Conrad Agramont's WebLog : Web Admin Tool

eQuest Job Posting: Software Development Engineer

Conrad — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 00:38:00 GMT

I guess I'll join the trend of puting job postings on a blog. We're growing our development team at eQuest and we're looking for that special person that loves to develop web applications, server side components, and a touch lots of different Microsoft products and technologies. If you're expereienced in MPS architecture, engineering, and/or development and want to work with a team of MPS experts, than this is youre future home!

If you're interested, please shoot me an email with your resume.

Conrad Agramont, Senior Architect, conrada@eqinc.com

Job Title: Software Development Engineer

SUMMARY:
eQuest, a division of Planet Technologies Inc., is looking for a Software Development Engineer that is passionate about developing challenging applications and a desire to work with a variety Microsoft based products and technologies. eQuest works with Service Providers and Telecommunications companies around the world to solve their business requires through the use of Microsoft products and technologies and custom integration with exciting software solutions.

An ideal candidate will be heavily experienced in provisioning and automating Microsoft products and technologies (Active Directory, Exchange, Internet Information Services, and SQL Server). Knowledge of Microsoft Solutions (Hosted Exchange & Windows based Hosting) and the Microsoft Provisioning System is a plus.

This position will also contribute to future product development for the eQuest Automation Framework (EAF). EAF is an ASP.NET-based user interface and a collection of class libraries (built on Visual Studio.NET 2003 and C#) which provides a web based user interface to manage customers, users, and services in a Microsoft Hosted Exchange and Microsoft Web Hosting environment.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Develop component level specifications
2. Perform peer based reviews for code efficiency and security.
3. Participate in project related team meetings and reviews
4. Work with Project Managers, Developers, and Testers to ensure proper scheduling, integration, and validation of your coding deliverables.
5. Work directly with customers on feature design and requirements.

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS

Understanding and experience in Microsoft Solution Framework (MSF) development process
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (Active Directory, Domain Name Service, & Internet Information
Services)
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
Microsoft Provisioning System
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (2005 is a plus)
Microsoft Visual Studio.NET & C#
Scripting: VBScript, JavaScript, Windows Scripting Host
Web Development: ASP.NET, HTML, JavaScript
XML (Schemas,

Give me some Microsoft Hosting Topics

Conrad — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 06:34:00 GMT

So it's been just over a year now that I've actively been blogging and doing lots around communities and forums. For the most part, I focus on topics related to providing Hosted Services with the Microsoft Platform. This includes things like Hosted Exchange, Windows base Hosting (aka Windows Web Hosting), and the Microsoft Provisioning System.

In the future, I'm looking to expand the the focus of my blog entries. But for now, I'm interested in seeing who out there is reading my blog and what topics they'd like me to cover. Not so much on a "How do you do this" type of issue as there are forums for that kind of thing (if can't find a forum for your question, then go ahead and ask and I'll see what we can do). I'm looking more for, "How does xyz work?" or "What do think about abc?"

If there is not interest, fine. But I have to at least put the question out there and see if there IS something someone is interested in me writing about.

Either way, I'll keep on posting!

New Web Admin Tool URL

Conrad — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 01:39:00 GMT

A few weeks ago there was some content updates on ms.com/serviceproviders. During that “refresh” the URL to the Web Admin Tool was changed. I only knew about this after several emails, WAT community posts, and comments on my blog. It's still pretty cool to see people so interested in a tool I wrote almost 3+ years ago.

You know, I often wonder if I should try to build another UI that does the same thing as WAT, but using ASP.NET and MPS as core components. I guess I never really tried because I often thought others would build such a thing. But then again, I thought the same thing before I built the Web Admin Tool the first time around.

Here is a pointer to the Web Admin Tool: http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/webhosting/webadmin_overview.asp

- Conrad Agramont (conrada@microsoft.com or agramont@hotmail.com)

For those that would like to comment on me building a new UI (WAT 2.0 or something) ...

Should it require MPS or use MPS as an option (if MPS is an option, is it cool that transaction support is not provided?)?
Should it focus more, less, or equal on Service Providers vs. Enterprise needs?
Would you be willing to pay ($$$)? (The answer to this helps me (conrad agramont) whether to go through the trouble) If so, how much (you can email me with the answer if you want :) )
Is it better to provide the entire source and charge more or close the source and charge far less.

Web Admin Tool articles on Windows .NET Magazine

Conrad — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 19:49:00 GMT

It's interesting to see that some authors from the Windows .NET Magazine actually took the time to review the Web Admin Tool. Here's a link to the Web Admin Tool Community site where I posted a set of links to the articles.

http://groups.msn.com/WebAdminToolUpdate/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=573