To meet today's complex and ever-changing business demands, you need a solid foundation of server, storage, networking, and software resources that are simple to deploy and can quickly and automatically adapt to changing conditions. You also need access to, and the ability to take advantage of, broad expertise and proven best practices in systems management, applications, hardware maintenance, and more. IBM® PureFlex™ System, which is a part of the IBM PureSystems™ family of expert integrated systems, combines advanced IBM hardware and software along with patterns of expertise and integrates them into three optimized configurations that are simple to acquire and deploy so that you can achieve faster time to value. If you want a preconfigured, preintegrated infrastructure with integrated management and cloud capabilities, factory tuned from IBM with x86 and Power Systems™ hybrid solution, IBM PureFlex System is the answer. In this IBM Redbooks® publication, which is aimed at system and network administrators, we show the design and architecture, how to configure hosts and switches, maintain, and troubleshoot using the IBM Flex System™ Ethernet I/O modules (EN2091 1Gb Ethernet Scalable Switch and EN4093R 10Gb Scalable Switch).

To meet today's complex and ever-changing business demands, you need a solid foundation of server, storage, networking and software resources that is simple to deploy and can quickly and automatically adapt to changing conditions. You also need access to, and the ability to take advantage of, broad expertise and proven best practices in systems management, applications, hardware maintenance and more. IBM® PureFlex™ System, which is a part of the IBM PureSystems™ family of expert integrated systems, combines advanced IBM hardware and software along with patterns of expertise and integrates them into three optimized configurations that are simple to acquire and deploy so you can achieve faster time to value. If you want a pre-configured, pre-integrated infrastructure with integrated management and cloud capabilities, factory tuned from IBM with x86 and Power hybrid solution, IBM PureFlex System is the answer. In this IBM Redbooks® publication, we use EX4500 core switches to demonstrate interoperability with the System Networking switches (RackSwitch™ G8264 top of rack switch and the Flex system fabric EN4093 10Gb scalable switch). We also describe a redundant environment using QFX3500 switches running IBM Virtual-Link Aggregation Group (MC-LAG/vLAG) and Juniper Multi- Chassis-Link Aggregation Group.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication describes the concepts, architecture, and implementation of the IBM XIV® Storage System. The XIV Storage System is a scalable enterprise storage system that is based on a grid array of hardware components. It can attach to both Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) and IP network Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) capable hosts. This system is a good fit for clients who want to be able to grow capacity without managing multiple tiers of storage. The XIV Storage System is suited for mixed or random access workloads, including online transaction processing, video streamings, images, email, and emerging workload areas, such as Web 2.0 and storage cloud. The focus of this edition is on the XIV Gen3 hardware Release 3.2, running Version 11.2 of the XIV system software. With this version, XIV Storage System offers up to five times the iSCSI throughput with new 10 GbE ports, a performance boost with new CPUs, and enhanced caching with optional solid-state drives (SSDs). The IBM XIV software Version 11.2 also offers support for Windows Server 2012, including space reclamation. And, the software enables drive rebuild times as fast as 26 minutes for a fully utilized 2 TB hard disk drive under heavy load. In the first few chapters of this book, we describe many of the unique and powerful concepts that form the basis of the XIV Storage System logical and physical architecture. We explain how the system is designed to eliminate direct dependencies between the hardware elements and the software that governs the system. In subsequent chapters, we explain the planning and preparation tasks that are required to deploy the system in your environment. A step-by-step procedure is presented that describes how to configure and administer the system. Illustrations are provided about how to perform those tasks by using the intuitive, yet powerful XIV Storage Manager GUI or the XIV command-line interface (XCLI). We describe the performance characteristics of the XIV Storage System and present options that are available for alerting and monitoring, including an enhanced secure remote support capability. This book is intended for IT professionals who want an understanding of the XIV Storage System. It also targets readers who need detailed advice on how to configure and use the system.

Implement a Centralized Cloud Storage Infrastructure with Oracle Automatic Storage Management Build and manage a scalable, highly available cloud storage solution. Filled with detailed examples and best practices, this Oracle Press guide explains how to set up a complete cloud-based storage system using Oracle Automatic Storage Management. Find out how to prepare hardware, build disk groups, efficiently allocate storage space, and handle security. Database Cloud Storage: The Essential Guide to Oracle Automatic Storage Management shows how to monitor your system, maximize throughput, and ensure consistency across servers and clusters. Set up and configure Oracle Automatic Storage Management Discover and manage disks and establish disk groups Create, clone, and administer Oracle databases Consolidate resources with Oracle Private Database Cloud Control access, encrypt files, and assign user privileges Integrate replication, file tagging, and automatic failover Employ pre-engineered private cloud database consolidation tools Check for data consistency and resync failed disks Code examples in the book are available for download

Hibernate and MongoDB are a powerful combination of open source persistence and NoSQL technologies for today's Java-based enterprise and cloud application developers. Hibernate is the leading open source Java-based persistence, object relational management engine, recently repositioned as an object grid management engine. MongoDB is a growing, popular open source NoSQL framework, especially popular among cloud application and big data developers. With these two, enterprise and cloud developers have a "complete out of the box" solution. Pro Hibernate and MongoDB shows you how to use and integrate Hibernate and MongoDB. More specifically, this book guides you through the bootstrap; building transactions; handling queries and query entities; and mappings. Then, this book explores the principles and techniques for taking these application principles to the cloud, using the OpenShift Platform as a Service (PaaS) and more. In this book, you get two case studies: An enterprise application using Hibernate and MongoDB. then, A cloud application (OpenShip) migrated from the enterprise application case study After reading or using this book, you come away with the experience from two case studies that give you possible frameworks or templates that you can apply to your own specific application or cloud application building context. What you'll learn How to use and integrate Hibernate and MongoDB to be your "complete out of the box" solution for database driven enterprise and cloud applications How to bootstrap; run in supported environments; do transactions; handle queries and query entities; and mappings How to build an enterprise application case study using Hibernate and MongoDB What are the principles and techniques for taking applications to the Cloud, using the OpenShift Platform as a Service (PaaS) and more How to build a cloud-based app or application (OpenShip) Who this book is for This book is for experienced Java, enterprise Java programmers who may have some experience with Hibernate and/or MongoDB.

Distributed computing has been transformed with the introduction of virtualization technology. This has driven a re-architecture of traditional data center workload placement. In 2012, IBM® announced IBM PureSystems™, a new offering based on preconfigured software, servers, and storage that form an expert integrated system. Expert integrated systems now combine traditional IT resources into a single optimized solution, with prepackaged components including servers, storage devices, networking equipment, and software. With this evolution of technology, we move from discrete, siloed, and underutilized IT resources to shared resource pools. This IBM Redbooks® publication can help you install, tailor, and configure IBM SmartCloud® Entry on the IBM PureFlex™ System offering. This book is intended for anyone who wants to learn more about cloud computing with IBM SmartCloud Entry and offerings based on IBM Flex System™ elements.

Best Practices for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tuning and Optimization Achieve peak performance from your ERP platform while minimizing downtime and lowering TCO. Advanced Tuning for JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Implementations shows how to plan and adopt a structured, top-to-bottom maintenance methodology. Uncover and eliminate bottlenecks, maximize efficiency at every component layer, troubleshoot databases and web servers, automate system testing, and handle mobile issues. This Oracle Press guide offers complete coverage of the latest cloud, clustering, load balancing, and virtualization solutions. Understand the components of a structured tuning plan Establish benchmarks and implement key industry practices Perform changes and accurately measure system-wide impact Diagnose and repair HTTP, web application, and Java issues Troubleshoot Oracle Database connections and transactions Streamline Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne kernel and JDENeT processes Configure, test, and manage virtual machines and servers Work with Oracle Exadata Database Machine and Oracle Exalogic Elastic Cloud

This IBM® Redbooks® publication introduces users to the concepts of the IBM PureApplication™ System V1.0. This book covers the most common problems, solutions, best practices, and use cases about adopting the IBM PureApplication System V1.0. The target audience for this book is anyone from the IT industry who wants to acquire a better understanding of IBM PureApplication System, including technical consultants, business partners, and independent software vendors who are considering migrating to a cloud computing solution. This book also is applicable to system administrators, middleware specialists, and software engineers who need a more in-depth approach to PureApplication System features and capabilities.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides overviews and pointers for information about the most current IBM System Storage products, showing how IBM delivers the right mix of products for nearly every aspect of business continuance and business efficiency. IBM System Storage® products can help you store, safeguard, retrieve, and share your data. The following topics are covered: Part 1 introduces IBM Smarter Storage solutions. It provides overviews of IBM Smart Storage Cloud, IBM SmartCloud® Virtual Storage Center (VSC), as well as an overview of the new IBM PureSystems™ offerings. Part 2 describes the IBM disk products that include IBM System Storage DS® Series (entry-level, midrange, and enterprise offerings). Part 3 presents an overview of the IBM TotalStorage and System Storage Tape Drives, IBM Tape Automation Products, and IBM Tape Virtualization Solutions and products. Part 4 describes storage networking infrastructure and presents the switches and directors to form SAN solutions, as well as converged networks and data center networking. Part 5 describes the IBM System Storage software portfolio. including Tivoli Storage Manager version 6.4, Tivoli Storage Productivity Center version 5.1.1, and IBM General Parallel File System (IBM GPFS™). Part 6 describes the z/OS® storage management software and tools. Finally, the Appendixes provide information about High Performance Storage System (HPSS) and IBM FlashSystem Storage. This book is intended as a reference for basic and comprehensive information about the IBM System Storage products portfolio. The book provides a starting point when establishing your own enterprise storage environment.

Unlock the secrets of Access 2013 and discover how to use your data in creative ways. With this book’s easy step-by-step instructions, you’ll learn how to build and maintain a full-featured database and even turn it into a web app. You also get tips and practices from the pros for good database design—ideal whether you’re using Access for business, school, or at home. The important stuff you need to know Build a database with ease. Organize and update lists, documents, catalogs, and other types of information. Create your own web app. Let your whole team work on a database in the cloud. Share your database on a network. Link your Access database to SQL Server or SharePoint. Customize the interface. Make data entry a breeze by building your own templates Find what you need fast. Search, sort, and summarize huge amounts of data in minutes. Put your info to use. Turn raw info into well-formatted printed reports. Dive into Access programming. Automate complex tasks and solve common challenges.

Make the most of Access 2013— without becoming a technical expert! This book is the fastest way to master Access and use it to build powerful, useful databases of all kinds—even web application databases! Even if you’ve never used Access before, you’ll learn how to do what you want, one incredibly clear and easy step at a time. Access has never, ever been this simple! Who knew how simple Access® 2013 could be? This is the easiest, most practical beginner’s guide to using Microsoft’s incredibly powerful new Access 2013 database program… simple, reliable instructions for doing everything you really want to do! Here’s a small sample of what you’ll learn: • Create tables to efficiently store and navigate your data • Build queries that retrieve exactly the information you want • Design intuitive forms that help your users work more efficiently • Build reports that answer key questions intuitively and visually • Learn easy techniques for designing more reliable databases • Work faster with AutoForms, AutoReports, and other shortcuts • Automate repetitive tasks and build more polished databases with macros • Share Access data with Excel, SQL Server, and other applications • Solve complex problems with advanced query, form, and reporting techniques • Build modern web databases that serve users through browsers • Run your database on the cloud through Microsoft Office 365 • Construct a complete database application from start to finish • And much more… Alison Balter , President of InfoTech Services Group, Inc., has spent 25 years training and consulting on Microsoft Access and related applications with top organizations such as Cisco, Shell, Accenture, Northrop, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Prudential, Transamerica, Fox Broadcasting, and the U.S. Navy. She travels throughout North America delivering seminars on Access and has authored 14 books and videos for Pearson, including Microsoft Access 2010 LiveLessons and Alison Balter’s Mastering Access 2007 Development. She is past president of the Independent Computer Consultants Association of Los Angeles. Category: Databases Covers: Microsoft® Access® 2013 User Level: Beginning

This IBM® Redbooks® publication describes the IBM Storage Area Network and IBM SAN Volume Controller Stretched Cluster solution when combined with VMware. We describe guidelines, settings, and implementation steps necessary to achieve a satisfactory implementation. Business continuity and continuous application availability are among the top requirements for many organizations today. Advances in virtualization, storage, and networking have made enhanced business continuity possible. Information technology solutions can now be designed to manage both planned and unplanned outages, and the flexibility and cost efficiencies available from cloud computing models. IBM has designed a solution that offers significant functionality for maintaining business continuity in a VMware environment. This functionality provides the capability to dynamically move applications across data centers without interruption to those applications. The live application mobility across data centers relies on these products and technology: The industry-proven VMware Metro vMotion IBM System Storage® SAN Volume Controller Stretched Cluster solution A Layer 2 IP Network and storage networking infrastructure for high performance traffic management

Get the focused, pragmatic guidance you need to build professional cloud applications using Windows Azure Storage. This is one of the few books centered around Storage capabilities, and the author provides essential, expert coverage of the four key services - BLOB, tables, queues, and drives. Developers will gain hands-on insights, including detailed sections on business use cases and guidance for choosing the right storage option for the job. Provides architectural and programming guidance to professional developers and architects proficient with Microsoft Visual Studio, C#, and LINQ Illuminates when and how to use BLOB storage, table storage, queues, and Windows Azure Drive to build, host, and scale applications in Microsoft-managed datacenters Presents business-case context for choosing the right service for your scenario, e.g. readers will compare relational tables to Windows Azure tables to understand benefits and tradeoffs

Dive into ØMQ (aka ZeroMQ), the smart socket library that gives you fast, easy, message-based concurrency for your applications. With this quick-paced guide, you’ll learn hands-on how to use this scalable, lightweight, and highly flexible networking tool for exchanging messages among clusters, the cloud, and other multi-system environments. ØMQ maintainer Pieter Hintjens takes you on a tour of real-world applications, using extended examples in C to help you work with ØMQ’s API, sockets, and patterns. Learn how to use specific ØMQ programming techniques, build multithreaded applications, and create your own messaging architectures. You’ll discover how ØMQ works with several programming languages and most operating systems—with little or no cost. Learn ØMQ’s main patterns: request-reply, publish-subscribe, and pipeline Work with ØMQ sockets and patterns by building several small applications Explore advanced uses of ØMQ’s request-reply pattern through working examples Build reliable request-reply patterns that keep working when code or hardware fails Extend ØMQ’s core pub-sub patterns for performance, reliability, state distribution, and monitoring Learn techniques for building a distributed architecture with ØMQ Discover what’s required to build a general-purpose framework for distributed applications

This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides a basic introduction to the IBM System Storage® N series, virtualization, and VMware 5.x. It explains how to use the N series with VMware vSphere 5 environments and the benefits of doing so. Examples are given on how to install and set up VMware ESXi server with the N series. The IBM System Storage N series used as a storage foundation offers unified storage solutions that provide industry-leading technologies in the areas of storage efficiencies, instantaneous virtual machine and datastore cloning for virtual servers and virtual desktops, and virtual data center backup and business continuance solutions. The information provided can be also be used as a foundation to create dynamic cloud solutions, making full use of underlying storage features and functions. This book provides a blueprint for how clients can create a virtualized infrastructure/storage cloud that will help to address current and future data storage business requirements. IBM System Storage N series in conjunction with VMware vSphere 5 helps complete the virtualization hierarchy by providing both a server and storage virtualization solution. Although this configuration can further assist with other areas of virtualization, networks, and applications, these areas of virtualization are not covered in detail in this book.

Hadoop Beginner's Guide introduces you to the essential concepts and practical applications of Apache Hadoop, one of the leading frameworks for big data processing. You will learn how to set up and use Hadoop to store, manage, and analyze vast amounts of data efficiently. With clear examples and step-by-step instructions, this book is the perfect starting point for beginners. What this Book will help me do Understand the trends leading to the adoption of Hadoop and determine when to use it effectively in your projects. Build and configure Hadoop clusters tailored to your specific needs, enabling efficient data processing. Develop and execute applications on Hadoop using Java and Ruby, with practical examples provided. Leverage Amazon AWS and Elastic MapReduce to deploy Hadoop on the cloud and manage hosted environments. Integrate Hadoop with relational databases using tools like Hive and Sqoop for effective data transfer and querying. Author(s) The author of Hadoop Beginner's Guide is an experienced data engineer with a focus on big data technologies. They have extensive experience deploying Hadoop in various industries and are passionate about making complex systems accessible to newcomers. Their approach combines technical depth with an understanding of the needs of learners, ensuring clarity and relevance throughout the book. Who is it for? This book is designed for professionals who are new to big data processing and want to learn Apache Hadoop from scratch. It is ideal for system administrators, data analysts, and developers with basic programming knowledge in Java or Ruby looking to get started with Hadoop. If you have an interest in leveraging Hadoop for scalable data management and analytics, this book is for you. By the end, you'll gain the confidence and skills to utilize Hadoop effectively in your projects.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication will help you learn how to build a storage cloud with the IBM SmartCloud™ Storage Access solution, which consists of multiple hardware and software products including IBM Scale Out network Attached Storage (SONAS), IBM Storwize® V7000 Unified, IBM Tivoli® Storage Productivity Center, and more. To get you started, we cover the planning, installation, and configuration for each component. SmartCloud Storage Access is an IBM software product for storage cloud management that enables the cloud service with virtualization and automation. SCSA is the focal point to administer the storage cloud environment providing a self-service provision approach for the storage cloud users. New storage capacity can be easily deployed and accessed by the Internet or intranet. SmartCloud Storage Access also supports simple and fast resource elasticity as user demand changes. With the SmartCloud Storage Access solution, the storage resources will be displayed as unified resource pools with different service levels. Users no longer need to know the exact location of their files and there is no more need to configure the underlying storage subsystems manually. All storage resources are still well monitored and the cloud administrators can easily track the historical storage resource utilization. This publication is intended for anyone who wants to understand more about IBM SmartCloud Storage Access planning, implementation, configuration, and usage. This book is suitable for IBM clients, IBM Business Partners, IBM specialist sales representatives, and technical specialists.

Computation and Storage in the Cloud is the first comprehensive and systematic work investigating the issue of computation and storage trade-off in the cloud in order to reduce the overall application cost. Scientific applications are usually computation and data intensive, where complex computation tasks take a long time for execution and the generated datasets are often terabytes or petabytes in size. Storing valuable generated application datasets can save their regeneration cost when they are reused, not to mention the waiting time caused by regeneration. However, the large size of the scientific datasets is a big challenge for their storage. By proposing innovative concepts, theorems and algorithms, this book will help bring the cost down dramatically for both cloud users and service providers to run computation and data intensive scientific applications in the cloud. Covers cost models and benchmarking that explain the necessary tradeoffs for both cloud providers and users Describes several novel strategies for storing application datasets in the cloud Includes real-world case studies of scientific research applications Covers cost models and benchmarking that explain the necessary tradeoffs for both cloud providers and users Describes several novel strategies for storing application datasets in the cloud Includes real-world case studies of scientific research applications

IBM® PowerSC provides a security and compliance solution that is optimized for virtualized environments on IBM Power Systems™ servers, running IBM PowerVM® and IBM AIX®. Security control and compliance are some of the key components that are needed to defend the virtualized data center and cloud infrastructure against ever evolving new threats. The IBM business-driven approach to enterprise security used in conjunction with solutions such as PowerSC makes IBM the premier security vendor in the market today. This IBM Redbooks® deliverable helps IT and Security managers, architects, and consultants to strengthen their security and compliance posture in a virtualized environment running IBM PowerVM.

Cloud services are just as susceptible to network outages as any other platform. This concise book shows you how to prepare for potentially devastating interruptions by building your own resilient and reliable applications in the public cloud. Guided by engineers from 9apps—an independent provider of Amazon Web Services and Eucalyptus cloud solutions—you’ll learn how to combine AWS with open source tools such as PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Redis. This isn’t a book on theory. With detailed examples, sample scripts, and solid advice, software engineers with operations experience will learn specific techniques that 9apps routinely uses in its cloud infrastructures. Build cloud applications with the "rip, mix, and burn" approach Get a crash course on Amazon Web Services Learn the top ten tips for surviving outages in the cloud Use elasticsearch to build a dependable NoSQL data store Combine AWS and PostgreSQL to build an RDBMS that scales well Create a highly available document database with MongoDB Replica Set and SimpleDB Augment Redis with AWS to provide backup/restore, failover, and monitoring capabilities Work with CloudFront and Route 53 to safeguard global content delivery

Logging and Log Management: The Authoritative Guide to Understanding the Concepts Surrounding Logging and Log Management introduces information technology professionals to the basic concepts of logging and log management. It provides tools and techniques to analyze log data and detect malicious activity. The book consists of 22 chapters that cover the basics of log data; log data sources; log storage technologies; a case study on how syslog-ng is deployed in a real environment for log collection; covert logging; planning and preparing for the analysis log data; simple analysis techniques; and tools and techniques for reviewing logs for potential problems. The book also discusses statistical analysis; log data mining; visualizing log data; logging laws and logging mistakes; open source and commercial toolsets for log data collection and analysis; log management procedures; and attacks against logging systems. In addition, the book addresses logging for programmers; logging and compliance with regulations and policies; planning for log analysis system deployment; cloud logging; and the future of log standards, logging, and log analysis. This book was written for anyone interested in learning more about logging and log management. These include systems administrators, junior security engineers, application developers, and managers. Comprehensive coverage of log management including analysis, visualization, reporting and more Includes information on different uses for logs -- from system operations to regulatory compliance Features case Studies on syslog-ng and actual real-world situations where logs came in handy in incident response Provides practical guidance in the areas of report, log analysis system selection, planning a log analysis system and log data normalization and correlation

Pro SQL Database for Windows Azure, 2nd Edition shows how to create enterprise-level database deployments without the usual investment in datacenter and other infrastructure. Take advantage instead of Microsoft's worldwide backbone for cloud computing that delivers all the power of SQL Server in the form of the cloud-based SQL Database for Windows Azure. You can create and deploy a database in mere minutes that is accessible worldwide and takes advantage of SQL Database's high-availability features to protect your data while ensuring 99.9% uptime. SQL Azure is ideally suited for startups, who can benefit from instant access to a robust and secure web-accessible database platform for use in rapidly deploying new products to market. SQL Azure is also ideal for small and mid-sized businesses, giving them the same ability to deploy SQL Server as any large enterprise, but without the management overhead. Even large enterprises find SQL Azure useful in creating failover environments, development environments, extra capacity to handle surges in demand, and more. Pro SQL Database for Windows Azure covers the very latest in Microsoft's fast-moving, cloud platform, showing how to program and administer it in a variety of cloud computing scenarios. You'll learn to program SQL Azure from ASP.NET, from WinForms, and from SQL Reporting Services. You'll learn to manage the platform by planning for scalability, troubleshooting performance issues, and implementing strong security. You'll learn the unique aspects of SQL Azure such as sharding and federation support that combine to place SQL Azure a step above and ahead of the competiton. Shows how to use SQL Azure from classic Windows applications, ASP.NET and Windows Communication Foundation Covers management, performance, scalability, and troubleshooting Addresses the all-important issue of securing your data Helps you properly design for high-performance in a cloud environment Helps you adopt the new Federations feature in SQL Azure What you'll learn Create and manage SQL Database for Windows Azure databases Access SQL Azure from WinForms, ASP.NET, Reporting Services, and more Optimize database design for Azure's distributed cloud platform Share data between databases using SQL Database's Data Synch Service Secure data from intrusion and unauthorized access Learn strategies for data migration and backup Who this book is for Pro SQL Database for Windows Azure, 2nd Edition is aimed at developers and database administrators desiring instant access to a fully-capable SQL Server database environment without the pain of sorting out and managing the physical infrastructure.

This IBM® Platform Computing Solutions Redbooks® publication is the first book to describe each of the available offerings that are part of the IBM portfolio of Cloud, analytics, and High Performance Computing (HPC) solutions for our clients. This IBM Redbooks publication delivers descriptions of the available offerings from IBM Platform Computing that address challenges for our clients in each industry. We include a few implementation and testing scenarios with selected solutions. This publication helps strengthen the position of IBM Platform Computing solutions with a well-defined and documented deployment model within an IBM System x® environment. This deployment model offers clients a planned foundation for dynamic cloud infrastructure, provisioning, large-scale parallel HPC application development, cluster management, and grid applications. This IBM publication is targeted to IT specialists, IT architects, support personnel, and clients. This book is intended for anyone who wants information about how IBM Platform Computing solutions use IBM to provide a wide array of client solutions.

“Jeremy builds real apps for real customers. That’s why I can heartily recommend this book. Go out and write some great apps…and keep this book handy.” —From the Foreword by Jeff Prosise Build Exceptionally Immersive and Responsive Touch-Based Windows Store Apps for Windows 8 with C# and XAML This is the first practical guide to building breakthrough applications for Windows 8 from project templates through publication to the new Windows Store. Microsoft “MVP of the Year” Jeremy Likness helps you combine your existing developer skills with new Visual Studio 2012 tools and best practices to create apps that are intuitive and innovative. His guidance and insight will help you dive into Windows 8 development—and gain a powerful competitive advantage for years to come. Likness illuminates the entire apps lifecycle, from planning and Model-View-View Model (MVVM) based design through coding, testing, packaging, and deployment. He covers both business and consumer apps, showing how Windows 8/WinRT development builds upon and contrasts with older WPF and Silverlight approaches. Using carefully crafted downloadable code examples and sample projects, Likness shows how to make the most of new platform features, including integrated social networking, search, contracts, charms, and tiles. Throughout, he addresses crucial development challenges that have only been discussed on MSDN, blog posts, and Twitter feeds—and never with this depth and clarity before. Coverage includes • Mastering real-world Windows 8 development for all devices and form factors • Understanding the new WinRT framework and the unique characteristics of Windows 8 apps • Designing apps that are faster, more responsive, do more with less, and maximize battery life • Creating exceptionally fluid interfaces with VS 2012 templates, built-in animations, and XAML • Building apps that respond consistently to multiple forms of input, including complex touch manipulations • Using contracts and charms to expose services or enable users to do so • Providing information to users through Live Tiles even when your app isn’t running • Connecting your app seamlessly to multiple data sources, including social networks and cloud storage • Syndicating rich, network-based content • Using Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) • Securing Windows 8 apps through authentication and authorization • Efficiently testing, debugging, packaging, and deploying apps

SQL Server 2012 introduces a wealth of new features and enhancements that database professionals need to master to stay ahead in the ever-evolving industry. This book provides a practical guide to upgrading your knowledge with the latest advancements, from T-SQL improvements to new Business Intelligence tools and cloud capabilities. What this Book will help me do Understand and install the core and advanced features of SQL Server 2012 effectively. Implement new SQL Server Management Studio features for enhanced administration. Utilize Business Intelligence Semantic Models for insightful data analysis. Execute data cleansing projects using Data Quality Services (DQS). Simulate real-world database loads using Distributed Replay for testing purposes. Author(s) The author is an experienced database administrator and SQL Server expert with a career spanning over two decades. With hands-on experience in implementation, administration, and optimization of complex SQL Server environments, the author brings a wealth of practical knowledge to this book. Their approach is to provide concise, actionable insights tailored to the needs of IT professionals. Who is it for? This book is tailored for database administrators, developers, and BI professionals familiar with SQL Server 2008 R2 seeking to efficiently upgrade to SQL Server 2012. If you aim to quickly adopt and utilize the new features and improvements in SQL Server 2012, this book provides the clear and focused learning path you need.