Web API

What is Web API?
Web API is a new web application runtime that builds on the lessons and patterns proven in ASP.NET MVC. Using a simple controller paradigm, Web API enables a developer to create simple HTTP web services with very little code and configuration. WebAPI is an ideal platform for building pure HTTP based services where the request and response happens with HTTP protocol. The client can make a GET, PUT, POST, and DELETE request and get the WebAPI response appropriately.
ASP.NET Web API is a framework that makes it easy to build HTTP services that reach a broad range of clients, including browsers and mobile devices. ASP.NET Web API is an ideal platform for building RESTful applications on the .NET Framework.

WebAPI is

• An HTTP Service
• Designed for broad reach
• Uses HTTP as an Application protocol, not a transport protocol

Why Web API?
Today, a web-based application is not enough to reach it's customers. People are very smart, they are using iphone, mobile, tablets etc. devices in its daily life. These devices also have a lot of apps for making the life easy. Actually, we are moving from the web towards apps world.
Web API is the great framework for exposing your data and service to different-different devices. Moreover Web API is open source an ideal platform for building REST-ful services over the .NET Framework. Unlike WCF Rest service, it use the full featues of HTTP (like URIs, request/response headers, caching, versioning, various content formats) and you don't need to define any extra config settings for different devices unlike WCF Rest service.

How Web API is different from WCF

WCF	ASP.NET Web API
Enables building services that support multiple transport protocols (HTTP, TCP, UDP, and custom transports) and allows switching between them.	HTTP only. First-class programming model for HTTP. More suitable for access from various browsers, mobile devices etc enabling wide reach.
Enables building services that support multiple encodings (Text, MTOM, and Binary) of the same message type and allows switching between them.	Enables building Web APIs that support wide variety of media types including XML, JSON etc.
Supports building services with WS-* standards like Reliable Messaging, Transactions, Message Security.	Uses basic protocol and formats such as HTTP, WebSockets, SSL, JQuery, JSON, and XML. There is no support for higher level protocols such as Reliable Messaging or Transactions.
Supports Request-Reply, One Way, and Duplex message exchange patterns.	HTTP is request/response but additional patterns can be supported through SignalRand WebSockets integration.
WCF SOAP services can be described in WSDL allowing automated tools to generate client proxies even for services with complex schemas.	There is a variety of ways to describe a Web API ranging from auto-generated HTML help page describing snippets to structured metadata for OData integrated APIs.
Ships with the .NET framework.	Ships with .NET framework but is open-source and is also available out-of-band as independent download.

Web API Features

• It supports convention-based CRUD Actions since it works with HTTP verbs GET, POST, PUT and DELETE.
• Responses have an Accept header and HTTP status code.
• Responses are formatted by Web API’s MediaTypeFormatter into JSON, XML or whatever format you want to add as a MediaTypeFormatter.
• It may accepts and generates the content which may not be object oriented like images, PDF files etc.
• It has automatic support for OData. Hence by placing the new [Queryable] attribute on a controller method that returns IQueryable, clients can use the method for OData query composition.
• It can be hosted with in the applicaion or on IIS.
• It also supports the MVC features such as routing, controllers, action results, filter, model binders, IOC container or dependency injection that makes it more simple and robust.

XBRL : eXtensible Business Reporting Language

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is a freely available and global standard for exchanging business information. XBRL allows the expression of semantic meaning commonly required in business reporting. The goal of XBRL is to standardize the automation of business intelligence (BI).

Highlights:

• XBRL International is a not-for-profit consortium of approximately 650 companies and agencies worldwide working together to build the XBRL language and promote and support its adoption
• XBRL is XML-based, it uses the XML syntax and related XML technologies
• Effort had began in 1998 and has produced a variety of specifications and taxonomies
• It is language for the electronic communication of business and financial data
• It is an open standard which supports information modeling and the expression of semantic meaning commonly required in business reporting
• It provides major benefits in the preparation, analysis and communication of business information.
• It offers cost savings, greater efficiency and improved accuracy and reliability to all those involved in supplying or using financial data. 
• XBRL is a standards-based way to communicate business and financial information.
• These communications are defined by metadata set out in taxonomies.
• Taxonomies capture the definition of individual reporting concepts as well as the relationships between concepts and other semantic meaning.
• Provides identifying tag for each individual item of data such that it can be used by name
• The basis for this technology is a "tagging" process by which each value, item, and descriptor, etc. in the exchanged information can be given a unique set of tags with which to describe it. Using these tags, computer programs can read the data without human intervention.

For more information: http://xbrl.squarespace.com/

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