Download PHP on Windows and SQL Server Training Kit February 2011 Update

Microsoft is ready to welcome PHP and MySQL developers to its platform with open arms.

One illustrative example of the company’s efforts to attract devs beyond those leveraging .NET is the PHP on Windows and SQL Server Training Kit.

The February 2011 Update of the kit just went live on the Microsoft Download Center, and as it was the case with previous releases, the new version is offered free of charge.

As the official label implies, the Training Kit is designed to streamline the adoption of Microsoft technologies by PHP developers. Essentially, the software giant is trying to convince them to adopt products such as the Windows operating system, Internet Information Services 7.5 and SQL Server 2008 R2.

“You may be under the impression that breakthrough features like full-text search and smooth streaming are only available to .NET developers, but you would be wrong,” reveals Roger Doherty, Technical Evangelist for Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism.

“It’s time for you to learn why the Microsoft Platform is becoming more and more popular with PHP and MySQL developers.”

While PHP developers have traditionally preferred Linux and MySQL to Windows and IIS, especially because of concerns related to the performance of their web applications, things have certainly changed in the past years.

Microsoft has spent quite some effort when it comes down to boosting the speed of PHP apps on its LAMP alternative, and devs should at least give it a try to see the advances provided by the software giant.

“This training kit includes a comprehensive set of technical content including demos and hands-on labs to help you understand how to build PHP applications using Windows, IIS 7.5 and SQL Server 2008 R2,” Doherty explained.

“We’ve refreshed the kit to support the latest version of tools, add-ins and drivers, and added some new content as well.”

Microsoft also provided a list highlighting some of the resources packed into the training kit:

“PHP & SQL Server Demos

•Integrating SQL Server Geo-Spatial with PHP

•SQL Server Reporting Services and PHP


PHP & SQL Server Hands On Labs

•Introduction to Using SQL Server with PHP

•Using SQL Server Full-Text Search and FILESTREAM Storage with PHP

•New: Getting Started with SQL Server Migration Assistant for MySQL


PHP on Windows Hands On Labs

•IIS 7.5 Access Control Features for PHP

•Updated: Using IIS 7.5 Media Features in a PHP Application (Includes new exercises on how to use smooth streaming from PHP)

•Troubleshooting PHP

•Migrating PHP Applications to IIS 7.5.”

PHP on Windows and SQL Server Training Kit (February 2011 Update) is available for download here.