When running the sync framework you may run into a Com Exception similar to the following:

Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {EC413D66-6221-4EBB-AC55-4900FB321011} failed due to the following error: 80040154 Class not registered (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040154 (REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG)).

This error occurs due to the application environment not supporting the sync framework assembly target platform (x32/x64).
Also, you will notice is occur during synchronisation of tables and not during provisioning.

To solve this problem, ensure that you are building your application against the same platform target as the assembly type of the sync framework you are using.
So for example if you are running your synchronisation code using a Console Application making use of the x64 Sync framework assemblies, ensure you set your console application platform target is set to x64 (also ensure your OS is x64).



In the scenario where you are sync'ing via a web application or service, ensure IIS app pool supports the assembly platform type.
A typical scenario is where you run a x32 sync framework assembly in an IIS7 x64 website resulting in a Com Error. In this case you need to specifically configure you IIS App Pool to support the execution of x32 bit assembly's.

I've written quite a few applications for assisting my company/client in migrating projects over to the Azure platform.
One of which is an assembly compatibility tool which will identify any x32 assemblies which are not compatible when deployed on Windows Azure.

Below is a screen shot of how it looks. Some assembly names have been censored.

Starting left, what you are seeing here is the compatibility of the assembly. MSIL stands for Microsoft Intermediate Language meaning that this assembly was compiled using the "any cpu" biuld parameter in visual studio. Other combination you may see on your assemblies are x64 or x32. The latter is not supported on Azure and will display as on line 2 in the console with "Not Compatible" status.

Additionally the version number and build type (debug or release) is displayed which can prove useful in many instances when migrating large projects requiring many supporting assemblies.

The application once complete will generate a report (tab deliminated) for your viewing. See the example below.

Download:

Azure Assembly Compatibility Tool 

Usage:

Extract the files into your applications bin directory and run the executable file.


Enjoy!

I received the following exception today in my local azure development environment when debugging my application.



The error message goes on to say, "Cannot write configuration file" refering to my ApplicationHost.config, meaning that whatever is writing to that file either cannot open the file as its locked or does not have persmissions. I cannot verify either case as no inner exception existed so I'll need to check through the appfabric docs to discover what this is about.


The solution however was simple in my case and perhaps it can help you solve a similar issue.
What I did was cleaned out my VS project/solution and restarted both my Computer and Storage emulators.
This seem to fix whatever was broken.

Introduction:

Maps Mailer is an interactive console application designed to stress test your incoming and outgoing and Mail servers.
It works by connecting to your SMTP server and from there generates a large volume of mails to be received by your incoming mail server.
Once the benchmark cycle completes, MAPSMailer will display the total mails transmitted per second and the bandwidth consumed.

Application Use:

As a mail server administrator it’s beneficial to know just how much load your servers can handle.
This tool can assist you in knowing what the peak operating rate is of your incoming and outgoing mail servers. Additionally it can assist you in identifying network bottlenecks and helps you measure the result of your mail server configuration changes.

This tool has been written for the windows platform using the .net framework version 2. Any fairly recent OS like XP SP2+, Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 2008 comes preloaded with the .net framework version 2.

There are two files. The main executable and the configuration file.

1. MAPSM.exe
2. MAPSM.exe.config

Configuration:

The configuration is contained in an xml called app.xml.
Here you set your SMTP username, passwords, port number, SSL flag, sender and recipient address fields.

              <?xml
version="1.0"?>
<configuration> <appSettings> <!-- server settings --> <add key="SMTPServer" value="" />
<!-- ip or hostname of your outgoing mail server --> <add key="SMTPUsername" value="" />
<!-- leave blank if no
username required --> <add key="SMTPPassword" value="" />
<!-- leave blank if no
password required --> <add key="SMTPUsesSSL" value="" />
<!-- yes or no --> <add key="SMTPPort" value="" />
<!-- --> <!-- message settings --> <add key="MessageFrom" value=""/>
<!-- sender@place.com --> <add key="MessageTo" value=""/>
<!-- recipient@place.com --> <add key="MessageSub" value=""/>
<!-- mail subject line --> </appSettings> <startup><supportedRuntime
version="v2.0.50727"/></startup></configuration> 
            

Running the application:

Once you configuration is setup. Run the application.
You will be prompted to set the maximum concurrent SMTP connections the program can use.
The benchmark will run for approximately 30 seconds after which you are presented with statistics covering the total mails that where sent per second, minute and hour along with the estimated network bandwidth consumption.

Download MAPSMailer.



Enjoy.

Here is a simple method of ensure all requests to your application domain include the WWW subdomain prefix.
Place the following code in your Global.asax file.

Note: Uncomment the code in the RedirectToWWW method should you need to prevent redirects while testing locally.

          
            //
global.asax
            protected
            void Application_BeginRequest(Object
sender, EventArgs e) { RedirectToWWW(); } privatestaticvoid RedirectToWWW()
    {       //
prevent adding www. when testing       //
if (HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.ToString().ToLower().Contains("localhost"))       //
return;             //
Redirect to www.clienturl.com if the user types in clienturl.com.             if (HttpContext.Current.Request.Url
!=null                 &&
!String.IsNullOrEmpty(HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.Host)                
                &&
!HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.Host.ToLower().StartsWith("www"))
            {                 HttpContext.Current.Response.Redirect("http://www."+ HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.Host + HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.AbsolutePath);
            }      }

        

      <probingprivatePath="bin;" />
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentityname="Telerik.Web.UI"culture="neutral"publicKeyToken="121fae78165ba3d4" />
        <bindingRedirectoldVersion="0.0.0.0-65535.65535.65535.65535"newVersion="2010.1.519.35"/>
      </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
</runtime>

publicstatic T
Clone<T>(T obj) { using (MemoryStream
stream =new MemoryStream())
{ SilverlightSerializer.Serialize(obj, stream); stream.Position = 0; return (T)
SilverlightSerializer.Deserialize(stream); } }

//
get records matching year and month var iEnumSales = dsc.Where(x
=> x.YearMonth.Year == year && x.YearMonth.Month == month).ToList(); 


var salesList =new DailySalesCollection(); //
to prevent modifying the static collection later, we clone/copy the iEnumSales linq
query results salesList.AddRange(ObjectHelper.Clone(iEnumSales));