As a follow up to my previous post, the Windows-based Hosting solutions has finally shipped with documentation.  The documentation is currently only available online via Technet.

• Microsoft Hosting Solutions for Service Providers: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/cits/hosting/default.mspx
• WBH 4.0 Documentation: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/cits/hosting/library3/default.mspx
• WBH for Application 1.0 Documentation: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/cits/hosting/library4/default.mspx

So far it doesn’t appear that this release is “major”, but instead provides support for ASP.NET 2.0, SQL Server 2005 SP1, Windows SharePoint Services SP2, and other product updates.

Here is a quick hit list of interesting thing that I found in the documentation for WBH 4.0:

• Connected Services Framework is introduced, but not deeply discussed.  Where “can” you get CSF?  It requires assess to an MSDN subscription and is only supported via a Premier contract with Microsoft PSS.  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/cits/hosting/library3/CMSU_WESWBH_Plan_INTRO_Connected_Services_Framework_Integration.mspx
• There is a section on the MPS SDK and it explains each namespace, but doesn’t provide any API references to them (parameters or input/output samples).  I guess we’ll have to wait for the MPS SDK to ship.  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/cits/hosting/library3/CMSU_SPV_Plan_CONC_Microsoft_Provisioning_System_SDK.mspx?mfr=true
• SQL Server 2005 with SP1 is the new required Database server for the MPF databases
• Although the solution components ship with the Hosted Exchange namespaces, the MPS Deployment tool will not configure the environment for Hosted Exchange.  So that doesn’t mean that it can’t be worked around, but it does mean that MS won’t support that scenario.

When I have some time to review and provide feedback, I’ll update my blog with what I’ve found.