Web roles, déjà vu, and ASP.NET

If you've ever travelled to a new place but felt like you've been there before, then you'll be prepared for Azure development. Most components between the web role and the ASP.NET web application are the same – .aspx pages, classes, web.config, among other things. New components to our web role include three new assembly references, a WebRole.vb (or WebRole.cs) file, and a trace listener addition in the Web.config file.

The new assembly references are:

• Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics, which contains the diagnostics and logging classes

• Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime, which allows the recycling of roles and also allows access to configuration settings

• Microsoft.WindowsAzure.StorageClient, which is the library for the Blob, Table, and Queue Storage REST interfaces

These three assemblies are referenced in addition to the other references we need in our application.

The new WebRole.vb (or WebRole.cs) file is just some template code for setting up the...