for IIS, should i use Win7 or Server 2012r2? - windows-7

Ill need to set up a test IIS.
From a rapid research, ive found that Win7 and Server 2012r2 are pretty much offering the same (for IIS purposes).
Major difference is supported RAM and parallel RDP sessions.
Rather than that, relying on the fact i need IIS, which one is the right OS ?
Many thanks !

Not really the same at all. Windows 7 uses IIS 7, whereas Windows Server 2012, uses IIS 8. Plus, Windows 7/Windows 8 are consumer class OSes. They're not intended for running things like web servers. Likewise, Windows Server 2012 is kind of inappropriate as something like a development machine.
If you're talking about "test" in the sense of QA/staging server, then you should use an actual server class version of Windows. If you're talking about a machine to do development on, then you can stick with something like Windows 7 or 8, but then, you shouldn't even be worry about IIS. You'd just have Visual Studio and run everything through IIS Express.

Related

Should I use a windows service?

Hi I have a console app which I need to start up when Windows Server 2012 starts and without needing to login. I've done a bit of research and people advise a windows service is the correct approach, however the links are quite old and I wanted to confirm this is still the case, or indeed correct at all. Cheers.
Yes, Windows Service is still the most popular way to write and run servers and or a 'daemon' in Windows OS.
Depending on what your application is doing, you might have other options though, e.g. hosting an application in IIS (Microsoft's Web server application in Windows Server).
More recently, Microsoft has been working with Docker to also allow the use of containerized application deployments, which is available in new versions of Windows Server (Windows Server 2016).
Here are a few resources for more reading:
For .NET developers: Walkthrough: Creating a Windows Service Application in the Component Designer
Not just for .NET developers: Quick Start: Windows Containers on Windows Server

Can I use Windows XP for Windows Azure development

I have got the Windows Azure Platform account.
Fot he development with Windows Azure, can I use computer with Windows XP Professional.
If not what environment should i set to start working with Windows Azure, and migrating existing web projects to Windows Azure.
Regards.
Pravin.
Since azure uses Windows Server 2008 SP2/R2 as it's core OS, you will need at least Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 to come close to mimicking the environment in Azure. If you are in a situation where you cannot upgrade your OS then you should look at utilizing a VM for development/testing purposes.
To answer your question, yes you can hack together a solution, is it pretty, no. Would I do it, no way. I also find that I like Windows 7 a lot better than XP or Vista, but I am also work for the man so I am jaded.

SharePoint 2010 Development on Virtual Machine - Windows 7 or Server 2008?

I recently switched to a MacBook Pro for my development machine (for many reasons). I want to setup a Virtual Machine for ASP.NET, IIS, and Visual Studio 2010 development. I also have need to do some development work with SharePoint 2010.
What I am wondering is if I should use Windows 7 (64 bit) or Windows Server 2008 (64 bit) as the OS for my development virtual machine. I don't really need most of the services running in Server 2008 so I felt that Windows 7 would probably run faster in the VM environment however I am fairly new to SharePoint 2010 so I am not sure if Windows 7 (64 bit) can be used as a development environment for it.
Thanks for any input.
much easier is to install SharePoint 2010 on Win Server than on Windows 7 - on Windows 7 you need to install SharePoint manually (extract installation files, install prerequisites, install additional patches etc). Here is a link how to do it: http://bit.ly/aDCzvS
Services will not make a difference. Look at all the stuff you need for Sharepoint - this is not a low capacity environment. So, 00mb will not make a difference. Between SQL Server, Sharepoint server and Visual Studio I would say you ASK for about 6-8gb anyway ;)
I do not think it makes a difference now. Sharepoint 2010 was explicitly optimized for being installable on Win 7 - and this is a fully supported development model (contrary to 2007 where you basically were at the end of a bad line as developer). Win 7 should be good. That said, you can tune Windows server to be as good as Win 7 UI wise (for development work and playing music in the background).
I would go with Windows 7 for the time being - and possibly install Sharepoint on a separate Win 2008 when needed. THe main problem here is that Sharepoint is heavy in mem useage, and I woud hate carrying it around all the other time.
A MacBook Pro may be a bad choice for that - make sure you have at least 8gb memory for real sharepoint development work.
I work with people that use SharePoint in a VM on a Mac and their life is much harder. Among other things copying and pasting code between the guest and host machine doesn't work, and they're forced to dedicate one monitor to the VM. You should really consider Boot Camp and Windows 7.
Boot Camp + Windows 7 should get you:
Ability to use multiple monitors (Visual Studio's multi-monitor support is really wonderful)
Ability to hibernate (which you wouldn't necessarily get in Boot Camp + Server 2008 R2)
Use of all of your memory (SharePoint 2010 is a memory hog, running in a VM won't help the situation)
Fewer inconveniences like copy and paste problems
If for whatever reason Boot Camp isn't an option I'd go with Windows 7 in a VM. One of the big pros over Server 2008 is it has all of the features that you need already enabled. It ends up being a lot of work to debug why something isn't working in Server 2008 R2 only to find some obscure feature or service wasn't installed or activated out of the box.

How to transform Win2K3 into a Workstation Developement OS?

Here is a question not directly related to programming.
Being fed up with Microsoft Windows XP Professional, and the lots of eye-candy, I want to try Microsoft Windows Server 2003 as the main OS on my development PC. (The other reason is a better version of IIS than 5.1). And knowing that Win2K3 was originally designed as a Server OS, I think that I should make it somehow more "workstation friendly".
My question is: How do I transform Win2K3 (Standard Edition most probably) into a Workstation OS? Any articles or links are highly appreciated.
PS: My development PC must run mainly MS Visual Studio 2008, MS SQL Server 2008, MS Expression Studio 2, different Oracle software (10gR2, ExpressEdition, 11g) and other little utilities (a testing framework, a subversion tool - TFS, a web browser, a bittorrent client, etc). All of this are compatible with Win2K3, as I previously checked.
Tnks
I only server OS as my workstation, I had Server 2003 before I switched to Server 2008. There's a guide you can find here http://www.msfn.org/win2k3/.
You shouldn't run into any problems. Most of windows xp drivers will work on server 2003, however, some apps won't. Especially those that check for the OS version before installing. But you shouldn't have any problems with VS2008, Expression and anything you posted.
For me the only thing that was troublesome was running iTunes on server 2003, it doesn't look as good.
And if you like the eye candy you can turn it on by starting the Theme service and changing a few settings.
You shouldn't run into any issues running those applications on Server 2003.
The last time I personally ran 2003 on a workstation the only real big change was changing the security settings of internet explorer.
If you run one of the free anti-virus software packages you may find that they will not install on a Server OS.
edit: As another poster has suggested I would also go straight to server 2008 if it is an options. Server 2008 runs very well as a workstation OS and if you're hardware supports it the virtual server works very well.
Here's links for turning 2003 into workstation:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=windows+server+2003+workstation+converter
If you'd like use Windows Server 2008 as a workstation, runs much better (faster) than a regular Vista install:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=windows+server+2008+workstation+converter&aq=1&oq=windows+server+2008+work
or try getting your hands on Windows 7 RC1 which runs quite well.
None of the software types you've listed has any workstation-biased dependencies that I'm aware of. Expression Blend may suffer a bit depending on your hardware and drivers, as WPF is a little more demanding of visual goo than most other development tools for Windows forms.

How do I run .ASP (ASP Classic) pages locally (on my development PC) for testing, etc.?

I'm working on some old .asp pages. I mostly do VB development so I'm a newbie to .ASP.
How can I run those pages locally for testing?
I'm running Windows XP Home SP2.
I'm guessing I'll need to install a local server, etc.
Yes, you will need a local server. However, IIS doesn't install on XP Home. But like most things, there are workarounds.
Installing IIS on XP home
You will need IIS installed locally to test ASP. IIS is part of XP Pro but not of XP Home.
So officially you will need to upgrade at least to Pro.
There are also some other servers out there ranging from free to not that let you test your ASP code. I've heard of, but not used, Baby Web Server: http://www.pablosoftwaresolutions.com/html/baby_web_server.html

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