2006 February Archive at MS Digest – ramblings about Exchange, OCS & IIS

Monthly Archive for February, 2006

Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar Beta

Published

on 23. February, 2006

in IE

. 0 Comments

Microsoft has release the first beta version of The Microsoft Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar which provides a variety of tools for quickly creating, understanding, and troubleshooting Web pages. This version is a preview release and behavior may change in the final release.

The Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar provides several features for exploring and understanding Web pages. These features enable you to:

- Explore and modify the document object model (DOM) of a Web page.
- Locate and select specific elements on a Web page through a variety of techniques.
- Selectively disable Internet Explorer settings.
- View HTML object class names, ID’s, and details such as link paths, tab index values, and access keys.
– Outline tables, table cells, images, or selected tags.
- Validate HTML, CSS, WAI, and RSS Web feed links.
- Display image dimensions, file sizes, path information, and alternate (ALT) text.
- Immediately resize the browser window to a new resolution.
– Selectively clear the browser cache and saved cookies. Choose from all objects or those associated with a given domain.
- Choose direct links to W3C specification references, the Internet Explorer team weblog (blog), and other resources.
- Display a fully featured design ruler to help accurately align and measure objects on your pages.

The Developer Toolbar can be pinned to the Internet Explorer browser window or floated separately.

This Beta 2 version of the toolbar contains functionality and stability enhancements over previous versions and includes the following improvements.

- You can now selectively enable and disable CSS parsing.
- The Misc menu contains a color picker.
- Several link reports are available.
- When you select an element in the DOM element tree list, the selected element scrolls into view if it is not already visible in the browser window.

Download it at source: Download details: Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar Beta.

HTTP Response Codes

Published

Peter Schmidt

on 22. February, 2006

in IIS

. 0 Comments

Ever needed a full list of HTTP Response codes ?
Response codes can tell you a lot, and are very useful when it comes to troubleshooting, but what exactly do they all mean?

Read the full list at source: HTTP Response Codes – The Lazyadmin.com.

Using Kernel Mode SSL

Published

Peter Schmidt

on 22. February, 2006

in IIS

. 0 Comments

LazyAdmin did a nice post about using Kernel Mode SSL.
You can improve SSL performacne by enabling kernel-mode Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Kernel-mode SSL improves performance by allowing encryption and decryption to take place in the kernel where processing is done faster.

Read more at source: Using Kernel Mode SSL – The Lazyadmin.com.

CommunityServer 2,0

Published

Peter Schmidt

on 21. February, 2006

in IIS

. 0 Comments

I know this isn’t a Microsoft product, but it’s a popular ASP.NET community platform for IIS. A lot of Microsoft sites runs CommunityServer.

Telligent and the Community Server team are very pleased to announce the immediate availability of Community Server 2.0 the platform that enables you to quickly and easily create online communities.

Community Server 2.0 is available in several editions:

- Express Edition � The free Express Edition is perfect for people that need to get a community up-and-running on a budget. It is free, but has restrictions on use but can be used commercially.

- Standard Edition � The Standard Edition is the entry level commercial platform and unlocks some features not available in the Express Edition.

- Professional Edition � The Professional Edition is targeted at organizations that require many of the capabilities offered by Community Server 2.0 for running a high-traffic community.

- Enterprise Edition � The Enterprise Edition unleashes the full potential of Community Server and has been designed for organizations that require all of the capabilities found in Community Server.

For more information on licensing Community Server 2.0, please read the Community Server 2.0 licensing guide.

Important: Community Server 2.0 Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions are available for purchase at the 1.1 price until March 20th 2006.

In addition to many improvements in Community Server 2.0 core features (forums, blogs, and photos) some of the new capabilities in Community Server 2.0 include:

- File Gallery � Easily share files of any type and size. Supports comments, ratings, download counts as well as permissions for controlling how your files are accessed.

- FTP Gateway � Easily enable drag-and-drop or even drive mapping for Community Server file or photo galleries.

- Enterprise Search � Enables new options for data matching; RSS enabled search; and proximity searching

- Email Gateway � Enables integration with Microsoft Exchange Server or stand-alone email support. Using the Mail Gateway enables blogging by email and using forums as an email distribution list.

- RSS Aggregator � Easily combine multiple RSS sources into a combined/aggregated view.

- RSS Reader � Enable each user to create his or her own custom RSS subscriptions as well as aggregating and �mashing-up� related content in-and-outside of Community Server

- Control Panel � Completely rewritten Control Panel which greatly simplifies management of Community Server.

- �and more � Video blogging, Tablet PC ink support, simple content management, search engine optimization, basic social networking functionality, new reports, spam blocking tools, member points, new slideshow tool for photo gallery, updated polls system, forum personalization, RSS enabled search, secure RSS, better NNTP and Email integration, URL redirects/tracking, threaded UI for forums.

Download CommunityServer 2.0 here.
Read more at source: CommunityServer.

Commerce Server 2006 Beta 1

Published

Peter Schmidt

on 21. February, 2006

in IIS

. 0 Comments

Microsoft announced plans to deliver the beta version of Microsoft� Commerce Server 2006, the leading Microsoft .NET-based solution for e-commerce sites designed to radically simplify the creation of full-featured Web sites.
The beta release was released and the product is scheduled to be released in July 2006.

Although still in beta, Commerce Server 2006 includes significant new capabilities for all levels of e-commerce solutions:

� Connectivity through BizTalk Server. Built-in BizTalk Server adapters greatly ease integration with existing line-of-business applications and trading partners.

� Out-of-the-box starter site. The new starter site capabilities in Commerce Server 2006 provide customers with a blueprint for building core e-commerce solutions. Capabilities include catalog browsing, searching, shopping cart, checking out, profile management and personalization.

� Globalization support. The starter site also includes multilingual and multicurrency support to enable customers to create a global presence.

� Business user tools. New tools such as Customer and Order Manager, Catalog Manager, Marketing Manager, and Reports and Analytics help business users directly interact with their e-commerce sites. Using the familiar look and feel of Microsoft Windows�, these new task-based interfaces and wizards help customers lower maintenance costs, accelerate site updates, and capture increased revenue.

� Business analytics. Customers can customize and expand reports with full life-cycle management using Microsoft SQL Server� Reporting Services and can view business data with deep insight using Commerce Server 2006�s powerful business intelligence functions.

� Performance and availability. Significant performance and scalability enhancements such as native 32- and 64-bit support, integrated staging functionality, and support for server clustering allow customers to build robust, enterprise-level solutions.

�By providing tighter integration with BizTalk Server 2006, SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio� 2005, Commerce Server 2006 enables customers to reduce costs and accelerate revenue growth through automated delivery of online services and products,� said Steven Martin, director of the Connected Systems Division at Microsoft. �Commerce Server 2006 enables new and existing customers to use the latest Microsoft technologies and thereby enjoy all the benefits of the latest generation of the Microsoft application platform.�

Microsoft Commerce Server 2006 Beta is available on Microsoft Connect. Sign-up instructions are available online at http://www.microsoft.com/commerceserver/evaluation/2006/beta.mspx.

Commerce Server 2006 is schedule to be released in July 2006. Pricing and licensing details will be available at a later date.

Read the full press release at source: Microsoft PressPass.

WSS “v3.0″ Features

Published

Peter Schmidt

on 19. February, 2006

in IIS

. 0 Comments

Curious about the new features in WSS “v3.0″, Dustin Miller & Gene Kraybill has compiled a comprehensive list of new features in WSS �v3.0�, with links to whoever first blogged about the feature. Some of the features may be in Office SharePoint Server 2007, or may refer to other Office Server products, like Forms Server 2007.

Read the full WSS “v3.0″ feature list at source: What’s Coming in WSS “v3.0″.