System Requirements

You’ll need the following hardware and software to complete the practice exercises in this book:

• Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, or Microsoft Windows Vista.

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition or Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, including SQL Server 2005 Express.

Note 

You can perform all the exercises in this book using Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition, except for the final set of exercises in Chapter 2, which creates a Windows Service and requires Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition. However, this project is not required in any subsequent chapters, so you can omit this exercise if you have only Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition.

• 600-MHz Pentium or compatible processor (1-GHz Pentium recommended).

• 192 MB RAM (256 MB or more recommended).

• Video (800 × 600 or higher resolution) monitor with at least 256 colors (1024 × 768 High Color 16-bit recommended).

• CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.

• Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device.

Some of the exercises require that you have installed Internet Information Services (IIS) and Message Queuing (MSMQ).

You will also need to have the following additional software installed on your computer. This software is available on the companion CD supplied with this book. Installation and configuration instructions are provided later in the Introduction:

• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0.

  Note 

  If you are using Windows Vista, the .NET Framework 3.0 is automatically installed as part of the operating system. You do not need to install it again.

• Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for .NET Framework 3.0.

• Microsoft SQL Server AdventureWorks database.

• Microsoft Enterprise Library (January 2006 version recommended).

• Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools (only required if you are using Microsoft Windows XP).

You will additionally require the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit for Windows Vista and .NET Framework 3.0 Runtime Components. You can download this software from the Microsoft Download Center site at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=&displaylang=en.

Important 

The exercises in Chapter 5 use a tool called FindPrivateKey.exe. Not all releases of the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit include this tool. A copy of it is provided on the companion CD.