new built-in integration adapter for BizTalk Server 2006. Also, you will learn how to utilize the new Orders, Inventory, Catalog, and Profile BizTalk Adapters in detail to achieve high-performing, reliable connectivity between Commerce Server deployments and other external systems.  ...

4/20/2007 12:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 8/31/2010 11:59 PM | Duration:90 Minutes

Primary Language:   English

Primary Target Audience:   Pro Dev/Programmer

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032338959&culture=en-US

TechNet Virtual Lab: Integrating Business Rules in Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006

After completing this lab, you will be better able to define business rules, call business rules from within an orchestration, build and deploy the business rules project, and start and test the business rules.NoteBy registering for this virtual lab, you will receive a one-time follow up call from a Microsoft representative to inform you of special discounts and offers related to products and services presented in the virtual lab.  ...

4/3/2006 12:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 11/30/2010 11:59 PM | Duration:90 Minutes

Primary Language:   English

Primary Target Audience:   IT Generalist

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032313534&culture=en-US

MSDN Virtual Lab: Creating Schemas using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004

After completing this lab, you will be able to create a new BizTalk project, create an XML schema by using BizTalk Schema Editor, promote a schema property, create a file schema by using BizTalk Schema Editor, validate a schema and generate a sample instance message, and build a schema project.  ...

12/7/2005 12:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 7/31/2010 11:59 PM | Duration:90 Minutes

Primary Language:   English

Primary Target Audience:   Pro Dev/Programmer

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032279924&culture=en-US

MSDN Virtual Lab: Publishing a Web Service in Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004

After completing this lab, you will be able to configure orchestration properties, create the orchestration to be published, build and deploy the orchestration publishing project, run the BizTalk Web Services Publishing Wizard, and start and test the published orchestration.  ...

10/24/2005 12:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 2/28/2011 11:59 PM | Duration:90 Minutes

Primary Language:   English

Primary Target Audience:   Pro Dev/Programmer

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303224&culture=en-US

MSDN Virtual Lab: Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 Consuming a Web Service

After completing this lab, you will be able to add a Web reference to a project, create a map, create variables for message instances, create the Web services orchestration, and build and deploy the Web services project.

10/24/2005 12:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 1/31/2011 11:59 PM | Duration:90 Minutes

Primary Language:   English

Primary Target Audience:   Pro Dev/Programmer

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032303223&culture=en-US

TechNet Virtual Lab: New Features for Deploying and Managing a BizTalk Application in BizTalk 2006

After completing this lab, you will be better able to assign an application name to a BizTalk Server project, use the BizTalk Server 2006 Administration Console to create receive ports, receive locations, use the BizTalk Server 2006 Administration Console to import port binding information, bind orchestration ports to physical ports, export a BizTalk application to an MSI package, import a BizTalk application from an MSI package, and finally, use the Group Hub to manage suspended messages. NoteBy registering for this virtual lab, you will receive a one-time follow up call from a Microsoft representative to inform you of special discounts and offers related to products and services presented in the virtual lab.  ...

2/3/2006 12:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 9/30/2010 11:59 PM | Duration:90 Minutes

Primary Language:   English

Primary Target Audience:   IT Generalist

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032296907&culture=en-US

Hi folks, we’ve used our SharePoint expertise and knowledge to distil SharePoint 2010 product feature set, to provide a rich 5 day course for you.

I believe with SharePoint in particular that as a developer you *need* to know details about the SharePoint environment that is running your code, and as an Admin, you need to know what and how the developer provides the additions/customisations that they do.

Check out the details and you can register with Microsoft here.

We’re really excited about the offering and have a great Christmas break.

See you soon… ho ho ho…

Hi guys, I’ve been busy over the recent months always working and planning new ways to train, deliver and impart knowledge to *you* in a variety of different ways.

Truth be told our Region with respect to SharePoint Adoption and Knowledge, has been ahead of the curve worlwide – that you guys “SharePoint-ies”.
With the release of SharePoint 2010 soon-ish, we’ve been busy – to bring you the best value and the most effective training for your time.

For the release of SharePoint 2007 some numbers:

1. We trained over 1400 students on our Breeze SharePoint Bootcamp (we cover technical in-depth approx 80-85% of major SharePoint features in a week. Not for the faint hearted)
2. You guys demanded excellence and we gave you that.
3. We train 50% of the time and consult 50% – we bring real world knowledge into the classroom, what works, what doesn’t from a business perspective.
4. We’ve rolled out over 1000 different SharePoint 2007 sites (and are currently working on migrations to SP2010)
5. The buck stops with me – which can be good thing…so I’m told :)
   
   The big congrats goes to you! For being driven, demanding better, demanding more detail and better knowledge, you demand that the bar is raised and meet and excel that challenge.
   

Breeze has partnered with Microsoft & Excom, allowing us to each focus on our strengths, delivering to you the best possible offering in this space.

I’m pretty excited to announce our SharePoint 2010 Series running in Melb + Sydney initially (+ others soon)
(running at Microsoft Offices)

A Special Blog Reader offer: Would you like me to Webcast these sessions for those whom can’t make it?
Add a comment on this Post to let me know – I’ll get back to you with details.
(we are giving away goodies and offers but I can’t tell you too much)

Here’s the formal blurb: ------ snip ------

Microsoft Australia, is pleased to invite you to a FREE Seminar on SharePoint 2010.

Melbourne – December 2, 2009

Sydney – December 11, 2009

Delivered by Breeze & EXCOM Education, this seminar is the first in a series that are designed to get you across the new functionality of SharePoint 2010 and importantly how your business can benefit.

SharePoint 2010 is the business collaboration platform that enables you to connect and empower people through formal and informal business communities, within the enterprise and beyond, and to manage content throughout the information lifecycle.

This next release of SharePoint has some exciting new enhancements for IT Professionals and Developers we think you will want to see for yourself!

This seminar is for all SharePoint enthusiasts from IT Professionals, Developers to Business Decision Makers and Information Workers. Bring along your questions to the unveiling of SharePoint 2010!

Seats are limited. Register NOW !!!!
For more information and to register, click HERE

1. upon first boot my hyper-v enabled VM booted straight up to the Login screen! Unbelievable I thought.
2. logged in and it found my NIC within 10 secs and was on the network within 20 secs (through NAT). If you've ever experienced a Hyper-V update where your Guests don't talk to the network anymore, until you put the new hyper-v additions on - you'll know the pain.
3. mouse/keyboard recognised.
4. I then thought - let me install the VirtualBox additions - can't hurt.
   
5. RDP support etc etc ...it's like shopping @ christmas - how good is this! yes I'll have that...and this...
   
   
   
   
   
   So back to Guy's immortal words - "it runs fast. Snappy, responsive etc"
   
   My SP2010B2 in 1.4GB RAM x64 VM runs fanstastic! - Fastest I've seen a VM run on my laptop for a long long time (unless it's WFW 3.11)
   

Hi guys, thought I’d let you know about the rfid operations guide Microsoft recently released.

Covers things like HA, RFID Mobile and best practices… yours truly was one of the authors so I’m happy to take any feedback you’ve got.

Enjoy – here’s a snippet of what to expect.

Welcome to the first edition of the Microsoft® BizTalk® Server RFID Operations Guide. We created this guide to be a valuable resource for anyone involved in the implementation and administration of a BizTalk Server RFID solution.

To download a copy of this guide in .chm or .docx form, go to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=158724.

  Which Versions of BizTalk Server RFID Does the Guide Cover?

This guide is primarily for the BizTalk Server RFID product that is released as part of Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009. Even though most of the guidance applies to BizTalk Server RFID that was released as part of BizTalk Server 2006 R2, the guide uses the new platform changes wherever applicable.

  What’s in It?

This document applies to the operational readiness phase in the solution life cycle management of the project. The operational readiness phase precedes deployment to production. It consists of a set of tasks for ensuring a stable operating environment. It is targeted toward system administrators responsible for BizTalk Server RFID (server computers and RFID devices), DBAs responsible for the SQL servers used by BizTalk Server RFID, and developers involved with maintaining the infrastructure and solution. This document assumes that the BizTalk Server RFID solution has already been validated in a Pilot stage and is prepared for deployment to production.

Key portions of this guide are new; however, a considerable portion consists of documentation taken from BizTalk Server RFID Help, white papers, Knowledge Base articles, and other sources. It has been reviewed and evaluated by experts from the community of BizTalk Server IT professionals and members of the product development team, whom we gratefully acknowledge at the end of this topic. We believe that the information presented here will help BizTalk Server RFID users solve—and above all, avoid—many of the common problems that can occur while deploying and maintaining a BizTalk Server RFID installation.

  Interesting! Where Do I Start?

We organized the guide according to the functional aspects of planning, deploying, and managing a BizTalk Server RFID installation. You can therefore read it according to these functional aspects. If you are performing the following tasks, you can start with the related sections:

• Evaluating operational readiness. If you are focused on assessing and evaluating the operational readiness of a BizTalk Server RFID deployment, then start by reading the Operations Checklists section.
• Becoming operationally ready. To ensure that your BizTalk Server RFID infrastructure and applications become operationally ready, refer to the Planning the Environment for BizTalk Server RFID section.
• Managing the operational environment. Most of the topics in this operations guide assist you in managing and maintaining an operational BizTalk Server RFID environment. You will find best practices, key concepts, and procedures for maintaining an operational environment in Managing BizTalk Server RFID and Monitoring BizTalk Server RFID.

Author: Rama Ramani (Microsoft)

Editor: Mary Browning (Microsoft)

Contributors

• Mark Simms (Microsoft)
• Rohan Makhija (Microsoft)
• Ravi Vankamamidi (S3Edge)
• Clint Tennill (Xterprise)
• Damir Dobric, Andreas Erben (daenet)
• Mick Badran (Breeze, BizTalk Server MVP)

Reviewers

• Petr Kratochvil (Microsoft)
• Ewan Fairweather (Microsoft)
• Quoc Bui (Microsoft)
• Douglas Trimble (The Boeing Company)
• Robert Auston (Vail Resorts Management Company)
• Luke Rennells (Bank of America N.A.)

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009 RFID Operations Guide

Last night we had an exam cram, where keen and interested delegates bunkered down and got their neurons firing.

I went through this exam with them giving them tips and sharing my general SharePoint knowledge around this.

Today – the good news was that I passed three delegates whom took the exam *today* and all passed!!! Well done guys!

Here’s the ppt deck that I used – enjoy and well done all!

Ok – during these more challenging times (who doesn’t love trying to get that Suduko puzzle of life out).

Breeze went into bat for you – my passion and first love (or should I second love – my wife could read this) – the Student!!

Microsoft and Breeze Partner to bring you…

Microsoft and Breeze are bringing you this special SharePoint Training offer during June & July only. This is part of a campaign to help businesses use their existing Microsoft technologies to gain business efficiencies during these economic times.

Being better connected internally as well as externally can save businesses’ time and money. I will show you how Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 can help you achieve just that as SharePoint 2007 has some features we think you shouldn’t live without!

I will focus on delivering a ‘real world’ experience as well as having a strong training component. The things I instruct on have to work for me in the field as well!

This four day, intense workshop is designed for IT Professionals and Developers needing effective skills transfer for the new products and technologies delivered with Microsoft Office 2007.

You will have the opportunity for 'hands-on' experience to Develop, Customise and Integrate solutions on the Office 2007 Platform as well as gain experience from the field.

This course has been heavily subsidised by Microsoft at a cost of $1300 ex GST (RRP $2480 ex GST) and is filling up quickly. For more information and registration go here:

https://www.microsoft.com.au/events/register/home.aspx?levent=344938&linvitation

-----end the blurb -----

Note – Microsoft Partners can use their Readiness training $$ towards this course.

Chances are you’ve got the technology, got the MOSS environment and now needed to extend and explore.

What a great deal…I’ve still kept my first born ;)

See you there…

Mick.

Hi folks, as promised (a little late – had to man a stand at CeBit) here are the slides to yesterday’s session.

Thanks for all that attended and helping to make it a great class.

Off to do the same thing in Melbourne…and Build Rome.

Here’s the Slides and Demos Download (all files are Zipped)

Hi guys thanks for the turnout tonight :-)

Here's the link to download the presso

https://www311.livemeeting.com/cc/mvp/view?cn=&id=HK55JF-1&pw=

I should have allowed all access :)

Hopefully you've been keeping an eye on this in recent times.

This is a Set of Adapters that MS have built on top of the WCF LOB Adapter SDK (a platform neutral .NET based Adapter framework).

This allows the Adapters to run within the .NET stack almost anywhere - Console apps, Custom WebServices, BizTalk, SSIS, SharePoint etc.

(Build once - run everywhere :-)

The public beta is available as a 120-day d/l from MS Connect.

What to expect with the Adapter Pack

(in addition to a free migration tool to go from the old adapters to the new - e.g. SQL)

Oracle EBS

· 64 bit support

· Synonyms

· Added performance counters

· Notification support

OracleDB

· 64 bit support

· Synonyms

· UDTs

· Notifications

· Polling stored procedures

· Performance counters

SQL Adapter
· 64 bit support and improved SQL

Adapter SDK

· Display complex binding properties 

· Display metadata wsdl in web control

SAP data provider

· Support for more operators in Sap Queries

· SAP SSRS support in VS2008

Samples

· New Samples for SQL and Oracle eBiz Adapters

· Repackaged samples for BAP 1.0

Cold....very cold!!! Now I've been skiing many times, but this was just something else.

It caused Beijing to be blanketed in snow and very beautiful - What a fantastic place!!! Definitely a come back place - just nothing like what I expected.

The people so friendly, helpful and always with purpose in their eyes. The food is some of the freshest I've eaten and such healthy diets (steamed cabbage, mushrooms etc etc) - nothing like the 'Western Chinese Resturants' back home :)

On to the reason why I was there - Training

I had approx 50 students coming to hear my Chinese English (which I must say is much better than me listening to them speaking Mandarin) and we covered in-depth BizTalk 2009 agenda

We covered some great material looking into Governance and ESB 2.0 due to hit around the same time as BTS2009 (June-ish I believe, earlier I'm told)

 
We actually communicated quite well - I played many games and brought over a bunch of Aussie gifts for them (which consequently we found out were made in China!)

The usual areas of BizTalk were little used previous by students - SSO, Rule and BAM. For so little effort there's so much mileage in these guys.

Training Results
For the training the average mark I received was 8.5/10 across nearly 50 students, which for my first time in China I was very happy with. The most important thing for me though is not the marks, but what the students walk away having learnt!

Not all work Play Time
As luck would have it I had an extra day to play on my trip this time - so in negative degree temps I went to the Center of Beijing and put on my tourist hat and went to the Forbidden City (& surrounds).

Lastly I learnt many things from my students this week with

1. KFC is a 'top class' resturant in Beijing
2. Starbucks is a 'romantic' place (where couples go for dates)

If we were on Mythbusters right now....... compared to Sydney - these are Busted!

BizTalk Adapter V2.0/WCF LOB Adapter SDK Poster is available
Another of those things to stick up around the office... :)

Download From HERE

Certification for BizTalk Server 2006 R2 is available, at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Exams/70-241.aspx. 
Apparently it came out last October.....anyone done it? let's go there!

I'll post back shortly and let you know how I went.... :)

Exam details...

Overview

This exam is intended for candidates developing business solutions using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2.

Audience Profile

A candidate for this exam will have experience developing, deploying, and testing Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 solutions across multiple real-world projects.  The candidate should have a solid understanding of fundamental BizTalk concepts and familiarity with extended R2 capabilities.
The candidate should also have experience using the Microsoft .NET Framework, XML, Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft SQL Server, Web Services, and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) while developing BizTalk integration solutions.

When you pass Exam 70-241: TS: Developing Business Process and Integration Solutions by Using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2, you complete the requirements for the following certification(s):MCTS: BizTalk Server 2006 R2
Exam 70-241: TS: Developing Business Process and Integration Solutions by Using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2: counts as credit toward the following certification(s):

Note This preparation guide is subject to change at any time without prior notice and at the sole discretion of Microsoft. Microsoft exams might include adaptive testing technology and simulation items. Microsoft does not identify the format in which exams are presented. Please use this preparation guide to prepare for the exam, regardless of its format.

Skills Being MeasuredThis exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below.The percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam.

Configuring a Messaging Architecture

• Set up and manage ports.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: add a map, ordered delivery, send ports, send port groups, starting vs. enlisting, receive ports, receive locations, subscriptions

• Plan for and implement secure messaging.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: certificates, signing, encryption, port authentication, encoding

• Configure core adapters.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: HTTP, SQL, POP3, SMTP, FTP, File

• Configure content-based routing.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: set a filter that uses a    promoted property

• Implement messaging patterns.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: normalizing/canonical messages, splitter, large messages

• Create schemas.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: create a flat-file schema, create a property schema, enveloping, promoted/distinguished properties, MessageType, schema re-use (import/include)

• Create maps.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: functoid scripting, XSLT, pass a parameter to a map, multiple schemas, looping

• Create pipelines.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: disassembling, create a custom pipeline, create a pipeline component, XML validation

• Develop orchestrations.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: work with transactions and persistence, integrate with Microsoft .NET assemblies, parameters, shapes

• Configure orchestration bindings.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: direct, dynamic, self correlating

• Configure correlation.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: listener shape, parallel shape, correlation sets

• Construct messages.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: multi-part, untyped, construct messages in .NET, construct messages in orchestrations, context properties

• Implement orchestration patterns.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: convoys, aggregator, splitter

• Handle exceptions in orchestrations.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: compensation, scope shapes, throw exceptions, long-running transactions

• Route errors.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: port configuration, recoverable interchange

• Debug orchestrations

• Validate and test artifacts.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: schemas, maps, pipelines

• Configure a WCF adapter.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: WS*, custom bindings

• Expose orchestrations by using publishing wizards.

• Consume services.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: Web port type, add a Web/Service reference, consuming from orchestrations or pure messaging

• Handle Web exceptions.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: delivery notifications, catching SOAP exceptions

Implementing Extended Capabilities

• Create and deploy Business Rules Engine (BRE) components.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: work with the Business Rules Composer, deploy Business Rules policies, call from an orchestration, develop vocabularies

• Develop EDI solutions.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: trading partner setup, batching, acknowledgments, importing schemas

• Configure AS2.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: party configurations, pipelines, ports, certificates

• Implement an RFID solution.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: handle events, configure RFID devices, manage and configure event sink endpoints

• Plan and implement Business Activity Monitoring (BAM).

  This objective may include but is not limited to: BAM alerts, tracking profile editor, BAM workbook, activities, views, deployment

• Install and configure a multi-server BizTalk environment.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: trusted vs. untrusted environments, Active Directory groups

• Deploy BizTalk applications.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: MSI deployment, versioning, resources, multiple staging environments such as development, test, and production

• Partition a BizTalk solution.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: hosts, host instances, handlers, groups, multiple message boxes

• Export and import binding files

• Configure tracking.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: orchestrations, schemas, ports, pipelines, policies

• Manage BizTalk solutions by using the Administration Console.

  This objective may include but is not limited to: query for instances, terminate, resume

• Audit BizTalk solutions by using Health and Activity Tracking (HAT).

  This objective may include but is not limited to: querying, saving messages, creating custom fields, policy execution

As my good friend pointed out - Rahul Garg, the BizTalk 2009 documentation is available for public download.

Things such as:

• runtime engine
• mapping
• Orchestrations
• Adapter V1.0 Frameworks
• BizTalk Applications
• BizTalk Deployment of Applications

Have all generally (obvious fixes and improvements as needed) stayed the same.

Whereas, a quick summary of things I'd be looking for in the documentation:

• Incorporating BizTalk Project builds into automated tested suites (TFS etc) - Biztalk 2009 projects can now be built through MSBUILD as a regular project in the solution.
• Individual components such as Schemas and Maps can be formally unit tested (previously we wrote our own helper classes to make this stuff happen) - although, at the moment when testing a schema, I haven't been getting back details of the error...just a pass/fail.
• BizTalk Adapter Pack 2.0 (Sql, Oracle x 2, SAP, Siebel...) - based on WCF channel stack...very nice! (can be standalone if needed)
• WS Federated bindings
• and the list goes on.....

Download a Searchable BizTalk Help File - very handy to have when planning your upgrades or migrations.

How to look cool at work.... Stick this poster by your desk, people will walk past and say "Hmmmm......" - guaranteed to reduce the amount of questions you get each day :-)
(Then you could start talking about the 'flux capacitor' and people will believe......)

The MS folks in Connected Systems Division (CSD) have done a superb job!!! Great comprehensive poster.

One thing to say about the poster - remember that the 'Tracking Host Instance' and the 'InProc Host Instance' are generally within the same Host Instance (it's good practice to separate these out)

Enjoy

Thanks to all of you who joined me recently for Shannon & my seminar around Gaining Efficiencies in SharePoint.

We had a great turn out and I hope you found it useful - we had around 60 mins....the clock was ticking.

As promised - here's the PowerPoint slides I used in the presentation.
 

Take care and enjoy.

Mick.

  

Hi folks, (I've saved the last couple of places....for you)

With the economy being the topic on everyone’s lips at the moment, I have decided to turn my last MOSS bootcamp of the year in to a special week of training where I will show students how to help their business become more efficient during a time of streamlining processes. Whilst I will still cover the main course outline I will be focusing a little more on InfoPath forms and workflow and how students can utilize these tools within a SharePoint environment.

Students attending this bootcamp will have an added bonus of being able to attend my seminar on the Wed Evening covering more on this very topic……

Breeze MOSS Bootcamp Course is scheduled for November 25-29th.
Love to see you there :-)

Mick.

Folks - fellow MVP Richard Seroter has written a VERY comprehensive series around this very topic including the new BizTalk Adapter Pack V1.0 (V2.0 is in Beta at the moment).

Over 20+ thousand words + 178 screen shots - all for the love of BizTalk/WCF.

Complete with Source Code!!!

What a champion series - I'm looking forward to in tucking into some of his great material!

The BizTalk community is in debt to you Richard - well done!!!

SERIES SUMMARY FOUND HERE

I've now managed to get a moment to share a fantastic experience with you.

What a trip!!! I was away for 2 weeks in total with the first week spent in San Jose at the Office Developer Conference (ODC) 2008 which as good to touch base with some of the Sharepoint folks and see how others solve challenges that drive me up the wall.

Being in a hotel in the middle of 'Silicon Valley' Clayton and I were struggling to find Wireless internet access - the frustrating thing was that everywhere else in the town there were at least 20 networks on offer....except in our hotel room. We found a spot on the window ledge.

The second week of my trip turned to the Business end where I had to step up, be prepared and present.
Enter BizTalk RFID Solution Days!!!

The first face I saw when I walked into the Conference was Anush's down in the foyer - Well done Anush for such a great conference!

The way the week was to play out:

• First two days was the conference with sessions and presentations
• The second two days was the training where I had 102 students and fortunately we planned that I was co-presenting with Venkatesh who was the BizTalk RFID Product Architect (he's moved on now and started S3Edge.com). He is a wealth of knowledge and a great person to ask all the 'Why' questions to.
  (he's also related to a great friend of mine here in Australia which was a total surprise!!!)

From the conference (2 days prior to training) I caught up with a buddy of mine Scott Allen (Microsoft App Plat TS - BI, BTS, SQL guru) who has just successfully completed building a 'RFID Lab' within Microsoft NZ. I've got to check it out sooner rather than later - sounded fantastic.

Scotty inspired me with his take on BizTalk RFID - he said "If you tell clients we've got a show on BizTalk RFID, they think they need to have supply chains and infrastructure - it becomes very specialised they feel. If you pitch BizTalk RFID at something around How to reduce the carbon footprint of your production line or increasing production efficiencies then the whole world comes running"

That said - he was getting huge amounts of CEOs from the big end of town to these sessions with a tour of the BizTalk RFID Lab. Well done Scotty!

So Anush grabbed center stage at the beginning of the conference and there were some great messages coming out of the speakers. One of the most noticeable messages for me was "Everyone is waiting for the Wallmart mandates to drive the RFID space, that may have been the case 2 yrs ago. Now we have reached enough critical mass in the industry to really see the explosion in RFID that is occurring"

Australia has been using RFID for years in cattle, lifestock, shipping and now wheat. What Microsoft BizTalk RFID has done is to 'domesticate' the whole process of getting connected and responsive. I was talking to a local CEO of a International Meat exporting business on the weekend - he was very interested in the BizTalk RFID story as his main concern facing his company is traceability. Everyone involved in the supply chain wants traceability - by the time the consumer sits down and uses the product, they want to know everything about it. In this case the meat.

Onward to the Training Arena (held on the MS campus) - training 102 people on Microsoft BizTalk RFID I needed to be prepared the best I could which involved a couple of trips to the MS Technical Services Group (TSG) to get things 'just right' for classroom setup.

Firstly - I want to say "WELL DONE TO ALL THE CREW who sat the course". In 12+yrs of teaching, I was amazed at your ability and enthusiasm!!!
(We actually created the RFID course from scratch and it's amazing to see what's in your head play out better than you expect)

I made a pledge to the class from the outset - From 102 students, I was going endeavor to help get 102 students across the line so they all had working BizTalk RFID Solutions in front of them.

What a great class - I enjoyed it as much as what they did. Out of 102 students I fully expected some students to come up to me by lunch time on the first day and say "Mick, you know this course - it's not what I envisaged etc etc" - 102 completed the course!!!

Let me share some interesting facts:

1. 102 students started.... 102 students completed a working BizTalk RFID end-to-end solution.
2. Some students had 1+yrs experience in BizTalk RFID.....others were seeing it for the first time.
3. One lady hadn't cut a line of code in 15yrs and was very excited.
4. Many different industries were represented in the room, from medical foundations to services to agricultural.....
5. I had to run around with a USB key only once - fortunately I had help.
6. One the first day students were still doing labs at 7pm.
7. Two days is not long enough :)
8. It was absolutely fantastic to have the major players from the BizTalk RFID Product group there in the room and on hand. Anush, Sudhir, Rama and of course Venkatesh (who has a great needed sense of humour for a trainer) - big thank you guys. Wouldn't have been the same without you.
9. Reporting Services reports worked really well.....note - getting the right connection string is key.
10. Mick - please connect power to your laptop when presenting and running VPCs off it.....otherwise we all get an early coffee break

Fantastic and a big thank you to all that were responsible for much making it better than I imagined!!!

Well we've just finished our first MCT Summit in Australia for a long time.
I and other fellow MCTs I had a chance to catch up - thought it was a great event. :-)

I gave 3 sessions including one on Using Silverlight from within Sharepoint.

Am I sold on Silverlight? Oh YEAH!!!! It's sensational with a huge range of content delivery options.

Firstly here's my slide deck from:

Basic Steps to get Cracking in Silverlight 1.1 (aka Silverlight 2.0)

• Grab VS2008 Beta/RC+ (I used RC)
• Visit Silverlight.net and download Silverlight 1.1 Alpha (or later) - there are some API changes between versions, but it should settle down.
• You're ready to get cracking and start building your webparts.
  
  Some great sites to check out also:

http://premium.quiksilverlive.com/
Silverlight Data View Web Part
Media Player Webpart for Sharepoint
Sharepoint Silverlight Document Browser
Silverlight Display Web Part

As part of the RFID end to end course we decided to get the students to create a RFID provider. Or more specifically this is Scott's little brain child - he's a human dynamo on this stuff. Talk about an idea and this is what he produces....

A little while ago I fielded a question on one of the internal D/Ls around
“Can you write a provider that interfaces with ‘sensor’ type equipment for BizTalk RFID?” – so now you create a provider that demonstrates how to do that.

This comprehensive provider (these aren’t the course lab notes – just a quick readme that Scott did) is based on a Folder on the File System. As part of the management APIs the Provider goes searching for ‘Antenna’ which are sub-folders.

When files are dropped into these folders that acts as a ‘Tag Read Event’ and the Provider also supports Tag Writes/Prints.

Thought you might enjoy it ahead of time

Talk about exciting times - we were developing a great course started pre-R2 launch and were just working out some of the finer details on this, when the folks at MS came along and loved the course and asked to provide a version for them.

"Why not?", I said and away we went.

Here's the course outline with MS Training dates scheduled in Sydney, Singapore, Beijing + Redmond in the near future (I guess we'll have great frequent flyers :))

We decided to call it 'BizTalk RFID End-to-End' which implies we take the student right from the hardware in your face layer, to watching 'enriched data' pop out in BizTalk Server and BAM, while consuming some WCF Services along the way.

Also in the RFID space I did a joint interview with Steve Sloan (MS BizTalk team - great down to earth guy) and a PodCast (first one :))

Interview - Australian Manufacturing

Podcast - Australian Manufacturing Podcast 
(this brought back some of my past comedy routines when I performed on stage.....)

Enjoy!

A friend of mine Sezai spent a great deal of time putting together a great list of WSS/MOSS articles. Thought I'd share them with you - thanks Sezai!!!

SharePoint Products and Technologies 2007 Customization Policy
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=92311&clcid=0x409

Deploying and Supporting Enterprise Search with MOSS 2007 at Microsoft - White Paper
http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/5/3/253f0074-5c2c-4b45-a1c6-62c2c288c6eb/deployingandsupportingenterprisesearchtwp.doc

Wow what a night planned!!! WF 101 (even good for managers! :)); BTS hosting WF and making it all happen under BizTalk Labs (that's next after R2)

Check it out and looking forward in seeing you there......

-------- Details ---------

Examine Windows Workflow talking to BizTalk R2 and BizTalk Labs.

Firstly a BIG thanks to those that enjoyed the exam cram we did last month (we had to order additional pizza!) and I’ve since heardthat several of you have sat and passed the EXAM!!! Well done!!

With R2 just around the corner......I decided to tackle the Windows Workflow(WF) question.
The message is usually BTS vs WF, never BTS AND WF.

We’ll cover:

1.      Workflow 101 (you should be able to bring your manager along to this one J)

2.      Hosting Workflow’s within BizTalk with the new BizTalk extensions for WF SDK

3.      BizTalk Labs – life after R2....and where we are heading.....

Meeting details:

When: July 4th Food at 6pm, kick off 6.30pm. Finish up around 8pm.
Where: Microsoft
1 Epping Road
Riverside Corporate Park
North Ryde NSW 2113 Australia. (parking available)

WF Session Focus Details:
1.First up we will look at thefundamentals of Workflow;what makes them run;communications;and how do we host them.
(WF is the technology that is brightly coloured in VS.NET and comes with .NET 3.0) – you could even workflow your toaster if you wanted to.

2.Next – we’ll take aWorkflow anduse WCF under the covers to act as the communication medium between BTS R2 & WF. Very nice.
So now in BTS R2 we can host WF (through a small ‘Orchestration wrapper’) meaning that when BTS persists, WF does too – WF is now running inside BTSNTSvc.exe.
(cross off the list – ‘find a place for my WF’s to live’)

3.Thirdly – Imagine being able to call our creation from anywhere and behind umpteen firewalls between caller/sender.....enter into the ring
BizTalk Labs!!! Very exciting – labs.BizTalk.net.
(what communications do you think we use.......WCF......hmmm....seems to be a common thread here!)
So it’s a night on WF/R2 wrapped up in WCF – wow what a great set of technologies!!!!

See you there and let me know your coming
Mick Badran.
p.s. I’ve fallen in love with Microsoft Surface.......wow!!!

I'll post more details very soon, but for this session

I will be covering

Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) - 101 basics all you need to know

BizTalk meet Workflow, Workflow meet BizTalk - Hosting WF Workflows within BizTalk 2006 R2!!! (how good is that!!!)
(persistence/tracking etc etc all taken care of - a wizard comes to the rescue)

Stay tuned for a full update.

July 6th 4TH is our next meeting (I had to move it till next Wednesday) (thanks Bill)

I'm pretty excited about this one! BI - Business Intelligence. It usually comes up towards the end of my project (especially BizTalk ones), what do we now do with our information within our SQL Cubes?? I find that the subject of BI is never properly addressed - whitepapers etc etc. How do you set this up, more importantly - how can you make it effective and meaningful for your Organisation.

*Good question I think* - I know SQL 2005 has a whole bunch of prediction models etc etc....once I get my winning lotto numbers out of it....this blog will be just cease.....till then :)

So what's cooking (the paperback version) of this offering:

• 5 days - get comprehensive and specific expert knowledge for 5 days. (Could be some of the most fruitful 5 days you spend!)
• Our instructors have worked with Microsoft Corp in creating and delivering the Microsoft BI Official Curriculum - they definitely know their stuff :-)
  (we know your time is precious - we aim for our offerings to be pinpoint and as effective as possible for you)
• Learn out the new Microsoft BI Platform- Sharepoint 2007 Portal Dashboards, Performance Point, Proclarity, OLAP Cubes and more
• I'm someone that learns by doing.....so 40% of the course is interactive hands-on labs!
• We've partnered with DDLS (this allows us to focus on what we do best together) - to bring you the best possible learning experience.
• (I'm wanting to get on the course!!!! Brilliant....delivered to your city....you dont have to travel to the heights of Mt. Everest to find someone that knows about BI :))

More Information, Course Details - HERE

Book on the Course HERE

Hope to see you there!! :)

Hey guys, I've got a couple of seats left for some MOSS 2007 training at the end of this month.

If you're wondering what all this WSS/MOSS stuff is all about, I'll be running an equally focused MOSS developer and administration course very soon :)

What do I need to say about moss? (if you're using/developing/designing and implementing - come along and fine out what works and what doesnt. Save you a whole lot of head banging later - unless you're at AC/DC :)

Who should go:
- If you have a SPS V2 site you're thinking of upgrading, deployment, farms structures and capacity planning.

- developers - if you're currently building/designing Web based solutions, spend a couple of days looking at what WSS gives you for free! (it's just like another framework within the .NET System space - use what ever parts you want)

- you're curious about what is WSS V3/MOSS/FormsServices/Excel/Infopath web based solutions and must be fluent in 3 languages (that part I made up :) - reminded me of a job description I saw one day)

Check it out - I've managed to reserve a couple of seats.

Course details:
When: Jun 25th - Jun 28th
Where: Sydney

Further Details
http://www.breezetraining.com.au/site/Default.aspx?tabid=49

p.s. we run the course in conjunction with Dimension Data Learning Solutions to give you the best experience possible.

SydBiz.org

Exam Cram Night – Come and Study for the BizTalk Exam 70-235 with us.

Exam 70–235: TS: Developing Business Process and Integration Solutions Using BizTalk Server 2006

A couple of meetings ago some members expressed an interest in going through some structured Q&A/Study approach for this exam. Well this month we’re going to do exactly that.

If you haven’t done the exam – now is your chance for a free study session!!!!!

Meeting details:

When: May 30^th Food at 6pm, kick off 6.30pm. Finish up around 8pm.
Where: Microsoft
1 Epping Road
Riverside Corporate Park
North Ryde NSW 2113 Australia. (parking available)

Exam Crammin’ Night Details:

I (Mick) would like to use the following as a guide – but of course your areas of interest will essentially drive the night. The nights getting a little colder, snow on the mountains soon and it might be time to break out the hot chocolate J.

I would also like to record the night session to give you as a further study aid.
Identify the application requirements

1. Plan the BizTalk Server environment for reliability and scalability

2. Design schemas

3. Identify the security requirements

4. Install BizTalk Server 2006 for a development environment

Developing and Debugging an Integration Application  

1. Create a schema

2. Create a map

3. Create a pipeline

4. Configure connectivity

5. Configure message subscriptions

6. Track a message

Developing and Debugging a Business Process Application  

1. Create and debug an orchestration

2. Configure correlation

3. Identify persistence points

4. Configure exception handling

5. Create business transactions

6. Consume and publish Web service

7. Create and configure role links

Implementing Business Rules  

1. Compose business rules

2. Publish and deploy business rules

Enabling Business Activity Monitoring

1. Identify the steps required to enable business activity monitoring

2. Link the event source to the activity definition

Deploying a BizTalk Application  

1. Choose a deployment method for distributing an application

2. Create a deployment package

3. Start an application

4. Test the deployment

I would love to see you there (my mobile: 0404 842 833)

Mick.

A magic piece of software that deserves a great rap!!! :)

There I was....on a client site 'inbetween' meetings (as best you get) and I got a call from another client having a biztalk issue and needed some guidance. (sound familiar....family members wanting remote phone support....)

So I was chatting to my beloved/dear client trying to sort out the issue. If only I had a view of their screen....I thought

I then ran some thoughts through my head.....Netmeeting....I could try and get that going, but what about firewalls...the whole I'll call you, no you call me thing - it works, doesnt work....time consuming to set up etc. (you get the picture) - I'm thinking this is gonna be at least a 30min phone call.

Then I remembered (as a MVP) I get a few offers each month of 'use our product' type deals....and I remembered this one from Microsoft called 'Tahiti' - sharing/collaboration tool. (not to be confused with the Tahitian - "Save the cheerleader....save the World!")

Now get this - from digging up the past email, clicking on a link, 3MB download, installing and setting up a session, inviting the person at the end of my support call (via email, or I could use IM). And then they doing a corresponding setup etc. 15minutes!!!! 15 minutes only!!!

And within that time I was seeing their screen, control of their screen AND we had invited another techie to the session to help resolve their area of the problem.

So 3 people, all behind respective firewalls - collaboratively sharing etc.

SENSATIONAL!!!!! It really is a top top top (3 tops - must be good :) application.

Well you can grab the application (which is now called SharedView) from Microsoft Connect - Shared View

And now the finally........in 15 minutes...the sharing window!

(AND it's the sort of app that if you've got running....people are GOING to stop by your screen and think it's the next SilverLight application!!)

Wow! What a day - cant believe it all happened in 1 day!! (not groundhog day or so).

A big thank you for those that attended my sessions and I hope we had some fun together during them. As promised here's my ppts and demos for all my sessions.

I presented the following 3 sessions:

1. (Dev01)Essentials 1: Object Models, Web Services, Document I/O, Event, and Lists (co presented with Ryan Guguid) (download ppt)(fixed)
2. (Dev02)Essentials 2: ASP.NET Web Parts, Master Pages, and Data Rendering (download ppt)  (fixed)
3. (Dev04)Essentials 4: Templates, Definitions, and Solution Deployment (download ppt) (fixed)

Given the conference was over 2 days - I thought it might be nice to break the sessions up over a couple days......but then again.....it made the night that much more worthwhile :)

The sessions were great and here at the conference they captured all sorts of stats being scanned off evaluation forms directly through (Canon Secure Scan - it talks straight to a Sharepoint list) to sharepoint......then there's a screen constantly displaying all sorts of stats.

I was in the top 10 for a while.......which was great given there are 54 sessions here.
During the night I found myself (attempting) to ride a unicycle......you do that once! :)

During my presentations I had LOTS of DEMOS - the demos are grouped into my sessions:

• Dev01 - samples in here show (all based within a Win32 app):
  • connecting to Sharepoint - what you would do outside of a webpart.
  • getting details from Sharepoint sites, usage, changelogs, audit and running with elevated perms.
  • Using CAML to query a list, a site and a site collection (SPQuery and cross site queries)
  • Created an Offline Client using Lists.asmx and Copy.asmx webservices.
  • EventHandlers - two of them. A simple one that changes the title of a list item; the other one will grab a property from the User's profile and update the corresponding field in the list. e.g. Region field - the user is assigned to a Region and when they create a document, the Region field with the document also is populated.
• Dev02 - Some cool demos here....
  • Master Pages - I started with the Minimal.Master and added a DHTML clock to it, and also an IE 7 Search provider (the drop down in the top RH corner that lets you select your search provider). So where ever the users are, they can always just search the intranet simply.
  • WebParts - wouldnt be a demo with out webparts.....I've got WebParts that go and explore the Zone they belong to (minimise all the others and maximise themselves); custom webpart menus; use the SPGrid and SPDataSource object; created a dropdown action menu off one of the columns; connections between parts; and...and....using AJAX within WebParts (I presented a text box to type into and it will query all the document libraries within the current site, as you type and hit enter a SPGrid dynamical re-renders with the results...pretty cool...and I'm no AJAX expert)
• Dev04 - I based my current site (with all the demos) - Conference Demos and spoke about the value of solutions etc. I ran the Sharepoint Solution Generator over my site and produced the results here.
  
  Here are the demos!!!!!

Conf_Demos.zip (3.43 MB)