Introduction To Cloud Computing Winsows Azure101

Editor's Notes

• #2: Welcome everyone my name is <name> and I’m here today to introduce you to one of the most important new developer technologies starting off our new decade… Microsoft Windows Azure
• #5: Our agenda for this session will be to show you Windows Azure in action using Visual Studio.Next, we’ll explore the Windows Azure Services PlatformWe’ll become familiar with the core services of Windows AzureWe’ll learn about Windows Azure RolesAnd we’ll use Visual Studio to develop our first Azure application
• #8: This is the first session of a three part series. My objective is to have you leave the third session ready to develop Windows Azure applicationsThis session will give you the basics of what you need to know, and the next two will build up your knowledge of application development targeting the Windows Azure Platform.In this session, you will gain an understanding of the Windows Azure platform components… including Windows Azure, Windows Azure Data Services, and SQL Azure… and you’ll learn what tools and software libraries you’ll need to start constructing applications for the cloud.
• #9: This is the first session of a three part series. My objective is to have you leave the third session ready to develop Windows Azure applicationsThis session will give you the basics of what you need to know, and the next two will build up your knowledge of application development targeting the Windows Azure Platform.In this session, you will gain an understanding of the Windows Azure platform components… including Windows Azure, Windows Azure Data Services, and SQL Azure… and you’ll learn what tools and software libraries you’ll need to start constructing applications for the cloud.
• #12: You may have heard the term “Software as a Service” or SaaS. There are several “as a service” terms associated with cloud computing: Infrastructure as a Service, or IaaS, is where you pay for infrastructure resources such as servers, storage devices, and network equipment. Platform as a Service, or PaaS, is where you pay for a platform that includes an operating system and application stack. PaaS is inclusive of IaaS. Software as a Service, or SaaS, is where you pay to use an application. SaaS is inclusive of both PaaS and IaaS.An example of PaaS is Windows Azure.An example of SaaS is Microsoft Exchange Online.
• #13: You may have heard the term “Software as a Service” or SaaS. There are several “as a service” terms associated with cloud computing: Infrastructure as a Service, or IaaS, is where you pay for infrastructure resources such as servers, storage devices, and network equipment. Platform as a Service, or PaaS, is where you pay for a platform that includes an operating system and application stack. PaaS is inclusive of IaaS. Software as a Service, or SaaS, is where you pay to use an application. SaaS is inclusive of both PaaS and IaaS.An example of PaaS is Windows Azure.An example of SaaS is Microsoft Exchange Online.
• #17: Many of us have been working with software for years, and some of us even decades. As such, we have an implicit understanding of our environment… we know what kind of architectural patterns to apply and what kind of code to write for our environments that will work. We are delighted that we don’t have to involve ourselves in the nitty-gritty details of how a network load balancer is configured or what kind of firewall is required. We are happy that there are other non-application developers taking care of these details for us so that we can focus on the architectural design of our software and writing code to implement those designs.All this having been said… we certainly would all agree that our software environment has an influence on the style of code that we write… without understanding our environment (at least at the macroscopic level)… we would likely make many missteps in the design and coding of our software. It is for this reason that I am spending a brief amount of time telling you a little more about your environment… to help us design and write applications better for the cloud.Microsoft Data Centers are a big part of the Azure story. Microsoft is building large, sophisticated cloud data centers around the world to complement its existing data centers. Two cloud data centers are in operation in the U.S. in Chicago and San Antonio. In 2010 we’ll see European data centers in Dublin and Amsterdam and Asian data centers in Hong Kong and Singapore.
• #19: To give you sense for how this impacts us as developers, here are just a few of the business opportunities driving our development efforts towards cloud applications… ISVs & SaaS Applications. For independent software vendors, cloud computing makes lots of sense as products transition into Software-as-a-Service offerings where quick scale is needed. Multi-tenancy makes cloud computing particularly cost effective. Mid-Market Enterprise. Analysts have identified mid-market enterprise as most likely to use cloud computing early on. Often this may be a single department taking the initiative. Enterprise application migration. Many enterprises will first put cloud computing to use by migrating existing applications in order to reduce operating costs or avoid the need to make further data center investment. Start-ups & Experimental Initiatives. The cloud is ideal for experimenting with projects that may succeed rapidly or may need to be shut down rapidly (“scale fast or fail fast”). This applies not only to start-ups but also to experimental initiatives within established companies. Fast Lane. Some companies will see the cloud as a “fast lane” to get around the lead time, obstacles, and project competition they face internally. Seasonal Businesses. Companies whose computing needs vary based on season are ideal candidates for the cloud. For example, a tax preparation service needs a lot of capacity in the Spring but not so much other times of year. Cloud Seen As A Competitive Edge. Azure is a playground for innovation, both technically and financially. Companies who seek a competitive edge will find the cloud a rich environment for innovation.
• #27: There are two core roles that server instances play in Windows Azure.The first role is the Web Role. A web role is used for web application programming in ASP.NET or PHPThe second role is the Worker Role. A worker role is used for performing work on behalf of the web role.In addition to the .NET languages, Worker Roles may be written in Ruby or Java.Worker Roles are used to improve scalability by increasing parallelism and asynchronicity.They are often used for background work.
• #28: There are two core roles that server instances play in Windows Azure.The first role is the Web Role. A web role is used for web application programming in ASP.NET or PHPThe second role is the Worker Role. A worker role is used for performing work on behalf of the web role.In addition to the .NET languages, Worker Roles may be written in Ruby or Java.Worker Roles are used to improve scalability by increasing parallelism and asynchronicity.They are often used for background work.
• #29: Windows Azure provides hosting and storage and management.The Windows Azure data center infrastructure is called the Fabric and manages instances of your applications. The Fabric detects if something goes wrong and allocates replacement resources if necessary.You can host HTTP-accessed software such as web applications and web services in Windows Azure. You can also host background worker software.Windows Azure also provides non-database storage. This comes in 3 forms: blobs, queues, and data tables. Blobs are similar to files, queues are similar to enterprise queues, and data tables are record-based storage.The Windows Azure management portal allows you to create projects, deploy software, change number of instances, upgrade software, and promote between Staging and Production environments.
• #30: AppFabric is what makes theAzure platform enterprise-ready.Windows Server AppFabric and Windows Azure platform AppFabric enable users to build and manage applications more easily both on-premises and in the cloud.Windows Azure platform AppFabric, formerly called “.NET Services”, helps developers connect applications and services in the cloud or on-premises. This includes applications running on Windows Azure, Windows Server and a number of other platforms including Java, Ruby, PHP and others. It provides a Service Bus for connectivity across network and organizational boundaries, and Access Control for federated authorization as a service. Windows Azure platform AppFabric is in CTP now.Service Bus helps to provide secure connectivity between loosely-coupled services and applications, enabling them to navigate firewalls or network boundaries and to use a variety of communication patterns. Services that register on Service Bus can easily be discovered and accessed, across any network topology.The Microsoft® Access Control helps you build federated authorization into your applications and services, without the complicated programming that is normally required to secure applications that extend beyond organizational boundaries. With its support for a simple declarative model of rules and claims, Access Control rules can easily and flexibly be configured to cover a variety of security needs and different identity-management infrastructures.Management of the Service Bus and the Access Control Service is done through the web portal. The Windows Azure Platform AppFabric is still in CTP, and at the time of this video some of the specifics were in transition.
• #31: The Windows Azure Cloud Fabric is what provides all of this…We get multiple virtual server instances provisioning on-the-fly.We get failure detection when one or more of these virtual server instances fails. Failures are rare, but when they happen, the Windows Azure Cloud Fabric will automatically spin up new server instances to replace failing ones.It’s the Windows Azure Cloud Fabric that controls how many instances are created and what role each instance plays. Of course it takes its queues from the configuration data that we supply.The Windows Azure Cloud Fabric also automatically configures load balancing for multiple service instances… and it does so in a very dynamic and flexible manner… allowing quick increases and decreases in available service capacity.
• #32: So that’s what the Windows Azure Cloud Fabric is all about… We’re developers… and we want to write software that targets the Windows Azure Platform… but we don’t have all of this incredible infrastructure on our development machines. It’s unclear for example, just exactly how we might go about building an application that required Blob Storage without actually having Blob Storage.Microsoft create a Windows Azure Cloud Fabric simulation environment just for that purpose… to give the .NET developer a familiar environment to work in that simulates all of the environmental characteristics of the actual Windows Azure Cloud Fabric.The “DevFabric” as it is called, runs locally on our boxes and interfaces with Visual Studio to give us an interactive debugger, simulated data storage, and other cloud services.
• #34: Here is a list of resources that will allow you to follow up on many of the features you’ve seen today, as well as become part of our development community!
• #50: Questions?