Book Description

Leverage the power of the Azure Services Platform for cloud computing

With the Azure Services Platform, processing and storing data moves from individual corporate servers and Web sites to larger, more reliable, and more secure data centers. Roger Jennings, author of more than 30 books on Microsoft technologies, shows you how to leverage the power of Azure and its related services for cloud computing.

The book begins with a look at the differences between cloud computing and application hosting and examines the various issues that .NET developers and IT managers face in moving from on-premise to cloud-based applications, including security, privacy, regulatory compliance, backup and recovery, asset cataloging, and other common technical issues. The author then drills down, showing basic programming for individual Azure components, including storage, SQL Data Services, and .NET Services. He then moves on to cover more advanced programming challenges.

• Explains the benefits of using the Azure Services Platform for cloud computing
• Shows how to program with Windows Azure components, including Azure Table and Blob storage, .NET Services and SQL Azure
• Addresses advanced programming challenges of creating useful projects that combine cloud storage with Web applications or services
• Companion Web site features complete, finished applications that can be uploaded to jump start a Windows Azure project Download Now »

Book Description

• When used with the MDX query language, SQL Server Analysis Services allows developers to build full-scale database applications to support such business functions as budgeting, forecasting, and market analysis.
• Shows readers how to build data warehouses and multi-dimensional databases, query databases, and use Analysis Services and other components of SQL Server to provide end-to-end solutions
• Revised, updated, and enhanced, the book discusses new features such as improved integration with Office and Excel 2007; query performance enhancements; improvements to aggregation designer, dimension designer, cube and dimension wizards, and cell writeback; extensibility and personalization; data mining; and more

From the Back Cover
The new features of Analysis Services 2008 make it even easier to use andbuild your databases for efficient and improved performance. This authoritative book, written by key members of the Analysis Services product team at Microsoft, explains how to best use these enhancements for your business needs. The authors provides you with valuable insight on how to use Analysis Services 2008 effectively to build, process, and deploy top-of-the-line business intelligence applications.

You’ll explore everything that Analysis Services 2008 has to offer and examinethe important features of this product with the help of step-by-step instructionson building Download Now »

Book Description

SQL Server 2008 represents a sizable jump forward in scalability, performance, and usability for the DBA, developer, and business intelligence (BI) developer. It is no longer unheard of to have 20-terabyte databases running on a SQL Server. SQL Server administration used to just be the job of a database administrator (DBA), but as SQL Server proliferates throughout smaller companies, many developers have begun to act as administrators as well. Additionally, some of the new features in SQL Server are more developer-centric, and poor configuration of these features can result in poor performance. SQL Server now enables you to manage the policies on hundreds of SQL Servers in your environment as if you were managing a single instance. We’ve provided a comprehensive, tutorial-based book to get you over the learning curve of how to configure and administer SQL Server 2008.

Whether you’re an administrator or developer using SQL Server, you can’t avoid wearing a DBA hat at some point. Developers often have SQL Server on their own workstations and must provide guidance to the administrator about how they’d like the production configured. Oftentimes, they’re responsible for creating the database tables and indexes. Administrators or DBAs support the production servers and often inherit the database from the developer.

This book is intended for developers, DBAs, and casual users who hope to administer or may already be administering a SQL Server 2008 system and its business intelligence features, such as Integration Services. This book is a professional book, meaning the authors assume that you know the basics about how to query a SQL Server and have some rudimentary concepts Download Now »

Book Description

• Teaches solution architects, designers, and developers how to use Microsoft’s reporting platform to create reporting and business intelligence (BI) solutions
• Updated with new information about holistic BI solutions, comprehensive OLAP/Analysis Services reporting, and complete production deployment scenarios
• Includes programming examples focused on specific, scenario-based solutions
• Explains reporting services architecture and business intelligence, teaches the fundamentals of designing reports through the use of careful planning considerations, and covers advanced report design and filtering techniques

From the Back Cover
Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services

SQL Server Reporting Services makes reporting faster and easier than ever. This hands-on guide will show you how to harness the full power of Reporting Services to create reporting and business intelligence solutions that meet your company’s needs. It walks you step-by-step through the fundamentals of designing the most effective reports by following careful planning considerations.

The authors progress from beginning to advanced report design and filtering techniques, showing you the conditions where reports could be more efficient. They also explore holistic business intelligence solutions, comprehensive OLAP/Analysis Services reporting, and complete production-deployment scenarios. Download Now »

Book Description

• The new edition of the successful previous version is 25 percent revised and packed with more than 200 pages of new material on the 2008 release of SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)
• Renowned author Brian Knight and his expert coauthors show developers how to master the 2008 release of SSIS, which is both more powerful and more complex than ever
• Case studies and tutorial examples acquired over the three years since the previous edition will contribute to helping illustrate advanced concepts and techniques
• New chapters include coverage of data warehousing using SSIS, new methods for managing the SSIS platform, and improved techniques for ETL operations

From the Back Cover
Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services

When SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) was released to the market in SQL Server 2005, it took the Extract Transform Load (ETL) market by storm. Three years later, SQL Server 2008 has introduced an even more mature rendition of SSIS that is focused on improving the scalability and performance of SQL Server and also serves as a very powerful tool for performing ETL operations, which are central to data warehousing.

With this book, an assembled team of professionals has combined their years of experience and tried-and-true best practices to present you with the tools to take your SSIS Download Now »

Book Description

This book offers everything you’ll need to upgrade your existing programming knowledge and begin to develop applications for the Windows Phone.

It focuses on the 75 percent of the material that you will need 95 percent of the time. We’re not going to teach you object-oriented programming (OOP) all over again, but we are going to take the time to point out how .NET and C# differ in their execution of the standard OOP concepts from other languages’ implementations in order to make your migration as smooth and stress-free as possible.

Migrating to Windows Phone will lead you through a tour of the key features of developing for Microsoft’s devices. We’ll consider everything from data handling to accelerometers, from mapping to WCF. We’ll also walk you through monetizing your application through Microsoft’s online Windows Phone store.

What you’ll learn

• To get your phone, IDE and other tools set up in an efficient manner
• The controls that are available to you in Windows Phone programming and how they can be applied
• To apply concepts of a non-trivial demo application to your own application context
• To point out the key elements of both the phone and the Visual Studio IDE
• The principles of push and pull data and data-binding
• To work with the features that make the Windows Phone unique (Bing Maps, WCF, Silverlight)
• To monetize your applications through advertising Download Now »