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Cloud computing is a popular phrase which is used for applications that are developed to be rich Internet applications (AJAXed - like Desktop Apps) that run on the Internet (or "cloud"). In the cloud computing paradigm, software that is traditionally installed on personal computers is shifted or extended to be accessible via the Internet. These "cloud applications" or "cloud apps" utilize massive data centers and powerful servers that host web applications and web services. They can be accessed by anyone with a suitable Internet connection and a standard web browser. The architecture behind cloud computing is a massive network of "cloud servers" interconnected as if in a grid running in parallel, sometimes using the technique of virtualization to maximize computing power per server. ------------------------- Google, the most visible example, took cloud computing a step further and directly challenged Microsoft by offering a suite of free word-p...

Like any good technology, ASP.NET continues to evolve as new versions are released. But, like anything else, this brings with it a number of considerations. Microsoft has done a great job of allowing multiple versions of the framework to run side by side. Version v1.0, v1.1 and v2.0 can all run together at the same time on the same server. There are a couple catches to consider with running multiple versions of the framework side by side. Worker Process is the one that hosts a particular framework version. There is one per version of the framework. (v1.0, v1.1 and v2.0). If a process for a particular version of the framework doesn't exist, as soon as it's needed, a new process will be spun up. This allows multiple versions of the framework to live beside each other in IIS. aspnet_wp.exe is the worker process with IIS 5, w3wp.exe is the worker process with IIS 6. IIS 6 was an impressive upgrade that brought with it some new concepts. One key new concept is Application Pools. A s...