A Lap Around Windows Azure

Chris IsmaelDeveloper EvangelistDeveloper and Platform EvangelismMicrosoft Singapore

Goals and Agenda

To get you to sign up for the Windows Azure Introductory Offer

http://bit.ly/freeazuresg

Provide you with the “core concepts” knowledge that would be your foundation in understanding Windows Azure

AgendaWhy Cloud Computing?Why Would I…

Define my website/service’s architectureUse Blob Storage, Tables, QueuesUse Windows Azure AppFabric

Why Cloud Computing startedHow Windows Azure came about?

Microsoft’s online services challengesSpending a lot of time managing the machinesInefficient utilizationLittle resource sharingNo shared platform or standard toolset for everyone

Reasons for major cloud providersOptimization (extra resources to share) ie Amazon Web Services

Profit – economies of scaleStrategic – product franchiseExtension – customer relationshipsPresence – in marketPlatform – hub master of ISV’s offerings

Characteristics of Cloud Computing

Value PropositionElasticity No CommitmentReduced CostConsumption-based PricingExtra CapacityFaster Time to MarketSelf-Service ITSLA – 99.9% (over existing)Simplify ITConvert CapEx to OpExNew Capabilities – ie federated security

ConcernsSecurityPerformance and Availability (ie storage)Vendor Lock-inDisaster RecoveryIn-house Capability and ProcessBilling ConcernsTrustAlignment

Best bet: Try it (bit.ly/freeazuresg)

From David Pallman (davidpallman.blogspot.com)

Sample Scenario – Your typical Online Store

Planning / ArchitecturePurchasing (hardware, software licenses, etc)

Prototyping / TestingDeployment / ManagementAdding new storageDecoupling componentsManaging identity (credentials)

The Service ModelSigning up for Windows AzureWindows Azure Tool SetPortal and Service Management API

Blobs and TablesQueuesAppFabric Access Control Service (ACS)

Planning / Architecture

Service Model to the rescue!

Windows Azure RolesTemplates of commonly-used machine configurations

Web Role – website / front-endWorker Role – background jobsVM Role – virtual machine image

Service Definition and Configuration files

Consider the effort to get this running:- Configuration of machines- Networking- Port configurations- Etc.

Creating a Windows Azure application in Visual Studio 2010

Things to ponder on:

This looks like Platform-As-A-Service (PAAS)Provides the tools and development environment to deploy applicationsProvides APIs to interact with the cloud componentsIAAS, SAAS

Can I log-in to view these machines?

IAAS•Example Amazon

PAAS•Example Windows Azure

SAAS•Example•Salesforce

Signing up for Windows Azure

Things to ponder onDo I have to use Visual Studio to deploy? (show demo first)

Is there a way to programmatically control and manage my deployments?

Service Runtime API – let’s you access manipulate, and respond to the ambient environment in which your code runs (managed, native)

Service Management API – meant to be run “outside” the cloud to manipulate your running services from outside (HTTP REST, free)

Sample Scenario – Your typical Online Store

Planning / ArchitecturePurchasing (hardware, software licenses, etc)

Prototyping / DeploymentManagementAdding new storageDecoupling componentsManaging identity (credentials)

The Service ModelSigning up for Windows AzureWindows Azure Tool SetPortal and Service Management API

Blobs and TablesQueuesAppFabric Access Control Service (ACS)

Storage using Blobs

Why a new storage model?What’s wrong with the filesystem?

When would I need a blob?What skills do I need to use blobs?

Blobs

No need to predict how much storage is neededPersistent storage for your instancesScalable – consistent performance regardless of amount of dataReplication of dataREST HTTP / StorageClient libraries

Blob Storage Concepts

BlobContainerAccount

sally

pictures

IMG001.JPG

IMG002.JPG

movies MOV1.AVI

Blob Demo

Things to ponder on..

Standard REST PUT/GET Interfacehttp://<Account>.blob.core.windows.net/<Container>/<BlobName>

StorageClient Library availableMetadata can be associated per blob – 8K maxWatch your wallet

$0.15 per GB stored per month$0.01 per 10,000 storage transactions

Windows Azure Drive… the C:\ solution (using VHDs)

Scenarios for using Queues

Queue Demo

C1

C2

Dequeue And Delete Messages

34

Producers Consumers

P2

P1

1

2

12 13

Summary Of Windows Azure Queues

Provide reliable message deliveryAllows Messages to be retrieved and processed at least once

No limit on number of messages stored in a Queue

Message size is <=8KB

Tables

First a little story about traffic signals…Versus traditional databases

Denormalized dataNo schema – just name-value pairsNo distributed transactionsBlack box – no settingsRow size limits – 1MB

Easy analogy = Excel sheet

Table Demo

Table Partitioning

• To increase performance• Data resilience• Cheap

Fastest to slowest query

1. Unique partition key 2. Partition key + row key3. Partition key4. No partition key/row

So do I need SQL Azure?

Windows Azure Tables

Denormalized dataNo schema – just name-value pairsNo distributed transactionsBlack box – no settingsRow size limits – 1MB

SQL Azure

Invert everything (pretty much) on the left, plus…Easier migration – MySQL/SQL Server -> SQL Azure, etcHas limits

10, 20, 30 – 50GBWhat if I need more than that???

Sample Scenario – Your typical Online Store

Planning / ArchitecturePurchasing (hardware, software licenses, etc)

Prototyping / DeploymentManagementAdding new storageDecoupling componentsManaging identity (credentials)

The Service ModelSigning up for Windows AzureWindows Azure Tool SetPortal and Service Management API

Blobs and TablesQueuesAppFabric Access Control Service (ACS)

Identity Management using AppFabric ACS

Recap.. ScenariosYou don’t want to manage passwords (how is that possible?)You don’t want to drastically change your existing code to handle logic for credentialsYou have an existing Identity Store (Active Directory)You want users to authenticate using several existing Identity Stores such as Live ID, Google, etc

Claims-based identity to the rescue! (share analogy) – portal.appfabriclabs.com

Tokens aplenty!

Demo ACS

Sample Scenario – Your typical Online Store

Planning / ArchitecturePurchasing (hardware, software licenses, etc)

Prototyping / DeploymentManagementAdding new storageDecoupling componentsManaging identity (credentials)

The Service ModelSigning up for Windows AzureWindows Azure Tool SetPortal and Service Management API

Blobs and TablesQueuesAppFabric Access Control Service (ACS)A bunch more to check out: VM Role

Azure Drive AppFabric – Cache

AppFabric - Service Bus

Pizza time

Sign up for a free account http://bit.ly/freeazuresg Learn more at http://www.azure.com Try AppFabric at http://portal.appfabriclabs.com - free

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