not so trivial .net

Windows Azure Recipe: Enterprise LOBs

Clint Edmonson — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:11:06 -0600

Enterprises are more and more dependent on their specialized internal Line of Business (LOB) applications than ever before. Naturally, the more software they leverage on-premises, the more infrastructure they need manage. It’s frequently the case that our customers simply can’t scale up their hardware purchases and operational staff as fast as internal demand for software requires. The result is that getting new or enhanced applications in the hands of business users becomes slower and more expensive every day.

Being able to quickly deliver applications in a rapidly changing business environment while maintaining high standards of corporate security is a challenge that can be met right now by moving enterprise LOBs out into the cloud and leveraging Azure’s Access Control services. In fact, we’re seeing many of our customers (both large and small) see huge benefits from moving their web based business applications such as corporate help desks, expense tracking, travel portals, timesheets, and more to Windows Azure.

Drivers

Cost Reduction
Time to market
Security

Solution

Here’s a sketch of how many Windows Azure Enterprise LOBs are being architected and deployed:

Ingredients

Web Role – this will host the core of the application. Each web role is a virtual machine hosting an application written in ASP.NET (or optionally php, or node.js). The number of web roles can be scaled up or down as needed to handle peak and non-peak traffic loads. Many Java based applications are also being deployed to Windows Azure with a little more effort.
Database – every modern web application needs to store data. SQL Azure databases look and act exactly like their on-premise siblings but are fault tolerant and have data redundancy built in.
Access Control – this service is necessary to establish federated identity between the cloud hosted application and an enterprise’s corporate network. It works in conjunction with a secure token service (STS) that is hosted on-premises to establish the corporate user’s identity and credentials. The source code for an on-premise STS is provided in the Windows Azure training kit and merely needs to be customized for the corporate environment and published on a publicly accessible corporate web site. Once set up, corporate users see a near seamless single sign-on experience.
Reporting – businesses live and die by their reports and SQL Azure Reporting, based on SQL Server Reporting 2008 R2, can serve up reports with tables, charts, maps, gauges, and more. These reports can be accessed from the Windows Azure Portal, through a web browser, or directly from applications.
Service Bus (optional) – if deep integration with other applications and systems is needed, the service bus is the answer. It enables secure service layer communication between applications hosted behind firewalls in on-premises or partner datacenters and applications hosted inside Windows Azure. The Service Bus provides the ability to securely expose just the information and services that are necessary to create a simpler, more secure architecture than opening up a full blown VPN.
Data Sync (optional) – in cases where the data stored in the cloud needs to be shared internally, establishing a secure one-way or two-way data-sync connection between the on-premises and off-premises databases is a perfect option. It can be very granular, allowing us to specify exactly what tables and columns to synchronize, setup filters to sync only a subset of rows, set the conflict resolution policy for two-way sync, and specify how frequently data should be synchronized

Training Labs

These links point to online Windows Azure training labs where you can learn more about the individual ingredients described above. (Note: The entire Windows Azure Training Kit can also be downloaded for offline use.)

	Windows Azure (16 labs) Windows Azure is an internet-scale cloud computing and services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services which can be used individually or together. It gives developers the choice to build web applications; applications running on connected devices, PCs, or servers; or hybrid solutions offering the best of both worlds. New or enhanced applications can be built using existing skills with the Visual Studio development environment and the .NET Framework. With its standards-based and interoperable approach, the services platform supports multiple internet protocols, including HTTP, REST, SOAP, and plain XML
	SQL Azure (7 labs) Microsoft SQL Azure delivers on the Microsoft Data Platform vision of extending the SQL Server capabilities to the cloud as web-based services, enabling you to store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data.
	Windows Azure Services (9 labs) As applications collaborate across organizational boundaries, ensuring secure transactions across disparate security domains is crucial but difficult to implement. Windows Azure Services provides hosted authentication and access control using powerful, secure, standards-based infrastructure.

See my Windows Azure Resource Guide for more guidance on how to get started, including links web portals, training kits, samples, and blogs related to Windows Azure.

Windows Azure Recipe: Consumer Portal

Clint Edmonson — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:49:09 -0600

Nearly every company on the internet has a web presence. Many are merely using theirs for informational purposes. More sophisticated portals allow customers to register their contact information and provide some level of interaction or customer support. But as our understanding of how consumers use the web increases, the more progressive companies are taking advantage of social web and rich media delivery to connect at a deeper level with the consumers of their goods and services.

Drivers

Cost reduction
Scalability
Global distribution
Time to market

Solution

Here’s a sketch of how a Windows Azure Consumer Portal might be built out:

Ingredients

Web Role – this will host the core of the solution. Each web role is a virtual machine hosting an application written in ASP.NET (or optionally php, or node.js). The number of web roles can be scaled up or down as needed to handle peak and non-peak traffic loads.
Database – every modern web application needs to store data. SQL Azure databases look and act exactly like their on-premise siblings but are fault tolerant and have data redundancy built in.
Access Control (optional) – if identity needs to be tracked within the solution, the access control service combined with the Windows Identity Foundation framework provides out-of-the-box support for several social media platforms including Windows LiveID, Google, Yahoo!, Facebook. It also has a provider model to allow integration with other platforms as well.
Caching (optional) – for sites with high traffic with lots of read-only data and lists, the distributed in-memory caching service can be used to cache and serve up static data at higher scale and speed than direct database requests. It can also be used to manage user session state.
Blob Storage (optional) – for sites that serve up unstructured data such as documents, video, audio, device drivers, and more. The data is highly available and stored redundantly across data centers. Each entry in blob storage is provided with it’s own unique URL for direct access by the browser.
Content Delivery Network (CDN) (optional) – for sites that service users around the globe, the CDN is an extension to blob storage that, when enabled, will automatically cache frequently accessed blobs and static site content at edge data centers around the world. The data can be delivered statically or streamed in the case of rich media content.

Training Labs

	Windows Azure (16 labs) Windows Azure is an internet-scale cloud computing and services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services which can be used individually or together. It gives developers the choice to build web applications; applications running on connected devices, PCs, or servers; or hybrid solutions offering the best of both worlds. New or enhanced applications can be built using existing skills with the Visual Studio development environment and the .NET Framework. With its standards-based and interoperable approach, the services platform supports multiple internet protocols, including HTTP, REST, SOAP, and plain XML
	SQL Azure (7 labs) Microsoft SQL Azure delivers on the Microsoft Data Platform vision of extending the SQL Server capabilities to the cloud as web-based services, enabling you to store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data.
	Windows Azure Services (9 labs) As applications collaborate across organizational boundaries, ensuring secure transactions across disparate security domains is crucial but difficult to implement. Windows Azure Services provides hosted authentication and access control using powerful, secure, standards-based infrastructure.

See my Windows Azure Resource Guide for more guidance on how to get started, including links web portals, training kits, samples, and blogs related to Windows Azure.

Windows Azure Solution Cookbook

Clint Edmonson — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:48:39 -0600

I’ve spent quite a bit of time discussing cloud computing with our customers lately and the common theme among them all has been “lean”. Windows Azure can provide some tremendous benefits to nearly every organization we speak with: operating cost reduction, faster time to market, scale on demand. It literally can’t get any leaner that this.

The challenge I’m running into is that it’s hard for architects and developers to get a big picture of the Azure platform and how all the features can be used together to build solutions. Microsoft is shipping new services on a quarterly basis and each new service is designed to solve a particular need our customers are asking for. We need a way to see these services holistically as a set of building blocks or ingredients to use in our solutions.

In this series going to offer up some architectural recipes to help visualize solutions to the common scenarios we’ve identified since Azure’s launch. These are by no means the only solutions you an solve with Azure or the only way to address these scenarios but hopefully they will provide you with a high level way to visualize your solutions on the Azure platform.

The diagram you see to the right is designed to provide a layered architectural overview of the developer and infrastructure services currently available in Windows Azure*. (Note: You can click on it to see the full size version.) This diagram will be the master template for the entire series.

Recipes

Consumer Portal
Enterprise Line of Business Application (LOB)
Software as a Service (SAAS)…coming soon
Mobile Computing…coming soon
Big Data…coming soon
Big Media/Social Web…coming soon
High Performance Parallel Computing (HPC)…coming soon
Gaming…coming soon

* Special thanks to my buddy Holger Sirtl for his outstanding architecture overview diagram. This series would not be possible with out him.

Six0Run Scores Big with Windows Azure

Clint Edmonson — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:38:47 -0600

What do you get when you cross a college basketball coach, a lawyer, and a software architect? In the case of local St. Louis startup Six0Run Software, you get a dynamic software development team focused on revolutionizing talent management in college athletics. I sat down with the team to learn more about the new software solution they launched on Windows Azure earlier this year.

The Opportunity

College athletics are big business in the United States. Specifically, the business of winning games and championships. And according to Six0Run’s former basketball coach George Evjen, “The only way to win is to get the best recruits. Coaches are always searching for the best possible talent to greatly increase their chances of winning”.

College athletic programs typically scout anywhere from 5 to 500 candidates. Athletes are tracked throughout their high school years in their recruiting pipelines. Coaches also frequently track athletes at other two and four year colleges that might be candidates for transfer. Much like a traditional sales cycle, there are some deals that are higher probability than others. Getting the best deal is key to building a winning program.

In addition to dealing with the sheer volume of potential recruits, college athletic programs and coaches are heavily policed by the NCAA. Unlike traditional lead management practices, athletic departments simply can’t contact their leads at will. The NCAA has specific rules regarding these contact points.

NCAA audits can happen at any time so contact with candidates must to be tracked. Coaches need to show a historical report of their activities. According to resident lawyer turned developer Jeff Strauss, “Infraction costs for violating NCAAA rules could be $100s of thousands of dollars and possible bans from post-season play. The challenge is that the rules are constantly changing, especially those related to social media”. Here are just a few examples he cited:

Coaches can only call candidates a few times a week
Only allowed three site visits to watch a candidate play
Only allowed to invite the candidate to campus a certain number of times
Coaches cannot contact anyone younger than a high school sophomore
On twitter or Facebook, a candidate’s name cannot be mentioned publicly until after signing day and a scholarship has been accepted
There are time windows throughout the year when no contact with candidates is allowed.

The Solution

Six0Run’s flagship product is a software as a service (SaaS) solution hosted in the cloud and licensed to college athletic departments on a yearly basis. It’s a highly specialized, domain specific CRM package, unlike products like Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM which are broad platforms that appeal to any business.

The solution focuses exclusively on collegiate athlete recruiting but encompasses any sport (Basketball, football, golf, soccer, etc.) It captures specific data points about athletes such as height, weight and performance related statistics and activities. There’s also a built in stack ranking system to evaluate and track candidates by position.

Six0Run can automatically pull in public social media information for candidates and populate the appropriate data connections in the system. Coaches are allowed to friend candidates, but having this tool channel the communication points allows for better tracking and auditing.

The built-in workflow engine enforces NCAA compliance rules. It automates and tracks communication with candidates via traditional mail, email, as well as social media connections including twitter, Facebook, and mobile texting. There are prebuilt templates that can be auto-populated and sent, and in the case of emails, statistically tracked for reads, click-throughs, and more.

But the team at Six0Run wanted to go beyond merely tracking NCAA compliance. If there’s a high value recruit that someone forgot to call, it could potentially cost a program victories. So Six0Run encourages team based collaboration through a high level task and checklist system make sure an entire coaching staff stays on target and does the right things.

The Benefits of MS Technology

The user interface is a rich client built using Microsoft’s web based Silverlight technology. “The UI does a heavy searching and filtering. That’s why we went with Silverlight. We needed a lot of advanced UI capabilities.” says chief architect and company President Kevin Grossnicklaus. The underlying code uses a Model View ViewModel (MVVM) pattern for a clean and extensible architecture. It’s a robust and reliable platform that allows the team to code features quickly without spending a lot of time dealing with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They were able to leverage third party control libraries to create a desktop caliber client for both PC and Mac. The client also integrates tightly with Bing maps to map every candidate. This allows coaches to perform context based queries related to who’s doing what and where.

All back end services for the Silverlight client are hosted on Windows Azure web roles. “This provides for plenty of room for growth as the product becomes more widely adopted as well as a platform for potential partners to leverage our services while adding valuable services of their own to our customer base” adds Grossnicklaus.

Azure worker roles are also used to for background processing. The solution continually processes data for compliance rules that are difficult or impossible to process in real time. There is also a significant amount of processing going on around the clock to automatically track candidate activities through social media channels.

Six0Run also provides a document repository for each customer in Windows Azure blob storage. Documents can be stored for the overall athletic program as well as for each individual candidate. Coaches can upload and manage documents such as questionnaires, transcripts, test scores, pictures, videos, and any other electronic media they might want to capture about a candidate. A fixed amount of storage is included with each subscription and the software allows for overage charges for larger programs.

The Future

The team at Six0Run has a massive feature list including advances in telephony, texting, as well as other (undisclosed) activities none of their competitors are currently doing. The biggest technology change will be new clients with touch enabled devices. If they find that a large majority of their client base has a particular technology, they may build targeted clients for that platform. Everything is exposed from the cloud as services so they can be hit from all the major devices on the market.

Kevin Grossnicklaus puts it best, “Our competitors go a long way with bad products because they have good support. Our goal is to have a better product and much better support and access to the company. We can be much more efficient and effective with cloud based software and tools. This will keep our overhead low and allow us to price our product competitively.”

You can learn more Six0Run at: www.six0run.com

To learn more about the Windows Azure platform:

Visit: www.windowsazure.com

Download: Windows Azure Platform Training Kit

View: Architecting and Developing for Windows Azure

Why can’t I connect to my SQL Azure database?

Clint Edmonson — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:43:16 -0600

We’ve been running our Azure Hands On Experience labs throughout the US Central Region for the last month or so and the SQL Azure exercises require the user to connect a newly created SQL Azure database from their development workstation.

Inevitably, at least one machine is configured with one or more settings that prevent a connection from succeeding, either from SQL Server Management Studio or Visual Studio’s Data Connections tree in Server Explorer (my preferred method btw).

Here are the troubleshooting tips we’ve been using in the labs:

1. Double check your software versions.

If you’re using SQL Server Management Studio, it needs to be SQL Server Management Studio 2008 R2 (the free express or full edition). If you go to the Help | About menu, the dialog will say R2 in the logo product logo.

If you want to connect from directly inside Visual Studio 2010, make sure you have Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack SP1 installed as well. If you go to the Help | About menu item in Visual Studio 2010, the popup dialog will say SP1 immediately after the product version number. Also, make sure you have the latest Windows Azure SDK installed. It will set up the hooks for azure database connectivity from within Visual Studio 2010.

2. Double check your SQL Server Native Client Configuration

If you’re getting an error that mentions named pipes it means the SQL client networking protocol settings on your development machine are set to connect to servers using the named pipes protocol by default. This won’t work with SQL Azure because named pipes is a network protocol optimized for local LAN traffic. All connections to SQL Azure are done using TCP/IP so you need TCP/IP enabled.

To do this, run SQL Server Configuration Manager go to your start menu and select All Programs | SQL Server 2008 R2 | Configuration Tools | SQL Server Configuration Manager.

You need to make sure the TCP/IP protocol is enabled under the SQL Native Client 10.0 Configuration tree item. (On 64 bit machines you might have both 32 bit and 64 bit tree branches – be sure to enable TCP/IP in both). It’s generally a good ide to set TCP/IP as a higher priority protocol over named pipes as TCP/IP is the most common network protocol for SQL severs these days. This msdn article has more details about the configuration options.

3. Check your client side firewall rules.

SQL Servers communicate over TCP/IP through port 1433. The Windows Firewall software that shipped with XP SP2, Vista and Windows 7 is pretty good about about asking you when a new port is about to be used and letting you choose if you want it opened. If you're using another client side firewall solution, be sure to enable port 1433 for outbound connections. If your firewall software is set on an application by application basis, set up a rule for SQL Server Management Studio or Visual Studio appropriately.

4. Check the SQL Azure server firewall rules

When you create your SQL Azure database, you were asked to set up firewall rules to allow outside connections to the server. When you add a rule the dialog box lets you to set a range of IP addresses. It also shows your current IP address. In most cases your current IP address is chosen from a bank of addresses on the network you’re connected to.

To check these settings, log into your windows azure account, navigate to the databases area, and choose the database you’re trying to connect to from the tree on the left side of the screen. You should see the dropdown option to view and edit the Firewall Rules for your database server. Add or edit a rule to enable access for the development machine you’re trying to connect with.

As a minimum, you should add your current IP address as it is shown at the bottom. The hands on labs recommend adding a large enough address range so that if you have to reboot and end up acquiring a slightly different address you’ll still be able to connect with having to add another rule. You cans that I did this here.

Note: The address shown for Your current IP address is the public address that the server sees your internet traffic coming from. In the big chain of firewalls between you and your SQL Azure database, this is the address as it will be recognized from the network you currently reside in. It may or may not match the actual IP address your individual machine says it’s using. That’s OK. What it’s seeing is the most public internet facing firewall that you’re going through to get to the database. That’s all the server needs to know to allow you in.

5. Check your corporate firewall rules

If you still can’t connect and all of the above items check out and you’re currently connected to corporate network, chances are your corporate IT folks have another firewall in place to keep the baddies out and to keep you from accidentally letting them in.

If you’ve got an alternative method to connect to the internet such as a wireless hotspot or a guest network, try connecting to it and see if your attempt to reach your SQL Azure server succeeds. If so, then you know there’s a corporate firewall blocking you.

You’ll have to check with your network admins to see if they allow outbound TCP/IP connections on port 1433. Chances are you’ll have to do some paperwork to get that set up.

These are the troubleshooting steps we’ve found fruitful during labs. If you’re still stuck beyond this point, get a colleague to try connecting to your server from their machine. If they succeed, then you know there’s a configuration difference. It’s just a matter of finding the difference.

We Want Your Metro Apps for the Next Windows 8 Preview Release!

Clint Edmonson — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:14:37 -0600

Tuesday, the Windows Store blog announced that in the next significant Windows 8 preview release they will be expanding their global coverage with 33 additional app submission locales for developers.

Our store services are ramping up as planned--and of course the plan includes ramping up developer registrations to enable app submissions to the Windows store. Today, you need an invite “token” to register.

This begs the question - How can YOU get a token?

It’s easy! If your app is ready and you want to be among those developers who get to submit to the store early, simply attend one of the 100s of free Application Excellence Labs that DPE and Windows are holding around the world.

Follow these steps to get invited to an App Excellence lab:

Create a really great Windows 8 Metro style app (or game) immediately. Get it as ready as if you were submitting to the store.
Contact me (clinted (at) microsoft.com) for instructions on how I can nominate your app for an excellence lab.

You need to have a compelling, functional app that follows our UX guidelines, our performance best practices, and our store certification requirements¹

A trained Microsoft Services Engineer will run your app through a series of tests based on a quality checklist to ensure your app is (or will be) in top-notch shape when you submit. You will also get a chance discuss ways to make your app even better and you will get answers to any questions you might have.

If your app meets the criteria, then booyah! You get a token to register your developer account and (once you have been verified and all that) you will be able to submit your app to the Windows store.

If your app does not meet the criteria, nothing is lost. You will still end up with a much better app² and you will be able to submit it when registration opens for all developers.

Good luck. We are looking forward to seeing your apps and helping you to make them great!
Happy Windows 8 coding!!

¹ Note: The lab is not a replacement for certification process; that still happens when you submit to the store.
² Really, the lab preparation will be worth it, you will have a survey with questions, useful advice, links to guidelines, etc. The survey is (by far) not the only criteria we will use at the labs, but if you follow the preparation from the survey, you will likely have a great app.

You in the Cloud Sweepstakes!

Clint Edmonson — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:04:39 -0600

Want to win some easy money? We have a new Azure sweepstakes where we’re giving away seven $50 gift certificates each week (seven weeks) until June 14th. Just enter once, and you are in each drawing until the end of the sweepstakes.

To enter, you must do all of the following:

Make sure you have a valid Windows Azure Account. Don't have one? Get your FREE trial or activate your MSDN Subscription benefits that includes Windows Azure access.
Download the Windows Azure SDK and Windows Azure Training Kit to get started building your first cloud app.
Create a new Windows Azure web application and deploy to Azure no later than the end date listed above. A blog post series at http://walearningpath.cloudapp.net provides guidance and instructions for how to accomplish this.
Once your Windows Azure web application is deployed send an email to msnextde@microsoft.com with the URL to your deployed web application.

If you are selected as a winner we will need your Azure subscription ID to verify your Windows Azure subscription. Limit one (1) entry per Windows Azure subscription overall.

The official rules are posted on here.

Multi Tenant Metering in Windows Azure

Clint Edmonson — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:54:27 -0600

Our global ISV team just announced the public availability of the Cloud Ninja Multi-Tenant Metering Block (CNMB). The CNMB code sample enables SaaS ISVs to meter tenant-level consumption of various Windows Azure resources such as bandwidth, storage, SQL Azure, and compute.

The first Cloud Ninja sample included some metering capabilities along with many other SaaS concepts such as monitoring, scaling, provisioning, etc. Given the demand for multi-tenant metering, there was a need for a stand-alone metering sub-system isolated from a main SaaS application that was easy to deploy, based on standards, and extensible. The outcome of that effort is the CNMB. Here are some screen shots:

It provides tenant-level meters, application level aggregates, a rich query model based on OData, an extensibility to implement custom meters. All the data can be queried using the OData API, which enables interesting mash-ups in PowerPivot and integration with external systems like billing.

The CNMB includes an HTML5 portal to visualize tenant and app level usage. You can try the live demo here and download full source code from CodePlex. The live demo is currently metering our Cloud Ninja application. When you try the demo, check out links on home page to app-level, tenant-level usage, PowerPivot dashboard, and OData feed.

It comes with out-of-box meter providers for bandwidth, storage, SQL Azure, and compute. In the future we will add providers for Tomcat and CDN. It is easy to write custom providers if you want to meter application specific resources.

Key features of the CNMB

Easy to Use: The CNMB works with existing multi-tenant SaaS application in a non-intrusive manner. It needs simple configuration to point to SaaS application’s storage account and SQL Azure database and simple regular expressions to associate tenants with resource consumption.
Economical: The CNMB can be deployed in a single web role, which hosts UI, Web Services, and metering workers. Data schema is optimized so that 1GB SQL Azure database can hold an entire year’s worth data for thousands of tenants.
Standards Based: All data in and out is via authenticated OData API. OData allows rich query model on top of meter data. We support both JSON and Atom payloads. This enables 3^rd party apps like PowerPivot and external systems like billing to consume meter data through industry standard API.
Extensible: The CNMB has multiple levels of extension points from writing your own tenant resolver, defining customer meters, and developing customer meter providers.

If you are building a multi-tenant SaaS application, please check out the code sample and to provide feedback or feature requests using CodePlex’s discussion feature.

For MSDN subscribers, Microsoft Partners or BizSpark members this is also a great opportunity to take advantage of the free Windows Azure Benefits and try this out on Azure servers of your very own.

Announcing Visual Studio Achievements for Windows Azure

Clint Edmonson — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:20:51 -0600

Last January, a great question was posed by Rudi, a Slovenian developer in the Channel 9 community who asked “What if Visual Studio had achievements?” on his While True blog. The community conversation sparked by the blog post as well as the Reddit post catalyzed the Visual Studio Achievements Extension.

In listening to the developer community, the Channel 9 team at Microsoft has heard the positive feedback about Visual Studio Achievements loud and clear: you want more. More than 80,000 downloads of the extension demonstrated that developers see achievement badges as a fun way to socially share the accomplishments they earn in what can sometimes be the lonely act of writing code.

Given the growing importance of developing in the cloud, the team has just released new achievements for development in Windows Azure. New badges are available today, so developers can unlock new achievements when using Visual Studio to write code for Windows Azure. Badges can be earned for proper cloud development usage, mobile+cloud scenarios, social gaming scenarios, or a dozen other developer-related accomplishments.

Got to play the game to win it

In the same way that FourSquare and Xbox users earn badges for the activities occurring within the community, Visual Studio now has 15 new achievements for developing applications in Windows Azure, bringing the total number of badges to 47.

Some achievements even seamlessly integrate the previously announced Windows Azure Toolkit for Mobile Development and Social Gaming. The program extension is complete with fun badges, a public leaderboard and built in social media sharing options. With achievements like “Show Me the Cache” for using Windows Azure Caching and “Tired of Waiting In Line” for using timeout features of Windows Azure queues, we’re excited for more people to get started and show off their Azure coding skills.

Links for additional information

Download the updated Visual Studio Achievements Extension here.

Announcing Windows Azure Media Services

Clint Edmonson — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:24:09 -0600

The Windows Azure platform just keeps getting better and better. Yesterday we announced the upcoming preview of the new Windows Azure Media Services.

Windows Azure Media Services form an extensible media platform that integrates the best of the Microsoft Media Platform and third-party media components in Windows Azure. Media Services provide a media pipeline in the cloud that enables industry partners to extend or replace component technologies. ISVs and media providers can use Media Services to build end-to-end media solutions.

Media Services include the following set of capabilities for building media solutions:

Ingesting & encoding
Content protection
On-demand streaming
Live streaming
Media management, tagging, and analytics
REST API

The Windows Azure Media Services preview will be available at no cost (charges for associated Windows Azure features like Storage, Egress, and CDN may apply).

For more information on these services and how to build solutions around them, visit the Windows Azure Developer Center.

Introducing the Windows Azure Learning Path

Clint Edmonson — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 08:02:07 -0600

Starting today, we're pleased to announce the new Windows Azure Learning Path at http://aka.ms/AzureLearningPath, which will get you up and developing cloud apps in no time flat.

Organized by levels, and featuring the teachings of some of the leading cloud evangelists, you'll get clear guidance on every step of your journey, from getting the tools and the basics, to cloud rock star, bursting to scale, and poised for world domination.

Start with level 100 courses, which will take you from installation of the tools through hosting a basic web site on Azure. Once you're comfortable with that, move on to the 200, 300 and 400 level courses, which will take you further on your journey, introducing concepts like table, blob and queue storage, SQL Server in the cloud, security, caching and more.

So come on over, and get ready for your freshman courses in Azure.

To get started, you'll want to get access to your free Azure resources. If you’re an MSDN subscriber, you already get free cloud computing resources every month. You just need to activate your Azure benefits. If not, activate a free trial now and give it a spin!

Awesome Series on Windows Azure Security

Clint Edmonson — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:19:53 -0600

My buddy Bruce Kyle has put together a view into how you can secure your applications in Windows Azure. This six-part series describes the threats, how you can respond, what processes you can put into place for the lifecycle of your application, and prescribes a way for you to implement best practices around the requirements of your application.

Here are the links to each part in this series:

Part 1: The Challenges, Defense in Depth. This post describes the threat landscape and introduces the plan for your application to employ defense in depth in partnership with Windows Azure.

Part 2: What Azure Provides Out-of-the-Box. This is an overview that security with Windows Azure is a shared responsibility, and Windows Azure provides your application with important security features. But then again, it also exposes other vulnerabilities that you should consider. In addition, I’ll explore how Microsoft approaches compliance.

Part 3: Identifying Your Security Frame. This post explores how you can examine your application and identify attack surfaces. The idea of a Security Frame is a way for you to look at your application to determine treats and your responses, before you even begin coding. He point you to checklists that you can use when you are architecting your application.

Part 4: What Else You Need to Do. In addition to protecting your application from threats, there are additional steps you should take when you deploy your application. We provide a list of mitigations that you should employ in your application development and deployment.

Part 5: Claims-Based Identity, Single Sign On. User identification represents the keys to accessing data and business processes in your application. In this section, I describe how you can separate user identity and the roles of your user out of your application and make it easier to create single sign on applications.

Part 6: How Azure Services Extends Your App Security. Finally, he shows how other services in Windows Azure provide secure identity mapping, messaging, and connection to on premises application. This section suggests how you can use Windows Azure Active Directory, Windows Azure Connect, and Service Bus for your cloud applications, on premises applications, and hybrid applications.

Part 7: Tips, Tools, Coding Best Practices. Here are a few more items you should consider in securing your Windows Azure application. Here are some tools, coding tips, and best practices: running on the operating system, error handling, and how to access to Azure Storage

Learn more at Global Foundation Services Online Security. The Global Foundation Services team delivers trustworthy, available online services that create a competitive advantage for you and for Microsoft’s Windows Azure.

Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows 8

Clint Edmonson — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 08:07:24 -0600

The refreshed Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows 8 has been released. It makes it easy for developers to create Windows Metro Style applications that can harness the power of Windows Azure.

The toolkit includes working code samples, including one that uses Windows Azure and the Windows Push Notification Service to send Toast, Tile and Badge notifications to a Windows 8 Metro Style application.

Nick Harris and Wade Wegner have recorded a 4 minute video demonstration:

The core features of the toolkit include:

Automated Install that scripts all dependencies.
Project Templates, such as Windows 8 Metro Style app project templates, in both XAML/C# and HTML5/JavaScript with a supporting C# Windows Azure Project for Visual Studio 2010.
NuGet Packages for Push Notifications and the Sample ACS scenarios. You can find the packages here and full source in the toolkit under /Libraries.
Five App Samples that demonstrate ways Windows 8 Metro Style apps can use Azure-based ACS and Push Notifications
Documentation – Extensive documentation including install, file new project walkthrough, samples and deployment to Windows Azure.

Download it today. And if you have an MSDN subscription, be sure to activate your Azure benefits to get free compute and storage resources each month.

Upcoming Windows Azure Kick Start Events

Clint Edmonson — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 11:09:13 -0600

Come spend a day with some of the nation’s leading cloud experts and learn how to build a web application that runs in Windows Azure. You will learn how to sign up for free time in the cloud, and how to build a typical web application using ASP.NET tools and techniques. You will explore web roles, cloud storage, SQL Azure, and common cloud computing scenarios. You can get your questions answered via open Q&A, and you will learn what workloads should not be moved to cloud.

This will be a hands-on learning experience. We’ll have help onsite to get the right software installed as well. Lunch and prizes will be provided.

You can use the links below to register.

City	Registration	Date	Venue
Minneapolis	Register	March 30, 2012	Microsoft Edina Office
Independence	Register	April 3, 2012	Microsoft Independence Office
Columbus	Register	April 5, 2012	Microsoft Columbus Office
Overland Park	Register	April 10, 2012	Microsoft Overland Park Office
Omaha	Register	April 12, 2012	Microsoft Omaha Office
Mason	Register	April 13, 2012	Microsoft Mason Office
Southfield	Register	April 19, 2012	Microsoft Southfield Office
Houston	Register	April 25, 2012	Microsoft Houston Office
Creve Coeur	Register	May 1, 2012	Microsoft Creve Coeur Office
Downers Grove	Register	May 1, 2012	Microsoft Downers Grove Office
Franklin	Register	May 2, 2012	Microsoft Franklin Office
Chicago	Register	May 3, 2012	Microsoft Chicago Office
Minneapolis	Register	May 8, 2012	Microsoft Edina Office

Windows Azure Resource Guide

Clint Edmonson — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:39:57 -0600

I’m shifting gears this year to focus more on our Windows Azure offerings. Since our first discussions in our ArcReady events, I’ve been fired up about cloud computing and our Azure platform offering has matured nicely over the last year.

This is a collection of links to resources for Windows Azure that should serve as a resource guide for anyone starting to work with cloud computing with Microsoft .NET. Give me a shout if you have some other favorites that you’d like to see included here.

Activate your free trial now and give it a spin! If you’re an MSDN subscriber, you already get free cloud computing resources every month. You just need to activate your Azure benefits.

Websites & Portals

Windows Azure Information Portal – Essential resources for users new to Visual Studio 2010.

MSDN Library Azure Platform Portal – The Windows Azure platform includes the foundation layer of Windows Azure as well as a set of developer services which can be used individually or together. Visit this site to learn about the what and the how.

Windows Azure Developer Center – Learn how to build and deploy Windows Azure applications.

Windows Azure Account Center – Manage your subscription and track your Windows Azure usage.

Windows Azure Management Portal – Use the management portal to configure and control your Windows Azure services and applications.

Training & Labs

Windows Azure Training Kit – Technical content designed to help you learn how to use Windows Azure, including hands-on labs, presentations, demos, and code samples for every aspect of development. You can use the resources in the training kit to teach yourself or train others.

Windows Azure Training Course – Hands-on labs that are designed to help you quickly learn how to use Windows Azure services and SQL Azure.

Windows Azure How-to Topics – Huge compilation of how-to’s covering all areas of Azure development and and application management.

Real World Windows Azure Guidance – Valuable and interesting articles based on real world experiences of Microsoft customers developing applications for Windows Azure.

Windows Azure Platform Forums – Need answers? Visit our own social, community driven MSDN forums.

Stack Overflow Azure Questions – Independent community based questions and answers on Azure from professional and enthusiast programmers.

Downloads & Samples

Windows Azure SDK & Tools for .NET – Everything you need in one simple install, including tooling for Visual Studio and all Windows Azure client libraries for .NET.

Windows Azure tooling for .NET, node.js, java, and php - Get the tools and resources you need for every available platform that works with Windows Azure.

Windows Azure Sample Gallery – Community driven gallery of samples so you can learn from code.

White Papers on Windows Azure – Popular articles that provide additional views and perspectives on Windows Azure services.

Windows Azure Case Studies – Learn how others are using the Windows Azure platform.

Blogs

Active blogs by Windows Azure product team members and other affiliates: