A “Cloud-y” Recap of Computing and Online Services at TechDays

With 8 sessions specifically dedicated to Windows Azure and Office 365 at TechDays, there was plenty of content to go around. There was everything from deciding whether to move to the Cloud, to how to actually do the move to the Cloud, to how to secure your application in the Cloud once you got it up there. Hopefully you left each session understanding all the concepts and knowing exactly what you needed to do in order to implement them in your applications.

Below you’ll find all of the resources mentioned in each of the sessions so that you can continue your exploration of Windows Azure today (rather than having to wait until the sessions are available on TechDays Online in early December):

Highlighted in all sessions

• In order to implement what you learned at TechDays, sign up for a 90-day Windows Azure trial account, write some sample code, and deploy your code into Windows Azure.
• Further, to extend your learning past what you learned at TechDays, download the Windows Azure Platform Training Kit, review the content of the presentations, but most importantly, take some time to complete the included labs.
• A craftsman/craftwoman can’t create his or her masterpieces without having the tools to do it. Download the Windows Azure SDK which includes all of the development and testing tools you’ll need to build applications for the Cloud.

Highlighted in CLD301 – Migrating Applications to Windows Azure

• CLD301 Feedback – Share your feedback on the session or ask Richard any questions you may have around the content covered in the session.
• Windows Azure Scenarios – Learn about types of applications that are best suited for the Cloud.
• Windows Azure Evidence – Get an idea of the time and effort it took other companies to migrate to the Cloud.
• Canada Does Windows Azure – See how Canadian developers are using Windows Azure for their solutions.
• Using SQL Azure for Session State / SQL Azure Session State Provider – Sessions are handled differently in Windows Azure as there are no guarantees that each request to an application will hit the same server. The solution to this is to use an out of process mechanism to store the session state. Find out how to do that.
• Deploying a COM+ Serviced Component to Windows Azure – If you have legacy code in your application, you can still move it to the Cloud. Learn how to deploy serviced components to Windows Azure.
• Changing Drive Letter of an Azure Drive – Applications that need to write to a drive are challenged in that each time a Cloud Drive is mounted to an instance, the drive letter is randomly assigned. If your application needs a fixed drive letter, you can programatically reassign drive letters.
• Using SMB to Share a Windows Azure Drive among multiple Role Instances – Windows Azure drives can only be mounted to one instance/role at a time. This will provide guidance on how to setup the drive such that multiple role instances can use it.
• Pkcs12 Protected Configuration Provider – See how you can secure the information in configuration files.
• SQL Azure Connection Management / Connections and SQL Azure - This article introduces SQL Azure and its network topology.

Highlighted in CLD302 – Windows Azure Storage: Getting Started and Best Practices

• CLD302 Feedback – Share your feedback on the session or ask Tyler any questions you may have around the content covered in the session.
• Windows Azure Jump Start – Watch these 45-50 minute videos that focus on the different areas of Windows Azure: the Windows Azure environment, application lifecycle, storage, diagnostics, security, and scalability.
• Tyler’s Dev Blog – Blog posts on .NET software development for Windows Azure and Windows Phone by Tyler Doerksen (@tyler_gd).

Highlighted in CLD303 – Deploying and Managing Applications on the Windows Azure Platform

• CLD303 Feedback – Share your feedback on the session or ask Joel any questions you may have around the content covered in the session.
• Windows Azure Accelerator for Web Roles – A quick and easy way to deploy one or more websites across multiple Web Role instances using Web Deploy.
• Windows Azure Platform Management Tool (MMC) – A free utility that enables you to easily manage your Windows Azure hosted services and storage accounts.
• TechNet Evaluation Centre – Download a copy of System Center to learn how to monitor Windows Azure applications using the System Center Monitoring Pack for Azure.

Highlighted in CLD304 – To the Cloud and Back: Hybrid Applications with Windows Azure and SharePoint Online

• CLD304 Feedback – Share your feedback on the session or ask Bruce any questions you may have around the content covered in the session
• SharePoint and Windows Azure Developer Kit – Get started with SharePoint, SharePoint Online, and Windows Azure with this developer kit that includes several presentations and hands-on labs for you to try.

Highlighted in CLD305 – SQL Azure: Key Features, Migration, and Synchronization Strategies

• CLD305 Feedback – Share your feedback on the session or ask Stephen any questions you may have around the content covered in the session
• SQL Azure Guidelines and Limitations – Read through the guidelines and understand limitations that are important to consider when using SQL Azure.
• How to Shard with SQL Azure – Use database sharding techniques to increase the scalability of the data in your applications.

Highlighted in CLD306 – To Cloud or Not to Cloud

• CLD306 Feedback – Share your feedback on the session or ask David any questions you may have around the content covered in the session
• National Institute of Standards and Technology on Cloud Computing – Understand the definition of Cloud Computing from a standards perspective.

Highlighted in CLD307 – Windows Azure Security, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cloud

• CLD307 Feedback – Share your feedback on the session or ask Steve any questions you may have around the content covered in the session

Highlighted in CLD309 – Developing SharePoint Solutions for Office 365

• CLD309 Feedback – Share your feedback on the session or ask Nik any questions you may have around the content covered in the session
• Nik Charlebois’ Blog – Learn more about what you can do with SharePoint and SharePoint Online on Nik’s blog.
• Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint Power Tools – Development for SharePoint and SharePoint Online becomes much easier and much more productive with these power tools.
• Office 365 Application Log – a SharePoint sandboxed solution that allows users to log information from custom SharePoint Online components into a SharePoint list.
• Community Kit for SharePoint: Development Tools Edition – Extend Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint projects with advanced templates and tools.

Highlighted in CLD210 – Office 365 vs. Google Apps – The Elephant in the Room

• CLD210 Feedback – Share your feedback on the session or ask Kanwal any questions you may have around the content covered in the session.
• Transfer contacts between Outlook and Google Gmail – Learn how transfer your Google Gmail contacts to Microsoft Outlook.
• Transfer calendars between Outlook and Google Calendar – Learn how to transfer your Google Gmail calendar to Microsoft Outlook.
• My Migration Story – Kanwal shares the story of his migration from Google Apps to Office 365.

Looking ahead to TechDays Vancouver

Stay tuned to next Wednesday’s post where I’ll go over what the Cloud Computing and Online Services track has in store for you at TechDays Vancouver! If you haven’t yet registered for TechDays Vancouver (or Montreal, for that matter), there’s still time to register.

Register today >>

Make sure to check out the TechDays LinkedIn group. TechDays Facebook page, and/or the TechDays Twitter feed to join the conversations and get the latest updates.