Powershell: Verify if a application is installed (the right way)!

There are a few different ways to skin this problem… An initial search will point you in the direction of using WMI Win32_Product class. Avoid this at all costs for reasons mentioned here.

Use this approach instead:

gci "HKLM:\software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall" | %{ gp $_.PSPath } | where {$_.DisplayName -match "{Application Name}"}


Enjoy!

Installing Windows Server 2008 R2 on a Macbook Pro (using Bootcamp)

A couple of quick tips (or reminders for me) when installing Windows Server 2008 R2 on a Macbook Pro Bootcamp partition:

1. Follow the steps detailed in the Bootcamp Installation & Setup guide.
2. Have the Bootcamp Drivers for windows saved to a removable drive for immediate installation following the completion of the OS installation process.
3. If you forget to install the Bootcamp Drivers for windows on the initial login you will need a USB keyboard to log into windows.
4. If you need to connect to a wireless network ensure that you enable the windows feature “Wireless LAN Service”

Thanks it!

Enable remote desktop connectivity on Windows Server 2008 R2

A quick note to those who have hit the same block when trying to enable remote desktop connectivity in a Windows Server 2008 R2 environment.

Ensure that the following windows services are started:

• DNS Client
• Function Discovery Resource Publication
• SSDP Discovery
• UPnP

Ensure that the computer is configured to allow remote desktop connections (under System Properties -> “Remote” tab.)

Ensure that under “Advanced sharing settings”, “Turn on network discovery” on option is selected. This property widow can be opened by clicking on the windows start button and searching for “advanced”.

That’s it!

Additional instructions for installing the ESB toolkit sample applications

When attempting to install the sample applications as supplied with the ESB Toolkit installation package, it is important to observe the order in which the sample applications are installed.

The order is incorrect when following the instructions supplied with the documentation and will result in missing dependancies like BizTalk applications, assemblies and policies.

To get the sample applications working install the sample applications in the following order:

1. Itinerary on-ramp sample.
2. Dynamic resolution sample.
3. Resolver service sample

IIS warm up module for IIS 7.5

Improve the responsiveness of you web applications and web services by loading them before the first request arrives.

Download the IIS warm up module for IIS 7.5 by following the link:

http://www.iis.net/download/applicationwarmup

BizTalk Server 2010 AppFabric Connect for Services

Using the recently released BizTalk Server 2010 AppFabric Connect for Services you can extend BizTalk Orchestrations and LOB applications into the cloud.

This post from the BizTalk Server team offers some situations where this feature may be useful.

This new feature pack can be downloaded here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=f7735a19-cdb3-4f52-8e7b-c58f04c5c86a

How to Resolve “SetConfigurationSettingPublisher needs to be called before FromConfigurationSetting can be used” After Moving to Windows Azure SDK 1.3

I experienced this very error message today when trying out the old training kit labs (version 1.2) with Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 1.3.

Fortunately Steve Marx has just posted an answer:
How to Resolve “SetConfigurationSettingPublisher needs to be called before FromConfigurationSetting can be used” After Moving to Windows Azure SDK 1.3

“Terminal Server Has Exceeded the Maximum Number of Allowed Connections”

Here are some handy one line commands to assist you when you encounter this situation.

Look up session id:

query session /server:<server name or ip>

Terminate a terminal service session:

reset session [session Id] /server:<server name or ip>

Registering script maps with .svc file extension’s on IIS7

By default there is no script map for files with the .svc file extension on a default IIS 7.0 installation,. To register the script map use the following command:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\ServiceModelReg.exe -r -y 

Configuring BAM with BizTalk Server 2010

In general when building a new BizTalk Server environment it is best to follow the installation guides provided by Microsoft with each release of its product but from time to time even following the instructions will result in errors.

When building my BizTalk 2010 environment I encountered such an error when trying to configure BAM, Hopefully reading this post will save you some valuable time.

As specified by the installation guide, if you plan to configure BAM alerts you will need to install SQL Notification Services. This feature of SQL Server stopped shipping after the release of SQL Server 2005.

To get this feature working you will need to disregard the instructions as outlined in the BizTalk 2010 installation guide and follow these alternative instructions:

Before installing SQL Server 2008 R2 install the following:

• SQL Server 2005 Notification Services (from the a copy of the SQL 2005 installation iso)
• SQL Server 2005 SP2.
• SQL Server 2005 SP3.