Windows 8 and Cisco VPN Client errors

I have installed Windows 8 Release Preview while ago. And I am doing all my work on this as it supports all software which I was installed on my Windows 7 version. Everything going great except Cisco VPN client. For getting this to work I have spend almost 6 hours by hacking the registry keys, change adapter settings and installing and uninstalling the VPN client, reboot my PC. But, no luck. The error which I am getting always are:

1      12:54:15.440  06/24/12  Sev=Warning/3    CVPND/0xE340000C
The Client was unable to enable the Virtual Adapter because it could not open the device.
2      12:54:15.455  06/24/12  Sev=Warning/3    CVPND/0xE340000C
The Client was unable to enable the Virtual Adapter because it could not open the device.
3      12:54:15.455  06/24/12  Sev=Warning/2    IKE/0xE300009B
Failed to active IPSec SA: Unable to enable Virtual Adapter (NavigatorQM:936)
4      12:54:15.455  06/24/12  Sev=Warning/2    IKE/0xE30000A7
Unexpected SW error occurred while processing Quick Mode negotiator:(Navigator:2263)

Solution 1: 
After a bit of research and information from another community found the Cisco VPN is writing wrong values in the registry key for DisplayName string.

To fix the issue, we should change the value to below:
Open registry editor [From Windows Run type regedit] and move to the location: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CVirtA

• For x86, change the value data from "@oem8.inf,%CVirtA_Desc%;Cisco Systems VPN Adapter" to "Cisco Systems VPN Adapter"
• For x64, change the value data from "@oem8.inf,%CVirtA_Desc%;Cisco Systems VPN Adapter for 64-bit Windows" to "Cisco Systems VPN Adapter for 64-bit Windows"

Now, try to connect to VPN and it should work without any issues.

Solution 2:
I have installed VPN Client from Shrew.net site. This can be available here Download Shrew VPN files. This also supports the Cisco VPN PCF files. Once I installed and imported my PCF files, it’s working in a second.

Hope, this will save your good amount of time! Enjoy.

Mapping and metadata information could not be found for EntityType

When I am working with MVC, using Entity Framework this is the error which I get when I do some database changes and forgot to reflect the changes in edmx file or the objects. The detailed error is

"Mapping and metadata information could not be found for EntityType Error"

So, the possibilities are:

• Database table columns changed but those changes not reflected in C# object properties. There could be properties missing, misspelled or the mismatching of the data types.

So make sure you sync Database and your Project classes always to avoid the above errors.

Sql Server 2012 What’s new

This is Microsoft’s golden year as so many things releasing. I really awaiting to see all these,

1. Visual Studio 2012
2. Sql Server 2012
3. SharePoint 15
4. Windows 8
5. Windows Server 2012
6. Team Foundation Server 2012
7. Surface Tab
8. ASP.NET 4.5/ASP.NET MVC 4.0

And this list goes….. The above list is top most. And when comes to Sql Server 2012, I see many improvements in both UI and features. The Sql Server all new features are neatly listed here.

You can get the Sql Server 2012 Express download here. The MSDN documentation given complete details with neat documentation on what’s new. Go through to get to know.

Windows 8 Release Preview Download

I believe you already heard plenty on Windows 8 features. It looks fabulous with its new look and real fast performance. I am really liking it and it has plenty of improvements. The installation and the starting windows is amazingly fast. Their graphics and WCF UI components looks rich and neat. You should like it and enjoy the new feel. Don't wait and download Windows 8 here. Download Windows 8 Release Preview.

Note:
Before that please check the configuration required for the Windows 8 installation. If you have Windows 7 installed experience then you might not need to check the installation requirements. :)

Fix to Outlook 2010 crashes

There is a KB released from Microsoft on troubleshooting the crashes in Outlook 2010. Here is the detailed information and KB download link.
Troubleshooting crashes in Outlook 2010

SharePoint 15 what is new

I believe everyone know what is SharePoint 15 by this time. But, till few days back I didn't get time to completely go through the technical documentation released few months ago. After read the SharePoint 15 Interop API documentation and some information from my friends and SharePoint team, I am posting some concepts which helps to understand better to my readers.

And the new version of SharePoint 15 will be released the early days of 2013 as far as the information I have and it also called SharePoint 2013 [Year number] and code name or version is [SharePoint 15]. The main areas the SharePoint team is concentrating on the Social Networking and the SharePoint App store just like Apple App store etc. Which is good thinking from SharePoint team to try new things and better concepts like these to make a good reviews in the market.

And there is no documentation about the API, but from the classes and the methods, properties exists in the API, I am documenting the concepts and which all are my personal opinions. You can download the technical preview here SharePoint 15 Interop API Download.

The main things which I identified in the new release are:

• Improvements in the Client Object Model
• SharePoint App Market Place
• Minimal Download Strategy [Technology]
• OAuth 2.0 Authentication
• Ability to integrate or platform for SharePoint education. [You can integrate the Moodle etc directly.]

Client Object Model: The Client Object Model is a great concept which was released with SharePoint 2010 version and it helps to solve many problems we face in SharePoint development. But, the 2010 API version don't have the support to make the search queries through Client Object Model. We used to use JQuery to make queries to SharePoint search WCF calls and get the results. But with SharePoint 15 release we have the Search functionality integrated in Client Object Model. With this new API, we can simply make queries to Search service without writing extra code.

App Market Place: This is the big and new feature in SharePoint 15. From the documentation,

• we see the class named "SPApp". This class helps to install the App to SharePoint App Store.
• And the App store can be accessed through SPAppCatalog class. So, with these new classes you can create an App and install them into SharePoint.
• These apps have their own structure and deployment methods. These are not SharePoint solution packages and are not SharePoint web parts. It has own new format comes with SharePoint 15.
• From the description we have understand that the Apps are scoped to SPWeb object only. Each SPApp can be accessed through SPAppInstance and their scope is restricted to SPWeb only.
• It has its own permissions. OAuth is one of the technique and will discuss later in this post.
• It has its own licensing. The SPWebApplication class has a new property called "IsUserLicensedForEntity" which checks the current logged in user has permissions to access the specific entity.
• Apps can have their own databases.

MDS [Minimal Download Strategy]: I think very less people hear about this. This is one of the most popular technique many social websites and heavy load page websites are using these days. Now, SharePoint is implementing based on it and which is a great advantage. With SharePoint 2010 the page load performance is increased much compared to earlier versions. Now, with this technique the response time and load time will be more faster. The main secret behind MDS is, it uses less bandwidth than regular implementations. But how is it different??? In Microsoft words,

"The minimal download strategy will use a single .aspx file (start.aspx) for your pages, with the actual URL encoded in the text following the hash mark (‘#’). When navigating from page to page, only the changes between two compatible pages will be downloaded. Fewer bytes will be downloaded and the page will appear more quickly."

I hope all devs understood it by seeing the hash mark. :) Yes, it only downloads the content changed from previous page to currently requested page and which obviously improves the performance.

OAuth 2.0 Authentication: I hope the people who worked with Apps knew about OAuth. In real world to access the data through apps which needs your permissions, you have to use the OAuth technique. Now, SharePoint has the built in platform to support OAuth 2.0 authentication which is a good thing. The new namespace which has this OAuth implementations is "Microsoft.SharePoint.IdentityModel.OAuth2"

SharePoint Education: We know SharePoint is also widely using in educational institutions, schools, universities. So, to make their life happy, SharePoint also has a new application/templates for SharePoint education. I believe they have some built-in support for popular free e-learning platform like Moodle etc. We have to wait till next year to get more details.

Other than these, I heard from friends, bloggers below are some new features which are releasing with new version. But, there are no such information I have found over internet.

• Versioning of SharePoint sites?
• More information from search API
• SAP integration
• Ability to merge documents?
• Metro interface

Stay tuned to my series of posts on this. I will post as soon as I hear any new concepts and information about SharePoint 15. Please share with me if you know any information about it through comments.