Windows Azure Platform

Windows Azure Platform

Released December 2011
Publisher(s): Apress
ISBN: 9781430235637

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Book description

The Windows Azure Platform has rapidly established itself as one of the most sophisticated cloud computing platforms available. With Microsoft working to continually update their product and keep it at the cutting edge, the future looks bright—if you have the skills to harness it. In particular, new features such as remote desktop access, dynamic content caching and secure content delivery using SSL make the latest version of Azure a more powerful solution than ever before.

It's widely agreed that cloud computing has produced a paradigm shift in traditional architectural concepts by providing new ways to both store and process data. The basic concepts of the cloud are now well understood throughout the industry

What is much less well understood, and the primary focus of this book, is how the the Windows Azure technology can be applied in real-world scenarios and made to work for you. This book answers those questions, demonstrating how all the features of Windows Azure—both old and new—can be put to work.

By the time you're done reading, you will be comfortable building high-quality end-to-end Windows Azure services of your own. The book, like the Azure platform itself, is divided into three key parts—Windows Azure, SQL Azure, and Windows Azure AppFabric. Each of these plays a unique role in the functioning of your cloud service. It is the goal of this book to show you how to use these components, both separately and together, to build flawless cloud applications as well as hybrid architectures that fit in alongside your business' existing systems.

Pro Windows Azure Platform, Second Edition is a down-to-earth, code-centric book that shows precisely how the all the components of Windows Azure are employed, and demonstrates the techniques and best practices you'll need to put them to work.

What you'll learn

Everything you need to understand the Windows Azure platform components—from Access Control to SQL Azure, from the ServiceBus to Windows Azure Connect

The architectural theory behind Windows Azure and the nuts-and-bolts code that binds your services together

How to design, build, and deploy an Azure service

The critical new services of Azure and how the work: Windows Azure Connect, VMRole, SQLAzure Data Sync and Windows Azure AppFabric caching are all covered

Who this book is for

This book is intended for professional developers who want to dig into the internals of Azure and start investigating its features in depth in order to adopt them into their workflow systems.

Table of contents

  1. Title
  2. Dedication
  3. Contents at a Glance
  4. Contents
  5. About the Authors
  6. About the Technical Reviewer
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Introduction
  9. CHAPTER 1: Windows Azure Platform Overview
    1. Introducing Cloud Services
    2. Shifting to the Cloud Paradigm
    3. Understanding the Cloud Services Ecosystem
    4. Microsoft's Cloud Strategy
    5. Windows Azure Platform Overview
    6. Windows Azure
    7. SQL Azure
    8. Windows Azure AppFabric
    9. Windows Azure Platform Pricing
    10. Management Portal – Let's Provision
    11. Windows Azure Marketplace DataMarket
    12. Windows Azure Platform Common Scenarios
    13. Summary
    14. Bibliography
  10. CHAPTER 2: Windows Azure Compute
    1. Compute Service
    2. Developing Windows Azure Services
    3. Diagnostics
    4. Developing Windows Azure Services with Inter-Role Communication
    5. Geo-location
    6. Windows Azure Service Management
    7. Windows Azure Service Development Life Cycle
    8. Architectural Advice
    9. Summary
    10. Bibliography
  11. CHAPTER 3: Windows Azure Storage Part I – Blobs and Drives
    1. Storage Service Taxonomy
    2. Storage Service Architecture
    3. The Blob Service
    4. Blob Architecture
    5. REST API
    6. Account Operations
    7. Programming Example
    8. Container Operations
    9. Blob Operations
    10. Content Delivery Network (CDN)
    11. Windows Azure Drives
    12. Blob Storage Scenarios
    13. Summary
    14. Bibliography
  12. CHAPTER 4: Windows Azure Storage Part II – Queues
    1. Queue Limitations and Constraints
    2. Queue Service Architecture
    3. REST API
    4. Account Operations
    5. Queue Operations
    6. Message Operations
    7. Asynchronous API
    8. Queue Scenarios
    9. Summary
    10. Bibliography
  13. CHAPTER 5: Windows Azure Storage Part III – Tables
    1. Storage Analytics
    2. Table Storage versus SQLAzure
    3. Table Service Scenarios
    4. Summary
    5. Bibliography
  14. CHAPTER 6: VM Role and Windows Azure Connect
    1. VM Role
    2. Windows Azure Connect
    3. Summary
    4. Bibliography
  15. CHAPTER 7: AppFabric: Access Control Service
    1. What Is Your Digital Identity?
    2. What Are Claims?
    3. Claims-Based Identity Model
    4. Access Control Service Usage Scenarios
    5. Access Control Service Management Portal
    6. Programming Access Control Service Applications
    7. Summary
    8. Concepts and Terminology
    9. Bibliography
  16. CHAPTER 8: AppFabric Service Bus
    1. First, a Little Background. . .
    2. Enterprise Service Bus (ESB)
    3. Evolution of the Internet Service Bus (ISB)
    4. Introduction to the AppFabric Service Bus
    5. Programming with the AppFabric Service Bus
    6. Message Buffer
    7. AppFabric Messaging: Queues and Topics
    8. AppFabric Service Bus Queues
    9. AppFabric Service Bus Queues vs. Azure Storage Queues
    10. AppFabric Service Bus Topics
    11. Programming Service Bus Queues and Topics
    12. Summary
    13. Bibliography
  17. CHAPTER 9: AppFabric: Caching
    1. AppFabric Caching vs. Other Cache Providers
    2. Provisioning an AppFabric Cache
    3. AppFabric Cache Clients
    4. ASP.NET Session State Provider
    5. Enabling ASP.NET Output Cache in AppFabric Cache
    6. Summary
    7. Bibliography
  18. CHAPTER 10: SQL Azure
    1. SQL Azure Overview
    2. SQL Azure Architecture
    3. SQL Azure Limitations and Supported Features
    4. SQL Azure Data Access
    5. Getting Started with SQL Azure
    6. Developing Windows Azure Services That Use SQL Azure
    7. Database-Migration Strategies
    8. Database Growth-Management Strategies
    9. SQL Azure Reporting
    10. SSRS Feature Fidelity
    11. Data Sync
    12. Data Sync Design
    13. Summary
    14. Bibliography
  19. Index

Product information

  • Title: Windows Azure Platform
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: December 2011
  • Publisher(s): Apress
  • ISBN: 9781430235637