1. Tech Ed North America 2010
5/27/ :46 PM
SESSION CODE: ASI203
Understanding the Microsoft Application Server: AppFabric, WF, WCF, and More
David Chappell
Principal
Chappell & Associates
© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

2. Windows Server AppFabric does this
What’s the Problem?
Who should create application infrastructure?
Possible solutions:
Application developers
Software vendors, e.g., Microsoft
Windows Server AppFabric does this

3. What Is Windows Server AppFabric?
It’s application infrastructure technology with two parts:
AppFabric Caching Services
Provides a distributed cache
AppFabric Hosting Services
Provides hosting and management services for applications built using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) 4
Especially WCF applications built using Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) 4
An application can use these two parts separately or together

4. AppFabric Caching Services
Tech Ed North America 2010
5/27/ :46 PM
AppFabric Caching Services
© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

5. AppFabric Caching Services does this (mostly)
What’s the Problem?
How can I increase the speed and scalability of applications that access data?
Possible solutions:
Buy a bigger database machine
Cache repeatedly accessed data on the same computer as the application logic
Cache repeatedly accessed data on one or more shared computers
AppFabric Caching Services does this (mostly)

6. Illustrating AppFabric Caching
Cache
Cluster
AppFabric Caching
Services
Cache Server
Cached Data
Cache Client
AppFabric Caching
Services
Cache Server
Cached Data
Local Cache
Cached Data
AppFabric Caching
Services
Cache Server
Cached Data

7. How Data Gets In and Out of the Cache
All data in the cache is explicitly put there by a cache client
AppFabric Caching Services provides an API
Your code can be written to use the cache
The ASP.NET Session object can store its state in AppFabric Caching Services via a config option
Your code can use the cache with no changes
The cache can delete data:
After a configurable timeout
To make room for other data that’s accessed more often

8. Using AppFabric Caching Services with ASP.NET Scenario
Web Server
Cache Cluster
1) Provide data that’s stored in the Session object
ASP.NET Pages
2) Store Session object data in cache
AppFabric Caching Services
Web Server
ASP.NET Pages
4) Retrieve Session object data from cache
3) Make request that relies on data stored
in the Session object
Web Server
ASP.NET Pages
Application Database

9. What Kinds of Data Can Be Cached?
Changing data that’s accessed by a single client
Such as the information in an ASP.NET Session object
Unchanging data that’s accessed by multiple clients
Such as catalog information for an online retailer
Changing data that’s accessed by multiple clients
AppFabric Caching Services provides both optimistic and pessimistic (lock-based) concurrency control

10. Using AppFabric Caching Services for High Availability Scenario
Cache Cluster
Cache Server
AppFabric Caching Services
3) Return value of data item X from secondary copy
Cache Client
Primary copies X
Secondary copies X
Cached Data
Cache Server
2) Access data item X
AppFabric Caching Services
1) Cache server holding primary copy of data item X fails or is shut down
Cached Data

11. Windows Server AppFabric Caching Services
Tech Ed North America 2010
5/27/ :46 PM
Windows Server AppFabric Caching Services
Ron Jacobs Technical Evangelist Microsoft
DEMO
© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

12. AppFabric Hosting Services
Tech Ed North America 2010
5/27/ :46 PM
AppFabric Hosting Services
© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

13. AppFabric Hosting Services adds to this
What’s the Problem?
Where should I run WCF services?
Especially those built using WF?
And how can I manage them?
Possible solutions:
Build my own host process
Use the IIS/WAS hosting and management infrastructure
AppFabric Hosting Services adds to this

14. Illustrating WCF
WCF provides a common foundation for building and consuming services
RESTful, SOAP, and others
Endpoint
Visual Studio
WCF
Service
Client
HTTP, SOAP, Others

15. Illustrating WF Visual Studio Workflow WF Workflow Designer Activities
Other Activities
Workflow
Activities
Base Activity Library WF
Runtime

16. Why Use WF? (1) It allows creating scalable applications
With built-in state management (perhaps over a long period of time)
It allows creating application logic in a unified way
Rather than spreading it across, say, multiple ASP.NET pages
It provides built-in tracking of an application’s execution
Such as recording when each activity is entered and exited

17. Why Use WF? (2) It can make programming parallel work easier
With the Base Activity Library’s Parallel activity
It can help create re-usable logic
With custom activities
It allows defining logic graphically
With the Workflow Designer

18. Illustrating a Workflow Service
A WCF service whose logic is implemented as a WF workflow is called a workflow service WF
Runtime
WCF
Client

19. Illustrating AppFabric Hosting Services
IIS Worker Process
Workflow Service WF
IIS Manager
Client
AppFabric Hosting Services
WCF
Service
WCF

20. Hosting a Workflow ServiceWF
WCF
IIS Worker Process
IIS Manager
AppFabric
Extensions
Client
Persistence
Store
Monitoring Database

21. Windows Server AppFabric Hosting Services
Tech Ed North America 2010
5/27/ :46 PM
Windows Server AppFabric Hosting Services
Ron Jacobs Technical Evangelist Microsoft
DEMO
© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

22. Scaling a Workflow Service with AppFabric Hosting Services Scenario
Web Server
1) Make first request to application
ASP.NET Pages
2) Invoke workflow service
3) Persist workflow state after handling request
Web Server
ASP.NET Pages
Persistence
Store
AppFabric Hosting
Services
4) Make second request to application
6) Load workflow state and handle request
Web Server
ASP.NET Pages
5) Invoke workflow service

23. AppFabric Hosting Services and BizTalk Server Scenario
Workflow Service
Client
BizTalk
Server
Adapters
Orchestration
ERP
Application

24. AppFabric Hosting Services or BizTalk Server? Making the choice
AppFabric Hosting Services and BizTalk Server have some technical similarities, such as:
Both use workflow/orchestration
Both can use WCF-based communication
Deciding which one to use is usually easy:
AppFabric Hosting Services is for applications
BizTalk Server is for integration
Building your own integration server using AppFabric Hosting Services probably won’t make financial sense

25. AppFabric Hosting Services and Service Bus Scenario
3) Discover Service Bus endpoint
2) Expose Service Bus endpoint
4) Invoke operation on Service Bus endpoint
5) Invoke operation on service endpoint
1) Register service endpoint
Organization Y
Client
Organization X
AppFabric Hosting
Services
Service
WCF

26. A Tale of Two AppFabrics
Windows Azure AppFabric provides:
Service Bus
Access Control
Windows Server AppFabric provides:
Caching Services
Hosting Services
Microsoft tells us that Caching and Hosting will both appear in Windows Azure AppFabric sometime fairly soon

27. Creating Composite Applications Scenario
Purchasing Application
Business Partner
Service
Bus
AppFabric Hosting Services
Workflow Service
CRM Application
Client
BizTalk Server
ERP
Application

28. Using Hosting and Caching Together Scenario
AppFabric Caching
Services
Cache Cluster
Cache requests spread across cache servers
Web
Server
User requests spread across Web servers
AppFabric Hosting
Services
Service requests spread across middle-tier servers

29. Conclusions
Windows Server AppFabric provides supporting services for applications
Caching services for ASP.NET applications and others
Hosting services for WCF services, especially workflow services
The goal is to let application developers spend more time building application logic
And less building infrastructure

30. About the Speaker
David Chappell is Principal of Chappell & Associates ( in San Francisco, California. Through his speaking, writing, and consulting, he helps people around the world understand, use, and make better decisions about new technology. David has been the keynote speaker for many events and conferences on five continents, and his seminars have been attended by tens of thousands of IT decision makers, architects, and developers in more than forty countries. His books have been published in a dozen languages and used regularly in courses at MIT, ETH Zurich, and other universities. In his consulting practice, he has helped clients such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Stanford University, and Target Corporation adopt new technologies, market new products, train their sales staffs, and create business plans. Earlier in his career, David wrote networking software, chaired a U.S. national standards working group, and played keyboards with the Peabody-award-winning Children’s Radio Theater. He holds a B.S. in Economics and an M.S. in Computer Science, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

31. For Further Reading Introducing Windows Server AppFabric
The Workflow Way: Understanding Windows Workflow Foundation

32. ASI Track Resources Website – www.Microsoft.com/WindowsAzure/AppFabric
Required Slide
Track PMs will supply the content for this slide, which will be inserted during the final scrub.
Tech Ed North America 2010
5/27/ :46 PM
ASI Track Resources
Website –
MSDN Developer Center –
Blog –
Twitter –
Website –
Website –
Blog –
Blog –
Application Infrastructure Virtual Launch Event –
AppFabric on Microsoft.com –
Developer Center –
© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

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Tech Ed North America 2010
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Sessions On-Demand & Community
Microsoft Certification & Training Resources
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© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

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© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

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36. Tech Ed North America 2010 5/27/2018 12:46 PM
© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.
© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

37. Tech Ed North America 2010 5/27/2018 12:46 PM
© 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.