DiscountASP.NET Hosting

Download your site backups automatically

Technical

Tonny FuseinThis article will discuss the general topic of creating an automated backup of your site. It is not a tutorial or step by step instructions.

DiscountASP.NET does not currently provide an interface such as a file manager to backup site contents and download them to your local computer. Most customers have backups of their site, but if you don’t have a backup of your site – that could potentially be disastrous if your site were compromised for example.

“So how do I download a backup automatically? I don’t want to manually FTP every day.”

.NET framework comes with a system.net class that has capability of initiating an FTP session. It can determine the file size and download files to your local computer. There are many articles and guides available out there, and if you can  create the function with ASP.NET, you can pair it with the task scheduler (in the DiscountASP.NET Control Panel) to call the page at a certain time of day or use a .NET timer to initiate the page call to initiate the actual backup automation procedure.

“But I’m not a coder, so how do I pull down my files automatically?”

Enter FTP automation software.

There are tons of these programs available, ranging from free to very expensive. I have tested some of them and the one that stood out the most was ScriptFTP. It is easy to use, dependable and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg.

After downloading and installing, simply create a script file (upload, download, sync, etc) and run it from the application. The main selling point for this software is the internal scheduler feature that is capable of running your custom ftp script at certain intervals. You can try ScriptFTP free for 30 days, but after that, this application worth every penny of the $29.95 price.

Finally, with the recent hype surrounding cloud, many of the big boys are offering free cloud storage solutions (iCloud, Google Docs, Microsoft Skydrive, etc.). In fact, Microsoft is offering free 7gb storage on Skydrive. We can incorporate this with the application’s upload capability to push the files to cloud storage after successful download so now you have a site backup available anytime, anywhere.

p.s.

I’m not related to the developers of this software in any way. It’s just a great tool that I wanted to tell you about.

Lincoln .NET Users Group Delivers the Goods

Inside DiscountASP.NET

Michael PhillipsLook, I don’t want to brag, but — oh, who am I kidding, I love to brag.

In the nearly 10 years that DiscountASP.NET has been in business we have racked up an impressive number of awards, recognition and trophies.

We believe that recognition and awards are a natural byproduct of being passionate about what you do. These kinds of things just find their way to you. And we’re thrilled to receive (and show off) each and every one of them.

But about a week ago we received something really special, a plaque from the Lincoln .NET Users Group thanking us for our support of the Nebraska Software Development Community. Take a look:

I know some of you are thinking, “The Lincoln .NET Users Group? So what? Aren’t you guys in Los Angeles? Don’t you hob-knob with celebrities and move with ease in powerful political circles?”

Well…ah <cough> sure — of course we do. 😉

But we also do everything we can to help support as many .NET user groups as we can find, from here in Southern California to New York and everywhere in between – all over the world, in fact. Including Nebraska.

We enjoy supporting .NET users everywhere, because that’s where the action is. These are the folks who are grinding it out and pushing the technology further and further every day. In short, they are our kind of people.

So yes, it means a lot to us to receive something like this. It will hang on our wall right along with all of the big shots.

Thanks Lincoln .NET Users Group!

Add Michael Phillips to your Google+ circles.
Visit DiscountASP.NET to learn more about our ASP.NET hosting services.

Root redirection to subdirectory

How-to, Technical

Tonny FuseinIn a previous post we showed you how to force a normal HTTP call to HTTPS. Today we’ll show you how to redirect from root to subdirectory.

The default page/homepage in your root directory would normally be displayed when someone makes an HTTP request to your site. But what if you installed an application in a subdirectory and want to use that application as a starting point? For example, WordPress is installed in a subdirectory, and you want the WordPress application to be the default starting point when someone types your URL.

There is sample code available in our Knowledge Base to redirect using .NET code. This requires the page to load and compile before the redirection happens. Now I want to show you redirection using the IIS manager/web.config instead. This should redirect the request faster as the redirection happens as soon as the HTTP request received by IIS.

Using IIS7 manager, connect to IIS and navigate to the URL rewrite module. Add a blank rule and name it as you wish. Only two variables are needed; match URL pattern and actions.

The parameters are as follows:

Match URL section:
Requested URL : Matches the pattern
Using : Regular Expression
Pattern : ^$

Action section:
Action Type : redirect
redirect URL : your relative subdirectory path e.g., if nopCommerce is installed in a subdirectory you would use /nopCommerce
redirect type : permanent

screesnhot

This will write to your web.config and add this section:

<system.webServer>
<rewrite>
<rules>
<rule name="redirect" stopProcessing="true">
<match url="^$" />
<action type="RedirectToSubdir" url="/nopCommerce" />
</rule>
</rules>
</rewrite>
</system.webServer>

That’s all there is to it.

Remember than any changes you make with IIS Manager are written to web.config, so overwriting web.config in the future can remove those changes.

DiscountASP.NET Customer Profile – Juan Arbeláez of XIGLA Software

Customer profile

Michael PhillipsJuan Arbeláez is the CEO of XIGLA Software. They develop ready-to-use, high performance web-based software solutions aimed at small and medium size business and using Microsoft Technologies.

Hello Juan! Which technologies are you using for your web site?

Our focus is on ASP.NET development using Visual Basic .NET and SQL Server 2008 mostly.

How long have you hosted your site with DiscountASP.NET?

It’s been over 5 years and I regret not starting earlier with them!

Why did you choose DiscountASP.NET as your web hosting solution?

There are many reasons as to why DiscountASP.NET is your best bet. First, they have a single hosting plan with everything you need and at a very affordable price. Second, ASP.NET apps “just run” as they should without having to go back and forth a single time with their tech support (you can’t image what a pain it is to set a .NET app on other web hosts). Third, their support: even though you will barely need it (everything works as it should), for those times where things aren’t the way they should, DiscountASP.NET has proven to be extremely responsible, and I have to admit that the issues we have experienced have been because of some mis-configuration from our part, not theirs.

What do you consider to be the key benefits of using the DiscountASP.NET web hosting solution?

The ease to use and affordable price. Seriously, why not having a single plan that just works for everything you need? This is a big plus!

What future plans do you have for your web site?

We want to go mobile, and scale in order to be able to expand to markets like Facebook or Twitter, where a high scalability is required.

Which future technologies or trends are you most excited about?

Cloud computing. If only it could be as easy to set up as hosting a web site currently is, this would be a winning product!

Add Michael Phillips to your Google+ circles.
Visit DiscountASP.NET to learn more about our ASP.NET hosting services.

SQL Server 2012 Certifications

Technical

Dmitri GropenThe new SQL Server 2012 certifications are coming up soon and shall be available in June 2012. Instead of three professional-level certifications that have been available before, only two will be offered: Data Platform certification and the Business Intelligence certification.

Each of those new professional certification tracks will include five exams. In addition, those professional-level certifications will require recertification every three years. Recertification requirements will be limited to one or two exams.

Upgrading from SQL Server 2008 to 2012 professional certification will now require passing three exams. The details on upgrading and recertification examination are not available yet. The following are new SQL Server 2012 certificates:

Common Certifications for Both Tracks

  • Exam 70-461: Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012
  • Exam 70-462: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases
  • Exam 70-463: Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Data Platform

  • Exam 70-464: Developing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases
  • Exam 70-465: Designing Database Solutions for Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Business Intelligence

  • Exam 70-466: Implementing Data Models and Reports with Microsoft SQL Server 2012
  • Exam 70-467: Designing Business Intelligence Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Win a Kindle Fire in our Facebook redesign contest

Announcements, Inside DiscountASP.NET

Michael PhillipsBack in March I wrote about our new Facebook brand page design. I promised to tell you about a contest that we’re running around the new design, and here it is.

We think there are a lot of reasons to host with DiscountASP.NET, but we boiled it down to the top ten and made this infographic that you can download, print out and look at every morning while you brush your teeth.

Or, if you’re not that much of a fan, try this:

  1. Download the “top ten” infographic
  2. Print it out
  3. Stick it somewhere imaginative, interesting or strange
  4. Send us a picture of said placement ([email protected] – see the official rules for details)

You have 30 days to carry out this important task – the deadline for entries is Saturday, May 5th.

We will choose the picture that brings us the most joy and the person responsible for sending it to us will win a Kindle Fire, and some official, high-class DiscountASP.NET swag.

It’s a prize package guaranteed to fill your mailbox!

You don’t have to be a DiscountASP.NET customer to enter, but why wouldn’t you be? Look, there are ten reasons for you to sign up right here!

We may post selected entries as they come in, so stay tuned. The winner will be announced here and on Facebook on Wednesday, May 9th, 2012.

<<<  Click here to read the contest rules and fine print. >>>

Add Michael Phillips to your Google+ circles.
Visit DiscountASP.NET to learn more about our ASP.NET hosting services.

Partially Contained Databases in SQL Server 2012

How-to, Technical, ,

Dmitri GropenA database is called contained when it is isolated and independent from the instance of SQL Server that hosts it and from the objects stored in system databases of that instance. The databases that are dependent on the SQL Server instance objects, such as SQL Server logins mapped to database users, are called non-contained. All databases that are hosted on SQL Server instances prior to SQL Server 2012 are non-contained.

SQL Server 2012 introduces the partially-contained databases where the dependency on SQL Server instance is significantly reduced. One of the most important dependencies that can be bypassed in partially-contained SQL Server 2012 databases is the databases dependency on the SQL Server logins mapped to database users. You can create a database user with password in a partially-contained database and then connect directly to that database. No SQL Server login principal is needed. You will need to specify the initial catalog (name of the database) you are connecting to.  SQL Server will verify that this database exists, and then will let the database handle the authentication.

To be able to use partially contained databases, you will need to enable them at the instance level. In Object Explorer, right-click the server name, and then click Properties. In the Server Properties go to Advanced settings and set Enable Contained Databases to True.

Then you will need to set the Containment Type to Partial in the Database Properties of your database.

You can also set the containment type option to partial during the creation of your database. The system databases such as model database cannot be converted to partially contained databases.

The next step is to create user(s) with password(s) inside your partially contained database(s). In the Object Explorer of your Management Studio go to Databases >> YourDatabase >> Security, right-click on Users folder and select Properties. In the Database User properties go to General and select SQL user with password in the User type drop-down menu. Then enter User name and Password for your new user.

On the Membership page of your Database User option select the fixed database roles that you want your new contained database use to be part of.

Once the contained database user is created, you can connect to that database directly. To do so, you will need to specify the Initial Catalog, i.e. the database to which you are connecting with this user. When connecting to a contained database with Management Studio, in the Connect to Server dialog box, enter contained database user and password, and hit Options button.

In the Connect to database box type in the name of your contained database which you are connecting to.

If no initial catalog is specified, connection to a contained database will not be made, but the authentications will be passed to SQL Server instance instead. If the SQL Server login with the same name exists, connection will be made to the default database of that login. Contained database can have both SQL user with password and SQL user with login, therefore you can establish the connections to your database either directly with contained database user with password or through SQL Server login principal. Below is the approximate algorithm of the authentication process.

When you connect to a contained database with contained db user, you will see this database only. No SQL Server instace objects or other user databases will be displayed. Contained database user can still access mater and tempdb system databases as a guest, as well as other user databases on the same instance where the guest user was enabled.

Contained databases do not support change data capture, change tracking and replication,

Temporary tables in contained database are collated with the collation of that database instead of the collation of tempdb as in non-contained databases.

Contained databases are important in high availability solutions like AlwaysOn Availability Group. When databases are failed over another instance, it is easier for applications and users to re-connect to those databases as their connections do not depend on the SQL Server logins in a new instance.

SQL 2012 Hosting is Here!

Announcements

Takeshi EtoWe are pleased to announce that with Microsoft’s  general availability release of SQL 2012, DiscountASP.NET is announcing the launch of SQL 2012 hosting as a new add-on option for our web hosting customers.

And we’ve enhanced this SQL database option by providing even more SQL disk space – 1000mb for SQL 2012.

SQL 2012 has improved performance and supports contained database features. We’ll be exploring SQL 2012 in future blog posts.

Enjoy…

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