Windows Azure Web Sites

Chapter 5

Working with Other Flavors of Windows Azure Web Sites

IN THIS CHAPTER:

• Discovering the types of web apps you can install from the Gallery in Windows Azure Web Sites
• Installing and configuring an open source bulletin board through the Azure portal
• Getting a copy of your website to maintain locally and redeploy to the cloud

The prestige is a pivotal point in a magic act when the magician takes an already impressive trick to the next level and shows the audience something they’ve never seen. The folks working on the Windows Azure team have had plenty of wins over the last year: a newly designed interface that makes configuration, deployment, and scaling more accessible; streamlined publishing options; and improved CLI integration, to name only a few. As Microsoft continues to improve upon its cloud efforts, Windows Azure is in many ways becoming the company’s “prestige.”

If you’re from outside the .NET camp, you’ve likely been wondering how some of the things in the peripheral view of the portal come into play in your development space; and if you’re a .NET developer (and you have been paying attention to the Windows Azure world), you might have seen hints that Azure will contain functionality that is intended for people outside of the Microsoft world.

And you’d be correct.

It turns out that, when it comes to Windows Azure, the “dot-netters” of the world aren’t the only ones who get to have fun. Azure has embraced the open source community and made many non-Microsoft technologies ...