The Windows Azure Platform:

A Perspective

David Chappell

Chappell & Associates

Illustrating Cloud ComputingTwo broad categories

Cloud applications

– Often called Software as a Service (SaaS)

Cloud platforms

– Such as the Windows Azure platform

Cloud

Application

Users Developers

Cloud Platform

An Overview of the Windows Azure

Platform

The Windows Azure Platform

SQL Azure

Windows Azure

Cloud

Applications

Windows Azure

Platform AppFabric

On-Premises

Applications

OthersWindows

…

Windows AzureAn illustration

Fabric

Compute Storage

Config

Application

SQL Azure

Windows Azure

Applications

Applications

OthersWindows

Windows Azure

Platform AppFabric

Fabric

Storage

VMs VMs

Windows Azure Compute Service A closer look

…

Load Balancer

HTTP/

HTTPS

IIS

Web

Role

Instance

Worker

Role

Instance

Compute

Application

AgentAgent

Windows Azure Storage ServiceA closer look

Fabric

…

Compute

Application

Storage

Blobs Tables Queues

HTTP/

HTTPS

Developing for Windows Azure

Windows Server 2008/

Windows 7/Windows VistaSQL Server

Express

Fabric

Windows Azure Development Fabric

StorageWeb Role

Instance

Worker Role

Instance

Visual Studio

SQL Azure

Windows Azure

Applications

Applications

OthersWindows

SQL Azure Database

SQL Azure

Others (Future)

SQL Azure

Windows Azure

Platform AppFabric

SQL Azure Database

Others (Future)

SQL Azure DatabaseAn Illustration

Database

Database

Database

SQL Azure Database

TDS

Application

Database

Database

Database

Application

Application

Database

SQL Azure Database

SQL Azure DatabaseUsing one or multiple databases

Windows Azure Platform AppFabricInfrastructure in the cloud

SQL Azure

Windows Azure

Applications

Applications

OthersWindows

Windows Azure

Platform AppFabric

Service Bus

?Access Control

Windows Azure

Platform AppFabric

Using the Windows Azure

Platform: Scenarios

Applying Azure (1)Some characteristics of Azure-appropriate applications

Apps that need massive scale

– Example: A Web 2.0 application

Apps that need high reliability

– Example: A Software as a Service (SaaS) application

Apps with variable load

– Example: An on-line ticketing application

Apps with a short or unpredictable lifetime

– Example: An app created for a marketing campaign

Apps that do parallel processing

– Example: A financial modeling application

Applying Azure (2)Some characteristics of Azure-appropriate applications

Apps that must fail fast or scale fast

– Example: Start-ups

Apps that don’t fit well in an organization’s data center

– Example: A firm with no data center

– Example: A joint venture

– Example: A business unit that wishes to avoid its IT department

Apps that can benefit from external storage

– Example: An application that archives data

Blobs

Building on AzureA non-Azure app using Windows Azure storage

SQL Azure

On-Premises

or Hosted

Application

Web Role

Instance

Tables

Building on Azure A massively scalable web app exposed on the public Internet

Users

BlobsQueuesTables

Users

Worker Role

Instance

Web Role

Instance

Building on Azure A massively scalable web app with background processing

Web Role

Instance

SQL Azure

Users

Building on Azure A web app with relational storage

Web Role

Instance

SQL Azure

Users

Building on Azure A web app using cloud and on-premises data

Service Bus

On-premises

Database

User

Blobs

Web Role

Instance

Queues

Worker Role

Instance

Building on Azure A parallel processing application

The Windows Azure Platform and

Its Competitors

EC2 VM

Amazon Web Services

Linux or Windows

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

AWS Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) provides virtual machines running Linux or Windows

Windows Azure Fabric

VM

Windows Server

Windows Azure Platform

Your

DBMS

Windows Azure Storage

SQL Azure DatabaseYour

Application

AWS Storage

Your

Application

Relational Database Service

Amazon Web Services Windows Azure Platform

Blob storageSimple Storage Service

(S3)

Windows Azure Storage

Blobs

Scale-out storage SimpleDBWindows Azure Storage

Tables

Amazon Web Services Comparing storage options

Queues Simple Queue Service

(SQS)

Windows Azure Storage

Queues

Relational storageRDBMS running in a VM,

Relational Database

Service (RDS)

SQL Azure

Datastore, Task Lists

Google AppEngine

AppEngine runs Python and Java applications

Google AppEngine

Python/Java Runtime

Windows Azure Fabric

Windows Azure Platform

Windows Azure Storage

SQL Azure Database

Windows Server

Worker

Role

Web

Role

Task

App

Force.com Database

Force.com

Salesforce.com’s Force.com focuses on data-driven enterprise applications

Force.com

Force.com Runtime

Enterprise

Application

Windows Azure Fabric

Windows Azure Platform

Windows Azure Storage

SQL Azure Database

Windows Server

Worker

Role

Web

Role

Conclusions

Cloud platforms are here

– Microsoft is placing a big bet with the Windows Azure platform

A new world is unfolding

– Prepare to be part of it

For Further Reading

Introducing the Windows Azure Platform

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=158011

Introducing Windows Azure

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9682907

Windows Azure and ISVs: A Guide for Decision Makers

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=157857

About the Speaker

David Chappell is Principal of Chappell & Associates (www.davidchappell.com) in San Francisco, California. Through his speaking, writing, and consulting, he helps people around the world understand, use, and make better decisions about new technology. David has been the keynote speaker for many events and conferences on five continents, and his seminars have been attended by tens of thousands of IT decision makers, architects, and developers in forty countries. His books have been published in a dozen languages and used regularly in courses at MIT, ETH Zurich, and other universities. In his consulting practice, he has helped clients such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Stanford University, and Target Corporation adopt new technologies, market new products, train their sales staffs, and create business plans. Earlier in his career, David wrote networking software, chaired a U.S. national standards working group, and played keyboards with the Peabody-award-winning Children’s Radio Theater. He holds a B.S. in Economics and an M.S. in Computer Science, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Copyright © 2010 David Chappell

Chappell & Associates

www.davidchappell.comSOAP/WS-*