Robert Hurlbut Blog

This weekend, I have been reading everything I can find on Enterprise Services.  As you may know, this is the .Net extension to COMPlus (now at version 1.5 for XP/W2K3) for scalability (among other benefits and advantages).  I am doing this in relation to my work with Sam Gentile, as well as for my own benefit in order to expand what I already know after working with MTS/COMPlus for the last 4-5 years.

So far, my sources have been as follows:

1. Microsoft .Net Framework SDK Class Library Reference - I almost always start at the Class Library Reference, because this is where the specs are.
2. Clemens Vasters Blog - He has done a tremendous amount of research for his book (in German).  For now, since I haven't read German in over ten years, I am data mining his blogs in order to extract the nuggets.
3. Articles on MSDN - I have found the following articles to be very helpful:
• COMPlus Integration: How .NET Enterprise Services Can Help You Build Distributed Applications - Tim Ewald's article is an excellent introduction, especially if you have read his book Transactional COMPlus: Building Scalable Applications.
• Discover Powerful Low-Level Programming in Windows XP with New COMPlus APIs - An early article by Tim Ewald and Craig Andera.
• Understanding Enterprise Services (COMPlus) in .NET - Also an earlier article on COMPlus with .Net.
• .NET Enterprise Services and COMPlus 1.5 Architecture - This is the most recent article detailing the relationship between Enterprise Services and the latest COMPlus version (1.5) that runs on XP/W2K3.
4. Background books - There are a few books that have also proven helpful in getting a good foundation with COMPlus (1.0 and on) for understanding Enterprise Services:
• Designing Solutions With Com + Technologies - This book, along with Tim Ewald's book above, were my primers to really get me into COMPlus (after the move from MTS).
• The COM and COMPlus Programming Primer - A book I haven't personally read, but looks good.
• COMPlus Programming: A Practical Guide Using Visual C++ and ATL - Another book I haven't read, but also looks to be good (and I know others who really like it).

I am sure I have missed some other good resources.  If others know of some goods ones I missed, please let me know.

After I finish my study, I will publish some of my findings, if anyone is interested.  In particular, I am interested in seeing some of the things that were scheduled to be fixed in the 1.1 Framework that weren't working quite right in the 1.0 Framework (for example:  losing the CallContext as mentioned in 315883 and 319177 -- these were addressed in the SP2 for 1.0 Framework, but I am curious about any new changes/improvements in 1.1).

Another activity I will be looking at is load testing with the new Enterprise Services (using 1.1 Framework).  Has anyone published any information/case studies regarding extensive load tests?