Windows Server AppFabric Beta 2 for .NET Framework 4 RTM

Aptly labeled, Windows Server AppFabric Beta 2 Refresh, the technology follows the RTM of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4. Microsoft is offering Windows Server AppFabric to customers building and managing composite applications designed to run on Internet Information Services. The set of integrated technologies also streamlines scaling apps created by leveraging ASP.NET, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF).

“AppFabric Beta 2 Refresh is an update of AppFabric Beta 2 on top of the .NET Framework 4 RTM release. No big changes have been made since the Beta 2 release,” an excerpt from the Release Notes accompanying the Beta 2 Refresh build reads.

AppFabric brings to the table a collection of integrated technologies aimed at companies that are currently leveraging Internet Information Services (IIS). With the application server, devs can build, scale and manage web and composite applications expanding on top of the already familiar IIS environment. Specifically, Windows Server AppFabric is designed for applications that have been put together leveraging Microsoft technologies including ASP.NET, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF).

“It provides out-of-the-box capabilities for you to easily build and manage composite applications, including: enhanced design and development tools in Visual Studio to build rich composite applications; management and monitoring of services and workflows via integration with IIS Manager and Windows PowerShell; distributed in-memory application cache to improve application performance,” Microsoft explained.

Windows Server AppFabric Beta 2 Refresh has been made available for customers looking to take advantage of .NET Framework 4 RTM. Early adopters that have been testing the release already know that Windows Server AppFabric has swallowed technologies formerly codenamed “Dublin” and “Velocity.” Microsoft developed hosting and caching technologies (high-speed access, scale, and high availability) under the Velocity project, while the Dublin codename referred to WF and WCF app creation and management capabilities.

“The AppFabric upgrade program does not enable you to upgrade from a Beta 1 or Beta 2 version of AppFabric. Using the program, you can only upgrade from AppFabric Beta 2 Refresh to RTW. You must upgrade from AppFabric Beta 1 or Beta 2 by first uninstalling AppFabric, and then installing a later version,” it is added in the Release Notes.

Customers interested in testing Windows Server AppFabric Beta 2 Refresh will have to remove existent installations of Windows Server AppFabric. Early adopters have to uninstall Windows Server AppFabric Beta 1 and Windows Server AppFabric Beta 2, followed by.NET Framework 4 Beta 2 or .NET 4 RC, and only then proceed to installing .NET 4 RTM and Beta 2 Refresh.

Windows Server AppFabric Beta 2 Refresh is available for download here

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