Appendix 1: Release Notes

Article
05/08/2014

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System evolution \| Building and running the sample code (RI) \| Prerequisites \| Obtaining the code \| Creating the databases \| Creating the Settings.xml File \| Building the RI \| Running the RI \| Running the Tests \| Known issues

On this page:

Download:

The most up-to-date version of the release notes is available online here.

These release notes apply to the Reference Implementation – Contoso Conference Management System. This RI complements the "Exploring CQRS and Event Sourcing" guide and is for learning purposes only.

System evolution

The system has gone through three pseudo-production releases and additional improvements after V3.

Note

While the team went through actual deployments to Microsoft Azure and performed migrations, the releases are referred to as ‘pseudo-production’ because they lack critical security and other features necessary for a full production release that are not the focus of this guidance.

The notes apply to the latest version (packaged in this self-extractable zip) unless specified otherwise. To follow the project evolution, please check out specific versions of the entire system tagged V1-pseudo-prod, V2-pseudo-prod or V3-pseudo-prod in the git repository history. Also, see the Migration notes and Chapter 5, "Preparing for the V1 Release," Chapter 6, "Versioning Our System" and Chapter 7, "Adding Resilience and Optimizing Performance" of the Guide.

Building and running the sample code (RI)

This appendix describes how to obtain, build, and run the RI.

These instructions describe five different scenarios for running the RI using the Conference Visual Studio solution:

Running the application on a local web server and using a local message bus and event store.
Running the application on a local web server and using the Azure Service Bus and an event store that uses Azure table storage.
Deploying the application to the local Azure compute emulator and using a local message bus and event store.
Deploying the application to the local Azure compute emulator and using the Azure Service Bus and an event store that uses Azure table storage.
Deploying the application to Azure and using the Azure Service Bus and an event store that uses Azure table storage.

Note

The local message bus and event store use SQL Express and are intended to help you run the application locally for demonstration purposes. They are not intended to illustrate a production-ready scenario.

Note

Scenarios 1, 2, 3 and 4 use SQL Express for other data storage requirements. Scenario 5 requires you to use SQL Database instead of SQL Express.

Note

The source code download for the V3 release also includes a Conference.NoAzureSDK solution that enables you to build and run the sample application without installing the Azure SDK. This solution supports scenarios 1 and 2 only.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you should install the following pre-requisites:

Visual Studio 2010 or later
SQL Server 2008 Express or later
ASP.NET MVC 3 and MVC 4 for the V1 and V2 releases
ASP.NET MVC 4 Installer (Visual Studio 2010) for the V3 release
Microsoft Azure SDK for .NET - November 2011 for the V1 and V2 releases
Microsoft Azure SDK for .NET - June 2012 or later for the V3 release

Note

The V1 and V2 releases of the sample application used ASP.NET MVC 3 in addition to ASP.NET MVC 4. As of the V3 release all of the web applications in the project use ASP.NET MVC 4.

Note

The Azure SDK is not a pre-requisite if you plan to use the Conference.NoAzureSDK solution.

You can download and install all of these except for Visual Studio by using the Microsoft Web Platform Installer 4.0.

You can install the remaining dependencies from NuGet by running the script install-packages.ps1 included with the downloadable source.

If you plan to deploy any part of the RI to Azure (scenarios 2, 4, 5), you must have an Azure subscription. You will need to configure an Azure storage account (for blob storage), an Azure Service Bus namespace, and a SQL Database instance (they do not necessarily need to be in the same Azure subscription). You should be aware, that depending on your Azure subscription type, you may incur usage charges when you use the Azure Service Bus, Azure table storage, and when you deploy and run the RI in Azure.

At the time of writing, you can sign-up for a Microsoft Azure free trial that enables you to run the RI in Azure.

Note

Scenario 1 enables you to run the RI locally without using the Azure compute and storage emulators.

Obtaining the code

You can download the source code from the Microsoft Download Center as a self-extractable zip.
Alternatively, you can get the source code with the full git history from github.

Creating the databases

SQL Express Database

For scenarios 1, 2, 3, and 4 you can create a local SQL Express database called Conference by running the script Install-Database.ps1 in the scripts folder.

The projects in the solution use this database to store application data. The SQL-based message bus and event store also use this database.

Azure SQL Database instance

For scenario 5, you must create a SQL Database instance called Conference by running the script Install-Database.ps1 in the scripts folder.

The follow command will populate a SQL Database instance called Conference with the tables and views required to support the RI (this script assumes that you have already created the Conference database in SQL Database):

.\Install-Database.ps1 -ServerName [your-sql-azure-server].database.windows.net -DoNotCreateDatabase -DoNotAddNetworkServiceUser -UseSqlServerAuthentication -UserName [your-sql-azure-username]

You must then modify the ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg file in the Conference.Azure project to use the following connection strings.

SQL Database Connection String:

Server=tcp:[your-sql-azure-server].database.windows.net;Database=myDataBase;User ID=[your-sql-azure-username]@[your-sql-azure-server];Password=[your-sql-azure-password];Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True; MultipleActiveResultSets=True;

Azure Connection String:

DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=[your-windows-azure-storage-account-name];AccountKey=[your-windows-azure-storage-account-key]

Conference.Azure\ServiceConfiguration.Cloud.cscfg:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ServiceConfiguration serviceName="Conference.Azure" xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2008/10/ServiceConfiguration" osFamily="1" osVersion="*">
  <Role name="Conference.Web.Admin">
    <Instances count="1" />
    <ConfigurationSettings>
      <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="[your-windows-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="Diagnostics.ScheduledTransferPeriod" value="00:02:00" />
      <Setting name="Diagnostics.LogLevelFilter" value="Warning" />
      <Setting name="Diagnostics.PerformanceCounterSampleRate" value="00:00:30" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.ConferenceManagement" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.SqlBus" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
    </ConfigurationSettings>
  </Role>
  <Role name="Conference.Web.Public">
    <Instances count="1" />
    <ConfigurationSettings>
      <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="[your-windows-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="Diagnostics.ScheduledTransferPeriod" value="00:02:00" />
      <Setting name="Diagnostics.LogLevelFilter" value="Warning" />
      <Setting name="Diagnostics.PerformanceCounterSampleRate" value="00:00:30" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.Payments" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.ConferenceRegistration" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.SqlBus" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.BlobStorage" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
    </ConfigurationSettings>
  </Role>
  <Role name="WorkerRoleCommandProcessor">
    <Instances count="1" />
    <ConfigurationSettings>
      <Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString" value="[your-windows-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="Diagnostics.ScheduledTransferPeriod" value="00:02:00" />
      <Setting name="Diagnostics.LogLevelFilter" value="Information" />
      <Setting name="Diagnostics.PerformanceCounterSampleRate" value="00:00:30" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.Payments" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.EventStore" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.ConferenceRegistrationProcesses" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.ConferenceRegistration" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.SqlBus" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.BlobStorage" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
      <Setting name="DbContext.ConferenceManagement" value="[your-sql-azure-connection-string]" />
    </ConfigurationSettings>
  </Role>
</ServiceConfiguration>

Note

The LogLevelFilter values for these roles is set to either Warning or Information. If you want to capture logs from the application into the WADLogsTable, you should change these values to Verbose.

Creating the Settings.xml File

Before you can build the solution, you must create a Settings.xml file in the Infrastructure Projects\Azure solution folder. You can copy the Settings.Template.xml in this solution folder to create a Settings.xml file.

Note

You only need to create the Settings.xml file if you plan to use either the Debug or Release build configurations.

If you plan to use the Azure Service Bus and the Azure table storage based event store then you must edit the Settings.xml file in the Infrastructure Projects\Azure solution folder to include details of your Azure storage account and a Azure Service Bus namespace.

Note

See the contents of the Settings.Template.xml for details of the configuration information that is required.

Note

You cannot currently use the Azure storage emulator for the event store. You must use a real Azure storage account.

Building the RI

Open the Conference Visual Studio solution file in the code repository that you downloaded and un-zipped.

You can use NuGet to download and install all of the dependencies by running the script install-packages.ps1 before building the solution.

Build Configurations

The solution includes a number of build configurations. These are described in the following sections:

Release

Use the Release build configuration if you plan to deploy your application to Azure.

This solution uses the Azure Service Bus to provide the messaging infrastructure.

Use this build configuration if you plan to deploy the RI to Azure (scenario 5).

Debug

Use the Debug build configuration if you plan either to deploy your application locally to the Azure compute emulator or to run the application locally and stand-alone without using the Azure compute emulator.

This solution uses the Azure Service Bus to provide the messaging infrastructure and the event store based on Azure table storage (scenarios 2 and 4).

DebugLocal

Use the DebugLocal build configuration if you plan to either deploy your application locally to the Azure compute emulator or run the application on a local web server without using the Azure compute emulator.

This solution uses a local messaging infrastructure and event store built using SQL Server (scenarios 1 and 3).

Running the RI

When you run the RI, you should first create a conference, add at least one seat type, and then publish the conference using the Conference.Web.Admin site.

After you have published the conference, you will then be able to use the site to order seats and use the simulated the payment process using the Conference.Web site.

The following sections describe how to run the RI using in the different scenarios.

Scenario 1. Local Web Server, SQL Event Bus, SQL Event Store

To run this scenario you should build the application using the DebugLocal configuration.

Run the WorkerRoleCommandProcessor project as a console application.

Run the Conference.Web.Public and Conference.Web.Admin (located in the ConferenceManagement folder) as web applications.

Scenario 2. Local Web Server, Azure Service Bus, Table Storage Event Store

To run this scenario you should build the application using the Debug configuration.

Run the WorkerRoleCommandProcessor project as a console application.

Run the Conference.Web.Public and Conference.Web.Admin (located in the ConferenceManagement folder) as web applications.

Scenario 3. Compute Emulator, SQL Event Bus, SQL Event Store

To run this scenario you should build the application using the DebugLocal configuration.

Run the Conference.Azure Azure project.

Note

To use the Azure compute emulator you must launch Visual Studio as an administrator.

Scenario 4. Compute Emulator, Azure Service Bus, Table Storage Event Store

To run this scenario you should build the application using the Debug configuration.

Run the Conference.Azure Azure project.

Note

To use the Azure compute emulator you must launch Visual Studio as an administrator.

Scenario 5. Azure, Azure Service Bus, Table Storage Event Store

Deploy the Conference.Azure Azure project to your Azure account.

Note

You must also ensure that you have created Conference database in SQL Database using the Install-Database.ps1 in the scripts folder as described above. You must also ensure that you have modified the connection strings in the configuration files in the solution to point to your SQL Database Conference database instead of your local SQL Express Conference database as described above.

Running the Tests

The following sections describe how to run the unit, integration, and acceptance tests.

Running the Unit and Integration Tests

The unit and integration tests in the Conference solution are created using xUnit.net.

For more information about how you can run these tests, please visit the xUnit.net site on Codeplex.

Running the Acceptance Tests

The acceptance tests are located in the Visual Studio solution in the Conference.AcceptanceTests folder.

You can use NuGet to download and install all of the dependencies by running the script install-packages.ps1 before building this solution.

The acceptance tests are created using SpecFlow. For more information about SpecFlow, please visit SpecFlow.

The SpecFlow tests are implemented using xUnit.net.

The Conference.AcceptanceTests solution uses the same build configurations as the Conference solution to control whether you run the acceptance tests against either the local SQL-based messaging infrastructure and event store or the Azure Service Bus messaging infrastructure and Azure table storage based event store.

You can use the xUnit console runner or a third-party tool with Visual Studio integration and xUnit support (for example TDD.net) to run the tests. The xUnit GUI tool is not supported.

Known issues

The list of known issues attached and is available online.

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Appendix 1: Release Notes

System evolution

Building and running the sample code (RI)

Prerequisites

Obtaining the code

Creating the databases

SQL Express Database

Azure SQL Database instance

Creating the Settings.xml File

Building the RI

Build Configurations

Release

Debug

DebugLocal

Running the RI

Scenario 1. Local Web Server, SQL Event Bus, SQL Event Store

Scenario 2. Local Web Server, Azure Service Bus, Table Storage Event Store

Scenario 3. Compute Emulator, SQL Event Bus, SQL Event Store

Scenario 4. Compute Emulator, Azure Service Bus, Table Storage Event Store

Scenario 5. Azure, Azure Service Bus, Table Storage Event Store

Running the Tests

Running the Unit and Integration Tests

Running the Acceptance Tests

Known issues

Additional resources