Display PHP error messages on IIS 7.0 / 7.5

Have you ever tried running PHP on IIS with FastCGI? Yes, it runs, and it does it smoothly. However regardless of php.ini settings for “display_errors” and “error_reporting”, starting with IIS 7.0, you will most probably see only “Internal Server Error 500.XX” for any error generated by PHP (even if it is just a warning or even notice). And yes, the hard workaround is to turn on Failed Request Tracing on the site, and examine FRT log files. Which I’m sure you don’t want!

The solution is here: http://serverfault.com/questions/69839/show-php-error-message-on-iis-7

The reason:

With IIS7, it doesn't pass the errors through by default. It's "existingResponse" that needs to be set.

The solution (run this line with elevated command prompt):

c:\windows\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config "{sitename}" -section:system.webServer/httpErrors /existingResponse:"PassThrough" /commit:apphost

and do not forget to replace {sitename} with the real site name.

New features in SQL Azure

An amazing set of new features has been announced recently. These features include:

• 50 GB Database SKU, available upon request
• MARS (Multiple Active Result Sets) This is very useful feature, since lots of developers are having issues with connection when using Entity Framework. The EF connection string enables MARS by default and developers are having though times to identify connection errors.
• Alter rename process for symmetry in renaming databases

You can read more details at SQL Azure team blog:
http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlazure/archive/2010/04/16/9997517.aspx

IIS Compression in Windows Azure is now possible

As by recent blog post from Steve Marx, the Dynamic Compression module is now enabled in Windows Azure. That change is made is March release of Windows Azure Guest OS 1.2

Imagine Cup local finals judge

I am honored to be a judge at local finals of the Imagine Cup Student Competition 2010. I will be part of the jury for the Software Design category.

Good luck to all teams!

May the technology be with you!

Solution to Silverlight Design Time issues in a Windows Azure Cloud Service

I just want to share a blog post from Azure team, where they reveal how to deal with bunch of irritating issues that one would have if developing Silverlight based application for the cloud. You can read the full story here: http://blogs.msdn.com/jnak/archive/2010/03/23/fixing-the-silverlight-design-time-in-a-windows-azure-cloud-service.aspx