Preface

The Windows Azure Platform is Microsoft's Platform-as-a-Service environment for hosting services and data in the cloud. It provides developers with on-demand compute, storage, and service connectivity capabilities that facilitate the hosting of highly-scalable services in Windows Azure datacenters across the globe.

This practical cookbook will show you advanced development techniques for building highly-scalable, cloud-based services using the Windows Azure Platform. It contains several practical, task-based, and immediately usable recipes covering a wide range of advanced development techniques for building highly scalable services to solve particular problems/scenarios when developing these services on the Windows Azure Platform. The solutions are presented in a clear systematic manner and explained in great detail, which makes them good learning material for everyone who has experience of the Windows Azure Platform and wants to improve.

Packed with reusable, real-world recipes, the book starts by explaining the various access control mechanisms used in the Windows Azure platform. Next, you will see the advanced features of Windows Azure Blob storage, Windows Azure Table storage, and Windows Azure Queues. The book then dives deep into topics such as developing Windows Azure hosted services, using Windows Azure Diagnostics, managing hosted services with the Service Management API, using SQL Azure and the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus. You will see how to use several of the latest features such as VM roles, Windows Azure Connect, startup tasks, and the Windows Azure AppFabric Caching Service.

The Windows Azure Platform is changing rapidly with new features being released or previewed every few months. However, the core of the platform remains stable. This cookbook focuses on that core but, where appropriate, points out the direction the platform is moving in. Using this book, you can build advanced scalable cloud-based services with the Windows Azure Platform.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Controlling Access in the Windows Azure Platform, shows you techniques that applications can use to authenticate against the Windows Azure Storage Service, the Windows Azure Service Management API, and the Windows Azure AppFabric Caching service. This authentication provides applications with secure access to the resources managed by these services. The chapter also shows how to control public access to Windows Azure blobs.

Chapter 2, Handling Blobs in Windows Azure, shows how to use the Windows Azure Storage Client library and the Windows Azure Storage Services REST API to access the Windows Azure Blob Service. It demonstrates various techniques for uploading and downloading block and page blobs. The chapter also shows how to use the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) to optimize the distribution of blobs.

Chapter 3, Going NoSQL with Windows Azure Tables, shows how to use the Windows Azure Storage Client library and WCF Data Services to access the Windows Azure Table Service. It shows how to create a scalable data model and how to upload and download entities conforming to that model. The chapter also shows how to use the lightweight transaction capability provided by entity group transactions.

Chapter 4, Disconnecting with Windows Azure Queues, shows how to use the Windows Azure Storage Client Library to manage and access the Windows Azure Queue Service. It shows how to insert and retrieve messages from a queue. The chapter also shows how to handle poison messages.

Chapter 5, Developing Hosted Services for Windows Azure, shows how to develop and deploy an application as a Windows Azure hosted service. It shows how to create an appropriate service model for an application. For web roles, it shows how to use a custom domain name and implement HTTPS, as well as use the Windows Azure AppFabric Caching service to share session state. The chapter also shows how to use Windows Azure Connect and the Windows Azure MarketPlace DataMarket.

Chapter 6, Digging into Windows Azure Diagnostics, shows how to use Windows Azure Diagnostics to capture diagnostic data on a hosted service and persist it to the Windows Azure Storage Service. The chapter also shows how to access Windows Azure Diagnostics remotely, both to manage it and to access the diagnostic data for analysis.

Chapter 7, Managing Hosted Services with the Service Management API, shows how to use the Windows Azure Service Management REST API to manage a Windows Azure hosted service. It shows how to create and upgrade deployments of a hosted service, including how to modify the number of role instances for that service. The chapter also shows how to use the Windows Azure Platform PowerShell cmdlets to manage a Windows Azure hosted service.

Chapter 8, Using SQL Azure, shows how to use SQL Azure and, specifically, how to migrate to SQL Azure. It shows how to manage ADO.NET connections to SQL Azure and how to handle the connection failures that are more prevalent in that environment. The chapter also shows how to scale out a SQL Azure database into the Windows Azure Blob Service.

Chapter 9, Looking at the Windows Azure AppFabric, covers various features of the Windows Azure AppFabric. It shows how to use the relay and event capability of the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus. The chapter also shows how to use the Windows Azure AppFabric Caching service to scale out Windows Azure hosted services.

What you need for this book

This book requires you to have some exposure to Windows Azure and you need basic understanding of Visual Studio, C#, SQL, .NET development, XML, and web development concepts (HTTP, Services, and so on).

Who this book is for

If you are an experienced Windows Azure developer or architect who wants to understand advanced development techniques when building highly scalable services using the Windows Azure platform, then this book is for you.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text are shown as follows: "We can include other contexts through the use of the include directive."

A block of code is set as follows:

String containerName = "chapter2";
String blobName = "DownloadBlobExample";
String fileName = Path.GetTempPath() + @"\Pippo";
DownloadBlob(containerName, blobName, fileName);

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

String containerName = "chapter2";
String blobName = "DownloadBlobExample";
String fileName = Path.GetTempPath() + @"\BlobName";
DownloadBlob(containerName, blobName, fileName);

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

# makecert -sky exchange -r -pe -a sha1 -len 2048 -sr localmachine
   -ss My –n "CN=Azure Service Management" AzureServiceManagement.cer

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "On the Windows Azure Compute node, right click on an instance node and select View IntelliTrace logs".

Note

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.

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