Manda QoP

1. When checking for updates you get an error. No problem, hit the back button and try again and it should work the second time. 2. It wants to install visual C++ runtime every time, this is a known issue - doesn't take too long to reinstall it each time thankfully. 3. Install thinks SQL Full Text Search is not installed - make sure you have the latest update of Dynamics CRM before installing, it's a known bug that has been fixed in a patch (of course, you should also make sure that you've started the service).

I have finally made it past the verification screen. Dynamics CRM is now installing on the virtual server. On the plus side - all this mucking around has given me a good idea of what to double and triple check before even trying to start the install. :) 1. Make sure you have a Dynamics CRM AD group setup with permissions. The network support guys really don't like letting you have access to their servers so this is a good alternative solution. Get them to set up a group and give you permissions to that. 2. Install SQL Server 2008 with everything installed. 3. Make sure IIS is installed and running 4. Make sure Windows Server is totally up to date with its patches 5. Head on in to control panel, administrative tools, services - make sure Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator are both started. 6. Open SQL Server Configuration Manager - make sure all the services are started and using an account with access rights. I used NT Authority\NetworkServi

The Dynamics CRM installing is still going on.... this has to be the hardest install of software ever. It was easier installing Red Hat ten years ago. This is a completely fresh install on a nice new Windows 2003 virtual server. SQL 2008 is installed, IIS etc... basically all the requirements from the planning doc are there, I spent several days making sure they were there, and ALL services are running with the correct access rights including the full text search, but can I get past the verification screen on the CRM install? Nope. For some reason it thinks the full text search is not installed. I'm getting to the point where banging my head repeatedly against the wall may be more productive than doing this install. I'm losing a lot of time here that could be spent on other work.

This week's missions: Mission 1 Create a DynamicsCRM environment for peeps at work to play with. The plan is, 1 x virtual CRM server on Windows Server 2003 o/s, 1 x virtual SQL server (might just include that on the CRM server), 1 x virtual MOSS server (again, will include on the CRM server), 1 x virtual client that people can copy and destroy as they see fit. It's going to be hooked in to our actual domain/AD server. Still stuck on installing the server updates for the base o/s system.... could take a while this. Mission 2 Once we have signed our partner agreement, grab a copy of the CRM vpc that can be used for demos - very handily created by Microsoft so that it's all set up and ready to go with every option you could possibly think of adding to CRM. Jump on to Amazon and set up a 64-bit Windows 2008 server, stick the virtual demo on the cloud based server and see how we go running the vpc in the cloud. This one could be fun. :)

Notes from Greg Low's talk at TechEd NZ '09. Visual Studio Team System database edition has merged with developer edition Now called Visual Studio Team System: DB Pro (VSTS:DBPro) - a.k.a. 'DataDude' Released initially as SQL Server 2005 edition 2008 edition of VSTS:DBPro does NOT use SQLS 2008 database GDR release provides SQLS 2008 support GDR2 recently released T-SQL is re-parsed T-SQL parsing dlls can be incorporated into your own apps Should be more extensible in VS2010 Gives great control over database projects Project Management Model based development Team collaboration - TFS, Workitems, Tasks Change Management: SCCI source code management integration Refactoring Schema and data comparison tools Testing Database unit testing MSTest integration Automated data generation system Build/Deploy MSBuild integration Command line tools Allows for multiple inconsistent target systems Build & deploy phases have been separated All important tasks are scriptable Project

Notes from Ian Morrish's talk at TechEd NZ '09. SQLServer 2005 R2 - deep sharepoint integration Light up reporting experience (that's my note, and no, I don't know what I meant here either...) Report server in sharepoint mode Reporting services sharepoint add in New in SQLServer 2008 Data driven subscriptions Support for URL parameters Support for RS management tools in sharepoint mode Integration benefits Single user interface Use SP deployment topologies to distribute reports SP features such as workflows, versioning, collaboration are available Reporting authoring tools can publish direct to SP Report subscriptions can be delivered via SP Reports are executed in report server to leverage all its enterprise capabilities Limitations No report manager No linked reports No Sharepoint SSO Anonymous enabled web apps are not supported Default zone only Architectural decisions to make Sharepoint topology SQL topology Security - NTLM / Kerberos Misc Notes Demo samples availa

These are my notes from Jeremy Boyd's presentation at TechEd NZ '09. These notes are pointers for finding out additional information and as such do not give full details of any particular areas of SQL Azure. Initial services coming with SQL Azure - RDBMS, Data Sync, Data Hub Down the road they will add more services such as Reporting Services and Analysis Services Databases limited to 10GB each SQL Azure is not SQL Data Services - they are two different things. SQL Data Services no longer exists and the tasks it was achieving are now part of Windows Azure. SQL Azure has a familiar SQL relational model Virtual DB server Auto HA and fault tolerance Friction-free scaling Self provisioning Provisioning model: Create an account, add a server, add a database, connect & play OR you can create via SSMS All standard T-SQL language minus a lot of DBA stuff When connecting ignore the error message - it's irrelevant and doesn't stop you connecting. All tables MUST have a c

These are some notes from Matt Velloso's session at TechEd 09 on the 14th Sept. These are just my notes created whilst watching the session and they can be used as a start point to find out more information. Myths to debunk: You can change meta data easily. Well, yes you can, however, that doesn't mean you should. So don't. If you need to change your meta data, plan it out first and make sure that your changes don't break another part of the system. There's no code so it's risk free. Cobblers. What do you think runs Sharepoint if it's not code? Always manage risk and plan for various eventualities. It's an out of the box app, we don't need to test. Sigh.... just test it already and get over the 'testing isn't necessary' mentality. Blobcache Stop going to SQL Server all the time Use Fiddler2 (HTTP debugging proxy) to check the status of your blobcache Enable blobcache in web.config How to break your blobcache: reset IIS, hit refresh

Notes from Chris Auld's presentation at TechEd 09. Again, as with the other TechEd blogs, these are just notes that I can use to find out further information when more time is available. :) Azure: High scale application architecture Consolidate traditional IT to the cloud Move servers and apps out-house Reliable hardware in the cloud Virtualize to the cloud Manage explosive growth (scale out cloud) Scale out clouds are built around disposable hardware Reliability is built using software Scale out cloud is load balanced by default Greeness - PUE (power usage effectiveness) = Total Facility Power / IT Equipment Power. Google and Microsoft are getting around 1.10 to 1.25 PUE. Intergen server room is running at about 1.6 PUE. MS cloud offering = Windows Azure, .NET Services, SQL Azure Azure sits you above the abstraction layer (IMAGE TO GO IN HERE) Compute source (IMAGE TO GO IN HERE) Load balancer is key part of Windows Azure RoleEntryPointStart() has no return value. Always whi

Notes from the TechEd 09 presentation, presented by Rob Hawthorne. MDM was going to be in Sharepoint 2010 but is now in Kilimanjaro (SQL Server 2008 R2) MDM is NOT a transactional system MDM implements rules before data is loaded Good tool when there is difficulty coordinating multiple systems CTP and TAP in second half of 2009 (CTP3) www.microsoft.com/mdm Any application can contribute, any application can consume, process is key Master data and reference data are treated as the same thing Can coordinate multiple systems, i.e. JDE, SQLServer, DB2 etc... Performance point planning no longer exists, can do similar work in MDS but with more focus When creating new project, plan for growth but start small Uses model (cube) deployment Sharepoint integration is available MDM will hook into Dynamics CRM MDM methodology - Envision, Plan, Develop, Stabilize, Deploy Process is key; must get proceses right first before building anything

Notes from Code Camp on 13th Sept. Just a few notes that will give me some ideas to check out and use to create some more beginner level presentations. Presented by Mark Souza. Slides will be available on aucklandsql.com at some point soon, probably once TechEd 09 has finished. DMV - dm_exec_query_optimizer DBCC SHOW STATISTICS - find equivalent dmv/SQL 2005+ code AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS - turn off on high data turnover system using sp_autostart off Play with sample sizes, especially during development stage before going to prod. Will 10% sample size give you different statistics to a 2% sample size? sp_create_plan_guide_from_cache

As with my other TechEd 09 notes, this will be a list of notes that I made during the presentation. These will give a start point to find out further information. Virtualization - presented by Rob Reinauer at Code Camp on the 13th September. Find out more info on how anti-virus software works with VMs and are the AV companies planning any new methods to handle VMs? Demo of Hyper-V Live Migration in SQL Server 2008 R2 (Kilimanjaro): Copies pages to memory Copies delta changes Repeats copying delta changes down to smallest change found Freezes environment Copies everything to destination child partition Takes down source child partition Brings up destination child partition Freeze downtime is generally 2-4 seconds Connections are maintained throughout process Users will not notice the change of child partition due to maintained connections, they will most likely not even realise they have been moved In SQL11 the bulk of false failovers will be removed System Centre Virtual Machine Manag

As with my other TechEd 09 notes, this will be a list of notes that I made during the presentation. These will give a start point to find out further information. Orinoco: Search online for 'stream insights' as this is the alternative name for project Orinoco Streaming data without persistence Continuous and incremental processing of event streams from multiple sources based on declarative query and pattern specs with near zero latency Process real-time in a flow flow before it even gets to the database to speed up result processing time CEP engine - mine & design Queries look for warnings in events that come across CEP engine can sit anywhere in the process

As with my other TechEd 09 notes, this will be a list of notes that I made during the presentation. These will give a start point to find out further information. Project Madision: 100's of terabytes FastTrack reference architecture - guarantees consistent throughput for high scale data warehouses Massive scale out to 100's TB Developed by DatAllegro, MS bought them a year ago and are now incorporating their software into Kilimanjaro Large tables are hash distributed Small tables and dimension tables are replicated Create DB is now a simple script for DBAs. This script triggers a system script that will set up an optimally created database. Create table/partition is now combined in one statement

Kilimanjaro is the code name for SQL Server 2008 R2. This version of SQL Server 2008 contains 6 major new components: Gemini - self service business intelligence Synthesis - application and multi-server management Madison - High end scale out for data warehousing Orinoco - Complex Event Processing (CET) - streaming data without persistence SSRS - Report builder enhancements and Sharepoint integration > 64 core support Kilimanjaro should be available in the 1st half of CY10.

I'm currently at TechEd and thought it may be useful to blog session notes, both for myself as notes to refer back to, and just in case anyone else out there is interested in any of the topics. The notes are just that, notes... some of these I need to drill down in to when I get back to work to find out more information, but hopefully if this is a topic you are interested in the notes will give you a start point to drill down further as well. There may be some repetition of notes if I've picked up on an idea again later in the talk. There are a lot of notes, so I'll split the blog posts by subject. This one is about project Gemini. This is the new self service BI tool that will be included with Kilimanjaro. These notes are combined from the Code Camp presentation on Sunday 13th and from Mark Souza's presentation at TechEd on the 14th. Gemini Notes: Slides should soon be available at www.aucklandsql.com (give Dave a few days to get these uploaded). http://blogs.msdn

YAY! My funky office floor plan map is working a treat. Now to add some dynamic interaction features. :-)

For those who don't know, Fronde are the sole NZ partner for Google apps until at least the New Year 2010. Most of the Google work so far has been undertaken by the team down in Wellington, apart from the very shiny Track-U application for the Blackberry created by the Java devs here in Auckland. We wanted to get more people involved up here in Auckland so we're assigning ourselves internal projects. We're all taking a specific area to make that our specialist subject as there are a large variety of Google apps, most of which are quite large when you start to really get into them to see what you can do with them. I'm currently looking into the maps API and it's proving quite interesting. Three of us are creating an interactive floor plan for both floors of the office, we're then going to hook it into MOSS. I've created the tiles for both floors, that was the easy part and they did show up beautifully, then came a bit more of a challenge with settin