Did you know you can get Zend Server in a VPS instance for UNDER TEN dollars a month.
I’ve posted a full tutorial HERE on Zend Developer Zone.
Archive for the ‘ PHP’ Category
Today Zend announces Zend Server 6 and Zend Studio 10 !
Both are SIGNIFICANT new versions.
Check out www.Zend.com to learn about all the new features but there are a couple things I want to point out here.
- Zend Server 6 FREE EDITION. Not only will you immediately see the improvements in the user interface of Zend Server 6 but Zend is making a free version available. Yes I know that Zend previously offered a “Community Edition” but this is different. The Free version is not a different edition but a version of the same product as all the other Zend Server. You’ll see the features in the FREE edition and you can upgrade when you want the extended versions of those features. Example: The free version saves one hour of event monitoring data.
- Zend Studio 10 is HUGE for Mobile development and natively understands cloud deployment.
To celebrate we are offering Zend Studio at 50% off !!!!
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PHP
The PHP I: Foundations course is designed to provide non-programmers with a solid foundation in the PHP language. This course guides you through the basics of PHP with an experiential approach, filled with numerous examples and hands-on exercises, including substantial practice in coding a functional application. All of the exercises are designed to reinforce key learning.
Visit the Zend Store for details and a Coupon Code
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We just announced the availability of the Windows Azure SDK for PHP version 3.0, which include new features making it easy to take advantage of Windows Azure scalability.
This announcement is the showcases the www.hotelpeeps.com case study, a Facebook application powered by PHP on Windows Azure and to highlight code contribution to the SDK by the community.
Along with the SDK announcement, we also released a new PHP sample application called the “Deal of the Day”, showing how PHP developers can build scalable application on Windows Azure, with the new features included in the new SDK for PHP version 3.0.
We’ve also deployed a live version of the “Deal of The Day” on Windows Azure, to let developers test it for real and get a chance to win actual fun prizes (sweepstake eligibility valid only in the US).
So….
1. There is a new version of the Windows Azure SDK for PHP v3 , with major new features enabling to easily to take advantage of Windows Azure scalability.
2. Experts from the PHP community are building real world scalable applications on Windows Azure and are contributing back to the Windows Azure SDK for PHP open source project
3. We released a “how-to scale on Windows Azure with PHP” series and a sample application “Deal of The Day”, deployed on Windows Azure as a sweepstakes (prizes eligibility valid only in the US)
4. Windows Azure is an open and interoperable platform, and offers choices to developers by allowing use multiples languages (.NET, PHP, Java) and development tools (Visual Studio or Eclipse)
Q&A
· What’s new in the SDK 3.0
The most notable enhancement with version 3.0 is the new Service Management API, which gives PHP developers simple way to pilot how and when application should scale. See also the list of new features announced with the Beta: http://blog.maartenballiauw.be/post/2011/04/21/Windows-Azure-SDK-for-PHP-v3-0-0-BETA-released.aspx
· Do you need the Windows Azure SDK for PHP to run PHP on Windows Azure?
The Windows Azure SDK for PHP is not required to run PHP on Windows Azure, but it simplifies considerably to work to make web applications take advantage of Windows Azure cloud oriented features. The SDK for PHP provides speed dial to these features, which are available through APIs (using REST protocol for the most part)
· Is the “Deal of the Day” sample application a blueprint for building scalable application with PHP on Windows Azure?
No, “DotD” is a sample application meant to teach the fundamental options available to developers to build scalable applications. It is not a complete blueprint. Microsoft will continue to publish additional samples and guidance to help developer pick the right architecture.
For more info :
Read these.
Bing Maps extension (http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/bingmaps/):
With this extension, Joomla! users can easily include customized Bing Maps into the content they are publishing, and administrator can preconfigure how the map should look, and where it can be added. 
Silverlight Pivot viewer extension (http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/pivotviewer/):
With this extension Joomla! users can visually navigate with the Silverlight Pivot viewer through large amount of data. Administrators define what is the data source using a set of preconfigured options like OData, RSS, media files, etc, .
Windows Live ID extensions(http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/windowsliveid/):
With this extension Joomla! users can associate their Joomla! account to their Windows Live ID, and then to login on Joomla! with Windows Live ID. 
OData extension (http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/odata/):
With this extension Joomla! administrator can provide users with quick access to any OData source, like the Netflix catalog (check the list of live OData services), and let them include these in any content type (such as articles). The generic extension includes a basic OData query builder and renders data in a simple HTML Table.
These extensions are developed and contributed by Schakra and MindTree, with funding provided by Microsoft.
Those busy guys at php|tek have come up with an awesome PHP Webcast Series.
Join me in attending
February 4th – Josh Butts on Phactory for Unit Testing
Unit Testing with databases is painful at minimum and difficult at best. In this session, we’ll talk about Phactory and how to use it to create objects, generate data, and even test against MongoDB.
Register here »
February 18th – Clark Sell on What is Microsoft WebMatrix?
Did you know WebMatrix could download WordPress, MySQL, PHP, allow you to make some changes and then deploy it right to your ISP? In this webcast, Clark will provide an overview of the newly released WebMatrix. Clark will explain where it fits into the overall Web Deployment story on Windows.
Register here »
March 4th – Nate Abele on Lithium Framework
Have you heard about this "next generation" of PHP frameworks and wondered what all the hype is about? Are you using PHP 5.3, but still have trouble getting your head around features like closures and where they’re useful? In addition to giving you an overview of how to build an application with Lithium framework and an in-depth look at the flexible filter system and advanced class design, this session will delve into how different patterns and paradigms (including object-oriented, aspect-oriented, functional and even procedural) come together to make Lithium one of the most flexible, but also one of the most pragmatic, PHP frameworks available.
Register here »
March 18th – Bill Karwin on SQL Antipatterns: The Next Generation
Following his popular 2010 book "SQL Antipatterns," Bill Karwin describes all-new blunders developers frequently make when using SQL and shows how to solve these problems with PHP examples. Topics include: Crosstab Crossroads, Shell Game, Transaction Encapsulation, and Reading Off the Script.
Register here »
April 1st – Aaron Brazell on Pluggable Authorization in WordPress
This session will look at ways to override and "hijack" the authentication process allowing WordPress to leverage existing third-party authentication systems such as LDAP or OAuth. It will also examine ways to allow third-party applications to leverage WordPress’ authentication system for single sign-on capability across a non-homogenous suite of applications.
Register here »
April 15th – Travis Swicegood on Node.js
Node.js allows developers to rapidly build network applications that can handle tens of thousands of users. At least, that’s the promise. This talk introduces developers to Node.js and its ecosystem. It separates the hype from the reality and helps them answer the question, "is Node right for me?"
Register here »
April 29th – Peter Laudati on Deploying PHP Apps to Windows Azure
In this webcast, we’ll provide an overview of Azure’s services tuned specifically to the needs of a PHP developer. We’ll look at how PHP applications can be deployed to Azure, as well as how Azure’s services can be consumed from PHP apps via the PHP SDK. Want to offload your images and other large media files from your existing shared host? We’ll show how you can you can do this using Azure’s storage service. We’ll also look at SQL Azure, the relational database service provided by Azure, and show how you can migrate your MySQL data to it.
Register here »
May 13th – Matthew Weier O’Phinney on Git Over it
With the explosion of distributed version control systems (DVCS) in the past decade, a few have risen to the top in terms of adoption, including Mercurial, Bazaar, and Git. In this webinar, we’ll look at the basics of Git and some common workflows you’ll encounter when using Git in the real world, collaborating with others.
Register here »
Yep! Another great Murach’s book.
This book is the quintessential learning resource for PHP development.
Like all of Murach’s books, it teaches far more then the nuts and bolts of the technology but also what the right ways to use them are.
The book is up to date with PHP 5.3 and takes you through getting the PHP Stack set up (Windows or Mac)
It quickly covers foundational requirements like HTML, CSS, and HTTP and then jumps into how to write and debug PHP code.
It not only covers the breadth of detail about web programming specifics with PHP, like cookies, images, uploads, etc. but also provides great higher level guidance.
There are sections on often overlooked topics for new PHP developers like Object Oriented Programming and using the MVC pattern in PHP.
As I often say about Murach’s books – if I were teaching a course on PHP development, this is the book I would teach the course from. Not only a great learning / training resource, but once you’ve read it, it becomes a great desk reference.
Drupal 7 was released recently with a vast number of interesting changes and new features.
Today Microsoft is announcing a collection of support for interop with Microsoft Technologies.
- Install with WPI
- MSQ Server
- Windows Azure
- Bing Maps
- Live ID
- OData
- Silverlight Pivot Viewer
Today the Microsoft Interoperability Technical Strategy team is shipping a new Community Technology Preview (October 2010 CTP) of the Windows Azure Tools for Eclipse for PHP.
This Eclipse plug-in provides PHP developers using Eclipse with tools to create and deploy web applications targeting Windows Azure.
Brian Swan has developed a complete tutorial “Using the Windows Azure Tools For Eclipse with PHP”
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Try your hand at PHP on Windows and win a complete 52″ HDTV home entertainment system and the opportunity to present your creation to the crowd at php|tek 2010 in Chicago with an all-expenses paid trip!
Have you tried to run PHP on Windows? No?
That’s why PHP Architect is hosting the Great PHP on Windows® Contest!
The basics of the contest are simple:
- Write a new application designed to run in PHP on Windows using IIS—or make a significant contribution to an existing open-source project along the same lines
- The best application, selected jointly by a panel of experts and by our readers, will win a grand prize composed of a 52″ Digital HD home entertainment system, as well as an all-expenses paid trip to php|tek 2010 in Chicago.
- Runner-up prizes include 2 XBox 360 Ultimate and subscriptions to php|architect.
- Not familiar with Windows? No worries—we have partnered with Applied Innovations to give the first sixty participants absolutely free hosting on a pre-configured virtual machine for the duration of the contest.
- The contest is open to residents of the United States only—but you can still win by voting, no matter where you are.
For more info : http://www.phparch.com/win
Did you know Microsoft has a team in Developer Division that is specifically focused on Interop ??
Their latest coolness is a submission to Zend to add Azure support to their PHP Cloud Initiative.
Click HERE to read a detailed blog post from the Interop Team.
I’ve been working on some new interop scenarios for PHP and .NET and wanted to share the Toolkit for PHP with ADO.NET Data Services that was released a few weeks ago.
The official description …..
Toolkit for PHP with ADO.NET Data Services enables PHP developers to access data services created using ADO .NET Data Services framework. The goal is to provide the similar functionality as .NET library to access and modify the data and its relationship using URIs which points to pieces of data integrated with the web.
Check it out here http://phpdataservices.codeplex.com/
.. and a walk though of sorts [ HERE ].
Technorati Tags: Microsof ADO.NET Data Services REST PHP Interop
Today the Microsoft IIS team has released the beta of the Windows Cache Extension 1.0 for PHP.
The Windows Cache Extension for PHP is a PHP accelerator, that is used to increase the speed of PHP applications running on the Windows operating systems.
Any PHP application can take advantage of the functionality provided by the Windows Cache Extension for PHP without any code modifications. All that is required is that the extension is enabled and loaded by the PHP engine.
Install the Windows Cache Extension 1.0 for PHP – Beta
or, download:
Windows Cache Extension 1.0 for PHP 5.2 – Beta
Windows Cache Extension 1.0 for PHP 5.3 – Beta
Follow the instructions at “Using Windows Cache Extension for PHP” to install, enable and configure the extension.
Note:
- The extension can only be used with non-thread-safe builds of PHP
- The extension can only be used when IIS is configured to run PHP via FastCGI
- The Windows Cache Extension 1.0 for PHP 5.3 can only be used with the x86 VC9 build of PHP 5.3.
Benefits and Features
The extension includes three caches that can be enabled or disabled independently of each other:
- PHP opcode cache – PHP is a script processing engine, which reads an input stream of data that contains text and/or PHP instructions and produces another stream of data, most commonly in the HTML format. This means that on a web server the PHP engine reads, parses, compiles and executes a PHP script each time that it is requested by a Web client. The reading, parsing and compilation operations put additional load on the web server’s CPU and file system and thus affect the overall performance of a PHP web application. The PHP bytecode (opcode) cache is used to store the compiled script bytecode in shared memory so that it can be re-used by PHP engine for subsequent executions of the same script.
- File cache – Even with the PHP bytecode cache enabled, the PHP engine has to accesses the script files on a file system. When PHP scripts are stored on a remote UNC file share, the file operations introduce a significant performance overhead. The Windows Cache Extension for PHP includes a file cache that is used to store the content of the PHP script files in shared memory, which reduces the amount of file system operations performed by PHP engine.
- Relative file path cache – PHP scripts very often include or operate with files by using relative file paths. Every relative file path has to be converted to an absolute file path by the PHP engine. When a PHP application uses many PHP files and accesses them by relative paths, the operation of resolving relative paths to absolute paths may negatively impact the application’s performance. The Windows Cache Extension for PHP provides a Relative File Path cache, which is used to store the mappings between relative and absolute file paths, thereby reducing the number of relative path resolutions that the PHP engine has to perform.
More information
Use the Windows Cache Extension for PHP Forum to ask questions, report bugs and provide feature suggestions.
Technorati Tags: Microsoft IIS PHP Cache
I thought this was cool – a new way to integrate Live@edu into a Moodle virtual learning environment!
This plug-in is a free download that provides integrated access to Live@edu services such as e-mail, calendar, instant messaging and search within the Moodle environment.
http://blogs.msdn.com/ukliveatedu/archive/2009/07/22/hello-moodle.aspx
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Open Source, PHP
Though I do a lot of PHP development work, I still think ASP.NET is the best option for new web development.
Still, it “feels” a bit weird that Microsoft is contributing to these PHP efforts.
Did you know that Microsoft is contributing to the PHP Engine ?
http://blogs.iis.net/mailant/archive/2009/05/18/contributions-to-the-php-engine.aspx
I wonder if we have more 5.3 submissions than Zend yet 
?
What about WordPress ? WordPress is a great, great blogging application and probably the most used on the web.
We recently submitted code to WordPress to support URL Rewriting on IIS 7
http://ruslany.net/2009/05/iis-7-url-rewrite-module-support-in-wordpress-28/
Weird, but very cool !
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Open Source, PHP
I like to connect things, I always have. Early in my career as a developer things got build and no one ever considered application integration until after the fact.
When I started at Microsoft in 2001 nobody was integrating ASP.NET and PHP applications and it seemed like a natural thing to want to do to me.
I prefer ASP.NET for new web development but like many of the existing PHP applications like Drupal.
I’ve been doing it ever since and Microsoft’s SQL Driver for PHP makes it much easier to do.
Now you can install the latest version with the Microsoft Web Platform Installer
Get it here http://www.microsoft.com/Web/downloads/
I often want something between Visual Studio and NotePad
ActivieState makes some GREAT software and I recently installed Komodo 5 (I’m a longtime Komodo user)
I especially use it or Python, Perl, and various script dialects !
Some of the new stuff as described on the Komodo web page…
You might know I do ALOT of PHP work on Windows, getting PHP to talk with different finds of .NET objects and COM Objects, etc.
Lately I’ve been prototyping a PHP class to access the ASP.NET Membership and Roles store.
I’m also an IDE junkie and whatever increases my productivity I’m in for !
If you’re a Visual Studio developer, you are used to the productivity of forms based, event driven developers tools (Visual Studio)
We’ll I tried out the first version of Delphi for PHP and liked it, but ….. It was young
Well 2.0 is the REAL DEAL and I LOVE IT !
And I’m actually working with the 2.1 beta that adds some great features. Yes, the Borland Dev Tools guys are still around and well!
I ran into DavidI (David Intersimone), THE Father of the Developer Community Concept, Anders Ohlsson, and Delphi Product Manager, Nick Hodges where they showed my the cool v.Next features.
They have new 2009 versions of Delphi for .NET and Delphi for Windows as well.
Get a free trial of Delphi for PHP here http://cc.codegear.com/free/delphiphp
I’m working on my demos for ZendCon and updating a PHP Chat application built on the Microsoft Ajax Client Libraries and the PHPMSAJAX codeplex project.
Since I want to use a JSON serializer and PHP 5.2 has one built in, I wanted to upgrade the default PHP version on CentOS (5.1) to 5.2.
To do this, I needed to install from an alternate repository maintained by “Remi” .
He has a repository for many distros, but since I’m updating CentOS, I used the RedHat ES5 repository.
Here are the commands you need to run.
wget http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pu…5-2.noarch.rpm
wget http://rpms.famillecollet.com/el5.i3…emi.noarch.rpm
rpm -Uvh remi-release-5*.rpm epel-release-5*.rpm
Ater these steps the .rpm(s) are you your system but that not installed and active.
To “install” them do this…..
yum –enablerepo=remi update php
PHP 5.2.6 should now be installed.
Check by running this command in a console.
# php -v
The output should indicate the latest version of PHP.
To see the results from phpinfo(); you’ll probably have to restart Apache. (Or at least I did.)
Christian Wenz has pushed a new release of he PHP libraries for the Microsoft AJAX libraries with support version 3.5.
Get it here on Codeplex http://www.codeplex.com/phpmsajax
Lots, even MOST PHP applications are Open Souce but what if you want to distribute your application but don’t want to distribute your PHP Source Code ?
Check out Nu-Coder from NuSphere.
Nu-Coder converts the source code of PHP Script into compiled PHP bytecodes for both accelerated runtime performance and maximum security.
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Version 1.0 of the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP is available for download on the MSDN download site.
The possibilities are endless !!!
Microsoft announces the CTP release of SQL Server 2005 Drivers for PHP
This opens up some very cool possibility for heterogeneous environment developers.
My first project ? A PHP Class library to integrate with ASP.NET’s Membership & Profile System.
Click HERE to get the SQL Driver CTP
FastCGI for IIS has launched.
This is HUGE for developers in heterogeneous environments and developers that “get” the power of ASP.NET but also want to leverage the great PHP applications that are available out there.
· FastCGI is a free download and you can get it at http://www.iis.net/php
· FastCGI allows IIS to reuse CGI processes for multiple requests to PHP applications, enables PHP hosting on Windows with comparable reliability and performance to Linux.
· Microsoft is embracing the PHP community and to help bootstrap early adopters of PHP on Windows, we’ve been validating the popular PHP applications on Windows and publishing walkthroughs that give step by step instructions on how to setup and install the most popular PHP apps on top of FastCGI and IIS/Windows.
Get it here – http://www.iis.net/fastcgi
Here is the official “Press Release” !
“Microsoft is eager to announce the release of Microsoft FastCGI Extension for IIS 6.0 (FastCGI Extension) as a free download from the IIS community site, www.iis.net. For the first time, Microsoft is providing its customers full support for a stack of technology that enables reliable, scalable PHP hosting on production Internet Information Services 6.0 (IIS 6) Web servers.”
“Furthermore, Zend has validated their Zend Core offering, a certified and supported version of PHP, on this release of FastCGI and found PHP on Windows performs comparably to PHP on Linux. Andi Gutmans, Chief Technology Officer of Zend states, ‘We have been testing PHP on this FastCGI technology for over a year and we are very pleased with this official release from Microsoft. There is finally a PHP solution for Windows that offers a comparable level of stability and throughput as PHP on Linux.’ “
“This release could not have come at a more exciting time for the technology: previous beta releases on IIS.NET have had over 14,000 downloads and no less than six hosting partners have already begun offering PHP hosting on IIS 6 with the FastCGI Extension. In addition to the downloads, the www.iis.net community site also has a very active forum of users exchanging ideas and providing feedback about the FastCGI Extension. “
“With Microsoft’s implementation of the FastCGI open standard, IT Professionals will be able to host PHP applications on Windows Server® 2003 and IIS 6 with increased reliability, scalability, and security. Customers also know that they will be able to count on Microsoft to stand by and service the Microsoft FastCGI Extension. By supporting the open standard, Microsoft has made it possible for PHP and other CGI compliant languages to be hosted efficiently and effectively on Windows Server 2003 and IIS. With the addition of FastCGI, IIS reliably and performantly hosts ASP.NET; classic ASP and PHP Web applications, making it easy for IT Professionals to standardize on IIS and Windows Server as their Web platform of choice.”
“This FastCGI Extension release is supported on IIS 6 in Windows Server 2003 for a fully scalable production environment and runs on IIS 5.1 in Windows XP in order to support developers who build their Web applications on Windows client machines. This provides developers easy access to build and deploy a broader range of Web applications on the Microsoft platform. To further facilitate application support, the IIS product group is working with the community to test and optimize popular PHP applications on this platform. The IIS product group will make available ‘getting started’ guides for the most popular PHP applications as part of the release to help developers and Web hosters evaluate.”
“Looking ahead, betas of Windows Server 2008, already include the FastCGI Extension as a completely integrated feature of Internet Information Services IIS 7.0 (IIS7). The new modular architecture introduced in IIS 7 will provide additional functionality to PHP applications by enabling them to take advantage of new managed code services. In fact, Hostway has already deployed a PHP offer on Windows Server 2008 and Senior Architect, Matthew Baldwin, claims ‘IIS7’s integrated PHP support lets us offer our customers a host of new application options, with the same IIS infrastructure so there is no increase in support costs.’ ”
“These results demonstrate how Microsoft is embracing PHP hosting on Windows. As a result of these efforts, the PHP community will be able to take advantage of the increased reliability of PHP on Windows and simplified administration available on the Windows platform. Furthermore, this work multiplies the opportunities available on the Windows platform to partners and developers. Regardless of the development or licensing model, today’s successful companies are choosing Windows.”
Some years ago I got an email from an interesting young man named Michael Pham and we discussed PHP IDEs.
I am NOT one of those guys who insist on using a featureless editor to write code (and prove how geeky I am.) I love good IDEs.
For my PHP work I routinely use all the “biggies”.
- PHPEd by NuSphere (Which is AWESOME if you are a Windows User – $229 Pro, $119 Std, Retail)
- Active State Komodo (Great, Multi Platform, not PHP Specific – $295 Retail)
- Zend Studio (Strong, but moving to an Eclipse based Version – $299 Retail)
Michael remembered wishing for a commercial quality PHP IDE that was frugally priced when he ws a student – so he wrote one !
He just released the 2008 version and, as with all his new releases, it’s packed with new features.
The personal version (last version) is FREE !
The Pro Version is €39
10 Users is €249
Unlimited Site Licence is €499
And the Academic licence for the full version is €29
I hope you’ll check it out. Michael originally gave me a free evaluation copy and I liked it so much I paid him for it!
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Microsoft has released a Community Technology Preview of its new SQL 2005 driver for PHP.
Click HERE to get the bits.
I’ve been talking to developers about PHP for a very long time and I’ve been talking to my peers at Microsoft about why Windows should be a great production platform for PHP for 6 years.
I was tickled last year when Microsoft announced the partnership with Zend and the commitment to work on a Fast CGI implementation for IIS.
I’m even MORE thrilled with this weeks announcements.
· Zend and Microsoft announce today that we will continue work on FastCGI and scalable PHP hosting on Windows Servers. Specifically, Zend has committed to redistribute FastCGI in Zend Core, its certified PHP 5 offering.
· Zend will ensure that Zend Core fully supports the Server Core installation option for Windows Server 2008, allowing their optimized PHP to be hosted on the most streamlined version of Windows Server ever released.
· Microsoft and Zend have formed an additional strategic relationship to enable support for information cards by PHP developers through a component built for Zend Framework. This collaboration will enable PHP developers to create applications that support identification and authentication, including single sign-on, for a broad range of Web site users, including those using Windows CardSpace. This commitment to interoperability will reduce development costs and help make the Web safer and more secure for people.
· Microsoft announces the availability of the first Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP. The PHP Driver delivers an API designed-to-enable reliable, scalable integration with SQL Server for PHP applications deployed on the Windows platform. Zend and Microsoft are working together with the PHP Community to ensure that the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP is a great offering for PHP developers and part of Zend’s core PHP offering.
I’ve always believed that real freedom for developers meant the freedom to choose the best tool for the job at hand and not be bridled by impositions, technical or social, in our problem solving.
I will continue to use ASP.NET for commercial development work but now I can enjoy the freedom to integrate my custom built logic with the free Open Source application of my choice (Joomla, Drupal, PHP-Nuke) and be able to run that application on the platform of my choice in a per formant, reliable, and supported way.
How cool is that !?
About FASTCGI/IIS
· The next release of Zend Core, Zend’s certified version of PHP 5, will redistribute Microsoft’s FastCGI, ensuring for all of Zend’s Windows customers, that PHP is as reliable and scalable as possible on Windows Servers.
· Zend Core will support the Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008, allowing Zend’s customers to run PHP on Windows in the most streamlined and secure environment possible.
· FastCGI is available for IIS 5.1/IIS 6.0 as a Go Live release, meaning customers have a free license to deploy this production-quality release on Windows Server 2003 today.
· FastCGI will ship in Windows Server 2008 as a built-in IIS component for the first time, sparing customers the hassle of downloading, installing and patching 3rd party products.
· Microsoft embraces PHP hosting on Windows by building the enabling technology but also by working with the PHP community to ensure that popular PHP applications will run performantly on the Windows platform.
About the SQL SERVER 2005 DRIVER FOR PHP
· Microsoft is announces the availability this week of the first Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP. As part of Microsoft’s continued commitment to interoperability, the PHP Driver provides an optimized way for developers to leverage SQL Server 2005 in their PHP application.
· With this Driver, we are proud to address the needs of customers who have asked for a Microsoft-supported solution, and bring SQL Server’s scalability to PHP developers.
· The Driver is implemented as a procedural direct extension (also referred to as [])
· Microsoft envisions working together with Zend and the PHP Community to ensure that the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP is a great offering for PHP developers and part of Zend’s core PHP offering.
About CARDSPACE
· Microsoft Corp. today announces a strategic partnership with Zend Technologies that will ultimately provide people with better control over their personal information on the Web and greatly improve the trustworthiness of Web-based interactions.
· The strategic partnership will enable support for Information Cards by PHP developers through a component built for Zend Framework (Zend’s open source PHP application framework for developing Web applications and Web services).Using this component standalone or as part of the framework, PHP developers will be able to specify a Web site’s security policy and accept information cards from trusted third parties.
· Zend is producing an implementation of the Windows CardSpace authentication mechanism called Zend_Infocard, which will enable Web sites to validate CardSpace authentication tokens submitted to the Web site. Windows CardSpace enables users to provide their digital identities in a familiar, secure and simple way.
LINKS
Here is the “Official FAQ”
Q: What does it mean for a product to have a “Go Live” release?
A: A Go Live release of any Microsoft technology is of the highest possible quality before officially releasing to manufacturing. Because the release meets this higher standard, it is accompanied by a free license allowing customers to ‘go live’ with the technology by deploying it into production environments today, rather than waiting for the official RTM version.
Q: Is there a commercial offering from Zend?
A: In addition to submitting the results of the technical collaboration to the community, Zend includes the results of the technical collaboration in its Zend Core product line for the Windows Platform, which is available for free from Zend. Zend also makes available a range of paid support packages for this Zend Core product line.
Q: What is duration of the Microsoft-Zend agreement?
A: The specific terms of this agreement are confidential.
Q: How would you now characterize the relationship between Microsoft and Zend?
A: Microsoft remains committed to ASP.NET. That said, we understand many developers operate in mixed environments and we are committed to working together with developers, partners and the community to provide solutions that meet customer needs. While Microsoft and Zend compete from the perspective of ASP.NET vs PHP, we share the common goal of making sure developers, IT Pros, and web hosters have a great experience when using PHP on Windows. This is the basis of our relationship and of this technical collaboration.
A2: Zend receives feedback daily from the PHP community that it is important that PHP is well supported across the full range of hardware and software platforms in use by individuals and organizations. Improvement of Windows support has been the most requested. Zend is very excited to be able to work directly with Microsoft to deliver these improvements.
Q: Why are you working together?
A: We are working together to make sure that developers, IT Pros, and web hosters who use PHP have a great experience using Windows, SQL Server and other Microsoft technologies.
Q: Isn’t this a conflict of interest for both companies? How does this impact Microsoft’s .Net framework?
A: Microsoft’s recommended development platform is .NET and we remain committed to this platform. However, Microsoft and Zend share the common goal of making sure developers, IT Pros, and web hosters have a great experience when using PHP on Windows. This collaboration makes it easier for PHP developers to run their applications on Windows and leverage the capabilities of the .NET Framework if they so desire in IIS 7.
Q: Are you abandoning ASP.NET in favor of PHP?
A: Absolutely not. Microsoft remains 100% committed to ASP.NET. The ASP.NET product group continues to innovate and release new capabilities for ASP.NET and is always looking for new ways to more deeply integrate ASP.NET into Microsoft’s Web server platform. For example, in its upcoming release, IIS7 adopts the ASP.NET configuration system and extensibility interfaces, and integrates ASP.NET into its HTTP request processing, management tools and tracing. However, we understand many developers operate in mixed environments and we are committed to working together with developers, partners and the community to provide solutions that meet customer needs. This includes making sure that customers have a great experience when using PHP on Windows.
Q: Is Zend positioning Microsoft as its preferred Operating System vendor of choice?
A: PHP has been created to be used in mixed environments, so PHP (and therefore Zend) does not have a concept of a preferred OS. Zend and the PHP community are working hard to make PHP the best it can be on all platforms it supports.
Q: Why would PHP developers / ITPros /Hosters want to develop on Windows?
A: First of all, a large number of PHP developers already use Windows as their application development platform. Improving their experience with running PHP applications on Windows for production is a natural next step. In addition we’ve seen growing interest from PHP developers who are interested in leveraging specific Windows features like Active Directory to build integrated authentication and other scenarios. From the ITPro/Web hoster perspective, supporting PHP on Windows lets them meet increasing customer demand and allows them to benefit from unique Windows Server 2003 benefits such as simplified administration and integration with other Windows services.
Q: Wouldn’t the best solution be Phalanger – the Microsoft sponsored community effort to build a PHP implementation on the .NET Framework’s CLR? Why not?
A: While we expect that some developers will want to choose Phalanger, we know that others are interested in staying with the PHP runtime while looking for ways to leverage Windows features. We want to make sure that these developers have the best experience on Windows no matter which choice they make.
FASTCGI/IIS
Q: Will other parties be permitted to redistribute FastCGI in their products or solutions?
A: Yes, the End User License Agreement for the Microsoft FastCGI Extension for IIS6 specifies how to acquire permission to redistribute.
Q: When will the FastCGI Extension be officially released?
A: The FastCGI Extension for IIS6 in Windows Server 2003 will be officially released before the end of the calendar year. FastCGI for IIS7 is a built-in component of IIS7 in Windows Server 2008, thus it will be officially released when Windows Server 2008 is released in early 2008.
Additional Questions about FastCGI
Q: Can you provide more details on optimizing PHP on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008?
· In order to address the needs of developers, partners and community using PHP on the Windows platform, Microsoft and Zend have identified key technology areas that we are focusing on. There are three key areas of collaboration:
o Core PHP and IIS Collaboration. Zend and Microsoft will collaborate to develop PHP performance improvements to significantly increase the performance of PHP on Windows. Microsoft will work with engineers from Zend and the PHP community to identify and implement improvements for PHP on IIS6 (part of Windows Server 2003) and IIS7 (Windows Server 2008 32 bit and 64 bit editions). These improvements will be submitted under the PHP license to the PHP community. Additionally, Microsoft will develop and release an IIS add-on component (FastCGI) that will serve as the interface between PHP and the IIS Web server. This FastCGI component will be made freely available from Microsoft for licensed users of Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.
o Continuous Testing & Engineering. Zend will establish a Windows testing lab and conduct regular tests and performance improvements to maintain high performance of PHP on Windows as PHP evolves. This lab will be comprised of a cluster of Windows Server boxes (both 32-bit and 64-bit) and a testing framework which will be used to run tests prior to major releases of PHP. The results of these tests will be used by the engineers to identify and fix bugs.
o Community Participation. Zend and Microsoft will continue to actively participate in the PHP community to continue to address Windows-related issues.
Q: Can the FastCGI component that the IIS team has developed be used with other applications like Ruby?
A: Microsoft has supported the FastCGI open standard so that it can support a CGI-capable runtime. Microsoft does not plan to test other runtimes itself, but welcomes efforts in the community to do so.
Q: Is it based off the open source FastCGI component?
A: No, but Microsoft supported the FastCGI standard.
Q: Why didn’t MS release this as open source or contribute the code to the open source version?
A: By including the FastCGI Extension as part of the Windows supplemental license, Microsoft and IIS product group are able to deliver and support a technology with the level of support and testing standard across the Windows product line.
SERVER CORE
Q: Why isn’t ASP.NET in the Server Core installation option?
A: We are currently working on adding the .NET Framework – which ASP.NET requires – to the Server Core installation option. However, we have nothing to announce at this time.
Q: Why should people run IIS7 on Server Core if they can’t run ASP.NET applications?
A: The combination of IIS7 and the Server Core installation provides an extremely secure, reliable and scalable hosting platform for non-ASP.NET Web sites and applications because this installation option is completely streamlined with all unnecessary services and components removed. In addition, for hosting static content in particular, such as video and images, and for hosting ASP, ColdFusion, JSP and PHP sites, IIS7 is a robust, cost effective solution as part of Server Core installations.
Q.: Will ASP.NET ever be in the Server Core option?
A: Yes, although we have nothing to announce at this time.
Q: Apache can run on the Server Core option. Why should people run IIS7 instead?
A: IIS7 on Server Core provides an incredibly secure, reliable and scalable hosting platform for non-ASP.NET Web sites and applications. For hosting static content in particular, such as video and images, and for hosting ASP, ColdFusion, JSP and PHP sites, IIS7 is a robust, cost effective solution as part of Server Core installations. In addition, there is stronger management support for IIS7 than Apache on Server Core. For example:
· IIS7 Server Core deployments can be managed on the box from the command line or by editing clear-text xml files.
· IIS7 can also be managed remotely through the firewall over HTTPS with the IIS Manager GUI tool.
· Administrators can securely delegate management of IIS7 Server Core deployments to developers and content owners.
Apache does not offer any of these capabilities when it runs on Server Core installations, making IIS7 a much better option.
SQL SERVER 2005 DRIVER FOR PHP
Q: When will the final driver ship (when is RTM)?
A: We plan to ship the PHP Driver in the first half of 2008.
Q: Why now? Why wasn’t a PHP Driver available before?
A: The timing is right because it builds on the FastCGI’s GoLive release on 9/24. With the FastCGI release, PHP developers and hosters can choose to run PHP applications on Windows if the value-add of the platform appeals to them. Similarly, with the PHP Driver, we are providing a Microsoft-supported connectivity story so that PHP developers and ISVs can choose to leverage SQL Server in their applications.
Q: Will the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP work with SQL Server 2008? What about SQL Server 2000?
A: The Driver for PHP is currently compatible with SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000. It is currently not supported with SQL Server 2008 but we expect that support in the future.
Q: How will the Driver be supported?
A: This Driver will be supported as a Microsoft component in accordance with the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policies. See microsoft.com/lifecycle for details.
Q: Is Microsoft committed to supporting this driver for future versions of PHP?
A: We are committed to supporting the driver until the same lifecycle policies as other components shipped by Microsoft. You can find details at microsoft.com/lifecycle.
Q: What kind of performance improvement is expected?
A: This version is a true preview release to get customer feedback on the design, API, and functionality – we don’t have performance benchmarks at this time, but will likely provide this as the RTM release becomes available.
Q: What kinds of benefits will I get using SQL Server instead of MySQL?
A: Strong customer connections are priority one for Microsoft and help to accurately deliver software to meet industry needs. Unlike competitive offerings, SQL Server is a comprehensive data management platform that includes integrated developer tools, business intelligence tools and support for mission critical systems with unprecedented reliability and scalability. Because we offer customers a wide variety of solutions from Express to Enterprise, we believe that we meet the needs of customers regardless of their size and budget.
Q: What platforms are you targeting? Will there be an extension for Linux/Unix?
A: This release targets the Windows platform. Our release aligns with IIS investments in FastCGI to optimize PHP support on Windows.
Q: Does this mean SQL Server will be supported on Linux?
A: No.
Q: Does this release support Apache?
A: The CTP has not been tested with Apache, however there is nothing IIS-specific about the SQL Server Extension.
Q: Will you support existing database abstraction layers like PDO, ADODB, PECL, etc.?
A: We have made serious investments in optimizing SQL Native Client (ODBC) as a first-choice API for native access to SQL Server. By creating a new PHP Driver that leverages it, we will be able to bring the scalability benefits of this investment to PHP developers. We chose to create a new component instead of adapting existing components to avoid compatibility blockers to adoption. We may further engage with existing database access projects to assist in the adoption of the new SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP.
Q: What type of feedback and participation are you looking for from the community?
A: We are seeking feedback on the design of the PHP Driver from the community as part of this CTP release. At this point, we are not seeking source code contributions.
Q: Will Microsoft provide the source code for the PHP Driver?
A: We see value in providing the source code of the PHP Driver, but there are tradeoffs that we still need to assess before making this decision.
Q: Does this mean you will open-source TDS?
A: Microsoft actually has a program for licensing the TDS protocol to developers. If it does not meet the needs of your project, please send us feedback on how we can improve it.
Q: What does this mean for FreeTDS?
A: We won’t speculate on the impact for others, but by leveraging the first class SQL Native Client (ODBC) for data access, the new PHP Driver will bring the latest SQL Server features and optimized performance to PHP developers.
Q: Will this distribute this as a PECL extension or with other integration frameworks (e.g., Cake)?
A:We currently plan to distribute the PHP Driver as a free Web download only, but welcome feedback on other important distribution channels.
Q: Do you plan to work with existing PHP applications and/or projects to help enable SQL Server support?
A: Yes. We’re still evaluating how to best contribute to the community of PHP applications that would benefit from this driver. In the meantime, please stay tuned to blogs.msdn.com/sqlphp.
Q: Will it be syntactically matched with the MySQL Driver?
A: No, the APIs are not compatible.
Q: Do you have example code?
A: Yes, the package comes with documentation containing example code.
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HUGE KUDOS to the IIS team for their hard work and innovation (technical and political) for making FastCGI a reality.)
If your a developer that needs to use a CGI based platform (Like PHP) and work on Windows – then this is a godsend.
They guys went into over-drive to get this ready before the upcoming Zend-Con.
Here are the official particulars.
Since early 2006, Microsoft and Zend have been working together on a technical collaboration with the PHP community to significantly enhance the reliability and performance of PHP on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. As part of this collaboration, the IIS product group has been working on a new component for IIS6 and IIS7 called FastCGI Extension which will enable IIS to much more effectively host PHP applications.
We’re eager to announce availability of the Go Live release of Microsoft FastCGI Extension for IIS 5.1/6.0 (FastCGI Extension) as a free download from the IIS community site, www.iis.net. The Go Live release is the last step in the Microsoft beta process and represents the highest level of quality and reliability. For the first time, customers have a license that permits them to deploy the FastCGI Extension on their production Internet Information Services 6.0 (IIS 6) Web servers. “
This release could not have come at a more exciting time for the technology: previous beta releases on IIS.NET have had over 14,000 downloads and no less than six hosting partners have already begun offering PHP hosting on IIS 6 with the FastCGI Extension. In addition to the downloads, the www.iis.net community site also has a very active forum of users exchanging ideas and providing feedback about the FastCGI Extension. “
With Microsoft’s implementation of the FastCGI open standard, IT Professionals will be able to host PHP applications on Windows Server® 2003 and IIS 6 with increased reliability, scalability, and security. Customers also know that they will be able to count on Microsoft to stand by and service the Microsoft FastCGI Extension. By supporting the open standard, Microsoft has made it possible for PHP and other CGI compliant languages to be hosted efficiently and effectively on Windows Server 2003 and IIS. With the addition of FastCGI, IIS reliably and performantly hosts ASP.NET; classic ASP and PHP Web applications, making it easy for IT Professionals to standardize on IIS and Windows Server as their Web platform of choice.
This FastCGI Extension release is supported on IIS 6 on Windows Server 2003 for a fully scalable production environment and on IIS 5.1 on Windows XP in order to support developers who build their Web applications on Windows client machines. This provides developers easy access to build and deploy a broader range of Web applications on the Microsoft platform. To further facilitate application support, the IIS product group is working with the community to test and optimize popular PHP applications on this platform. The IIS product group will make available ‘getting started’ guides for the most popular PHP applications as part of the release to help developers and Web hosters evaluate.
Looking ahead, betas of Windows Server 2008, already include the FastCGI Extension as a completely integrated feature of Internet Information Services IIS 7.0 (IIS7). The new modular architecture introduced in IIS 7 will provide additional functionality to PHP applications by enabling them to take advantage of new managed code services. In fact, Hostway has already deployed a PHP offer on Windows Server 2008 and Senior Architect, Matthew Baldwin, claims ‘IIS7’s integrated PHP support lets us offer our customers a host of new application options, with the same IIS infrastructure so there is no increase in support costs.’
These results demonstrate how Microsoft is embracing PHP hosting on Windows. As a result of these efforts, the PHP community will be able to take advantage of the increased reliability of PHP on Windows and simplified administration available on the Windows platform. Furthermore, this work multiplies the opportunities available on the Windows platform to partners and developers. Regardless of the development or licensing model, today’s successful companies are choosing Windows.
Highlights
· FastCGI is now available for IIS6 as a Go Live release, meaning customers have a free license to deploy this production-quality release on Windows Server 2003 today.
· Microsoft embraces PHP hosting on Windows by building the enabling technology but also by working with the PHP community to ensure that popular PHP applications will run performantly on the Windows platform.
· FastCGI will ship in Windows Server 2008 as a built-in IIS component for the first time, sparing customers the hassle of downloading, installing and patching 3rd party products.
· FastCGI allows IIS to reuse CGI processes for multiple requests to PHP applications; this alone dramatically improves the performance of PHP on Windows without any drop in reliability whatsoever.
· The IIS Team expects all PHP applications built to run on Windows through CGI/ISAPI to work flawlessly with the FastCGI Extension for IIS6/7.
· To help bootstrap early adopters of PHP on Windows, the IIS team will be publishing “how to” articles that give step by step instructions on how to setup and install the most popular PHP apps on top of FastCGI and IIS/Windows.
Resources
http://www.iis.net/default.aspx?tabid=1000051
PHP Tek in Chicago was a blast (except for getting there!)
The folks from PHP Architect allays put on a great show and of all the conference that I do, theirs are at the top of my list.
Because I’ve had so many requests – here are links to my PowerPoint Decks for my Keynote Address and my Break-out Session.
PHP & Microsoft
PHP & MS AJAX
Please feel free to email me with any questions !
I’ve been using the beta and installed the release version last night.
Check it out…….
http://codegear.com/AboutUs/News/DelphiForPHPNowAvailable/tabid/251/Default.aspx
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PHP Quebec was a blast, apart from having 3 flights canceled due to fog trying to get there, and having to rent a car and drive home due to the snow.
The bad news was that the drive took about 16 hours. The good news was that it only snowed for the first 11 ; but I made it home in time to take my kids to the Disney on Ice show on the weekend.
Anyway – thanks to all the folks who attended the PHP and the Windows Platform session.
Check it out.
The folks from Borland Dev Tools, now called CodeGear are gearing up to release Delphi for PHP. A RAD IDE for PHP.
I’ve been chatting with Michael Swindell, The VP of Products at CodeGear and I’ll be kicking the tires on the product shortly.
Full review here soon !
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I do alot of PHP programming and like working with apps like Joomla and XOOPS, etc….
I have wondered if PHP would suffer the scrutiny that ASP did a while back.
This dialog on Slash Dot is interesting……
“PHP security holes have a name — quite often it was Stefan Esser who found and reported them. Now Esser has quit the PHP security team. He feels that his attempt to make PHP safer “from the inside” is futile. Basic security issues are not addressed sufficiently by the developers. Zeev Suraski, Zend’s CTO of course disagrees and urges Stefan to work with the PHP development team instead of working against it. But given the number of remote code execution holes in PHP apps this year, Esser might have a point. And he plans to continue his quest for security holes in PHP. Only that from now on, he will publish them after reasonable time — regardless if a patch is available or not.”
