Hekaton : In-Memory Optimization

Hekaton : The codename for a Microsoft project that will provide support for mixing in-memory database tables with more traditional on-disk tables in the same database. These hybrid databases will be able to dynamically handle both in-memory and on-disk storage in the same database for optimal performance and reliability. Traditional RDBMS architecture was designed when memory resources were expensive, and was optimized for disk I/O. Modern hardware has much more memory, which affects database design principles dramatically. Modern design can now optimize for a working set stored entirely in main memory. Hekaton fully provides ACID database properties.

Project Hekaton will enable Microsoft to compete in the in-memory database market with products like Oracle Database's Exadata and Exalytics appliance options and SAP Hana.

This SQL Server In-memory OLTP capability is released in SQL 2014 version. In-Memory OLTP is a memory-optimized OLTP database engine for SQL Server. Depending on the reason for poor performance with your disk-based tables, In-Memory OLTP can help you achieve significant performance and scalability gains by using,

• Algorithms that are optimized for accessing memory-resident data.
• Optimistic concurrency control that eliminates logical locks.
• Lock free objects are used to access all data. Threads that perform transactional work don’t use locks or latches for concurrency control.
• Natively compiled stored procedures result in orders of magnitude reduction in the engine code path.

Use of main memory can result in a few percentage points of performance improvement, to 20 times performance improvement.

Links: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/hekaton-122012.aspx, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn133186%28v=sql.120%29.aspx

Open Authentication (OAuth)

OAuth is a free and open protocol, built on IETF standards and licenses from the Open Web Foundation, and is the right solution for securing open platforms. OAuth is a simple way to publish and interact with protected data. It's also a safer and more secure way for people to give you access. An open protocol to allow secure authorization in a simple and standard method from web, mobile and desktop applications.

OAuth is ‘An API access delegation protocol’

The heart of OAuth is an authorization token with limited rights, which the user can revoke at any time should they become suspicious or dissatisfied. OAuth supports "delegated authentication" between web apps using a security token called an "access token". Delegated authorization is grating access to another person or application to perform actions on your behalf. An OAuth token gives one app access to one API on behalf of one user.
Below is the pictorial representation of OAuth Authorization Flow:

Microsoft provides the "Microsoft.Web.WebPages.OAuth.dll" for OAuth implementation via .Net applications. The Microsoft.Web.WebPages.OAuth namespace contains core classes that are used to work with OAuth and OpenID authentication. The classes in this namespace interact with the classes from the open-source DotNetOpenAuth library.

OAuthWebSecurity Class
This class manages security that uses OAuth authentication providers like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Windows Live and OpenID authentication providers like Google and Yahoo. Below are the main API that commonly used for implementation.

1. Register...Client (... : Microsoft, Facebook, etc) : These various register methods allows user to register specific identity provider.
2. RegisteredClientData : This API provides the list of the registered identity providers. This is necessary for the ProviderName property when requesting authentication.
3. RequestAuthentication : This is the API to invoke to trigger a login with one of the identity providers. The parameters are the identity provider name (so one of the ProviderName values from the RegisteredClientData collection) and the return URL where you will receive the authentication token from the identity provider. Internally it does a Response.Redirect to take the user to the identity provider consent screen.

Reference Links: http://hueniverse.com/2007/09/explaining-oauth/

Kanban Vs Scrum

Difference between Kanban and Scrum:

• Iterations : Kanban sees development as a forever ongoing flow of things to do where as in Scrum you work in iterations.
• Commitment : Kanban is ongoing where as in Scrum a team commits to what they will do during a sprint.
• Estimations : In Kanban it’s optional since focus is on time-to-market. In Scrum you need to estimate to be able to have a velocity.
• Cross-functional teams : That’s one of the pillars of Scrum. For Kanban it’s optional.
• Workflow : The Kanban Method does not prescribe any workflow. Scrum prescribes a set of activities that are performed within a Sprint.
• Roles : Kanban does not prescribe any roles. Scrum generally prescribes three roles, Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Team Member.
• System Thinking : The Kanban Method takes a system thinking approach to process problems. Scrum is team-centric.

	Kanban	Scrum
Board / Artifacts	board only	board, backlogs, burn-downs
Ceremonies	daily scrum, review/retrospeective on set frequency and planning ongoing	daily scrum, sprint planning, spring review, sprint retrospective
Iterations	no (continuous flow)	yes (sprints)
Estimation	no (similar size)	yes
Teams	can be specialized	must be cross-functional
Roles	Team + need roles	Product Owner, Scrum Master, Team
Teamwork	swarming to achieve goals	collaborative as needed by task
WIP	controlled by worklfow state	controlled by sprint content
Changes	added as nedded on the borad (to do)	should wait for the next sprint
Product Backlog	just in time cards	list of prioritized and estimated stories
Impediments	avoided	dealt with immediately

Hybrid Cloud Storage

Cloud Storage is a form of  networked online storage where data is stored in virtualized pools of storage. The data center operators, in the background, virtualize the resources according to the requirements of the customer and expose them as storage pools, which the customers can themselves use to store files or data objects. Physically, the resource may span across multiple servers and multiple locations. Cloud storage services may be accessed through a web service application programming interface (API) or by applications that utilize the API, such as cloud desktop storage, a cloud storage gateway or Web-based content management systems.

Hybrid cloud storage is a type of cloud storage model that derives and combines the functionality of public and private cloud storage models to provide storage services. This storage technique uses internal and external cloud applications, infrastructure and storage systems to form integrated storage architecture.

Hybrid cloud storage overcomes the problems of managing data and storage by integrating on-premises storage with cloud storage services. In this architecture, on-premises storage uses the capacity on internal SSDs and HDDs, as well on the expanded storage resources that are provided by cloud storage. A key element of the architecture is that the distance over which data is stored is extended far beyond the on-premises data center, thereby providing disaster protection.

Cloud Storage Provider's on-premise storage components vary widely in architecture, functionality, cloud integration and form factors.  There are huge differences between what are called cloud storage gateways and cloud-integrated storage.  Gateways provide an access point from on-premises to cloud data  transfers, whereas cloud-integrated storage is an automated solution to some of IT’s biggest problems such as managing data growth, backup and recovery, archiving data and disaster preparation.

Cloud-integrated storage (CiS), like Microsoft’s recent StorSimple acquisition, is a full-featured on-premises storage system that integrates with the cloud (i.e. Windows Azure Storage). Enterprises can create a complete hybrid cloud storage architecture where they store their data locally and protect it with snapshots on-premises and in the cloud, and where dormant data can be seamlessly tiered to the cloud to make room for new data locally. This way, CiS gives IT an automated  “safety valve” to prevent running out of disk capacity, while also providing rapid disaster recovery via cloud snapshots.

Microsoft SQL Server 2014

Microsoft SQL Server 2014 brings to market lots of new features and enhancements over prior versions. SQL Server 2014 delivers mission critical performance across all workloads with in-memory built-in, faster insights from any data with familiar tools, and a platform for hybrid cloud enabling organizations to easily build, deploy, and manage solutions that span on-permises and cloud.

SQL Server 2014 delivers new in-memory capabilities built into the core database for OLTP and data warehousing, which complement our existing in-memory data warehousing and BI capabilities for the most comprehensive in-memory database solution in the market.

The Power of SQL Server 2014 includes:

Performance Enhancements:

• In-Memory OLTP: Average 10x and up to 50x performance gains
• Enhanced In-Memory ColumnStore for DW: Updatable, faster, better compression
• In-Memory BI with PowerPivot: Fast insights
• Buffer Pool Extension to SSDs: Faster paging
• Enhanced Query Processing: Faster performance without any app changes

Data Retrieval Enhancements:

• Power Query (codename “Data Explorer”): Easy access to internal and external data
• Power Map (codename “Geo Flow”): Richer insights with 3D visualization
• Parallel Data Warehouse with Polybase: Query big data with T-SQL
• Data Mining Add-ins for Excel: Predictive analytics

Cloud based Enhancements:

• Simplified cloud Backup: Reduce CAPEX & OPEX
• Windows Azure SQL Database service: Develop new variable demand cloud apps quickly with HA built-in
• HA/Always On in Azure: Helps to handle disaster recovery
• Extend on-premises apps to the cloud: Gain cloud scale on demand

You can download  Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Community Technology Preview 1 (CTP1) at below location:  

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dn205290%28v=msdn.10%29.aspx

More information: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/sql-server-2014.aspx

Software Architecture

Software application architecture is the process of defining a structured solution that meets all of the technical and operational requirements, while optimizing common quality attributes such as performance, security, and manageability. It involves a series of decisions based on a wide range of factors, and each of these decisions can have considerable impact on the quality, performance, maintainability, and overall success of the application.

Why Is Architecture Important?
Like any other complex structure, software must be built on a solid foundation. Failing to consider key scenarios, failing to design for common problems, or failing to appreciate the long term consequences of key decisions can put your application at risk. Modern tools and platforms help to simplify the task of building applications, but they do not replace the need to design your application carefully, based on your specific scenarios and requirements. The risks exposed by poor architecture include software that is unstable, is unable to support existing or future business requirements, or is difficult to deploy or manage in a production environment. Systems should be designed with consideration for the user, the system (the IT infrastructure), and the business goals. For each of these areas, you should outline key scenarios and identify important quality attributes (for example, reliability or scalability) and key areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Where possible, develop and consider metrics that measure success in each of these areas.
Architecture focuses on how the major elements and components within an application are used by, or interact with, other major elements and components within the application. The selection of data structures and algorithms or the implementation details of individual components are design concerns. Architecture and design concerns very often overlap.

The Goals of Architecture
Application architecture seeks to build a bridge between business requirements and technical requirements by understanding use cases, and then finding ways to implement those use cases in the software. The goal of architecture is to identify the requirements that affect the structure of the application. Good architecture reduces the business risks associated with building a technical solution.
The architecture should:

• Expose the structure of the system but hide the implementation details.
• Realize all of the use cases and scenarios.
• Try to address the requirements of various stakeholders.
• Handle both functional and quality requirements.

Key Architecture Principles:

• Build to change instead of building to last. Consider how the application may need to change over time to address new requirements and challenges, and build in the flexibility to support this.
• Model to analyze and reduce risk. Use design tools, modeling systems such as Unified Modeling Language (UML), and visualizations where appropriate to help you capture requirements and architectural and design decisions, and to analyze their impact. However, do not formalize the model to the extent that it suppresses the capability to iterate and adapt the design easily.
• Use models and visualizations as a communication and collaboration tool. Efficient communication of the design, the decisions you make, and ongoing changes to the design, is critical to good architecture. Use models, views, and other visualizations of the architecture to communicate and share your design efficiently with all the stakeholders, and to enable rapid communication of changes to the design.
• Identify key engineering decisions. Use the information in this guide to understand the key engineering decisions and the areas where mistakes are most often made. Invest in getting these key decisions right the first time so that the design is more flexible and less likely to be broken by changes.

Cloud computing

In past few years cloud computing infiltrated computer industries, the cloud has been variously hailed as the savior of IT and reviled as a risky and chaotic environment. “The cloud” is simply a business model for the creation and delivery of compute resources. The model’s reliance on shared resources and virtualization allows cloud users to achieve levels of economy and scalability that would be difficult in a traditional data center. It is a colloquial expression used to describe a variety of different types of computing concepts that involve a large number of computers connected through a real-time communication network such as the Internet. Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and economies of scale similar to a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network. At the foundation of cloud computing is the broader concept of converged infrastructure and shared services.

Common cloud options include:

• Public cloud, in which multiple companies share physical servers and networking resources hosted in a provider’s data center.
• Private cloud, in which companies do not share resources (although efficiencies may be realized by hosting multiple virtual applications from the same company on a single physical server). Private clouds can be located either in a provider’s data center or in the company’s own on-premises data center.
• Hybrid cloud, in which virtualized applications can be moved among private and public cloud environments.

Common cloud benefits include:

• Scalable, on-demand resources: The ability to launch a cloud application in minutes, without having to purchase and configure hardware, enables enterprises to significantly cut their time to market. By taking advantage of cloud options for “bursting” during peak work periods, enterprises can also cost-effectively improve application performance and availability.
• Budget-friendly: Cloud computing services require no capital investment, instead tapping into the operating budget. As many companies tighten up their processes for approval of capital expenditures, a service can be easier and faster to approve and deploy.
• Utility pricing: The pay-per-use model that characterizes most cloud services appeals to enterprises that want to avoid overinvesting. It also can shorten the time to recoup the investment.

Few cloud computing providers:

Google	Oracle	Amazon Web Services	Microsoft
Rackspace	Salesforce	VMware	Joyent
Citrix	Bluelock	CenturyLink/Savvis	Verizon/Terremark