Our new SQL 2012 just released. I get asked all the time why should I upgrade to the latest. There are hundreds of reasons with this one, I tried to pick the best 10. More info here.

1. AlwaysOn SQL Server Failover Cluster Instances

- Multi-subnet failover clusters: A SQL Server multi-subnet failover cluster is a configuration where each failover cluster node is connected to a different subnet or different set of subnets. These subnets can be in the same location or in geographically dispersed sites. Clustering across geographically dispersed sites is sometimes referred to as Stretch clusters. As there is no shared storage that all the nodes can access, data should be replicated between the data storage on the multiple subnets. With data replication, there is more than one copy of the data available. Therefore, a multi-subnet failover cluster provides a disaster recovery solution in addition to high availability. For more information, see SQL Server Multi-Subnet Clustering.

- Flexible failover policy for cluster health detection: In a SQL Server failover cluster instance, only one node can own the cluster resource group at a given time. The client requests are served through this node for that failover cluster instance. In the case of a failure, the group ownership is moved to another node in the failover cluster. This process is called failover. The improved failure detection introduced in SQL Server 2012, and addition of failure condition level property allows you to configure a more flexible failover policy. For more information, see Failover Policy for Failover Cluster Instances.

- Indirect checkpoints: The indirect checkpoints feature provides a database-specific alternative to automatic checkpoints, which are configured by a server property. Indirect checkpoints implements a new checkpointing algorithm for the Database Engine. This algorithm provides a more accurate guarantee of database recovery time in the event of a crash or a failover than is provided by automatic checkpoints. To ensure that database recovery does not exceed allowable downtime for a given database, you can specify the maximum allowable downtime for that database.

2. Windows PowerShell

Starting with SQL Server 2012, Windows PowerShell is no longer installed by SQL Server Setup. Windows PowerShell 2.0 is a pre-requisite for installing SQL Server 2012. If PowerShell 2.0 is not installed or enabled on your computer, you can enable it by following the instructions on the Windows Management Framework page. For more information about SQL Server PowerShell, see SQL Server PowerShell.

SQL Server 2012 now uses the new Windows PowerShell 2.0 feature called modules for loading the SQL Server components into a PowerShell environment. Users import the sqlps module into PowerShell, and the module then loads the SQL Server snap-ins. For more information, see Run Windows PowerShell from SQL Server Management Studio.

The sqlps Utility is no longer a PowerShell 1.0 mini-shell; it now starts PowerShell 2.0 and imports the sqlps module. This improves SQL Server interoperability by making it easier for PowerShell scripts to also load the snap-ins for other products. The sqlps utility is also added to the list of deprecated features starting in SQL Server 2012.

The SQL Server PowerShell provider includes two new cmdlets: backup-sqldatabase and restore-sqldatabase. For more information, use the get-help cmdlet after loading in the sqlps module.

3. Data-tier Applications

- The data-tier application (DAC) upgrade has been changed to an in-place process that alters the existing database to match the schema defined in the new version of the DAC. This replaces the side-by-side upgrade process, which created a new database with the new schema definitions. The Upgrade a Data-Tier Application wizard has been updated to perform an in-place upgrade. The Upgrade method of the DacStore type is now deprecated, and replaced with a new IncrementalUpgrade method. Upgrades are also supported for DACs deployed to SQL Azure. For more information, see Upgrade a Data-tier Application.

- In addition to just extracting a schema definition as a new DAC package file, you can now export both the schema definition and data from a database as a DAC export file. You can then import the file to create a new database with the same schema and data. For more information, see Export a Data-tier Application and Import a BACPAC File to Create a New User Database.

- Data-tier applications now support many more objects than in SQL Server 2008 R2. For more information, see DAC Support For SQL Server Objects and Versions.

4. Server Modes for Analysis Services Instances: Multidimensional, Tabular, and SharePoint

This release adds a server mode concept to an Analysis Services installation. An instance is always installed in one of three modes that determines the memory management and storage engines used to query and process data. Server modes include Multidimensional and Data Mining, SharePoint, and Tabular. For more information, see Determine the Server Mode of an Analysis Services Instance

5. Integration Services Performance Reduced Memory Usage by the Merge and Merge Join Transformations

Microsoft has made the Integration Services Merge and Merge Join transformations more robust and reliable. This is achieved by reducing the risk that these components will consume excessive memory when the multiple inputs produce data at uneven rates. This improvement helps packages that use the Merge or Merge Join transformations to use memory more efficiently.

Microsoft has also provided new properties and methods for developers of custom data flow components to implement a similar solution in their own components. This improvement makes it more feasible to develop a robust custom data flow component that supports multiple inputs. For more information, see Developing Data Flow Components with Multiple Inputs.

6. Answering the Need with (DQS) Data Quality Services

Data quality is not defined in absolute terms. It depends upon whether data is appropriate for the purpose for which it is intended. DQS identifies potentially incorrect data, and provides you with an assessment of the likelihood that the data is in fact incorrect. DQS provides you with a semantic understanding of the data so you can decide its appropriateness. DQS enables you to resolve issues involving incompleteness, lack of conformity, inconsistency, inaccuracy, invalidity, and data duplication.

DQS provides the following features to resolve data quality issues.

- Data Cleansing: the modification, removal, or enrichment of data that is incorrect or incomplete, using both computer-assisted and interactive processes. For more information, see Data Cleansing.

- Matching: the identification of semantic duplicates in a rules-based process that enables you to determine what constitutes a match and perform de-duplication. For more information, see Data Matching.

- Reference Data Services: verification of the quality of your data using the services of a reference data provider. You can use reference data services from Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket to easily cleanse, validate, match, and enrich data. For more information, see Reference Data Services in DQS.

- Profiling: the analysis of a data source to provide insight into the quality of the data at every stage in the knowledge discovery, domain management, matching, and data cleansing processes. Profiling is a powerful tool in a DQS data quality solution. You can create a data quality solution in which profiling is just as important as knowledge management, matching, or data cleansing. For more information, see Data Profiling and Notifications in DQS.

- Monitoring: the tracking and determination of the state of data quality activities. Monitoring enables you to verify that your data quality solution is doing what it was designed to do. For more information, see DQS Administration.

- Knowledge Base: Data Quality Services is a knowledge-driven solution that analyzes data based upon knowledge that you build with DQS. This enables you to create data quality processes that continually enhances the knowledge about your data and in so doing, continually improves the quality of your data.

7. Replication Support for AlwaysOn Availability Groups

Replication supports the following features on Availability groups:

- A publication database can be part of an availability group. The publisher instances must share a common distributor. Transaction, merge, and snapshot replication are supported.

In an AlwaysOn Availability Group an AlwaysOn secondary cannot be a publisher. Republishing is not supported when replication is combined with AlwaysOn.

Peer-To-Peer (P2P), bi-directional, reciprocal transactional publications, and Oracle Publishing are not supported.

- A database that is enabled for Change Data Capture (CDC) can be part of an availability group.

- A database enabled for Change Tracking (CT) can be part of an availability group.

Four new stored procedures provide replication support for AlwaysOn.

- sp_redirect_publisher (Transact-SQL)
- sp_get_redirected_publisher (Transact-SQL)
- sp_validate_redirected_publisher (Transact-SQL)
- sp_validate_replica_hosts_as_publishers (Transact-SQL)

For more information about replication with AlwaysOn, see Configure Replication for AlwaysOn Availability Groups (SQL Server), Maintaining an AlwaysOn Publication Database (SQL Server), and Replication, Change Tracking, Change Data Capture, and AlwaysOn Availability Groups (SQL Server).

8. Power View

Power View, a feature of SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Edition, is an interactive data exploration, visualization, and presentation experience. It provides drag-and-drop ad hoc reporting for business users such as data analysts, business decision makers, and information workers. Power View reports are in a new file format, RDLX.

Power View expands on the self-service BI capabilities delivered with PowerPivot for Excel and PowerPivot for SharePoint by enabling customers to visualize and interact with modeled data in a meaningful way, using interactive visualizations, animations, and smart querying. It is a browser-based Silverlight application launched from within SharePoint Server 2010 that enables users to present and share insights with others in their organization through interactive presentations.

Based on Tabular Models

With Power View, customers start from an SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services (SSAS) tabular model to build their reports. Tabular models use metadata to present an underlying data source to end users, with predefined relationships and behaviors, in terms they understand. For more information about tabular models, see What's New (Analysis Services) and Tabular Modeling (SSAS Tabular).

Coexists with Report Builder

Power View does not replace Report Builder, the report authoring tool for richly designed operational reports. Power View addresses the need for Web-based, ad hoc reporting. It co-exists with the latest version of Report Builder, which also ships in SQL Server 2012.

For more information, see the following:

- Power View (SSRS)

- Power View and PowerPivot HelloWorldPicnic Samples for SQL Server 2012 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=219108)

- Tutorial: Create a Sample Report in Power View (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=221204)

9. What's New (Master Data Services) Use Excel to Manage Master Data

You can now manage your master data in the Master Data Services Add-in for Excel. You can use this add-in to load a filtered set of data from your Master Data Services database, work with the data in Excel, and then publish the data back to the database. If you are an administrator, you can also use the add-in to create new entities and attributes. It is easy to share shortcut query files, which contain information about the server, the model, version, entity, and any applied filters. You can send the shortcut query file to another user via Microsoft Outlook. You can refresh data in the Excel worksheet with data from the server, refreshing either the entire Excel worksheet or a contiguous selection of MDS-managed cells in the worksheet. For more information, see Master Data Services Add-in for Microsoft Excel.

Match Data before Loading

Before adding more data to MDS, you can now confirm that you are not adding duplicate records. The MDS Add-in for Excel uses SQL Server Data Quality Services (DQS) to compare two sources of data: the data from MDS and the data from another system or spreadsheet. DQS provides suggestions for updating your data, along with the percent of confidence that the changes are correct. For more information, see Data Quality Matching in the MDS Add-in for Excel.

Load Data into MDS Using Entity-Based Staging

Loading data into MDS has become easier. You can now load all members and attribute values for an entity at one time. Previously you had to load members and attributes in separate batches. See Importing Data (Master Data Services).

10. SQL Server Install

- Server Core Installation: Starting with SQL Server 2012, we can install SQL Server on Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core SP1. For more information, see Install SQL Server 2012 on Server Core.

- SQL Server Data Tools (Formerly called Business Intelligence Development Studio): Starting with SQL Server 2012, you can install SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) which provides an IDE for building solutions for the Business Intelligence components: Analysis Services, Reporting Services, and Integration Services.

SSDT also includes "Database Projects", which provides an integrated environment for database developers to carry out all their database design work for any SQL Server platform (both on and off premise) within Visual Studio. Database developers can use the enhanced Server Object Explorer in Visual Studio to easily create or edit database objects and data, or execute queries.

- SQL Server multi-subnet clustering: You can now configure a SQL Server failover cluster using clustered nodes on different subnets. For more information, see SQL Server Multi-Subnet Clustering.

- SMB file share is a supported storage option: System databases (Master, Model, MSDB, and TempDB), and Database Engine user databases can be installed on a file share on an SMB file server. This applies to both SQL Server stand-alone and SQL Server failover cluster installations. For more information, see Install SQL Server with SMB fileshare as a storage option.

If you need SQL 2012 hosting, please visit our site at http://www.hostforlife.eu. If you have any question about this feature, please feel free to email us at [email protected].

This time, I'm going to speak about Reporting Services (SSRS) and some new features.

Power View

With his new file format RDLX, Power view is a new interactive BI feature.



Based on Silverlight, end-users can visualize and interact directly with an SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services (SSAS) tabular model.

Power view is a good additional tool to display reports and to give to the end-user a solution to create self-report.

For more information, click here.
To have a set of sample to test it, click here.

SharePoint Mode

This new feature is based on a complete new architecture similar to SharePoint 2010 shared service. With this shared service, Reporting services can use a good range of SharePoint functionalities.
You have a lot of benefits like SharePoint cross-farm support for viewing reports or the SharePoint Central Administration which supports the Reporting Services SharePoint mode Configuration.

Data Alerts

A new feature for SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services called Data Alerts notifies a list of recipients about data's report changes.
Data alerts runs in the background and polls the reports for some changes.

To create and manage these new alerts, you have 3 tools:

1. Data Alert Designer

For users to create and edit data alert definitions.



For more information, click here.

2. Data Alert Manager for Users

Users can view information, delete or change their data alerts.

3. Data Alert Manager for alerting administrators

Administrators can view information, delete or change all data alerts created by all users.

For more information, click here.

Report Server Projects in SQL Server Data Tools for Visual Studio 2010

Add-in to Visual Studio 2010, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) is a development environment to modify BI Solutions.
With this tool, you can create, open and modify Report (rdl file) from version 2005, 2008 and 2008 R2.

Excel Renderer for Microsoft Excel 2003, 2007 & 2010

To enable this feature, Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint must be installed.
This extension renders a report as an Excel document compatible with Excel version 2003, 2007 and 2010
You have some limits like maximum rows/worksheet with 1048576 or Maximum columns/worksheet with 16384 but normally you have a good marge

For more information, click here.

Word Renderer for Microsoft Word 2003, 2007 & 2010

Like Excel Renderer, to enable this feature, Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint must be installed.
This extension renders a report as a Word document compatible with Word version 2003, 2007 and 2010

For more information, click here.

Conclusion

I hope this article gives you a good vision of all new features in SSRS and all new possibilities for your business and users.

You can find all information about the new Reporting Services here on the Microsoft TechNet.

My SQL Server 2012 series will be continued soon with SSAS... Want to try SSRS 2012 hosting? Please visit our site at http://www.hostforlife.eu.

A common question that is often asked is how to auto-magically redirect HTTP requests for your web sites to HTTPS. Simply put, if someone types “http://www.yoursite.com” how can you redirect that request to “https://www.yoursite.com”?

For a complete look at how URL Rewriting works, take a look at the following MSDN article on URL Rewrite. Then look at the following as an example of what to add to your web.config:

<rewrite>
  <rules>
    <rule name="Redirect to HTTPS" stopProcessing="true">
      <match url="(.*)" />
      <conditions>
        <add input="{HTTPS}" pattern="^OFF$" />
      </conditions>
      <action type="Redirect" url="https://{HTTP_HOST}/{R:1}" />
    </rule>
  </rules>
</rewrite>

HostForLIFE.eu was established to cater to an under served market in the hosting industry; web hosting for customers who want excellent service. HostForLIFE.eu – a cheap, constant uptime, excellent customer service, quality, and also reliable hosting provider in advanced Windows and ASP.NET technology. We proudly announces the availability of the SQL 2012 hosting in our entire servers environment. HostForLife customer can choose SQL 2012 when creating a database from inside HostForLife hosting control panel.

The first new option is Windows SQL Server 2012, which is available to customers from today. With the public release just last week of Microsoft’s latest version of their premier database product, HostForLife has been quick to respond with updated their shared server configurations. SQL Server 2012 Web Edition is available for the same low monthly rental price as the previous SQL 2008, as well as Express Edition, which is a basic version of Microsoft’s SQL Database product, available for free.

“We’re proud to be at the cutting edge for new technologies. With these additions, customers have the option to explore these new products in the safe environment of their own shared server. Developers and IT Managers can research the potential impact of next-generation software without risking current infrastructure. With Microsoft’s announcement of the general availability of their new SQL server, we are proud to launch SQL 2012 hosting along with a suite of SQL 2012 management tools." Said John Curtis, VP Marketing and Business Development at HostForLIFE.eu.

John added, “It’s very important to our customers that we support their current deployments; we want to make sure that our customers have their good opportunity to test this new technology."

“HostForLIFE customers can now take advantage of SQL Server 2012’s advanced BI capabilities, We’re excited to see the benefits of this release add value to the energy management and manufacturing arena. Ensuring compatibility with Microsoft’s new SQL Server 2012 demonstrates how HostForLife and Microsoft remain committed together to providing leading edge technology for the benefit of our shared customers." Said CEO of HostForLIFE.eu, Anthony Johnson.

For more information about this new product, please visit http://www.hostforlife.eu/SQL-2012-European-Hosting.aspx.

About us:

We are European Windows Hosting Provider which FOCUS in Windows Platform ONLY. We support Microsoft technology, such as the latest ASP.NET 4, ASP.NET MVC 3, SQL 2008/2008 R2, and much more.

Our number one goal is constant uptime. Our data center uses cutting edge technology, processes, and equipment. We have one of the best up time reputations in the industry.

Our second goal is providing excellent customer service. Our technical management structure is headed by professionals who have been in the industry since it's inception. We have customers from around the globe, spread across every continent. We serve the hosting needs of the business and professional, government and nonprofit, entertainment and personal use market segments.

In this post, I will show you common error in Web Deploy and how to solve it. Here are the most common publishing errors and solutions for them:

Error: “The application pool that you are trying to use has the ‘managedRuntimeVersion’ property set to ‘v2.0′. This application requires ‘v4.0′.”

Solution : An application pool provides isolation for websites. Typically, web hosting providers create one application pool per website, and set default values for a number of attributes. One of these attributes is the version of the .NET framework. The user can often change this value between .NET 2.0 and .NET 4.0 through the web hosting provider’s control panel. You will see this error during publishing if you are publishing an ASP.NET Web Pages application, which requires .NET 4.0, to a hoster who has given you a website with a .NET 2.0 application pool. Similarly, you will see this error if you are publishing an application that requires .NET 2.0 to a website associated with an .NET 4.0 application pool. The solution is to set the .NET framework version in the web hosting provider’s control panel or, if there are no compatibility issues, change your application’s .NET framework version in WebMatrix’s Settings workspace.

Error: “Username or password incorrect” error when using Web Deploy

Solution : This is probably because the value in Site Name is incorrect. Site Name must contain the name of the IIS site on the remote server. Typically, it matches your domain name, but it doesn’t have to. For example, it can be “Default Web Site” (if you have a dedicated server) or “foo” or “foo.com”. Web Deploy must authenticate to the site before it can execute any providers.

Error: Web management service not started on destination

Solution: You may see this error if you are deploying to a server you have set up yourself. Web Deploy requires a service called Web Management Service (wmsvc) to be running on the remote server. You can get this error if the service is not started. This blog post is a good starting point to learn how to configure a remote server with Web Deploy and wmsvc.

Error: Failed to invoke provider “iisApp”

Solution: Under the covers, WebMatrix users Web Deploy’s iisApp provider to sync files and directories, and to mark folders as applications. You may see this error if delegation rules are not configured correctly on the remote server. Delegation rules allow the user to execute some actions that require administrative privileges, such as marking a folder as an application. This blog post and this one gives good information on how to configure delegation rules.

Error: Bad gateway: check proxy settings

Solution: This one is literally what it says – check proxy settings because Web Deploy traffic is being blocked. Try installing your corporation’s required firewall client, and disabling all settings in Internet Explorer > Tools > Options > Connections > LAN settings.

If you need Web Deploy hosting, please consider us as we support Web Deploy. Please visit our site at http://www.hostforlife.eu for more information.

In this post, I will show you common error in Web Deploy and how to solve it. Here are the most common publishing errors and solutions for them:

Error: “The application pool that you are trying to use has the ‘managedRuntimeVersion’ property set to ‘v2.0′. This application requires ‘v4.0′.”

Solution : An application pool provides isolation for websites. Typically, web hosting providers create one application pool per website, and set default values for a number of attributes. One of these attributes is the version of the .NET framework. The user can often change this value between .NET 2.0 and .NET 4.0 through the web hosting provider’s control panel. You will see this error during publishing if you are publishing an ASP.NET Web Pages application, which requires .NET 4.0, to a hoster who has given you a website with a .NET 2.0 application pool. Similarly, you will see this error if you are publishing an application that requires .NET 2.0 to a website associated with an .NET 4.0 application pool. The solution is to set the .NET framework version in the web hosting provider’s control panel or, if there are no compatibility issues, change your application’s .NET framework version in WebMatrix’s Settings workspace.

Error: “Username or password incorrect” error when using Web Deploy

Solution : This is probably because the value in Site Name is incorrect. Site Name must contain the name of the IIS site on the remote server. Typically, it matches your domain name, but it doesn’t have to. For example, it can be “Default Web Site” (if you have a dedicated server) or “foo” or “foo.com”. Web Deploy must authenticate to the site before it can execute any providers.

Error: Web management service not started on destination

Solution: You may see this error if you are deploying to a server you have set up yourself. Web Deploy requires a service called Web Management Service (wmsvc) to be running on the remote server. You can get this error if the service is not started. This blog post is a good starting point to learn how to configure a remote server with Web Deploy and wmsvc.

Error: Failed to invoke provider “iisApp”

Solution: Under the covers, WebMatrix users Web Deploy’s iisApp provider to sync files and directories, and to mark folders as applications. You may see this error if delegation rules are not configured correctly on the remote server. Delegation rules allow the user to execute some actions that require administrative privileges, such as marking a folder as an application. This blog post and this one gives good information on how to configure delegation rules.

Error: Bad gateway: check proxy settings

Solution: This one is literally what it says – check proxy settings because Web Deploy traffic is being blocked. Try installing your corporation’s required firewall client, and disabling all settings in Internet Explorer > Tools > Options > Connections > LAN settings.

If you need Web Deploy hosting, please consider us as we support Web Deploy. Please visit our site at http://www.hostforlife.eu for more information.

HostForLIFE.eu was established to cater to an under served market in the hosting industry; web hosting for customers who want excellent service. HostForLIFE.eu – a cheap, constant uptime, excellent customer service, quality, and also reliable hosting provider in advanced Windows and ASP.NET technology. We proudly announces new FREE ASP.NET 4.5 beta hosting in our entire servers environment.

You can start hosting your ASP.NET 4.5 beta site on our environment for FREE. For more information about our new product, please visit our site at http://www.hostforlife.eu/ASPNET-45-Beta-European-Hosting.aspx

"This is limited program offered as an open beta for developers on a first come first serve basis. Our .NET 4.5 beta hosting account comes with 50 MB disk space and 50 MB SQL 2008 database space. With this .NET 4.5 beta release, we prove our existence in this hosting world and also we want the developers to give it try with the newest .net 4.5 in our hosting environment." said John Curtis, VP Marketing and Business Development at HostForLIFE.eu

So, why wait longer? Please visit http://www.hostforlife.eu/ASPNET-45-Beta-European-Hosting.aspx to register new account.

About us

We are European Windows Hosting Provider which FOCUS in Windows Platform ONLY. We support Microsoft technology, such as the latest ASP.NET 4, ASP.NET MVC 3, SQL 2008/2008 R2, and much more.

Our number one goal is constant uptime. Our data center uses cutting edge technology, processes, and equipment. We have one of the best up time reputations in the industry.

Our second goal is providing excellent customer service. Our technical management structure is headed by professionals who have been in the industry since it's inception. We have customers from around the globe, spread across every continent. We serve the hosting needs of the business and professional, government and nonprofit, entertainment and personal use market segments.

As you probably know, Visual Studio LightSwitch is a tool provided by Microsoft to build business applications. In this article you will see how to communicate screens in a LightSwitch application.

You can say a screen is a template in which you display data. There are five types of data screens in the LightSwitch Application i.e. New Data Screen, Search Data Screen, Details Screen, Editable Grid Screen, List and Details Screen. If you want to communicate across screens in a LightSwitch application then you can do that.

When we establish a relationship among screens then the process is called communication among screens.

Step 1 : First of all open Visual Studio LightSwitch->Click on new project->Select LightSwitch->Select LightSwitch application->Write name (CommunicatioScreens)->Ok.



Step 2 : Click on create new table.



Step 3 : Create tables such as customer and order.



Step 4 : Now we will establish a relationship between these tables. To establish the relationship then click on relationship.



Step 5 : Now we establish a one to many relationship from the customer to the order as in the following image.



Step 6 : Now we will add a screen. Right click on screens->Add screen



Step 7 : Select new data screen->Select screen data (customer)->Ok.

In the same manner we we will add a new data screen for the order table.



Step 8 : In the same manner we will add a list and details screen for customer and order tables.



Step 9 : Click add data item->Select query->Select customer->Write name (CustomerChoice)->Ok.



Step 10 : Go to the properties of the customer in CreateNewOrder screen->Select choice (CustomerChoice).



Step 11 : Run the application (Press F5). Click on create new customer for adding a customer then save.



Step 12 : Click on create new order for adding an order.



Step 13 : If you want to see the details of a customer or order then you can. To do that you will click on customer list details and order list details. In this section you can change the customer for order like in the following image.

In VS 10 we use MSDeploy behind the scenes to deploy your entire web application along with all of its dependencies like IIS Settings, DB, web content etc to any destination server.

MSDeploy is a new technology specially designed to serve the purpose of deploying web applications seamlessly across IIS Servers. My hope is to give you a CONCEPTUAL high level overview to understand how web deployment with VS10 & MSDeploy really works.

In case of web deployment or replication across server farms what you really require is to take the web and its dependencies from one box to another. To further over simplify there is a source (your dev box) and there is a destination (your web server), the source needs to be replicated on to the destination and that is what we are trying to achieve (with of course a lot more details behind the scene :-)

MSDeploy uses this simple concept of taking the source and applying it on to the destination. Let us try to understand what all are possible sources:

Source:

- If you want to deploy the site you are developing on your dev box then now the site you are developing on the dev box becomes the source.
- If you have your web content stored in the source control and you have a build server which is set up for automatic deployment then the build server becomes the source.
- If you have a MSDeploy web package given to you by someone and you are trying to install it on your dev box then the web package becomes the source.

Destination:

- If you are deploying a web to a test server then the test server is the destination.
- If you are creating a web package out of your web site using MSDeploy then the web package becomes the destination.
- If you are deploying to your own dev box for testing purposes then in this case your dev box itself becomes the destination.

Well the concepts of source and destination are pretty simple but the reason why they are so interesting is because when you set up your deployment settings in Visual Studio then VS creates something that we call as Source Manifest and feeds to MSDeploy. Check out the figure below which gives you an idea of how VS 10 will produce your web package:



Source Manifest is a simple XML which instructs MSDeploy on what all Providers to invoke on the source machine. So what is a MSDeploy Provider?

A MSDeploy provider is a simple object which MSDeploy engine invokes to do two major CONCEPTUAL tasks:

1. On Source Machine to GET the right content from its place

e.g. if you had Database attached to your web then at source DB Provider will be called to pull out your data and schema and convert it into SQL Scripts which will then go into the web package.

2. On Destination Machine to PUT the right content in its place

e.g. if there were SQL scripts in your web package then at destination DB Provider will be called to run the SQL command and the SQL scripts to create and set up the database

MSDeploy comes with a lot of pre-built providers like:

- IIS Settings providers for IIS 5.1 (for XP), IIS 6.0 (for Win2K3) & IIS 7.0(for Vista & Win2K8)
- DB Provider for MS SQL Server
- GAC
- COM
- Registry
- etc etc

Based on your project settings Visual Studio creates a source manifest which is fed to MSDeploy to create package or deploy your web application. So on the source box below is how MSDeploy works:



Along with creating the source manifest, Visual Studio also creates destination manifest for you. Check the below diagram:



When you are ready to deploy then on the destination you can feed the web package and the destination manifest to MSDeploy to deploy your web site. In the destination manifest you can change the values like “IIS Application Name”, “DB connection strings” etc.



This is how you can use web packages on any machine with MSDeploy and by configuring your deployment options in the destination manifest you can go and and easily recreate your webs.

It is not possible for someone to come up with every possible provider that everyone needs so there will be an extensibility model by which you can write your own providers and register it with MSDeploy engine.

Visual Studio is also made extensible to allow you to hook into the packaging and publishing process to call your custom MSDeploy providers in the source manifest.

The most interesting pieces is that with IIS Manager and Visual Studio 2010 UI, you will not really need to know all these details, things will just work but I thought it is often interesting to know how things work behind the scenes.

I hope this conceptual overview helps you get the perspective on how web deployment with VS 2010 and MSDeploy will work!!

This is an error message that sometimes you might see when you published your site with WebDeploy. Yeah, we know WebDeploy sometimes is hard and not so easy as you think, but if you have problem with your current provider, you can consider our hosting plan. We support WebDeploy and we are Microsoft certified partner. Ok, let’s go to the problem:

“Error: An unsupported response was received. The response header ‘MSDeploy.Response’ was ” but ‘v1′ was expected.
Error: The remote server returned an error: (401) Unauthorized.”

This means that you do not have access. So, you need to create ticket to us and then we will set a username and password for your both your web deploy and remote IIS user.

Maybe you find another problem like this:

Error: The remote server returned an error: (503) Server Unavailable. Web Deploy may not be setup or running on that server. Please contact us in order to resolve the issue.

An error occurred when the request was processed on the remote computer.
The server experienced an issue processing the request. Contact the server administrator for more information.

This is the most common error we see and, unfortunately, it does not tell you much. What this means is that, usually, you have successfully connected to the server, however for some reason your deployment failed. Usually, this means that you are attempting to do something that you do not have access to do (such as deploying to the root directory – which you need full control permissions in order to do and this must be granted by us). Please check your settings and ensure that everything is correct. Also, if you do contact us, providing a screenshot of your deployment settings (Service URL, Site/Application and Username/Password) will assist us in troubleshooting your issue.

Lastly, I want to talk about the SetAcl deployment handler. Once you decide to publish to your root directory you can do some damage by removing the permissions from your files/folders if you aren’t careful. In order to fix this each file/folder must be reclaimed and the permissions reset, which is quite a bit of work and very time consuming for us.

SetAcl can be found in your WAP project file.

What is SetAcl? It’s a provider that lets you set permissions on file system objects. Typically, this involves setting permissions on a sub-folder of your application, such as App_Data.

Let’s say you run this command:

msdeploy.exe -verb:sync -source:setacl -dest:setacl="Default Web Site",setacluser=ApplicationPoolIdentity,setaclaccess=Read

This command will give the ApplicationPoolIdentity Read access to the App_Data folder. Before it does that, however, it will clear existing permissions on the folder for the identity. This makes sense, since setAcl has to set the correct permissions and the only way to do that is to clear existing permissions for the identity. For example, if the ApplicationPoolIdentity had Read,Execute permissions before, now it will just have Read permissions.

In order to disable it, you edit the .csproj file and set:

1. <IncludeSetAclProviderOnDestination>False</IncludeSetAclProviderOnDestination>

or do this from the command line:

2. msbuild.exe myproject.csproj /p:IncludeSetAclProviderOnDestination=False

Following the above instructions will allow you to safely deploy to the root directory.

Hope this article will help you if you find problem like above.