Vinod Kumar Mindmap : Events

A’bad UG CTD and Gandhi Ashram …

vinodkumar — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:33:00 GMT

I have been planning to write the trip report from my recent trip - Community TechDays in Ahmedabad over weekend. Well, flying on a holiday Oct 2nd ( Gandhi Jayanthi ) and executing the event on a Saturday Oct 3rd was something I had to first skilfully...(read more)

Springboard Virtual Roundtable - Sept 24 - Windows 7 AppCompat Part 2: Virtualization

vinodkumar — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 03:36:00 GMT

This session comes directly from the heart of the most respected person on the planet for me "Mark Russinovich". No one can talk as authentic and as deep technical than this man. Dont miss the action as you are sure to get lot of fireworks and...(read more)

Tech.Ed India 2009: My notes on the Success !!!

vinodkumar — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:58:00 GMT

This is one post which I have wanted to write for a long-time and it has taken me a week to get it online. Tech.Ed India 2009 was without doubts a rocking, fantabulous success. If anyone attended the event, they would 200% agree to what I am saying. What...(read more)

Back from TechEd India 2009

vinodkumar — Sat, 16 May 2009 15:14:00 GMT

I couldnt have asked for more. TechEd India 2009 was a grand grand success. I will write more updates in a day ... There is lots to share and what we did at TechEd India 2009 which makes this event really, really, really unique ... This is the reason...(read more)

GIDS 2009

vinodkumar — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:28:00 GMT

I will be at the Great Indian Developer Conference - Will you be there on 22nd-25th? A lot of exciting topics on MS too up to attend ......(read more)

Innovation Days - Query Tuning Nov'08

vinodkumar — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:15:00 GMT

After the recently concluded Innovation Days Roadshow a lot of them have pinged me asking me of the presentation etc. For the folks who attended and want to grab what I presented can pick it up from here . Updated: On popular demand I am attaching the...(read more)

ITPro Momentum Contest

vinodkumar — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:51:00 GMT

Have you worked on any technology integration involving Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 or Microsoft’s Unified Communication Solutions? If so, submit a short video or a document showcasing your experience of working on Microsoft Technologies...(read more)

Project Gemini and some info

vinodkumar — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:01:00 GMT

I wish we can talk more on this project, but the MS BI Conference attendees did get an glimpse of this. Catch this MSDN Blog that gives you some information on the roadmap of SQL BI & DW planned. BTW, if you are wondering what Project Gemini is -...(read more)

Virtual TechDays is Back - Sep 2008

vinodkumar — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:21:00 GMT

...(read more)

Suggest: Want a SQL Server Session?

vinodkumar — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:24:00 GMT

As an Evangelist I get an opportunity to do a variety of sessions for the India sub and I am sure I would have met quite a few of you who read my post via the events channel. As much as I try to keep the sessions content loaded, I would like to take this...(read more)

Virtual TechDays - April 9 & 10th

vinodkumar — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:27:00 GMT

With Windows and Visual Studio writing their track I wanted to talk about our very own wonderful 3 tracks of SQL Server session each having 4 sessions each. The first track is "BI and Admin" track. As much as these both require their very own tracks we...(read more)

SL Sessions from Mix online

vinodkumar — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 03:19:00 GMT

About 5hrs of Silverlight based sessions are available for grab online ... Cool stuff if you are a starter and want to know more about these technologies. View them here ....(read more)

Back to homebase

vinodkumar — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 15:08:00 GMT

After a wonderful 3 hectic days I am back to Bangalore and it feels really good. But there is tons of work pending and this week is gonna be hectic too ... But I will get my summary of TechMela in a couple of days with the links. An hey dont forget to attend my webcast series scheduled for this week too.

2 Days to go !!!

vinodkumar — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 03:11:00 GMT

Well I am all set to hit the roads for the next mega event TechMela. So hoping to see you all at the event. Feel free to stop by at the Office Track or the DB & BI Track to have a word with me. Cya all at the event !!!

Excel Services - Office at TechMela

vinodkumar — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 08:44:00 GMT

In this segment I wanted to talk about the Excel Services part which I mentioned when I wrote the Excel Post. Though we are not talking much on this topic at TechMela, I thought it is important to understand this nevertheless. So here we go !!!!

Excel Services, part of SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS), extends the capabilities of Excel 2007 by allowing broad sharing of spreadsheets, improved manageability and security and the ability to re-use spreadsheet models through a scalable server-based calculation service and interactive web-based user interface. Excel Services provides both a web-based UI for browser-based access and a web services API for programmatic access that have robust options for controlling what data is available to users and applications. As part of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Excel Services also takes advantage of the other capabilities of SharePoint including the enterprise content management features such as: check-in/check-out, auditing and versioning capabilities. This is huge ...

The Excel Services architecture consists of a web front end and an application-server tier. The Excel Calculation Server loads requested spreadsheets and performs any calculations required. Excel Web Access renders the results in HTML, while Excel Web Services provides a Web services interface to allow applications to access the spreadsheets. The application server contains Excel Calculation Service which loads spreadsheets, calculates them, and provides access to external data. Either or both of these tiers can be scaled up or out, including scaling to high-performance computing clusters. Excel Services supports configurable load balancing and a number of options that can improve performance. Excel Services is one app that you can think when it comes to implementing and testing your HPC ideas.

Excel 2007 also includes a simple means by which spreadsheet authors can make use of Excel Services. Using the File | Publish menu option, a new menu item called “Excel Services” enables the user to save the spreadsheet to a SharePoint (or any UNC path that is accessible by the server) server. While a full copy of the spreadsheet is copied to the server, the Excel Services Options dialogue enables the author to specify what aspects of it are accessible to users from the web browser.

Excel Services draws its mechanisms for authentication and access permissions from MOSS 2007. This allows spreadsheet authors to grant users Reader rights, Contributor rights, or Administrator rights (full control). In addition to these rights, the new Viewer right allows authors to lock down spreadsheets for server-only viewing through a Web browser. Next, the mechanism for controlling who can act as an author for spreadsheets available under Excel Services is managed by a system of trusted file locations, which can be designated as SharePoint locations, UNC paths, or HTTP paths.

Excel Services supports getting external data from the same data sources Excel client supports, such as SQL Server Analysis Services, SQL Server relational databases and other database platforms using mechanisms such as ODBC and OLE-DB. Data can be returned into PivotTables or new formulas that can access SQL Server Analysis Services data. One powerful way of governing access to external data sources by Excel Services is by using the Data Connection Libraries (DCLs). Created by database administrators, DCLs contain .ODC (Office Data Connection) files that persist specific data connections, enabling business users to take advantage of them, using the Excel client via a directory service operated by the server. I would urge you to use this because the DCLs help you centralize all your connections in one repository under MOSS.

So this is a quick tour of what we have, but I have not talked about the Authentication models for queries, content approval process, using it as BI reporting and dashboards, Web Services API's available, User-defined functions etc. But these all fall under this big umbrella. So before I sign off, let me give few interesting links that might interest all:

*** Grano Salis

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Beta) SDK

SharePoint Server 2007 Developer Portal

Downloadable SharePoint Server 2007 SDK

LuisBE on Services

Excel Services Technical Overview

Using Excel Web Services in a SharePoint Web Part

Deploying and Optimizing a SharePoint Web Part That Calls Excel Web Services

SharePoint Server 2007 Sample: Web Part That Calls Excel Web Services

Excel Services Information Center

Introducing Excel Services

Extending the Excel Services Programmability Framework

Sherman On Excel and BI Technology

Though we are not talking on this very topic, feel free to catch me on the Office System Track and we can discuss during TechMela. Cya all in a weeks time :).