June 2003

Windows Server 2003: Discover Improved System Info, New Kernel, Debugging, Security, and UI APIs

There's a lot to say about Windows Server 2003. First of all, it's the first operating system with built-in .NET Framework support, and it's the first 64-bit OS from Microsoft. But wait, there's more! There are lots of new features and APIs in this version as well. For instance, Windows Server 2003 features Hot Add Memory and a number of other arcane new tidbits. There are new APIs for handling threads, directories, and files, and new features like the low fragmentation heap for managing memory and system information. There's vectored exception handling and new UI APIs as well.OS internals expert Matt Pietrek takes a look at the additions he finds most interesting and useful so you'll have a good place to start when you dive into Windows Server 2003. Matt Pietrek

ASP.NET Pipeline: Use Threads and Build Asynchronous Handlers in Your Server-Side Web Code

Fortunately for developers, threading in ASP.NET is a lot easier than it was in ASP. In this article, the author takes a look at threading in the ASP.NET HTTP pipeline, and explains how threads are managed efficiently without the involvement of the developer. The article considers how the common language runtime threadpool is used by ASP.NET to service requests, looks at the pooling mechanisms used for handlers, modules, and applications, and covers both IIS 5.0 and IIS 6.0 and how they differ in their approach to request processing and thread allocation. Finally, how and when to use asynchronous handlers is discussed for developers who still need to use threads in their own applications. Fritz Onion

Zip Your Data: Using the Zip Classes in the J# Class Libraries to Compress Files and Data with C#

Zip compression lets you save space and network bandwidth when storing files or sending them over the wire. In addition, you don't lose the directory structure of folders you Zip, which makes it a pretty useful compression scheme. The C# language doesn't have any classes that let you manipulate Zip files, but since .NET-targeted languages can share class implementations, and J# exposes classes in the java.util.zip namespace, you can get to those classes in your C# code. This article explains how to use the Microsoft J# class libraries to create an application in C# that compresses and decompresses Zip files. It also shows other unique parts of the J# runtime you can use from any .NET-compliant language to save some coding. Ianier Munoz

.NET Remoting: Secure Your .NET Remoting Traffic by Writing an Asymmetric Encryption Channel Sink

As .NET Remoting gains popularity in the enterprise space, it must meet business demands for trustworthy computing. Remoting traffic can be secured when objects are hosted in IIS, but when they aren't hosted in IIS, custom security solutions can be developed to secure them. This article provides an in-depth look at writing channel sinks for .NET. It also details the flow of data through custom channel sinks and explains the kinds of manipulations that can be performed on that data. Stephen Toub

Smart Cleanup: Achieve More Reliable Resource Management with Our Custom C++ Classes

Managing resources in C++ is not easy. When you're unsuccessful, your app can leak all kinds of resources including file system handles, database connections, and, of course, memory. Even in garbage-collected languages like Managed C++, resource management is difficult because garbage collection only deals with memory management, not the other resources that cause performance problems.In this article, the author describes the SmartAny template library he created, which uses a policy-based approach to dynamic resource management. Readers will learn how to use the SmartAny classes and policies to ensure the proper cleanup of their resources, be they files, OS handles, or native and unmanaged objects. Eric Niebler

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