Conrad Agramont's WebLog

Conrad Leave's Planet and Goes Back to Microsoft

2006-11-20T04:11:00Z

After two years of being the Senior Architect for Planet Technologies (formerly eQuest), I have accepted a position back with Microsoft. My first day on the job is this Monday and I’m very excited to join as a “Partner Technology Specialist” in the “Small, Mid-Market, Solutions, & Partners” team for the Mid-Atlantic district (DC area) (http://www.microsoftmaa.com/). I’ll have a post in the upcoming weeks on the focus of my new job.

After focusing on the hosting space for the past eight years, I’m looking forward to working with partners to sell and deliver Microsoft based solutions to small and medium sized businesses. Working in a more “traditional IT” environment will present a host of new challenges and scenarios for which I hope to provide some great impact.

Delivering the first version of MPS and working from the Microsoft partner side of delivery solutions based on MPS has been a great experience for me, but now it’s time for me to change focus a bit and branch my career out. I hope to still offer some blog posts and forum posts related to Microsoft hosting solutions, MPS, and Community Server, so don’t think I’m just dropping and running. But I do plan on providing more blog posts related to other Microsoft products focused on the Small and Mid-Market enterprise scenarios. As a PTS, I’ll focus mainly on the Server product side, but you know me, I’m all over the place.
Anyhow, stay tuned to for much more blogging activity as a key part of my job is broad communication and helping Microsoft partners to be more nimble and self sustainable.

BTW, the guys at Planet really know there stuff about MPS and all Microsoft Hosting related scenarios, so I'd still recommend them for your HMC and WbH needs.

New IIS 7 article, "Provisioning IIS 7.0 for Secure Hosting "

2006-08-29T02:23:00Z

There is a new web-whitepaper on how to provide a secure hosting envirionment using IIS 7.0, written by "Vikas Malhotra ". There's some very interesting information there. Especially the provisioning portion. Now that I've vested so much time on providing a "better" .NET API for IIS 6.0 tasks (Provware: http://agramont.net/r.ashx?3), I'm wondering if I should just jump in on IIS 7 and provide some tools, web UI, and get a head start there or keep banging out stuff for IIS 6 (comments are very welcome).

Anyhow, here is a link to the article: http://www.iis.net/1143/SinglePageArticle.ashx

Overall the article is a nice initial overview, but there is still much work to be done on best practices. With IIS 7, it's no longer just about ASP.NET. What I mean by that is today with Windows Server 2000/2003, it's all about getting access to ASP.NET. Now with IIS7, there is more of a platform for web developers to offer even cooler features that integrate with the web server itself. So how does the hoster offer those "override" services to customer/developers? What components shouldn't the hoster allow developers to remove, override, or utilize? What performance issues will that have and will it crash other customers if there is an issue?

In looking at some of the latest builds from IIS 7, there are some great answers there (I need time to formulate my responses to my own questions----I know, I suck), but these still need to be addressed. Not only that, they'll need to be automated in a Web UI, Command Line, Web Service, or whatever mechanism an Admin or automation system needs to kick that off.

I hope to have some more IIS 7 content (including videos) coming soon (If MS lets me).

HMC and MPS Developer Bootcamps

2006-08-23T12:49:00Z

For those of you looking to get a quick and deep introduction to the Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging & Collaboration 2.5 or get indepth training on developing against the Microsoft Provisioning System, you should checkout our latest courses and dates: http://www.go-planet.com/community/blogs/coolness/archive/2006/07/31/438.aspx

Last month we did the first MPS Developer Bootcamp out of our office in Germantown, MD and it was a lot of fun. We used the new MPS SDK and broke out in teams to solve real world development scenarios (I hate courses that have you sit there and do labs all damn day).

Anyhow, be sure to check these out and register today. To get a seat, please send an email to training@go-planet.com

Windows Based Hosting 4.0 Released (Components & Documentation)

2006-08-16T08:17:00Z

As of tonight (yes I'm up late again), the documentation for WbH 4.0 and "for Apps" is now available.

The Components: Windows Based Hosting 4.0 Released (Part 1)
The Documentation: Windows Based Hosting 4.0 Released (Part 2)

Yes I'm pimping my site again, but I at least try to keep it up to date with various Microsoft Solution information and my side projects.

Planet Coolness Blog

2006-08-02T16:26:00Z

As many of you know, I'm a Senior Architect for Planet Technologies. We started a new blog called "Planet Coolness" in an effor to provide more frequent information to our customers, partners, and more about what we're working on, tools we've built, new Training Dates (HMC and MPS), and more.

Planet Coolness Blog: http://www.go-planet.com/community/blogs/coolness/

Provware Framework…the first drop

2006-08-01T01:25:00Z

Last night, I posted the first build of the Provware Framework on my site (http://agramont.net/files/14/default.aspx). It’s been a project that I’ve been working for the past month during my “free time”.

What’s the Provware Framework?
The Provware Framework is an API set built to make the interactions with IIS more intuitive and developer friendly. For instance, the typical way that developers interact with IIS is via the DirectoryServices API of the .NET Framework. This requires a fair amount of knowledge of how to program via ADSI and the IIS Metabase. Since many people are just looking for a way to create sites, virtual directories, and application pools, this can be very difficult. Thus the Provware Framework is born.

The Provware Framework provides a simple way to manage IIS components via .NET in a more “strongly typed” fashion.

Here are some links to some blog posts on the Provware Blog that should get you going:

Provware Blog: http://agramont.net/blogs/provware/default.aspx
Provware Forums: http://agramont.net/forums/default.aspx?GroupID=11
Provware Downloads: http://agramont.net/files/14/default.aspx
Getting Started: http://agramont.net/blogs/provware/archive/2006/08/01/Provware_3A00_-Getting-Started-_2800_Build-001_2900_.aspx
HowTo: View ApplicationPool Identity for an IIS Website: http://agramont.net/blogs/provware/archive/2006/07/31/How-To_3A00_-View-Application-Pool-Identity-for-an-IIS-Website.aspx
HowTo: Create a new Website: http://agramont.net/blogs/provware/archive/2006/07/31/How-To_3A00_-Create-a-new-Website.aspx

Moving to Agramont.net (Hosting, ASP.NET IIS, Hosted Exchange, Microsoft Provisioning System, and Community Server)

2006-06-27T07:08:00Z

Now that I have my site working pretty well, I'm now going to do all of my blog posts over there (http://agramont.net/). I tried the cross-posting thing using the built-in features of Community Server (CS2 with ASP.NET 2), but it felt weird having the same content on two sites. From time to time, I'll post on this site a summary of the new content on my new site.

For now, I'm focusing the blog post on Hosting, ASP.NET, IIS, Hosted Exchange, Microsoft Provisioning System, and, Community Server..

New Blog URL: http://agramont.net/blogs/conrad/default.aspx

RSS Feed: http://agramont.net/blogs/conrad/rss.aspx

Summary of New Content:

Microsoft Provisioning System: The Engine (Part 1 of ?)

2006-06-16T10:53:00Z

The Microsoft Provisioning System (MPS) includes the Microsoft Provisioning Framework (MPF) which is core “executor” for all provisioning request. Now there is much documentation about MPS as part of the new SDK and solution documentation, but I thought I’d share some of my current thoughts around the engine itself.

Post has been moved to: http://agramont.net/blogs/conrad/archive/2006/06/16/MPFEnginePart1.aspx

More Microsoft Sites (Part 2)

2006-06-15T00:47:00Z

A few weeks ago, I talked about the trend from Microsoft to create distinct sites (e.g. URL’s) that are outside of the standard Microsoft.com brand. Since then, I have found some more sites (not including the Event Websites).

.NET Framework 3.0: http://www.netfx3.com/default.aspx
Robot Invaders (MSN/Live Messenger Contents): http://www.robotinvaders.com/main/Default.aspx
PlaysForSure (Windows Media Devices): http://www.playsforsure.com/
Code Master Challenge (Vista application contest): http://www.codemasterchallenge.com
IE 7 Add-ons: http://www.ieaddons.com/
Live Gadgets: http://microsoftgadgets.com/
Architecture Journal: http://www.architecturejournal.net/
Secure IT Alliance: http://secureitalliance.org/
MSN TV: http://www.msntv.com/
MSN Direct: http://www.msndirect.com/default.htm
Microsoft DirectBand (Wide-area wireless datacast network): http://www.directband.com/
Technet Port 25: http://port25.technet.com/
Origami Project (Ultra Mobile PC’s): http://www.origamiproject.com/
Microsoft Incentives (Rebates and Discounts): https://www.microsoftincentives.com/
Microsoft and SAP partnership: http://www.microsoft-sap.com/
Microsoft Partner Readiness: http://www.msreadiness.com/
Microsoft Partner Blogs: http://ts2blogs.com/
Microsoft Partner T2 Team: http://www.ts2seminars.com/index.htm

http://thesource.ofallevil.com/ - Now I don’t know what this site is all about, but it has looks just like the Microsoft home page (no surprise what their motive is). The following link takes you to the IE page for this site: http://thesource.ofallevil.com/windows/ie/default.mspx. Now I’m not saying this is a “Good Site” or even sponsored by Microsoft, but it is interesting.
http://www.longhornblogs.com/ This isn’t hosted by Microsoft either (I think), but it does hold some very interesting blogs from people using Windows Longhorn Server and Vista

And finally, here are the more “standard” non Microsoft.com sites:

There may be more, but I think this is a pretty good list of all of the various MS sites that are hanging out on the net. Perhaps the MS team can put an MS Web Directory to help showcase all of these various sites. I’m wondering why they decided to move more content outside of their main content group and standard web properties (Microsoft.com). Perhaps this makes the product groups (the typical owners of all these sites) more responsive as they own the delivery of the content. I’m sure there will be an exec that will come around and bring everything back into one of the major the web properties (Technet, MSDN, MS.com).

What's also interesting is that the majority of these sites run Community Server or are "Hosted by Telligent". Seems Telligent is doing a great job of staying close to the Microsoft product teams and delivering some cool sites!

Got anything else to share?

Crossposted from Conrad's Blog at http://agramont.net/blogs/conrad/default.aspx

Launched Agramont.net

2006-06-04T02:55:00Z

Today is the first day that Agramont.net (http://agramont.net) is available on the Internet! I've had the domain for quite some time, but never really had the time to get it together. With thanks to the Community Server team (for their product), I now have the site up and running.

About the site:

ASP.NET 2.0
Community Server 2.0 for ASP.NET 2.0 (Express for now)
Used website template (only pieces) purchased on TemplateMonster.com
Ads are driven by Google Adsense
Added the site to Google Via Google Sitemaps
Traffic reporting is done via Google Analytics
Shared hosting site via ASPnix (IIS6/SQL Server 2005 64-bit)

I plan to produce a fair amount of content for this site, but mostly through my blog. My blog is still currently posted on weblogs.asp.net, but I plan to use this site to most the majority of my blogs and do crossposting over to the weblogs.asp.net site.

From time to time, I write a bunch of protoype applications and tools and they just sit on my home development machine wasting away. So I plan to share a bunch of that on this site.

I have a few ideas on some other websites, so this is just a start at running my own public websites and content.

With that said, I'm still working with Service Provider/Hosters customers around the globe while working for Planet Technologies (http://www.go-planet.com/). With so much coming down the road from Microsoft (IIS 7, Exchange 12, Office Servers), I have a lot to learn and share with all of you.

Microsoft Provisioning System (MPS) SDK Beta 1 is now available

2006-06-02T21:36:00Z

The first Beta of the MPS SDK is available for download. Here is a link to the Microsoft Download:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/b/9/fb905eb4-d992-40e3-b0bc-cdb1996a1a10/Microsoft%20Provisioning%20System%20SDK-%20Beta%201.zip

I’m not sure what’s going on with the branding of this, but the following names all seem to point to the same thing:

Microsoft Solution for Windows-Based Hosting for Applications 1.0
Microsoft Provisioning System SDK

The rest of this post has been moved to: http://agramont.net/blogs/conrad/archive/2006/06/02/8.aspx

Assigning Mailbox Quotas and Restrictions via Plans

2006-05-24T18:15:00Z

The “Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging & Collaboration 3.0” (HMC) provides a method for per user feature bundling via their “Plans System”. When provisioning new HMC users with mailboxes, Plans are used to determine what features and mailbox size a given user will be allocated. A default implementation of HMC and the Plans Database is the Quota values associated with a mailbox.

Post moved to: http://agramont.net/blogs/conrad/archive/2006/05/24/Assigning_Mailbox_Quotas_and_Restrictions_via_Plans.aspx

Latest MS Trend: Product Team Websites

2006-05-24T06:29:00Z

It appears that the “one off” website started by the ASP.NET team in Microsoft (http://www.asp.net/) is catching on. Recenlty, the IIS team has released a new site solely focused on just that product. It includes links to information around the web and some videos. Very interesting.

Here is a list of some of these sites:

ASP.NET – http://www.asp.net (blogs: http://weblogs.asp.net/, Atlas: http://atlas.asp.net/)
IIS – http://www.iis.net/
Exchange (blog) - http://msexchangeteam.com/

Anyone else know of some other of these Microsoft "One Off's". And by one off, I don't mean a site hung off of a "traditional MS Property" (e.g. MSDN)

I should also mention the CodePlex as well (http://www.codeplex.com/) which is a rebirth of GotDotNet. Another Microsoft site that's ran separately.

HMC 3.5 Boot Camp & MPS Developer Training

2006-05-19T20:58:00Z

As of today, we (Planet Technologies) are now offering an HMC 3.5 Bootcamp and MPS Developer Training at our training facility in Maryland. We have all of the labs (built on Virtual Server) and equipment ready to go. All you need to do is register and come get your brain jammed with Hosted Exchange, MPS, Active Directory, and lots more. The training class is less of a PowerPoint and Step-by-Step collection of labs, but is very interactive with whiteboard discussions, scenario based lab time, and learnings from real world deploymets! Did I mention the quality Foosball Table?

The first set of these hosting related courses will be taught by yours truly (uh, that’s Conrad Agramont for those of you who didn’t know me)!

For more details, please visit our training page at: http://www.go-planet.com/training/

Be sure to sign up today as we only have a few seats left for our first course on June 13th!

Exchange Hosted Service

2006-04-04T04:32:00Z

Today Microsoft announced that their acquisition of FrontBridge Technologies will now be rebranded as “Exchange Hosted Service” (EHS). EHS offers a outsourced, per user, per month service to

Now if you’re a hoster, which most of you who visit my blog are, you’ll notice that this is pretty close to the naming of “Hosted Exchange” the solution. Sure there is no “Microsoft Solution for Hosted Exchange” any longer as it’s now just a component of the “Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging & Collaboration”, but most people still think of Microsoft offering Web Hosting (via IIS and some SQL) and Hosted Exchange.

Now that Microsoft has done this, what real issues will come of this? Small Business and Enterprise customers are still coming around to looking at outsourcing their Exchange platform to a hoster that offers “Hosted Exchange” as a service. Microsoft has “Exchange Hosted Services” that they host, but can also be hosted via a Service Provider offering or customer can use “Exchange Hosted Services” without “Hosted Exchange” as they host their own services. Confused yet?

Also, with Microsoft making a big push via their “Microsoft Live” services, I’m wondering when they’ll restart their “Hosted Exchange” offering themselves. Several years ago, Microsoft offered Hosted Exchange via their bCentral services targeted towards Small to Medium businesses. Microsoft is already targeting a hosted offering towards Small Businesses via their Office Live service (Email via Hotmail, Collaboration via new version of Windows SharePoint Services, and web hosting). I’m thinking they are only a few steps away from bringing Hosted Exchange back into the fold. This is all speculation on my part and Microsoft has not made any hits or announcements about this.

With that said, I still think that there will be much room for Service Provider to offer Hosted Exchange and other services provided by Microsoft. Why am I so optimistic about that? With Microsoft getting more into the space, they will use their Marketing might to educated customers about this service. But it will also teach Microsoft on how to make their products better to target the Service Provider scenario. As for the existing or future customer base of Service Providers, I think there will be many that don’t want to host their corporate data with a company that has a big hacker bull’s-eye on it and they’ll want someone who is within their same region, focused primarily in the Hosting space, or is offering services that you know Microsoft won’t offer (mySQL, Oracle, Linux, Blackberry, etc.).

Now with that all said, I think there will be many hosters looking to see how they can automate the process of signing up their Hosted Exchange customers to utlilize “Exchange Hosted Services” and perhaps get a discount (as the hoster will be doing the selling) via the Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA). Or maybe this is something customers can do on their own, but still have their Service Provider host their Exchange Platform.

These are things I’ll have to add to my list of items to research. More on that (I hope) later.

Exchange Hosted Services: http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/services/default.mspx
Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging & Collaboration: http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/solutions/hostedmessaging.mspx
Office Live: http://officelive.microsoft.com/