Failed to access IIS metabase ASP.NET

Open visual studio command prompt and type this command


aspnet_regiis -ga

or


 aspnet_regiis -i

alternatively  paste this command into windows command prompt


%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

Biztalk server : Dehydration and Rehydration

Dehydration :-
==========
Dehydration is the process of storing orchestration state in the message box through object form called dehydration.

Rehydration :-
=========
It is the process of restoring the orchestration state back to its original position from object form .

BizTalk Server Knowledge Base Articles

Below link has few knowledge base articles  and hot fixes . These articles would help us when dealing with any performance related or unexpected errors
 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/cc983851(v=BTS.10).aspx

Ordered Message Delivery in BizTalk Server

Microsoft has published an article on ordered message delivery. Good to go through ....

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb851740.aspx

ASP.Net : What is webgardening

Web gardening enables multiple worker processes to run at the same time. However, you should note that all processes will have their own copy of application state, in-process session state, ASP.NET cache, static data, and all that is needed to run applications.

When the Web garden mode is enabled, the ASP.NET ISAPI launches as many worker processes as there are CPUs, each a full clone of the next (and each affinitized with the corresponding CPU). To balance the workload, incoming requests are partitioned among running processes in a round-robin manner. Worker processes get recycled as in the single processor case. Note that ASP.NET inherits any CPU usage restriction from the operating system and doesn’t include any custom semantics for doing this.

SQL Query : Getting Nth highest salary from the employee

In any interview these days , everybody would be facing this question some time in their career. Below is the easy way to get the Nth highest salary among the employee salaries

SELECT TOP 1 SALARY FROM (SELECT DISTINCT TOP N SALARY
FROM EMPLOYEE ORDER BY SALARY DESC)SAL
ORDER BY SALARY

Place the value in place of N.

SQL Server : INTERSECT

-Returns any distinct values that are returned by both the query on the left and right sides of the INTERSECT operand

-It almost works like INNER JOIN

-Difference is INTERSECT treats two NULL values are same whereas INNER JOIN treats two NULL values are different

SQL Server : Number of nesting levels in stored procedures

Stored procedures are nested when one stored procedure calls another or executes managed code by referencing a CLR routine, type, or aggregate. You can nest stored procedures and managed code references up to 32 levels. The nesting level increases by one when the called stored procedure or managed code reference begins execution and decreases by one when the called stored procedure or managed code reference completes execution. Attempting to exceed the maximum of 32 levels of nesting causes the whole calling chain to fail. The current nesting level for the stored procedures in execution is stored in the Any reference to managed code from a Transact-SQL stored procedure counts as one level against the 32-levelnesting limit. Methods invoked from within managed code do not count against this limit.

When a stored procedure executes managed code by referencing a CLR routine, type, or aggregate, this reference also counts as one level of nesting. Methods invoked from within managed code do not count against this limit. The current nesting level is returned by the @@NESTLEVEL function. When a CLR stored procedure performs data access operations through the Microsoft SQL Server managed provider, an additional nesting level is added in the transition from managed code to SQL and this level is reflected in the @@NESTLEVEL function.

An error in a nested stored procedure is not necessarily fatal to the calling stored procedure. When invoking stored procedures within stored procedures, use the Transact-SQL RETURN statement to return a return code and check the return code from the calling stored procedure. In this way, you can specify the behavior of your stored procedures when errors occur. For more information about using return codes, see Returning Data Using a Return Code.

Stored procedures can even do a nested call to themselves, a technique known as recursion.Although the nesting limit is 32 levels, SQL Server has no limit on the number of stored procedures that can be invoked from a given stored procedure, provided that the subordinate stored procedures do not invoke other
subordinate stored procedures and the maximum nesting level is never exceeded.

fundamental questions

One of my friend had been to one interview in last weekend and the questions he had faced are below.I see that all the questions were asked looks like we use them in our daily programming .But when look at the them first time,It is giving me strange feeling because the technical names of that concepts I have not known.

What is cross page posting in ASP.Net...?

Cross-page posting is desired in a scenario where data is collected on one Web page and processed on another Web page. ASP.NET  2.0 introduces a new property in the Page class called ‘PreviousPage’ which gets the page that posted to the current

page .

ASP.NET by default, submits the form to the same page. Cross page posting is submitting the form to a different page. This is usually required when you are creating a multi page form to collect information from the user on each page. When moving from the source to the target page, the values of controls in the source page can be accessed in the target page.

What is SCOPE_IDENTITY() :-

This function can return the last identity value inserted into an identity column in the same scope e.g. a stored procedure, trigger, function, or batch. .

Here is the example that will tell how to use scope_identity() function

CREATE PROCEDURE Employee(

@EmpName VARCHAR(50),

@EmpEmail VARCHAR(50),

@PhoneNo VARCHAR(50),

@EmpID INT OUTPUT)

AS

BEGIN

INSERT INTO Employee (EmpName, EmpEmail , PhoneNo)

VALUES (@EmpName,@EmpEmail,@PhoneNo)

SET @EmpID = CAST(SCOPE_IDENTITY() AS INT)

EN

What is current Identity : 

Returns the last identity value generated for a specified table or view.
The last identity value generated can be for any session and any scope.

USE AdventureWorks;
GO
SELECT IDENT_CURRENT ('Person.Address') AS Current_Identity;
GO 

Biztalk components : BAM Portal

Business end users use the BAM portal to monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), which measure progress toward a business goal, as well as other information about their business process. Business analysts use the BAM portal to oversee the creation of observation models, which are high-level definitions of the visibility requirements within the business process. Administrators use it for a variety of monitoring activities, including monitoring the health of the business process management system.

What is the BAM portal?

---

The BAM portal in BizTalk Server 2006 provides real-time, end-to-end visibility into a business process. It is a Web-based feature that consists of a collection of ASP.NET 2.0 pages. You can customize BAM to enhance the performance and experience for your users. 

Why use the BAM portal?

---

The BAM portal allows you to perform searches, aggregate data, and set alerts on a BAM view, which is a perspective on your business data. This visibility can provide the necessary KPI information for your business, or it can be used as proof of concept before you implement another solution such as extending a Microsoft Office Excel 2003 spreadsheet, using SQL Reporting, or building a custom user interface (UI).

BAM portal components

---

Following is a brief description of the BAM portal components. For a more detailed description, see the topics in See Also.

Activity searches

You use the BAM portal to perform searches against BAM data to find a specific BAM activity. You create queries by adding and removing search clauses that allow you to display those activities that match criteria for which you want to be alerted.
Queries can be saved and reused. They can also be the basis for an alert, such as a notification when a purchase order arrives from a specific customer.

Aggregations

The portal allows you to capture a snapshot of data and display it in the form of a graphical chart and accompanying PivotTable chart. This data gives you visibility into the health of that process or the overall business. For example, a user may wish to see a simple pie chart that shows a breakdown of the 1,000 invoices received in a day in terms of what stage of processing has been reached by each invoice (400 still in "evaluation," 400 rejected, 100 paid, and 100 still in "fund allocation").
The data presented can be the basis for creating an alert, such as "Notify me if there are ever more than 500 invoices in the 'evaluation' stage of the process."

Alert Manager

The portal provides a user interface for the creation of alerts and the editing of existing alerts. Alerts take the conditions that are to be monitored from either the Activity Search or Aggregations page. The Alert Manager is where you fill in the relevant parts of an alert, such as who to notify, how (for example, through e-mail), and whether others can see and subscribe to the alert.

Bizalk server application scenarios and patterns

Microsoft has given real time scenarios about where we can use biztalk and how it solves today's business critical problems. These are very good for beginners to understand basic terminology of biztalk.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa561965%28v=BTS.20%29.aspx

VSS and VSTS

VSS - Visual source safe :

• VSS is a completely a source version control
• VSS stores the file data as files within the file system.
• VSS is designed for smaller teams ( twenty or less)
• VSS is a desktop based software. It does not need any dependency software’s
• VSS can be configured easily
• VSS cannot be used for distributed teams spread across different geography’s

VSTS -Visual studio team system :

• VSTS has multiple features provides integrated source control, issue tracking, and process management for development teams
• VSTS stores the files as data within SQL Server database
• VSTS support teams of up to 2000 users
• VSTS is a server based software that has several dependencies like IIS, SQL Server 2005, SharePoint Services . IT has two separate tools - VSS client and VSS Admin. Client tool provides the user interface to manage files. Admin tools allow to manage the VSS database and users.
• VSTS configuration is bit complicated
• VSS can be used for distributed teams spread across different geography’s

BizTalk components

Below are the few biztalk components
· Business Rules engine -Applies business rules on messages
· Health & Activity Tracking : It monitors activities/messages
· Business Activity Monitoring  : A portal helps business analysts to check business status 
· Business Activity Services :It helps to manage and instantiate relationship between trading partners
· Messaging :The most important component could be in the form of XML or any Flat file (csv, tab delimited…) to communicate with processes
· Orchestration : It is a platform/engine to design activities and how would they communicate.
· Adapters  : It helps send and receive messages:

What is BizTalk?

BizTalk Server is Microsoft’s Integration and connectivity server solution. A mature product on its sixth release, BizTalk Server 2009 provides a solution that allows organizations to more easily connect disparate systems. Including over 25 multi-platform adapters and a robust messaging infrastructure, BizTalk Server provides connectivity between core systems both inside and outside your organization. In addition to integration functionality, BizTalk also provides strong durable messaging, a rules engine, EDI connectivity, Business Activity Monitoring (BAM), RFID capabilities and IBM Host/Mainframe connectivity.

Microsoft : Dublin

Why Dublin

Windows Server delivers a high-performance, highly capable platform for deploying and running custom business applications built with the .NET Framework. As Microsoft's application server, Windows Server includes key application server functionality directly in the operating system including distributed transactions, message queuing, a Web server and Web services, communications, workflow, and management. Complemented by the .NET Framework and Visual Studio, Windows Server is one of the leading application servers in the market today.

However, as companies increasingly adopt service-oriented architecture principles, and embrace composite applications, they are using the full spectrum of web services as part of their applications - ranging from simple RESTful services through advanced web services utilizing WS-* standards. However, as they reuse services and compose new applications quickly and easily, new requirements arise for the application server since composite apps are typically more complex for IT to develop, deploy, manage, and change.

What it deals with.

To address these new requirements, Microsoft is enhancing both the .NET Framework and Windows Server. The company is adding significant functionality to the new version of Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) as part of the .NET Framework 4.0 release, including new messaging and REST capabilities in WCF, new workflow models, seamless integration between WF and WCF to support stateful and conversational services, and a new visual designer. The company is also introducing a set of enhanced Windows Server capabilities codenamed "Dublin" that will offer greater scalability and easier manageability, while extending Internet Information Services (IIS) to provide a standard host for applications that use workflow or communications.

Taken together, these enhancements to the Windows Application Server will simplify the deployment, configuration, management, and scalability of composite applications, while allowing developers to use their existing skills with Visual Studio, the .NET Framework and IIS. This new Application Server capability will be delivered as a separate release of technologies that can be downloaded and used by Windows Server customers;

Sharepoint Installation : Creating configuration database failed

When I m installing sharepoint 2007 in my system, Installation was smooth.But when I try to launch central administration console I see a warning message 'Sharepoint farm should be configured to launch console'.

I started configuring it through sharepoint product and technologies wizard , I tried this for several times to complete the configuration but i could not able to complete due to the error ' Creating configuration database failed'

I have tried couple of solutions from online,but nothing was worked.Finally I came to know that this problem comes because of SQLInstance name. I did not specified server name along with instance name which I given while installing .

I found the solution from microsoft : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938217

WCF : MES Endpoint

The Metadata Exchange Endpoint is a special endpoint in WCF that exposes metadata used to describe a service.

ServiceMetadataBehavior ServiceBehavior = new ServiceMetadataBehavior();
behavior.HttpGetEnabled = true;
host.Description.Behaviors.Add(ServiceBehavior);

host.AddServiceEndpoint(
typeof(IMetadataExchange),
MetadataExchangeBindings.CreateMexHttpBinding(),
"http://localhost/MyService/mex/");

where ServiceMetadataBehavior, IMetadataExchang and MetadataExchangeBindings available in the System.ServiceModel.Description namespace

Sharepoint Concepts

Below are the some concepts I see that we need to know to become SharePoint expert. Apart from below things there might be lot of other concepts does exists which I am not putting them here for now.

Administration

* Planning
* Installing
* Configuring the server
* Preparing
* Roll-out
* Providing support
* Managing the server
* Configuring external access

Development

* Introduction to SharePoint Development
* Site Columns and Content Types
* Extending Lists with Office 2007
* Authentication and Authorization
* Forms Based Authentication and Anonymous Access
* SharePoint Architecture
* Features
* Solution Development
* Categorized Document Library
* Site Definitions
* Programming Fundamentals
* Creating User Controls and Web Parts
* Advanced List Concepts

Branding & Web Content Management

* Introduction to MOSS Publishing
* Branding
* Creating a Publishing Site Definition
* Content Types and Page Layouts
* SharePoint Site Design
* Content Management
* Navigation and Search
* Aggregation Information

SharePoint Business Processes

* Out-of-the-Box Business Process Automation
* SharePoint Designer Workflows
* Working with SharePoint Designer and Custom ASP.NET Forms
* Using InfoPath Forms with SharePoint
* Custom Workflows and the SharePoint Object Model
* Visual Studio 2008 Workflow Development Basics
* Workflow Tasks
* Workflow Forms

SharePoint Portal Management

* Collaboration Portals
* Personalization and My Sites
* Business Data Catalog
* Office Forms Services
* Excel Services
* Customizing Search Center
* Programming with the Search API
* Document Management

what is sharepoint

SharePoint is a collection of products and software elements that includes, among a growing selection of components, web browser based collaboration functions, process management modules, search modules and a document-management platform.

SharePoint can be used to host web sites that access shared workspaces, information stores and documents, as well as host defined applications such as wikis and blogs. All users can manipulate proprietary controls called "web parts" or interact with pieces of content such as lists and document libraries.

* Collaboration : Allow teams to work together effectively, collaborate on and publish documents, maintain task lists, implement workflows, and share information through the use of wikis and blogs.

* Portals : Create a personal MySite portal to share information with others and personalize the user experience and content of an enterprise Web site based on the user’s profile.

* Enterprise Search : Quickly and easily find people, expertise, and content in business applications.

* Enterprise Content Management : Create and manage documents, records, and Web content.

* Business Process and Forms : Create workflows and electronic forms to automate and streamline your business processes.

* Business Intelligence : Allow information workers to easily access critical business information, analyze and view data, and publish reports to make better-informed decisions.

SQL server : Dynamic SQL

I see that all new applications what we develop today are very good at providing dynamic functionality.This also helps user to configure his own functionality apart from default configurations. So to do this probably we may require some techniques while dealing with data in SQL server.

I see that good information is available for learning dynamic SQL here :
http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=1160

WCF : Its so hot in the current market

I am also newbie to WCF and I was actually looking for good tutorial in the net for learning. Finally I found a site http://www.wcftutorial.net

This site is very good. the content of the site is very clear. all things
are in one place. really................... awesome
thanks for your effort Mr.sarvankumar.