14 DAY TRIAL // Early adopters can now start testing the first update to Windows Server AppFabric, by downloading the first Community Technology Preview of version 1.1 of the technology.
Windows Server AppFabric 1.1 CTP went live on the Microsoft Download Center on August 10, 2011, and is available free of charge to testers.
If the version number is not a dead giveaway, then the software giant also notes that Windows Server AppFabric v1.1 is designed to kick Windows Server AppFabric v1.0 up a notch.
Essentially, customers get all of the initial capabilities of the original release of AppFabric, including hosting, management, and caching features, but also a set of additional enhancements.
Along with the actual Community Technology Preview download, Microsoft also posted the “Introducing Windows Server AppFabric v1.1 CTP” article dealing with new features and capabilities in the refresh, on MSDN.
The Redmond company provided a list with the “AppFabric Caching features [that] have been added in this CTP release:
◦ Read-through and write-behind provider support
◦ Graceful shutdown
◦ Domain account support
◦ New ASP.NET session state and output caching providers
◦ Compression
◦ Multiple cache client application configuration sections.”
All of the updates now available through Windows Server AppFabric 1.1 CTP are detailed on the MSDN article Microsoft provided.
According to the software giant, Windows Server AppFabric 1.1 CTP can be installed stand-alone, but at the same time, existing Windows Server AppFabric customers running version 1.0 can simply upgrade to the latest release.
“Windows Server AppFabric is a set of integrated technologies that make it easier to build, scale, and manage Web and composite applications that run on IIS. Windows Server AppFabric targets applications built using ASP.NET, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF),” Microsoft said.
“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.”
Windows Server AppFabric 1.1 CTP is available for download here.
Windows Server AppFabric 1.0 is available for download here.