Team Individualism

Windows #Azure Caching – Performance considerations

drmcghee — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:08:36 GMT

Windows Azure Caching can help your application access state, store SQL Azure database data and serialize/deserialize objects regardless of location. Some of the key benefits of caching is to increase application performance, data distribution and data resiliency. Windows Azure Caching guarantees dedicated memory, easy setup and configured from the portal, is automatically distributed, and has a promised uptime and availability (SLA)

When deciding if you should use caching its worth considering how your application manages its data. If your application frequently requests data that should be constant across all your application instances (e.g. Windows Azure web/worker roles) then caching is a worthy investment of your time.

When considering caching performance is usually top of mind and usage will be dependant on your applications:

Number of objects
Size of each object
Frequency of access of each object
Pattern for accessing these objects

Clearly caching everything would be great but will involve some cost. If you cache locally you need the local resources to support your cache size. If you use a distributed cache you will need to consider network transfer (latency) and bandwidth. With Windows Azure Caching you will have a guaranteed cache without the management overhead, but you will need to bear in mind costs (cost of the service and cost of access*). To get a better picture of costs have a look at the Windows Azure advanced pricing calculator (caching section) noting of course that data transfer out from the data centers (*egress), if required, adds additional costs.

Further more specific guidance on performance is available here:

Test cache performance – Application (notes from CAT Team)
Windows Azure Caching Strategies
Data Classification (Windows Server AppFabric Caching)

Local vs remote?

The Windows Azure Caching service is run on remote set of servers, to your application. If your application is within the same Data Center then you will undoubtedly get better performance. At times its worth taking this a step further and combining local and remote cached data. Consider if you have some data that doesn't change that often but is asked frequently by your web application. The quickest way of getting, typically a subset of, data is going to be in memory to the process running.

The Windows Azure Caching client, a the proxy that lives within your application, has the ability to cache a subset of the data that resides in the distributed cache servers (local cache). The client can cache any managed object—no object size limits, no serialization costs for local caching. As soon as you need more memory than your local machine can give you or you need to externalize the data from your compute tier (either for shared state or for more durability), the minimum price you pay is for the network hop

So, local caching is great, but now you may have a logical headache and planning around how distributed and local caches work together. Windows Azure Cache, whilst close to the Windows Server AppFabric Caching, doesn't support all the same features as its server superset. Particularly its worth noting that there are no notifications for local caching (DataCacheLocalCacheInvalidationPolicy)

The best of getting to grips with Windows Azure Caching is to try it for yourself. I’d start with the Windows Azure Training Course and the lab example of Caching Data with Windows Azure Caching

#Azure Action – Community Newsletter – 6th February 2012

drmcghee — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:15:21 GMT

AZURE IN ACTION - HIGHLIGHTS DOWN UNDER

NEWS

TECHNOLOGY

COMMUNITY

Windows Azure for BizSpark Plus

coming soon to Australia

Romiko Derbynew

Windows Azure–Diagnosing Role Start-ups

Brisbane Azure User Group First Meeting

First date on 15th February 2011

AZURE IN ACTION - WEEKLY ROUNDUP

	NEWS
Windows Azure Platform	Introducing Microsoft Research’s Excel Cloud Data Analytics Windows Azure Toolkit for Social Games Updates
Microsoft	Microsoft Ramps Up Fight to Be Cloud Leader
Case Study	Need to Change Your Go-To-Market for SaaS? Here’s How One ISV Did It with Windows Azure SendGrid Launches on Windows Azure Enterprise Cloud Platform Pixar Ventures in Cloud Computing Animation
General	Azure Microsoft coaches NoSQL options for Azure cloud Azure: 10 Things You Need to Know Can Microsoft Save Windows Azure? Cloud Why Platform-First Approach to the Cloud ? Super Bowl XLVI and the Cloud Gartner Reveals Platform as a Service (PaaS) Forecast

	TECHNOLOGY
Architecture	Building a Massively Scalable Platform for Consumer Devices on Windows Azure
Storage	Building a Simple Azure Blob Tree Viewer With Azure StorageClient API Windows Azure Storage Emulator Account Name and Key Browsing Blobs within a container using the Windows Azure Node SDK
Troubleshooting	Found: Windows Azure Document Treasure Trove!
Mobile	Windows Azure as a Mobile Backend Platform Story Creator Sample Application for Windows Phone 7
SQL Azure	SQL Azure Migration Wizard: Fantastic tool for moving data between SQL Azure Federations and SQL Server and scale out single SQL Azure DBs Use SSIS to push data to SQL Azure Quick Review of Backup tools for SQL Azure Federations Cloud Cover Episode 69 - SQL Azure Federations with George Huey :
Open	Using Windows Azure Access Control Service (ACS) from a node express app Handling two known issues with Windows Azure node.js SDK 0.5.2 NougakuDoCompanion: A “Ruby on Rails” companion for Windows Azure
DevOps	Change AppPool identity programmatically
Big Data	HPC License Link for Windows Azure and Windows HPC Hadoop Introducing Apache Hadoop Services for Windows Azure
Office	Visual guide to Azure Access Controls Services authentication with SharePoint 2010
Labs	New on SQLAzure Labs. Codename Trust Services. Encrypt your data when using the public cloud.
Tools	Viscount Freedom Bridge security software now powered by Windows Azure IFS 360 Scheduling – Always Optimal on Windows Azure Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant 5.2 is Now Available

COMMUNITY

User Groups

Sydney (Conor Brady)
Melbourne (Mahesh Krishnan and Chris Padgett)
Brisbane (Steve Nagy Dean Robertson)
Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)
Perth Cloud User Group (Rivaaj Jumna, Hadwin Fung)

Regional

NZ: Follow @technetnz and follow @msdnnz
Singapore: Singapore Azure User Group (official website)

Social

Podcast: Listen to our CloudCast series
FaceBook: Becoming a Facebook fan
Twitter: Adding yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list
Email: Joining the Mailing list for OzAzure

#Azure Action - Community Newsletter - 27th January 2012

drmcghee — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:24:24 GMT

AZURE IN ACTION - HIGHLIGHTS DOWN UNDER

NEWS

TECHNOLOGY

COMMUNITY

Adelaide City Council

Adelaide 247 City Sourced Providing citizens with a way to log incidents to the council

Mexia receive Windows Azure CAT Award

@deanrobertson & @benjaminify, recognised as world experts in BizTalk integration with the Windows Azure ServiceBus

Imagine Cup

Azure Powers Winning Solutions at Imagine Cup

Cloud Trading Technologies

Expands into Asia to support demand for Cloud delivery of Trading and Risk Applications

Expanz

expanzPLATFORM Architecture Video Released

Melbourne Windows Azure Meetup

6 PM on Monday, 30 January

Webinar: SQLCAT: Let's Move to the Cloud - How to Leverage Microsoft SQL Azure

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 2:00 PM AEST

Brisbane Azure User Group First Meeting

Hold the date for 15th February 2011

AZURE IN ACTION - WEEKLY ROUNDUP

	NEWS
Windows Azure	SQL Azure Data Sync Preview Refresh SQL Azure Import/Export Service now in production Windows Azure Traffic Manager. Programmatic geo-redundancy for your cloud deployment Windows Azure Toolkit for Social Games Version 1.2.2 Released Windows Azure PowerShell Cmdlets 2.2 Released
Partners	Geminare, a leader in the Recovery as a Service (RaaS) industry, announces Windows Azure strategic alliance OpenText Brings Business Process Solutions to Windows Azure SendGrid Launches on Windows Azure Enterprise Cloud Platform
Microsoft	Dell and Microsoft Deliver a Foundation for Private Cloud Young People Will Change the World
Case Study	Azure Storage Blobs Service Working with Directories Using Windows Azure to create MicroFinance Windows Azure App Helps Americans Living Abroad Vote in U. S. Elections
General	Why you can't afford to resist the cloud The Patriot Act is No Excuse To Avoid Cloud Computing Whitepaper: Seven Habits of successful cloud architects

	TECHNOLOGY
Introduction	Getting Started with Windows Azure Taking a Fresh Look at the Windows Azure Development Experience Creating a Windows Azure Application: A Step-by-Step Guide
Storage	Improving Performance by Batching Azure Table Storage Inserts Making Windows Azure Drive Letter Persistent Cannot create database DevelopmentStorageDb20110816 for the Windows Azure Storage Emulator 8 Essential Best Practices in WindowsAzure Blob Storage Azure
Troubleshooting	Troubleshooting Best Practices for Developing Windows Azure Applications Windows Azure Troubleshooting - Taking specific Windows Azure Instance offline
Open	Creating Hello World Windows Azure Node.js Web Application Node.js and Windows Azure: Creating a blog application using Node.JS and Windows Azure Table & Blob Storage Part 1
SQL Azure	The Cloud Numerics Programming and runtime execution model Cloud Cover Episode 68 - Throttling in SQL Azure with Scott Klein Federations How much overcapacity are you running with today? I bet SQL Azure Federations can trim that! Fan-out Querying for Federations in SQL Azure (Part 2)
Service Bus	How to Choose Between Windows Azure Queues, Windows Azure Service Bus Queues New Azure ServiceBus Demo Available
Big Data	HPC Deploying Cloud Numerics Sample Applications to Windows Azure HPC Clusters Hadoop Connecting PowerPivot to Hadoop on Azure Creating your own Hadoop cluster on Windows Azure by using your own Windows Azure Subscription account Setting Windows Amazon S3 (s3n://) as data source directly at Hadoop on Azure (hadooponazure.com) portal Microsoft's plan for Hadoop and big data Microsoft cloud service lets citizen developers crunch big data
DevOps	Automating Builds for Windows Azure Packages Accessing Windows Azure REST APIs with cURL NuGet Packages for Windows Azure and Windows Phone Developers
Labs	Microsoft Codename "SQL Azure Security Services"
Tools	Windows Azure on Cloud9! - online environment for development of JavaScript and HTML5 applications Windows Azure Libraries and Special Free Pricing Using SendGrid for Windows Azure Customers

COMMUNITY

User Groups

Sydney (Conor Brady)
Melbourne (Mahesh Krishnan and Chris Padgett)
Brisbane (Steve Nagy Dean Robertson dean@mexia.com.au)
Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)
Perth Cloud User Group (Rivaaj Jumna, Hadwin Fung)

Regional

NZ: Follow @technetnz and follow @msdnnz
Singapore: Singapore Azure User Group (official website)

Social

Podcast: Listen to our CloudCast series
FaceBook: Becoming a Facebook fan
Twitter: Adding yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list
Email: Joining the Mailing list for OzAzure

#Azure Action - Community Newsletter - 20th January 2012

drmcghee — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:22:44 GMT

[A new year a new format - I hope this is cleaner and welcome your comments! -David]

AZURE IN ACTION - HIGHLIGHTS DOWN UNDER

NEWS

TECHNOLOGY

COMMUNITY

Harvey Norman

Harvey Norman peddles GST-free computer games with Windows Azure commerce engine

Japan: Mixi

Top Social Networking Site Taps Windows Azure To Run Its Annual Online Christmas Event

Romiko Derbynew

Profiling Azure applications

Mick Badran

Azure AppFabric Labs -EAI, Service Bus in the Cloud

Tom Hollander

Building and Deploying with Azure 1.6 SDK

Melbourne Windows Azure Meetup

6 PM on Monday, 30 January

Webinar: SQLCAT: Let's Move to the Cloud -How to Leverage Microsoft SQL Azure

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 2:00 PM AEST

AZURE IN ACTION - WEEKLY ROUNDUP

	NEWS
Windows Azure	Microsoft Codename Cloud Numerics Microsoft to enable Linux on its Windows Azure cloud in 2012? Eye on Earth network goes live Service Bus EAI and EDI Labs Released - Sign up for the labs Technology Preview of Hadoop-Based Service for Windows Azure Now Available CTP access
General	Feds Refine Cloud Security Standards Cloud Storage Providers Industry Benchmark Report PHP Developer survey shows dominance of mobile, social media and cloud

	TECHNOLOGY
Architecture	One Azure Web Role, Multiple Websites Deploy a Windows Azure Geographical Failover Solution
Open	How to Automatically Utilize Multicore Servers with Node on Windows Azure Run Lokad.CQRS code natively on Windows Azure How to Automatically Utilize Multicore Servers with Node on Windows Azure Open Source Updates for Windows Azure
SQL Azure	SQL Azure Performance and Elasticity Guide Accessing Federations in SQL Azure using Entity Framework Upload Big Data to SQL Azure Federated Databases with BCP Automatically
Service Bus	Trying Out Azure Service Bus Relay Load Balancing
Cache	Windows Azure Caching Strategies
Big Data	Cloud Numerics Example: Distributed Numerics on Azure with F# Setting Windows Azure Blob Storage (asv) as data source directly from Portal at Hadoop on Azure
Operations	SCOM Resolving Windows Azure Diagnostics Connection String Issues with SCOM 2007 R2 Testing Windows Azure Web Apps with Synthetic Transactions in SCOM 2007 R2 Grooming Collected Diagnostics Data from Windows Azure Storage in SCOM 2007 R2 Diagnostics With Azure SDK 1.6, Azure Diagnostics is enabled by default
Labs	Data Explorer samples Social Analytics - Finding Top Handles
Tools	"SQL Azure Compatibility Assessment" Tutorial Cerebrata Azure Diagnostics Manager 2 (2.0.1.200) ACS 1.0 Migration Tool Azure Monitor for Windows Phone 7
Book	"To The Cloud: Cloud Powering an Enterprise"

COMMUNITY

User Groups

Sydney (Conor Brady)
Melbourne (Mahesh Krishnan and Chris Padgett)
Brisbane (register your interest #baug contact Steve Nagy)
Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)
Perth (details to follow)

Regional

NZ: Follow @technetnz and follow @msdnnz
Singapore: Singapore Azure User Group (official website)

Social

Podcast: Listen to our CloudCast series
FaceBook: Becoming a Facebook fan
Twitter: Adding yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list
Email: Joining the Mailing list for OzAzure

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter - December 20th 2011

drmcghee — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:42 GMT

	Local Overview :
	ETSA Utilities get agile with Azure delivering “Power at my Place” Power@MyPlace™ is a free message service which provides timely and accurate information regarding power at your property. Registered users can choose to receive information (via SMS or email) relating to when ETSA Utilities Former Harvey Norman CIO bets on Big Buys

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	General: Use the Kinect and your PC to interact with the Windows Azure Service Management API 7 Steps [that] will help you to write or migrate your application to Windows Azure Storage: Windows Azure Camp - Windows Azure Storage Windows Azure Storage (WAS) Internals - Achieving Consistency
Open:	Installing the Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java Open in the Cloud: Windows Azure Update Node.js in Windows Azure, To the Cloud and Beyond!Windows Azure & PHP (for nubs)–Part 1 of 4 Openness Update for Windows Azure
SQL Azure:	General SQL Azure Management Portal Tips and Tricks: Part II Reporting Take BI up a notch with SQL Azure Reporting Federations SQL Database Federations: Enhancing SQL to enable Data Sharding for Scalability in the Cloud Building Large Scale Elastic Database Tiers with SQL Azure: Introducing Federations Billing Model for Federations in SQL Azure Explained! UI for SQL Azure Federations
Service Bus:	Using Windows Azure Service Bus Topics & Subscriptions in Windows Phone How to Use Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus Brokered Messaging Cross-device/cross-location Pub-Sub: Using Windows Azure Service Bus Topics Subscriptions in iOS with MonoTouch
EAI:	An Introduction to EAI Bridges
ACS:	Important Announcements Regarding the Access Control Service Using Facebook with ACS and Windows Azure iOS Toolkit
Marketplace:
HPC:	Hadoop: Trying out Hadoop on Azure An Azure Elephant Never Forgets… Helping to make Hadoop easier by going Metro! Introduction to the Hadoop on Azure Interactive Hive Console Microsoft Tries Hadoop on Azure Availability of Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Hadoop based Service on Windows Azure MATLAB and Windows Azure
Watch:	Windows Azure Technical Chats
Case Study:	Brand Manager Goes Global in the Cloud on Windows Azure \| Bruce Kyle's Channel 9 Blog Online Game Studio Minimizes Costs, Enhances Margin with Cloud Technology
Tools:	New December Windows Azure Developer Training Tools, Kits Shows How to Get Started

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	The Cloud on Your Terms: 30 Part Series Deploying Drupal 7 on Windows Azure Brand New ACS Walkthrough on the New Windows Azure Developer Center Windows Azure SDK for Node.js Installation Walkthrough Video Tutorial - How to install and run Node.js on Windows
Architecture:	Responsive cloud design Windows Azure Prescriptive Guidance [for SQL Azure] Released
Labs:	Azure AppFabric Labs–EAI, Service Bus in the Cloud

	In the news:
General:	Can Cancer Treatment be Found in the Cloud? The Imminent Rise of Social Cloud Computing ‘Any business can use cloud computing'
Microsoft:	Apps Are Not Enough: Putting People First Microsoft, Nissan in cloud partnership Microsoft signs EU accords on data privacy Microsoft will beat Linux clouds at their own game
Windows Azure:	Platform: Azure Service Bus EAI/EDI December 2011 CTP Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java, December 2011 CTP Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows 8 Version 1.1.0 CTP Released Windows Azure Field Notes Windows Azure Achieves IS0 27001 Certification from the British Standards Institute Partner GreenButton opening Seattle office after Azure alliance deal Other Microsoft Windows Azure's New Open Source, Other Options Enhance Developer Experience SharePoint Trends for 2012; What’s In Azure Cloud Updates?; Microsoft Meets the iPad Microsoft Codename "Data Transfer" Lab Refresh

	Events:
Local:	Australia Architect training in January (details to follow) Global Understanding Microsoft’s High Availability Solutions course.
Webinar:	Leveraging Windows Azure for the Windows Phone Developer January 4th, 2012, 10 am PDT Six Weeks of Windows Azure will start on … Monday 23rd January 2012
Training	Free Visual Studio LightSwitch Training Slides and Links from Windows Azure Discovery Workshop Dec 13th

Community:

Social:

Keep up to date by:

Becoming a Facebook fan
Adding yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list
Watch our regular CloudCast (service now on Windows Azure thanks to Scaffolding kit for PHP)
Joining the Mailing list for OzAzure

Suggest new ideas by using the Windows Azure Feature Voting

Attend a User Group:

Sydney (Conor Brady)
Melbourne (Mahesh Krishnan and Chris Padgett)
Brisbane (register your interest #baug“ contact Steve Nagy)
Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)
Perth (details to follow)

Other - Regional:

If you want to keep up with IT Pro news in NZ follow @technetnz and follow @msdnnz
Singapore Azure User Group (official website)

	Questions
Windows Azure:	How you can store decimal data in Windows Azure Table Storage?
SQL Azure:	SQL Azure Limitations …So Isn’t the Root Database a Bottleneck for Federations in SQL Azure?

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 13th December 2011

drmcghee — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:15:51 GMT

	Local Overview :
	Local Australian Cloud Software Vendor (CSV) ibCOM release developer productivity tools on Azure at http://mydigitalstructure.com/ Two new Windows Azure Virtual Technical Speicalists in Australia Conor Brady and Andy Hitchman (CONGRATS!)

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	PackAndDeploy - packaging a Windows Azure app that just runs an executable Fixes blogged for SDK 1.6 and Automated build with TeamCity located here Create the service model for a Windows Azure virtual machine
SQL Azure:	SQL Azure Delivery Guide SQL Azure Labs
AppFabric:	Access control to Windows Azure services
Marketplace:	New Self-Service Publishing Wizard Eases Distribution of New Datasets on the Windows Azure Marketplace
Watch:	Cloud Cover Episode 67 - Episode 67 - Technical Computing with Windows Azure and Wenming Ye 'Node.js - a Windows Azure Introduction
Case Study:	Organizations Solving the World’s Toughest Problems Turn to Windows Azure
Tools:	Windows Azure Toolkit for Social Games Version 1.2.0 (beta) Released

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	Working With Web Data in Microsoft Codename "Data Explorer" Tutorial: Running the Mongoose Web Server in Windows Azure Tutorial: Running a Python Web Application in Windows Azure Running PHPUnit in Windows Azure
Architecture:	Automated Build and Deployment with Windows #Azure SDK 1.6

	In the news:
General:	How Has Cloud Computing Changed Business- [INFOGRAPHIC] The Year of Cloud Acceleration Companies Shifting to Cloud Computing Save Energy & Cut Waste Move to cloud makes DevOps even more important
Microsoft:	Team Foundation Service gets first major update Lync 2010 client is available in the WP7 marketplace Microsoft Discloses BizTalk Server 2010 R2 Plans --
Windows Azure:	Platform: Improved Developer Experience, Interoperability, and Scalability on Windows Azure The SQL Azure Team Unveils a New Server Management UI Microsoft Azure Embraces Open Source Technologies Windows Azure Updated To Support Hadoop and Node.js Windows Azure Training Kit - December Update Partner 9 Huge Opportunities for Microsoft Partners in 2012 Other Windows Azure Access Control Service is now called Windows Azure Active Directory MICROSOFT: Azure "Hits A Sweet Spot" With More And More Customers

	Events:
Local:	Australia Windows Azure BizSpark Startup Camp – Brisbane Microsoft Australia hiring a Product Marketing Manager to lead the charge in Private Cloud Architect training in January (details to follow) Global Learn Windows #Azure! - Register today
Webinar:	Leveraging Windows Azure for the Windows Phone Developer January 4th, 2012, 10 am PDT Unit Testing for Windows Phone December 14th 2011 10am PDT Six Weeks of Windows Azure will start on … Monday 23rd January 2012
Training	Free Visual Studio LightSwitch Training

Community:

Social:

Keep up to date by:

Becoming a Facebook fan
Adding yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list
Watch our regular CloudCast (service now on Windows Azure thanks to Scaffolding kit for PHP)
Joining the Mailing list for OzAzure

Suggest new ideas by using the Windows Azure Feature Voting

Attend a User Group:

Sydney (Conor Brady)
Melbourne (Mahesh Krishnan and Chris Padgett)
Brisbane (register your interest #baug“ thanks to Steve Nagy)
Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)
Perth (details to follow)

Other - Regional:

If you want to keep up with IT Pro news in NZ follow @technetnz and follow @msdnnz
Singapore Azure User Group (official website)

	Questions
Windows Azure:	Windows Azure Table Storage- Partition or Row key length is limited to 256 characters in Storage Emulator How to upload image in Windows Azure platform: best approach

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter - 6th December 2011

drmcghee — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:52:54 GMT

Local Overview :

Harvey Norman launched a new speciality eCommerce Kitchenware store running on Windows Azure

Cloud Cast Australia back up – Now on Windows Azure

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	General Controlling Application Pool Idle Timeouts in Windows Azure Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone v1.3.2 Been diagnosed with Acute Windows Azure Diagnostics Understanding Syndrome Storage How content delivery networks (CDNs) work How Microsoft helps you NOT break your Windows Azure Application: Storage Services Versioning Windows Azure Storage Transaction \| Unveiling the Unforeseen Cost and Tips to Cost Effective Usage
SQL Azure:	What’s new in SQL Azure Microsoft Codename “Data Transfer” Lab Backing Up SQL Azure Databases Microsoft Codename “Social Analytics” WinForms Client Sample
AppFabric:	Caching Successfully tried Windows Azure AppFabric Caching in Azure environment Service Bus: Testing Out the New AppFabric Service Bus Relay Load Balancing Relayed and Brokered Messaging ACS SharePoint 2010 and Azure Access Control Services – Part 2 Adding WCF custom service behaviors in config X509 Certificate flow in Windows Azure Access Control Service
Marketplace:	New Windows Azure Marketplace Data Delivers the Latest Weather and Stock Information New Self-Service Publishing Wizard Eases Distribution of New Datasets on the Windows Azure Marketplace
Watch:	Synchronize Data from Cloud to Cloud (C2C) using SQL Azure Data Sync Cloud Cover Episode 66 - Using Windows Azure Storage from the Windows Phone
Case Study:	Microsoft cloud to power environmental big data
Tools:	Managing and Monitoring Windows Azure applications with System Center 2012 MongoDB on Azure Monitoring SQL Azure with Quest Software’s new SQL Azure cartridge for its Foglight product Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 6.5

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	Deploying LightSwitch Applications to Windows Azure How much will Azure cost?
Architecture:	PRO Exam 70-583 Preparation Windows Azure: P & P Enterprise Integration Pack with failure/retry and fine-grained autoscaling APIs (among others) Part 3 - Load Testing In the Cloud Automating Test Rig Deployment
Best practice:	Automated Build and Deployment with Windows Azure SDK 1.6
Books:	Announcing our new ebook "OData & Cloud Augmentation of Windows Phone Apps" + a small bonus Windows Azure Platform by Tony Guidici and Tejaswi Redkar

	In the news:
General:	Cloud computing has yet to eliminate IT infrastructure jobs C# wins developers, but Java still reigns Why governments are making big moves to the cloud Gartner Reveals Top Predictions for 2012 and Beyond
Microsoft:	Programming Windows 8: The Sublime To The Strange Try Windows Phone on your phone Office 365 - How Microsoft Does IT
Windows Azure:	Platform: Windows Azure is ISO 27001 Announcing the Enterprise Library Integration Pack for Windows Azure with Autoscaling, Transient Fault Handling and more The Transient Fault Handling Application Block Partner Bring apps to market more quickly with [HP] Cloud Applications Services for Microsoft Windows Azure Azure Hybrids Gain Fujitsu Backing Other Accelerating scientific computing with Windows Azure 4 Azure milestones Microsoft must hit — and soon

	Events:
Local:	Australia Windows Azure BizSpark Startup Camp – Brisbane Microsoft Australia hiring a Product Marketing Manager to lead the charge in Private Cloud Global Top Cloud Computing Events
Webinar:	Windows Azure Developer Webcast Series First up Windows Azure Storage Wednesday, December 7, 2011 Leveraging Windows Azure for the Windows Phone Developer January 4th, 2012, 10 am PDT Unit Testing for Windows Phone December 14th 2011 10am PDT Six Weeks of Windows Azure will start on … Monday 23rd January 2012
Training	Free Visual Studio LightSwitch Training

Community:

Social:

Keep up to date by:

Becoming a Facebook fan
Adding yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list
Watch our regular CloudCast (service now on Windows Azure thanks to Scaffolding kit for PHP)
Joining the Mailing list for OzAzure

Suggest new ideas by using the Windows Azure Feature Voting

Attend a User Group:

Sydney (Conor Brady)
Melbourne (Mahesh Krishnan and Chris Padgett)
Brisbane (register your interest #baug“ thanks to Steve Nagy)
Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)
Perth (details to follow)

Other - Regional:

If you want to keep up with IT Pro news in NZ follow @technetnz and follow @msdnnz
Singapore Azure User Group (official website)

	Questions
Windows Azure:	Microsoft Answers Your Azure Questions Four Questions With … Clemens Vasters Windows Azure Cloud Services: How you can choose what is needed and how much it will cost?

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 29th November 2011

drmcghee — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 01:08:30 GMT

Local Overview :

Marketing your Restaurant made easy – Windows Azure helps Marketing4Restaurants focus on its customers and think global [FinReview 29th November]

“To the cloud”: Microsoft hosts weekend startup camp to promote Azure

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	General Silverlight front end calling to WCF Service, all in one Windows Azure Web Role Sample Perform Tasks at Different Intervals in Azure Worker Role Resources to run Open Source Stacks on Windows Azure Storage Long Running Queue Processing Windows Azure Cloud Drive and Snapshots limit
SQL Azure:	How to upload your Excel and CSV data to the Cloud SQL Azure Performance and Elasticity Guide Read and write data from SQL Azure using SQL Server Integration Services 2008 R2 SQL Azure Reporting Server Federation Metadata in SQL Azure Part 3 – Monitoring Ongoing Federation Operations Notification and Job Scheduling Service for SQL Azure (Cotega) SQL Azure Data Sync Service Update
AppFabric:	Caching Azure App Fabric Caching Intro and Tips Service Bus: Handling Topics, Queues and Relay Services with the Service Bus Explorer Tool ACS Supported Token Formats and Protocols in ACS The Belgian eID in Windows Azure
HPC:	Project Daytona: Iterative MapReduce on Windows Azure
Watch:	An HTML5-Windows Azure Dashboard, Part 2: HTML5 Video Cloud Cover - New Windows Azure SDK and Tools with Scott Guthrie
Case Study:	Interactive Agency Helps Mobile Carrier Speed App Distribution to 20 Million Phones
Tools:	Examine - is a provider based, config driven search and indexer framework A blob storage hive provider for Umbraco 5 Sesame Data Browser

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	10-Minute AX 2012 App: Windows Azure (Cloud) Finding Top Message Threads for a Filter Packaging a Custom PHP Installation for Windows Azure
Architecture:	An interesting Windows Azure architectural discussion – synchronizing multiple nodes Load Testing In The Cloud
Best practice:	Handy Library for Dealing with Transient Connectivity in the Cloud
Book:	OData & Cloud Augmentation of Windows Phone Apps: Ebook

	In the news:
General:	NIST to expand cloud computing circle NBN oversight Committee to consider privatisation
Microsoft:	Turn On the Server. It’s Cold Inside.
Windows Azure:	Platform: Windows Azure Guest OS 2.8 (Release 201109-02) Microsoft Codename “Data Transfer” Tutorial Partner Microsoft Brings Cloud Integrator Nimbo into Azure’s Inner Circle Cogent Selected by Microsoft to Join Azure Circle Program Other The Kinectonitor

	Events:
Local:	Australia The Big Picture: Don't tell me, SHOW ME! (Sydney) Windows Azure BizSpark Startup Camp – Brisbane Global Top Cloud Computing Events
Webinar:	Windows Azure Developer Webcast Series First up Windows Azure Storage Wednesday, December 7, 2011 Leveraging Windows Azure for the Windows Phone Developer January 4th, 2012, 10 am PDT Unit Testing for Windows Phone December 14th 2011 10am PDT Six Weeks of Windows Azure will start on … Monday 23rd January 2012
Training	Free Visual Studio LightSwitch Training

Community:

Social:

Keep up to date by:

Becoming a Facebook fan

Adding yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list

Watch our regular CloudCast (service being moved)

Joining the Mailing list for OzAzure

Suggest new ideas by using the Windows Azure Feature Voting

Attend a User Group:

Sydney (Conor Brady)

Melbourne (Mahesh Krishnan and Chris Padgett)

Brisbane (register your interest #baug“ thanks to Steve Nagy)

Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)

Perth (details to follow)

Other - Regional:

If you want to keep up with IT Pro news in NZ follow @technetnz and follow @msdnnz

Singapore Azure User Group (official website)

Questions

Windows Azure

Windows Azure Queue can have 64KB message content and how 64KB content is calculated?

Is there a way to know in what environment my webrole runs?

How to execute a startup task delayed?

Can you programmatically enable CDN within your Windows Azure Storage Account?

#Azure Action - Weekly Newsletter - 22nd November 2011

drmcghee — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:19:57 GMT

Local Overview :

Microsofts Bizspark's StyleRocks - the world's first jewellery website that lets visitors design their own jewellery - built on Windows Azure

Customised products are then hand made in Australia and shipped directly to the customer. At the heart of StyleRocks is a .NET application built using the MVC framework on the Azure platform developed the start-up incubator and software company, BlueChilli.

Janison's eCafe visualizes the ESSA school test live

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	General Windows Azure for Social Applications Azure Authoring Tools - Enhanced Visual Studio Publishing (Year of AzureâWeek 19) Â« Brent's Notepad Programmatically Installing and Using Your Management Certificate with the New .publishsettings File Ten Basic Troubleshooting Tips for Windows Azure Multiple domains with HTTP and HTTPS endpoint and UCC SSL Certificate in Windows Azure Web Role Finding Top Keywords with the Social Analytics API Storage A Highly Available Cloud Storage Service with Strong Consistency
SQL Azure:	More SQL Azure Data Sync Webcasts on Channel 9
AppFabric:	Service Bus: Azure Service Bus Tester ACS Outsourcing user authentication in a Windows Phone application
HPC:	MATLAB and R on Windows Azure via Techila
Watch:	Cloud Cover Episode 65 - New Windows Azure SDK and Tools with Scott Guthrie Your Three Winning Numbers of Cloud Computing Federated Authentication in Windows Azure Web Role using Windows Azure App
Case Study:	Travelocity and Neudesic Talk About the Advantages of Moving to the Cloud with Windows Azure
Tools:	Cerebrata public beta of Cloud Studio v2 Aditi Technologies acquires Cumulux

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	How to create a mobile BI report hosted on Azure Adding Push Notification Support to Your Windows Phone Application Windows Azure SDK 1.6 (Build 1.6.41103.1601) installation Walkthrough
Architecture:	Deploy your cloud applications to Windows Azure from TFS Automated Build Synchronizing Multiple Nodes in Windows Azure
Best practice:	Handy Library for Dealing with Transient Connectivity in the Cloud NuGet Packages for Windows Azure and Windows Phone Developers
Book:	Professional SharePoint Cloud-Based Solutions

	In the news:
General:	Cloud Security Standards How to introduce Cloud and Mobile Development
Microsoft:	Cloud part of Microsoft's business is much smaller than the server part and that's going to continue in the foreseeable future Microsoft ready to unveil new public-private cloud-migration tools, strategy Microsoft Japan celebrated the birthday of Claudia Madobe, the official mascot character of its Windows Azure cloud services, by offering a Windows system sound and wallpaper pack
Windows Azure:	Platform: New Release for Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS Windows Azure Toolkit for Social Games Version 1.1.1 Partner Fujitsu Launches Hybrid Cloud Services for Microsoft Windows Azure Customers Other The Rock Paper Azure Challenge is back and you could win big!

Events:

Local:

New Zealand

Global

Top Cloud Computing Events

Webinar:

Windows Azure Developer Webcast Series

First up Windows Azure Storage

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Leveraging Windows Azure for the Windows Phone Developer

January 4th, 2012, 10 am PDT

Unit Testing for Windows Phone

December 14th 2011 10am PDT

Community:

Social:

Keep up to date by:

Becoming a Facebook fan
Adding yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list
Watch our regular CloudCast (service being moved)
Joining the Mailing list for OzAzure

Suggest new ideas by using the Windows Azure Feature Voting

Attend a User Group:

Sydney (Conor Brady)
Melbourne (Monday 29th Novemberâ Freshwater Place)
Brisbane (register your interest #baug â thanks to Steve Nagy)
Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)
Perth (details to follow)

Other - Regional:

If you want to keep up with IT Pro news in NZ follow @technetnz and follow @msdnnz
Singapore Azure User Group (official website)

	Questions
Windows Azure	What to do when your code could not find the certificate in Azure VM?

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 15th November 2011

drmcghee — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:33:49 GMT

	Local Overview :
	2 new Windows Azure virtual technical specialists for Australia. Congratulations Andy Hitchman from SMS and Conor Brady from Oakton!

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	General Using Scala and the Play Framework in Windows Azure Use the Azure as NoSQL database on an ASP siteNET MVC Windows Azure Load Balancer Timeout Details Windows Azure for Social Applications Storage Fetching name of all tables in Windows Azure Storage Tips for uploading large files to Windows Azure Blob Storage Sharing Private BLOBs with the Windows Azure SDK for PHP Windows Azure Drive Snapshot and Updating Azure Drive
SQL Azure:	SQL Azure Throttling & Error Codes
AppFabric:	Service Bus: Managing and Testing Topics, Queues and Relay Services with the Service Bus Explorer Tool. Best Practices for Performance Improvements Using Service Bus Brokered Messaging Windows Azure Service Bus – Push based programming approach ACS Test your App Fabric ACS v2 RPS Application to use actual REALM and Return URL in Cloud and localhost URL in Compute Emulator Implementing federated security with Azure Access Control Service
Marketplace:	Mango Sample: Consume Odata
Watch:	An HTML5-Windows Azure Dashboard, Part 2: HTML5 Video
Case Study:	Creative Software Consultancy Uses [Windows Azure] for Twitter Push Alerts
Tools:	20 Free Online Tools for Website Speed Testing Redgate SQL Azure Backup 2.5 Beta Sepia Glassboard ( See CH9:Social Media Goes Mobile with Glassboard on Azure) Quest Software's free Toad for Cloud Databases Simplifies cloud database tasks such as generating queries; migrating, browsing and editing data; and creating reports and tables. many types including Microsoft Azure Table Services, Microsoft SQL Azure Microsoft releases beta of Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 6.5

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	Using Windows Azure Connect to Integrate On-Premises Web Services Step by Step guide on Federated Authentication in Windows Azure Web Role using Windows Azure App Fabric Access Control Service How to access Service Configuration settings in Windows Azure Startup Task Developing ASP.NET MVC4 based Windows Azure Web Role Tutorial: Developing a Windows Azure Data Application Using Code First and SQL Azure
Architecture:	Using Windows Azure to Connect LOB Data to SharePoint Online using Business Connectivity Services Hybrid Reference Implementation Using BizTalk Server, Windows Azure, Service Bus and SQL Azure

	In the news:
General:	Cloud Computing - Cloud myth 101: Cloud is a place 3 Best Practices for Hospitals Integrating Patient Data in the Cloud Hadoop World: Learning about NoSQL database Couchbase Hadoop on the Rise as Enterprise Developers Tackle Big Data Microsoft's embracing of Hadoop is proof that the vendor has seen the writing on the wall about big data -- namely that it must give customers and developers the tools they need (be they proprietary or open-source) to work with all kinds of big data. 5 key trends in cloud computing's future The Secret to Doing Cloud Scalability Right Software Pricing Starts to Catch Up to Cloud Computing
Microsoft:	Microsoft Issues System Center Operations Manager 2012 RC Application Performance Monitoring with Operations Manager 2012
Windows Azure:	Platform: Updated Windows Azure SDK & Windows Azure HPC Scheduler SDK New Release for Windows Azure Toolkit for iOS Windows Azure SDK 1.6 Windows Azure Authoring Tools Windows Azure Emulators Windows Azure Libraries for .NET 1.6 Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. LIKE: publishing enhancements, in place upgrade and multi profiles Other RSA Adds SecurID Two-Factor Authentication to Microsoft Azure Cloud How Azure Can Help Your IT Career

Events:

Local:

New Zealand

Global

Top Cloud Computing Events

Webinar:

How the Cloud can help you Integrate Seminar - 16th November

Community:

Social:

Become a Facebook fan
Add yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list
Keep up to date with our monthly CloudCast
Mailing list for OzAzure

Don’t forget the Windows Azure Feature Voting

User groups:

Sydney (Conor Brady)
Melbourne (coming soon – awaiting City location)
Brisbane (register your interest #baug – thanks to Steve Nagy)
Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)
Perth (details to follow)

Regional:

Singapore Azure User Group (official website)

	Questions
SQL Azure	How to Manage SQL Azure Servers Using Windows PowerShell?
Q&A	Azure Office Hours is an unstructured weekly event where you can get your questions answered

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 8th November 2011

drmcghee — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:47:37 GMT

Local Overview :

Regional:

THE STAR, the no 1 news portal for Malaysians, now scales out using Windows Azure avoiding performance pitfalls and now able to adjust dynamically to cope with peak news events

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	General WordPress on Windows Azure: Single-Site Deployment WP7 Push Notifications and Windows Azure Windows Azure for Social Applications Configuring Multiple Windows Azure Trace Sources Ruby on Rails on Windows Azure Deploying the Windows Azure ASP.NET MVC 3 Web Role
SQL Azure:	Federation Metadata in SQL Azure Part 2 – History of Changes to Federation Metadata SQL Azure Error Codes (Year of Azure–Week 17) SQL Azure Powershell for Developers on the Run! Minimizing Connection Pool errors in SQL Azure
AppFabric:	Configure Access Control Service to use a Facebook authentication Windows Azure Service Bus – Push based programming approach
Marketplace:	Querying Microsoft’s Codename “Social Analytics” OData Feeds with LINQPad The future is … App Stores (oh and Cloud)
Watch:	Catch Up on The Latest Cloud Cover Episodes with Wade and Steve! Microsoft Codename Data Explorer Discover Video
Case Study:	CPP Selects StorSimple and Windows Azure for SharePoint and File Share Cloud Integrated Enterprise Storage
Tools:	WordPress on Windows Azure scaffolder tool DotNetNuke Azure Accelerator Green Button Geneious has now been ported to the Windows Azure platform. Axceleon has released CloudFuzion for Azure CloudFuzion is integrated with applications such as Autodesk Maya, 3dsMax, Softimage, Adobe After Effects and allows launching of image renders from the application directly to an Azure render farm anywhere in the world Ektron Announces Ektron Windows Azure Edition Empowering marketing teams to deploy new Ektron sites and marketing campaigns on-the-fly without IT involvement

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	Using Windows Azure Service Bus Messaging Windows Azure Drive Snapshot and Updating Azure Drive
Architecture:	Duncan Mackenzie on "Moving Channel9 to Windows Azure" Hybrid Reference Implementation Using BizTalk Server, Windows Azure, Service Bus and SQL Azure

	In the news:
General:	Cloud computing can cut carbon emissions by half, report finds Cloud computing: Good for the planet and your purse Fun: The Eight Things the Simpsons Can Teach You About Cloud Computing Cloud banking set to go mainstream – Gartner Explaining Hadoop to Your CEO Why OpenStack will falter
Microsoft:	Nokia Lumia 800 Lightning Review: Unattainable Foreign Beauty Bing for Mobile Embraces HTML5 for Android, iOS
Windows Azure:	Platform: No noted platform changes! Other Bentley Announces Relationship With Microsoft for Azure-cloud-based Transmittal Services Offering Why Windows Azure Makes Sense for Business

Events:

Local:

MSFT Switched ON – LightSwitch and Azure around AU

SYDNEY – 10 Nov

Global

Top Cloud Computing Events

Webinar:

How the Cloud can help you Integrate Seminar - 16th November (registration to follow)

Community:

Social:

Become a Facebook fan
Add yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list
Keep up to date with our monthly CloudCast
Mailing list for OzAzure

Don’t forget the Windows Azure Feature Voting

User groups:

Sydney (Conor Brady)
Melbourne (coming soon – awaiting City location)
Brisbane (in planning – talk to Steve Nagy)
Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)
Perth (details to follow)

Regional:

Singapore Azure User Group (official website)

	Questions
Q:	How do I set Up Windows Azure End To End Development Environment
A:	Go to this page to install everything you need. You can also get to it by first visiting www.azure.com, hovering on the Learn tab, and selecting Download SDK. This is the simplest way to get everything you need installed.

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 31st October 2011

drmcghee — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:59:52 GMT

Local Overview :

Australia’s biggest sporting day propped up by high performance integrated solution running on Windows Azure

Microsoft partner Breeze helps Centrebet users have real-time market data with graphs and models for the Melbourne Cup 2011.

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	General Deploying Node.js Applications to Windows Azure via Blobs or Git Packaging an Executable as a Windows Azure Application Communication between Windows Azure Roles Configuring Multiple Windows Azure Trace Sources Dynamic IP-address filtering for Azure What's new in Windows Azure SDK 1.5 - Packages are no longer encrypted
SQL Azure:	Getting Access to the Social Analytics Lab Microsoft PinPoint Entry for the SQL Azure Reporting Services Preview Live Demo Announcing Microsoft Codename "Social Analytics" Lab Federation Metadata in SQL Azure Part 1 – Federations and Federation Members
AppFabric:	ACS Local Partner Mexia’s @benjaminify writes about OAuth Cert Auth with ACS CODE Magazine: Azure Service Bus Queues & Topics BlobShare Sample: ACS-Protected File Sharing Service Bus Managing and Testing Topics, Queues and Relay Services with the Service Bus Explorer Tool Azure Service Bus Relay Load Balancing Demo
HPC:	Configuring load balancing for Windows Azure HPC Burst Scenarios
Watch:	Cloud Cover: Securely sharing files with Windows Azure Intro: What is Windows Azure and why is it in the cloud?
Case Study:	Why MyGet uses Windows Azure
Tools:	Azure Monitor for Windows Phone 7 Red Gate Buys Azure Cloud Tools Vendor Cerebrata App Controller – Enabling Application Self Service

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	Powershell - How To Clean up old Windows Azure diagnostics How to Block IP Addresses in a Windows Azure Web Role How to upgrade only one specific role from your Windows Azure Application
Architecture:	Azure Success Inhibitors
Book:	The Cloud of Unknowing, Anonymous (review)

	In the news:
General:	Key ICT Trends and Priorities of Australian CIOs 7 ways to do big data right using the cloud DevOps in the Cloud Explained Cloud industry statistics infographic
Microsoft:	Microsoft tops Cloud Provider Global Performance Ranking – September 2011 Windows and the Microsoft Cloud Ready for Growing Intelligent Systems Market Zune Pass Music Download service available in Australia November 16 2011
Windows Azure:	Platform: New load balancing capabilities in the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus Relay Service Windows Azure Platform Training Kit - October Update New Hands-On Lab] SQL Azure Data-tier Applications [New Hands-On Lab] SQL Azure Data Sync [New Hands-On Lab] SQL Azure Federations [New Demo] Provisioning Logical Servers using Cmdlets Demo [New Demo] Parallel Computing on Azure – Travelling Salesman Demo [Updated] SQL Azure Labs and Demos with the new portal and tooling experience Windows Azure Guest OS 1.16 and 2.8 updates Economics: Microsoft Lowers Storage Cost for Blob and Table Storage in Windows Azure Other Microsoft Codename "Social Analytics" SQL Azure LAB - integrate social web information into business applications with Photosynth Loves Windows Azure with CDN is “moving every last Photosynth pixel to Azure” Microsoft Azure and the Allure of 100 Percent Application Availability

Events:

Local:

Sydney Windows Azure User Group meeting on 2nd Nov

MSFT Switched ON – LightSwitch and Azure around AU

PERTH – 2 Nov
SYDNEY – 10 Nov

Learn Powershell through a series of virtual workshops in November

Load Testing in the Cloud Using Lab Management 2010 with Windows Azure 1st November

The Big Picture: “Don’t tell me, SHOW ME!”

Webinar:

How the Cloud can help you Integrate Seminar - 16th November (registration to follow)

Community:

Social:

Become a Facebook fan

Add yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list

Keep up to date with our monthly CloudCast

Mailing list for OzAzure

Don’t forget the Windows Azure Feature Voting

User groups:

Sydney (Conor Brady)

Melbourne (coming soon)

Brisbane (in planning – talk to Steve Nagy)

Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)

Perth (details to follow)

Regional:

Singapore Azure User Group (official website)

	Questions
SQL Azure:	How to Detect If You Are Connected To A Federation Root
Getting Started:	Questions About the Cloud- Learn from Windows Azure Partners And Accelerate Your Move to the Cloud

Configuring load balancing for Windows #Azure #HPC Burst Scenarios

drmcghee — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 06:13:13 GMT

Whilst testing high performance Excel Workbook Offloading our project team found that our substantial amount of Azure muscle provided in our Azure subscription wasn’t being optimised. Since this might be a situation you encounter I thought I’d share this with you.

With some help from the engineering team we were pointed at Configuration Files for HPC 2008 R2. Our scenario would mean that Excel is running on each core distributed across the Azure service (as described in the Node Template). What we found however was the number of Excel.EXE files was not corresponding to the number of HPC Macro partitions being executed. Close but not 1:1 which is what we expected.

Its here that you consider looking at the defining the broker monitoring settings in the service configuration file.

By changing the broker loadbalancing attributes this improved/fixed the core allocation per partition. Typically you will find that there is some “oversubscription” (e.g. 2-3 times)

Specifically: serviceRequestPrefetchCount=”0” in the ExcelService_1.0.xml config file

<loadBalancing messageResendLimit="3" serviceRequestPrefetchCount="1"serviceOperationTimeout="86400000" endpointNotFoundRetryPeriod="300000"/>

According to the SOA Service Configuration Files in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 if the prefetch count is set to 1, two requests are sent to each “service instance".

This service instance is an instance of the SOA Service host process. In the Excel workbook offloading you will typically use core allocation, this would be one per core. In node allocation this would be one per node.

NOTE:
This is only an optimization if the number of requests is close to the number of service instances.
Normal SOA jobs tend to have many requests per service instance, which is why the default the oversubscription count higher than 0.

By changing this value to 0 we noticed that 1 EXCEL.EXE would result per partition (and therefore per core!)

In summary, its worth bearing in mind these server configuration variables such as the messageResendLimit

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter– 24th October 2011

drmcghee — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:42:30 GMT

	Local Overview :
	BizSpark ramps up as Australia is announced 2nd-best world economy in which to start-up a business according to World Bank study

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	General PowerBuilder and Windows Azure by Jim O'Neil Cloud Artwork Running Memcached on Windows Azure for PHP Storage Retrieving partition key range in Windows Azure Table Storage Calling the Windows Azure Storage API Asynchronously
SQL Azure:	PASS Summit: SQL Azure Reporting Services Preview and Management Portal Walkthrough – Part 3
AppFabric:	Office 365 & Azure AppFabric – Part 1
MarketPlace:	Translation for free for three months
Watch:	Cloud Cover - Christian Liensberger talks about data in the Marketplace
Case Study:	Software Developer in China Switches to Windows Azure for 30 Percent More Revenue.
Tools:	Clerity Update Will Migrate Mainframe Apps to Azure Cloud Free WindowsAzure resource-monitoring utility AzurePing from Paraleap MAP 6.5 Beta Now Available!

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	Publish Azure Project using Windows Azure SDK 1.5 Publish Setting wizard Real World: Simulating Load on a Windows Azure Application
Architecture:	How to integrate a BizTalk Server application with Service Bus Queues and Topics Windows Azure: Startup task or OnStart(), which to choose?
Book:	“The Developer’s Guide to AppFabric" now released

	In the news:
General:	A two month free trial of Fujitsu’s Australian based cloud computing platforms Gartner- Private clouds are a last resort Cloud Computing UK gov invites bids for public sector cloud Cloud computing to drive IT spending
Microsoft:	Microsoft updates Intune to patch cloud pitch Previously trial users were getting 2GB of Azure cloud Microsoft delivers developer preview of Roslyn compiler as a service Microsoft Q1 Earnings Meet Expectations but Vague on Cloud Topical? New Zealand Rugby Union Picks BPOS
Windows Azure:	Platform: Announcing Improved In-place Updates for Windows Azure Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows Phone (V1.3.1) Other Have a question? Try Windows Azure Live Chat

Events:

Local:

Sydney Windows Azure User Group meeting on 2nd Nov

MSFT Switched ON – LightSwitch and Azure around AU

CANBERRA – 25 Oct
MELBOURNE – 26 Oct
PERTH – 2 Nov
SYDNEY – 10 Nov

Learn Powershell through a series of virtual workshops in November

Webinar:

Taking PowerBuilder to the Cloud (with Microsoft Azure) Accenture Case Study

Community:

Social:

Become a Facebook fan

Add yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list

Keep up to date with our monthly CloudCast

Mailing list for OzAzure

Don’t forget the Windows Azure Feature Voting

User groups:

Sydney (Conor Brady)

Melbourne (coming soon)

Brisbane (in planning – talk to Steve Nagy)

Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)

Questions

Can I move a mainframe application to Windows Azure?

Yes. Like most application its possible but it would be wise to consider the overall architecture and what parts of Azure you are going to use for what benefit.

There are third party tools out there such as

Micro Focus (Micro Focus Visual COBOL for Azure) RECORDING
Alchemy Solution NeoKicks
Clerity Update

And partners who specialise. For example:

Fujitsu NetCOBOL for .NET V4.2, which is a COBOL compiler and runtime environment for moving mainframe applications over to Windows and now Azure clouds.

SQL Azure announcements from SQL Pass Summit 2011

drmcghee — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:11:32 GMT

In case you missed it SQL PASS Summit 2011 featured important announcements for SQL Azure

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter - 17th October 2011

drmcghee — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:03:22 GMT

Local Overview :

Public system helps light up ETSA Utilities' electricity network map

Local writer Thiago Almedia contributes to MSDN:

How to integrate a BizTalk Server application with Service Bus Queues and Topics

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	Sending and Receiving Email in Windows Azure Inserting Null Value for Integer columns in Windows Azure Table
SQL Azure:	SQLPass sessions: Deploy On-Premises SQL Server Database to SQL Azure and Backup to Windows Azure in SSMS 2012 New Metro SQL Azure Management Portal with No-Downtime, Click-to-Scale Federation
AppFabric:	Using the Windows Azure Service Bus - Queuing Windows Azure AppFabric–The Middleware for the Cloud– Slides + Code Demo
MarketPlace:	“Data Explorer” Creates Mashups from Big Data, DataMarket and Excel Sources OData and Windows Azure
Watch:	Updates to SQL Azure Database with Roger Doherty
Case Study:	Security Firm G4S Moves to the Cloud with Windows Azure
Tools:	Excel DataScope Alchemy Solution NeoKicks Enables Mainframe Applications To Run On Windows Azure World Data Digital Dashboard by ComponentArt visualising data gleaned from the Azure Marketplace Attunity Replicate loads data from SQL Server, Oracle and IBM's DB2 databases to SQL Azure CA ERwin Data Modeler for Microsoft SQL Azure coming soon Riverbed extends archiving to Azure with automated backups

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	How To Block un-validated Windows Azure Deployments how to run EXEs on startup w/o custom code using Windows Azure SDK 1.5 Setting up the SQL Azure Sync Services Preview
Architecture:	Implementing Windows Azure Retry Logic Windows Azure Planning – A Post-decision Guide to Integrate Windows Azure in Your Environment
Book:	“The Developer’s Guide to AppFabric" now released

	In the news:
General:	Is it legal to send your data overseas? Stop complaining: NBN will save you money Enterprise Clouds: The last gasp of the old gaurd The cloud infographic - Powering the cloud Emerson to build NBN facilities How the Private Cloud affects your IT department Data is like gold 13 Common problems cloud computing does not solve
Microsoft:	Windows 8 hands on labs available Microsoft has agreed to lease its water treatment plant to the city of Quincy, Washington Microsoft Expands Data Platform to Help Customers Manage the ‘New Currency of the Cloud’
Windows Azure:	Platform: Microsoft to develop Hadoop distributions for Windows Server and Azure Upcoming SQL Azure Q4 2011 Service Release SQL Azure Data Sync Gets Point-And-Click Management, Filtered Synchronization Upcoming Increased Database Limits, for SQL Azure Federation A New SQL Azure Reporting CTP Release Other Updated Windows Azure Autoscaling Application Block beta release with an RI (sample app) The Windows Azure Team now offers Real-World Guidance and Live Help for the Windows Azure Platform Reported First Azure-hosted Microsoft ERP service due in Fall 2012 SQL Server 2012: Microsoft's Case for Structured Data in the Cloud Era

Events:

Local:

Sydney Windows Azure User Group meeting on 2nd Nov
MSFT Switched ON – LightSwitch and Azure around AU

ADELAIDE – 18 Oct
BRISBANE – 19 Oct
CANBERRA – 25 Oct
MELBOURNE – 26 Oct
PERTH – 2 Nov
SYDNEY – 10 Nov

Readify Dev Day 25/10- Whats new: Windows 8 & Visual Studio 11- Click here for more details and registration

Webinar:

Using Windows Azure Storage Securely
Tue, Oct 11, 2011 8:00 AM PST
Click to Register

Community:

Social:

Become a Facebook fan

Add yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list

Keep up to date with our monthly CloudCast

Mailing list for OzAzure

Don’t forget the Windows Azure Feature Voting

User groups:

Sydney (Conor Brady)

Melbourne (coming soon)

Brisbane (in planning – talk to Steve Nagy)

Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)

	Questions
Q:	Have questions about the new SQL Azure Data Sync CTP Release?
A:	Check out the FAQ!

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 10th October 2011

drmcghee — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:14:52 GMT

	Local Overview :
	Happy House Hunting in South Australia with the Navigator – running on Windows Azure Tom Hollander writes Using Service Bus Queues with WCF

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	How a VM role works in Windows Azure to accomplish resilient applications Windows 8 To Dish Up Azure Services Case Study TailSpin Mango – mocks Windows Azure site On-premises and Cloud via Windows Azure Connect Fluent Windows Azure Diagnostics with SDK 1.5 An Auto-Scaling Module for PHP Applications in Windows Azure
SQL Azure:	Forms-Based Authentication with SQL Azure
AppFabric:	Achieving Transactional Behavior with Messaging series Azure Access Control – Authenticating with Google Account Tips for Working with the Windows Azure AppFabric Caching Service
MarketPlace:	Windows Azure Marketplace Now Available in 26 Countries, Support 17 Currencies
Watch:	AlignIT Manager Tech Talk: Episode 2 - Straight Talk About Windows Azure
Case Study:	Global manufacturer PPG Industries Supports Sudden Web Traffic Spikes of 800 Percent with Cloud Platform Sitecore, Microsoft and Unicorn Media Launch Online Services and Mobile Device Support for Music
Tools:	SCOM - Download the Deploying and Managing Windows Azure Applications Evaluation Cloud Solutions for Business - OneNimbus solutions Apica Launches New Cloud Monitoring Service - Apica A zureCheck The [Claims Azure and SharePoint Integration] CASI Kit Announcement from SharePoint Conference “Paint your Java Azure” with Gigaspaces Cloudify Developing Cloud Applications with RAD Studio XE2 OData Service Validation Tool

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	Configuration in Azure
Basics:	Introduction to the Windows Azure Platform The basics of Windows Azure for IT Pros Azure+ We built a cloud platform for PHP. Wait… what? The Cloud Gourmet: Cooking with Windows Azure
Architecture:	Using Windows Azure to Connect LOB Data to SharePoint Online using Business Connectivity Services Our datacenters are awesomeness in a box

	In the news:
General:	What does the future of the data center look like to you?
Microsoft:	Microsoft: how cloud computing can make buildings more efficient Why An Ancient Map Matters to Cloud
Windows Azure:	Windows Azure beats Amazon EC2, Google App Engine in cloud speed test Azure Tops Cloud Provider Performance Index whilst Australian performance is poor Windows Azure Marketplace Now Available in 26 Countries, Support 17 Currencies

Events:

Local:

MSFT Switched ON – LightSwitch and Azure around AU

ADELAIDE – 18 Oct
BRISBANE – 19 Oct
CANBERRA – 25 Oct
MELBOURNE – 26 Oct
PERTH – 2 Nov
SYDNEY – 10 Nov

Readify Dev Day 25/10- Whats new: Windows 8 & Visual Studio 11- Click here for more details and registration

Webinar:

Using Windows Azure Storage Securely
Tue, Oct 11, 2011 8:00 AM PST
Click to Register

Community:

Social:

Become a Facebook fan
Add yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list
Keep up to date with our monthly CloudCast
Mailing list for OzAzure

Don’t forget the Windows Azure Feature Voting

User groups:

Sydney (Conor Brady)
Melbourne (coming soon)
Brisbane (in planning – talk to Steve Nagy)
Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)

Questions

What to do when Windows Azure Management Portal does not list any hosted services even when you are sure to have one or more?

Change your portal language to something else and then change back to "English" this will clear the cache and shows hosted service list.

…Or clear your internet cache!

Is Steve Marx starting Coach Computing?

Migrating the .Net Pet Shop to Windows #Azure

drmcghee — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 05:39:00 GMT

In a previous blog post I walked through a criteria for calculating migration complexity to Windows Azure. As an example I used Tom Hollander’s challenge of migrating the classic .Net Pet Shop. In this post I will walk through the steps I undertook to migrate the solution from scratch. Please refer to the previous post, at the bottom, for how the end result translated to the migration complexity criteria I put forward.

Not withstanding any mistakes, omissions (or further Windows Azure work) these three steps will migrate the project and give you an indication of the effort required to move a relatively old but not an un-complex solution to Windows Azure. This exercise should take you no more than 20 minutes (all going well!) if you are familiar and have an account setup with Windows Azure*.

* A quick live chat or phone call will get you a no-credit-card required Windows Azure platform free pass.

STEP 1 – Create a Cloud Solution

Download and install the PetShop 4.0
Copy the original Pet Shop 4.0 Project to your Projects directory
Open the project in in Visual Studio and convert and update it to the latest framework
Build and Compile the solution
Add a new AzurePetShop Cloud Project as web role
Rename Web Role to PetShopWebRole

STEP 2 – Change from a Web Site Project to a Web Application Project

Reading: Walkthrough: Converting a Web Site Project to a Web Application Project in Visual Studio

Remove all files from the new web application project except the webrole.cs
Add a project reference to every project in the solution
Copy all file and folders from comm images from the web site project to the web application

Add a trace listener back into the to the web config ofthe web

         1: <trace> 

        2:     <listeners> 

        3:         <add type="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics.DiagnosticMonitorTraceListener, Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" name="AzureDiagnostics"> 

        5:             <filter type="" /> 

        6:         </add> 

        7:     </listeners> 

        8: </trace>

Copy the app_Code and app_themes from the web site project to the the web application project
Rename the app_Code Directory to Old_app_Code
Make sure all the file of the Old_app_Code have the content property set to compile
Create a new CustomProfile Class and add it to the the project

Insert the following code inside the CustomProfile class

        1: using System; 

        2: using System.Collections.Generic;

        3: using System.Linq; 

        4: using System.Web; 

        5: using System.Web.Profile;

        6:  

        7: namespace PetShop.Web 

        8: { 

        9:     public class CustomProfile 

        10:     { 

        11:         private ProfileBase Profile 

        12:         { 

        13:             get { return HttpContext.Current.Profile; } 

        14:         } 

        15:  

        16:  

        17:         public virtual PetShop.BLL.Cart WishList 

        18:         { 

        19:             get 

        20:             { 

        21:                 return ((PetShop.BLL.Cart)(Profile.GetPropertyValue("WishList"))); 

        22:             } 

        23:             set 

        24:             { 

        25:                 Profile.SetPropertyValue("WishList", value); 

        26:             } 

        27:         } 

        28:  

        29:         public virtual PetShop.BLL.Cart ShoppingCart 

        30:         { 

        31:             get 

        32:             { 

        33:                 if (Profile.GetPropertyValue("ShoppingCart") == null) 

        34:                     Profile.SetPropertyValue("ShoppingCart", new PetShop.BLL.Cart()); 

        35:                 return ((PetShop.BLL.Cart)(Profile.GetPropertyValue("ShoppingCart"))); 

        36:             } 

        37:             set 

        38:             { 

        39:                 Profile.SetPropertyValue("ShoppingCart", value); 

        40:             } 

        41:         } 

        42:  

        43:         public virtual PetShop.Model.AddressInfo AccountInfo 

        44:         { 

        45:             get 

        46:             { 

        47:                 return ((PetShop.Model.AddressInfo)(Profile.GetPropertyValue("AccountInfo"))); 

        48:             } 

        49:             set 

        50:             { 

        51:                 Profile.SetPropertyValue("AccountInfo", value);

        52:             } 

        53:         } 

        54:  

        55:         public void Save() 

        56:         { 

        57:             Profile.Save(); 

        58:         } 

        59:  

        60:     } 

        61: }

Click on the web application project and select Convert to a web application
Overwrite the profile class to get values from the web.config by adding to each of the following classes this single constructor:

    private CustomProfile Profile = new CustomProfile(); 

CheckOut.aspx.cs(10)
ShoppingCartControl.ascx.cs(11):
WishListControl.ascx.cs(10):
ShoppingCart.aspx.cs(6):
UserProfile.aspx.cs(6):
WishList.aspx.cs(6):

STEP 3 – Migrate Data and Configure the Application

With the Pet shop installed you will have your SQL Server setup with multiple databases installed. Its worth run SQL management studio to have a look.

Warning you will want to upgrade to SQL 2008 R2 SP2 if you have not already. Make sure you install the full version as outlined in this post. If you do not the SQL Migration Wizard, and other features, will not work as expected and give some interesting error messages.

Login to the Windows Azure Portal and sign in
Select the SQL Azure Database option from the left power bar
Create a new database from within an existing SQL Azure subscription
Add in the appropriate firewall rules for access
Copy the Connection String for the migrated database. It should look like this (replacing highlighted items):
Server=tcp:yourServer.database.windows.net,1433;Database=petshopnew;UserID=user@yourServer;Password=myPassword;Trusted_Connection=False;Encrypt=True;
Install and run the SQL Migration Wizard for each of the four SQL Server databases, moving each to a single Azure database:
- ASPState
- PetShop
- Orders
- Profile
- Services
Update the Cache dependency: Invalidates the cache when data changes
- With the web application comment out the
protected TableDependency(string configKey) {..}
- Note: AppFabric Cache doesn’t replace SQL Dependency

Fix the Web Application to have a single (i.e.. not multiple) connection strings

First Remove encrypted connection strings from web.config

Then add new connection string to web.config

           1: <connectionStrings> 

           2:     <add name="PetShopConnectionString" connectionString="Server=tcp:yourServer.database.windows.net,1433;Database=petshopnew;user id=User@yourServer;password=Password;Trusted_Connection=false;Encrypt=true;MultipleActiveResultSets=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>

           3: </connectionStrings>

Open the project OrderProcessor projects app.config
Comment out SQLConnString1 SQLConnString2 and SQLConnString3 connection strings in this app.config
Comment out SQLMembershipConnString in this app.config

Insert a new connection string to the app.config as below:

             <add name="PetShopConnectionString" connectionString="Server=tcp:yourServer.database.windows.net,1433;Database=petshopnew;user id=User@yourServer;password=Password;Trusted_Connection=false;Encrypt=true;MultipleActiveResultSets=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>

Note: make sure password is changed!

Open DBUtility project
Amend SQLHelper class connection strings to use the PetShopConnectionString
Open the web application web.config
- Amend Cache dependancy connection string to use PetShopConnectionString
- Amend SQLMembershipProvider to PetShopConnectionString

Along the way I would encourage compiling and building in Visual Studio to check and when complete, test in local emulator before finally testing in Windows Azure proper.

Its not a difficult task, particularly given it is a full port, though I would certainly not encourage migrations without looking at the test scenarios in more detail to confirm expected behaviour as well as consider ways the application can be scaled, monitored and managed better.

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 3rd October 2011

drmcghee — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:48:16 GMT

Local Overview :

Gold Coast couple takes on Facebook with Microsoft in tow

Local Azure writers:

Fresh from Asia architects training Tom Hollander writes about Environments for Windows Azure development
Bondi Geek writes Json serialization with Windows Phone 7, WCF Data Services & Azure

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	Starting with SDK 1.5 you can use xPath Values in Windows Azure A PHP on Windows Azure Learning Plan Skipping Windows Azure Startup Tasks When Running in the Emulator Migrating My Blog to http://wely-lau.net (Wordpress on Windows Azure) Windows Azure Storage Analytics with PowerShell Use the Windows Azure CDN for Assets The Flatterist: a Windows Azure App to Stroke Your Ego Deconstructing the Hybrid Twitter Demo at BUILD TechWave 2011: PowerBuilder and Windows Azure
SQL Azure:	Handling Transient Connection Failures in SQL AzureHandling Transient Connection Failures in SQL Azure Resetting the Passwords on all of Your SQL Azure Servers
AppFabric:	The Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus- Topics Ruby web sites and Windows Azure AppFabric Access Control Best Practices for Leveraging Windows Azure Service Bus Brokered Messaging API Windows Azure AppFabric Caching transactions and update modes
MarketPlace:	OData Quickstart for Windows Phone Updated—Now with VB!
Watch:	Episode 60 - Introducing the Windows Azure Platform PowerShell Cmdlets 2.0 Windows Azure PowerShell Cmdlets 2.0 Update Web Cast Now Available
Case Study:	Local Software Company Enriches On-Premises Workflow Solution with Cloud-Based Services
Tools:	Other quest cloud tools: Quest® Cloud Subscription Manager for Azure is a billing and usage management application Quest® Cloud Storage Manager for Azure 22 Essential Tools for Testing Your Website’s Usability (not specific to Windows Azure)

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	Using NuGet to deploy applications on the Windows Azure platform Setting up a NuGet repository in seconds: MyGet public feeds Running Processes in Windows Azure (without custom code)
Pricing:	Asset Tracking Application E-Commerce Web Site Sales Training Application Social Media Application If you think Windows Azure platform is the right choice: A quick live chat or phone call will get you a no-credit-card required Windows Azure platform free pass.
Architecture:	Relaunching AzureDesignPatterns.com with HTML5 and Expanded Content
Book:	Free ebook CTP of The Developer’s Guide to AppFabric

	In the news:
General:	Five essential cloud-based tools for start-ups The Infrastructure Turk: Lessons in Services Green is good -- but it's no reason to go to the cloud The Economic Benefit of Cloud Computing Eight cloud computing risks, and how to quash them
Microsoft:	Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework. Microsoft is working with an Open Source project, i.e. OpenNebula to make Hyper-V and Windows Servers an integral part of cloud-computing infrastructure Microsoft is planning to invest an additional $150 million to expand its new datacentre in southern Virginia, to address growing cloud adoption
Windows Azure:	Windows Azure SDK 1.5 update released Windows Azure Platform Training Kit – September 2011 Update and New Training Kit Web Installer Preview Windows Azure Guest OS 2.7 NEW Data Offerings and International Availability - Windows Azure Marketplace Sharepoint and Windows Azure Developer Training Kit - Summer update Windows Azure Support White Paper (thanks to Graham Elliott)

Events:

Local:

LIVE Meeting: An IT Pro View of Windows Azure

Oct 25th 2-4 pm

LIVE Meeting: Managing Windows Azure Applications

Nov 22nd 2-4 pm

Date for Diary: CIO “Journey to the Cloud” April 2012, Australia

Webinar:

Is My Data Really Secure in the Cloud?
Tue, Oct 4, 2011 8:00 AM PST
Click to Register

Using Windows Azure Storage Securely
Tue, Oct 11, 2011 8:00 AM PST
Click to Register

Mahesh, our Windows Azure Melbourne co-president, is presenting at the YOW Nights on MYOB/Azure:

“Transitioning to the Cloud at MYOB”

Register for Sydney, October 5th

Community:

Social:

Become a Facebook fan
Add yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list
Keep up to date with our monthly CloudCast
Mailing list for OzAzure

Readify’s Steve Nagy renewed as Australia's Azure MVP – well done!

User groups:

Sydney (Conor Brady)
Melbourne (coming soon)
Brisbane (in planning – talk to Steve Nagy)
Auckland (Ryan Crawcour)

Questions

Does Windows Azure Startup task have time limit? What to do with heavy processing startup task in Windows Azure Role?

There is no time limit for your role to start, but if you take more than 15 minutes it is possible your service might hit some outage while your role is getting ready

Data backup strategies for Windows and SQL Azure

drmcghee — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 04:30:11 GMT

There are many tools and strategies for data backup in Windows and SQL Azure. This post is to outline a few that exist today. Its also worth noting that recently added to the SQL Azure portal was an Import Export feature .

In terms of approaches the following are good SQL Azure tools to consider:

And more manual SQL Azure techniques including:

For Azure Storage there are various tools (outlined for example this Matrix view). I’d have a look at the following:

Cloud Storage Studio
Azure Storage Explorer
CloudBerry (and specifically CloudBerry Backup for Windows Azure Blob Storage)

Or there is always codeplex where there are a few samples such as AzureStorageBackup which is the updated version of Table Storage Backup

Note: Windows Azure Storage is triple copied within the target DataCenter and now has geo-replication by default.

Alternatively you could even write your own backup application and/or Map Windows Azure Blob Storage As Network Drive in Windows

Finally there are Microsoft partners such as StorSimple who provide Azure storage software solutions and an on premises storage appliance.

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 26th September 2011

drmcghee — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 07:17:35 GMT

	Local Overview
	Blue skies for Microsoft's Azure cloud offering in Australia

	Readiness & Resources
Windows Azure:	Using CSUPLOAD tool to upload service certificates for your Windows Azure Application SnowMaker – a unique id generator for Azure (or any other cloud hosting environment) Multi-Platform Windows Azure Storage Extension Methods for the August 2011 Windows Azure Storage A Deep Look inside Windows Azure Virtual Machines
SQL Azure:	Configuring the SQL firewall Handy Script Add-RoamingFirewallRule.ps1 Cloud Concept Simplified with SQL Azure Database Administration
AppFabric:	Exploring Topics and Queues by Building a Service Bus Explorer Tool Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus Brokered Messaging AppFabric queue support for NServiceBus Service Bus Relay Load Balancing–The Missing Feature (But Not For Much Longer!)
MarketPlace:	Have You Discovered Windows Azure Marketplace?
Watch:	Cloud Cover Episode 59 - Using the Windows Push Notification Service with Windows Azure
Case Study:	Roozz.com Powers Online Game and Application Rentals Worldwide with Windows Azure Firms Burst Calculations to the Cloud with Numerix CrossAsset on Microsoft Windows HPC Servers and Windows Azure
Tools:	SQL Server Compact Toolbox available for Visual Studio 11 Waz-Cmd (Ruby Command-Line Tool for Windows Azure) Windows Azure ACS Identity Provider SDK - 0.1 Windows Azure Toolkit for Windows 8 v1.0.1 Third Party Azure Enterprise Cloud Storage from StorSimple

	Guidance
How to:	How to Backup SQL Azure Database to Windows Azure Blob Storage directly from your own machine RSSBus Deploying AS2 Connect to Windows Azure Creating Line of Business Applications using SQL Azure
Walkthrough:	How to Configure the Site Entry in the Service Definition File for Windows Azure Scaling Windows Azure Roles using Ruby
Book:	Microsoft Silverlight 4 and Windows Azure Enterprise Integration: RAW book and eBook

	In the news
General:	Future Wars to be Waged Online Up, up and away: cloud salaries are sky-high
Microsoft:	Federation at Microsoft
Windows Azure Platform:	Windows Azure Platform Training Kit, September 2011 Release

Events

Local:

LIVE Meeting: Ten Must-Have Tools for Windows Azure

Sept 27th 2-4 pm

LIVE Meeting: An IT Pro View of Windows Azure

Oct 25th 2-4 pm

LIVE Meeting: Managing Windows Azure Applications

Nov 22nd 2-4 pm

Mahesh, our Windows Azure Melbourne co-president, is presentating at the YOW Nights on MYOB/Azure,

“Transitioning to the Cloud at MYOB”

Global:

Windows Azure Experts at the Seattle Interactive Conference, November 2-3, 2011

Community

Social:

Join the Sydney Windows Azure User Group
Become a Facebook fan
Add yourself to my Azure Australia Twitter list
Keep up to date with our monthly CloudCast
Join the Mailing list for OzAzure
Get in touch with your local Microsoft Azure Team

Questions

Do we have guidance/MSDN on the ability to develop an application on Azure with the option/tools to migrate to on-premise?

Because Windows Azure is a platform its comprised of man parts, a complete answer would be dependant on the comparative on premises solution. For example:

If we are specially referring to a compute instance shares much of the same characteristics of the server it would run if it were on premises. As such the only really variant for a cloud deployed project is configuration.

If we take a compute instance for example, the enveloping cloud project will contain the service definition and configuration. Both of these wont exist on premises. The role instance won’t be fired and so any configuration or code that depends on the service information would need to find the appropriate information instead. This would allow the application to be target neutral

If you are looking to create multiple build targets with a Windows Azure solution then with the latest Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio 2010 (August 2011 update) you can specify multiple build configurations in the configurations manager.

For more information read:

Depending on the application makeup its more likely that it will contain both on premises and off premises components. Its probably worth while looking at the root question. Why would you want to move the application? Its more likely you would want to backup some data (e.g. Data Sync) or provide secure access ( e.g. ACS) or indeed provide some online/offline Service exchange (e.g. Service Bus).

The challenge of migration – determining Windows #Azure migration complexity

drmcghee — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:40:18 GMT

The challenge of migrating any application is, more often than not, a worthy architectural and business exercise. Its worth is in lock step with the value of the application – its usage and importance. It can result in benefits for the users (e.g. access and performance) and the business (e.g. agility and cost).

When considering migrating your applications to the “cloud”, there are several considerations that I believe are universal. For Windows Azure the migration effort could be as little as a packaging (zip-ping) exercise, since you don’t have to change your application to match the platform. Your application will work out of the box, but it may have unexpected side effects. It could be already architected and designed to work well as a Azure application, though the older your application the less likely this is to be the case. In essence your application should deal with two things: traffic being load balancing and data persistence.

Its more likely, that as an application is migrated, that its on premise roots are exposed. So, rather than uproot the application, it is important to consider application migration as part of a process. For example:

When determining migration complexity there are tools to help such as the Migration Assessment Planning Tool. However I propose there is an easier practice for performing a quick check on your application. I use these basic categories:

Consideration	Action	Description
Packaging	Mandatory	Application parts that are required to be unpacked by Azure for setup
Persistence	On review	All data stored should be accessed in a cloud friendly way
Stateless	By design	The execution is consistent regardless of which compute instance is runs on
Configuration	On Review	Parameters the application leverages that can change periodically
Resilience	By design	The application tolerance to manage failures (e.g. retries)
Legacy	On review	The degree to which the application relies on traditional or unsupported frameworks

To put this into context, and the topic for my next blog post I’d like to illustrate this in light of my experiences of migrating the .net Pet Shop 4.0 to Windows Azure.

Consideration	Findings
Packaging	Most of the effort was in converting web site to a web application Specifically Profiles Add Cloud Project/ Configure
Persistence	Since there were multiple SQL databases, some effort was required to: Consolidation of databases Use of a single database (rather than DTC) TODO: CDN
Stateless	For the application to manage state, there were some changes to its use of: Cache Dependency Configuration TODO: ASP Membership
Diagnostics	There was very little diagnostics so added logging and performance counters for roles to make user of the Windows Azure diagnostics
Resilience	None – TODO!
Legacy	There were a few considerations of older frameworks and practices including: MSMQ Encrypted connection strings

In addition there are some migratory considerations in terms of security.For the .Net pet shop this was simply the firewall rules for SQL Azure but it could have included HTTPS portions of the site, and therefore certificates, or indeed payment gateways etc.

All in all the effort in migrating this application was around 1-2 hours but repeatable in roughly 15 minutes. The wider ramifications of management, and proper feature inclusion (such as the CDN) would require some thought and extra time, but I expect it would be nothing too significant.

What I learned from this exercise, was that migration is not trivial, but its also often a mental rather than a heavy lifting exercise. Its also an exercise where you can quickly determine the suitability of migration. Almost all applications could be migrated but some perhaps shouldn't – which us back full circle to the business benefit of migration. If migration to the cloud is too difficult then its probably worth considering how you use Windows Azure rather than how you move to Windows Azure.

For more information on migration the MSDN Azure portal offers quite a bit of advice in addition to the following I read:

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 19th September 2011

drmcghee — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:50:00 GMT

	Local Overview [overseas this week so mini update!]
	Team Foundation Service Registration code for Asia-Pacific

	Readiness & Resources
Windows Azure:	White Paper Series Helps You Get a Start on Windows Azure Pricing How to Get Diagnostics Info for Azure/PHP Applications–Part 1 Windows Azure Diagnostics and PowerShell – Performance Counters Running the Windows Azure Tools & SDK on the Windows Developer Preview Windows Azure Blobs: Improved HTTP Headers for Resume on Download and a Change in If-Match Conditions
SQL Azure:	Sync Framework v4 is now Open Source, and ready to Connect any Device to SQL Server and SQL Azure Data Points - Using the Entity Framework to Reduce Network Latency to SQL Azure
AppFabric:	Comparison of Windows Azure Storage Queues and Service Bus Queues Service Bus Topics and Queues – Advanced Windows Azure Service Bus Queues, Topics / Subscriptions Using ACS in Metro Style Applications Subscriptions « Rock – Paper – Scissors – Cloud!
MarketPlace:	The Windows Azure Marketplace comes with 2 new major features: The marketplace will be open to 25 more countries starting next month The Microsoft Translator APIs is available on Marketplace and provides translation services for 35 languages
Watch:	Build Azure sessions: Building and running HPC apps in Windows Azure by Greg Burgess Analyzing "big data" with LINQ to HPC by Ade Miller Building Web APIs in Windows Azure with WCF to reach any device by Glenn Block Your devices + OData + Windows Azure == happiness by Mike Flasko Getting started with Windows Azure by Brian Prince What's new in Windows Azure by James Conard Introduction to Windows Azure: the cloud operating system by Mark Russinovich Identity and access management for Windows Azure apps by Vittorio Bertocci Monitoring and troubleshooting Windows Azure apps by Michael Washam Using cloud storage from Windows apps by Wade Wegner Building loosely-coupled apps with Windows Azure Service Bus Topics and Queues by Clemens Vasters Delivering notifications with the Windows Push Notification Service and Windows Azure by Darren Louie and Nick Harris Building apps with Windows Workflow Foundation and Windows Azure by Jurgen Willis and Josh Twist Building device & cloud apps by Wade Wegner Building global and highly-available services using Windows Azure by David Aiken Building scalable web apps with Windows Azure by Matthew Kerner Building social games for Windows 8 with Windows Azure by Nathan Totten Building Windows 8 and Windows Azure apps by Steve Marx F# 3.0: data, services, Web, cloud, at your fingertips by Don Syme Inside Windows Azure storage: what's new and under the hood deep dive by Brad Calder Taking your Application Lifecycle Management to the cloud with the Team Foundation Service by Doug Neumann
Case Study:	East Hampton moves dispatch system with Total Computer Group's Total Enforcement 2 (TE2), to Windows Azure to cut costs
Tools:	Gigaspace’s Cloudify for Azure - take an existing [Java] application and seamlessly deploy and manage it in Windows Azure

	Guidance
Gotcha:	Back Up Your Dev Storage BEFORE Updating to Windows Azure SDK 1.5
Walkthrough:	How to Configure the Site Entry in the Service Definition File for Windows Azure

	In the news
General:	Preparing for the Hybrid Cloud Why DevOps matters to business
Microsoft:	Microsoft Build- Windows 8 preview a hit, but are investors unhappy
Windows Azure Platform:	Java on the Windows Azure Cloud What's new from Build? Windows Azure SDK 1.5 (build Windows 8 apps) Windows Azure AppFabric SDK 1.5 Windows Azure Platform PowerShell Cmdlets 2.0 Introducing Geo-replication for Windows Azure Storage The Windows Azure Service Bus September 2011 Release

Events

Local:

LIVE Meeting: Ten Must-Have Tools for Windows Azure

Sept 27th 2-4 pm

LIVE Meeting: An IT Pro View of Windows Azure

Oct 25th 2-4 pm

LIVE Meeting: Managing Windows Azure Applications

Nov 22nd 2-4 pm

Global:

Community

Social:

Join the Sydney Windows Azure User Group
Become a Facebook fan
Add yourself to my Azure Australia Twitter list
Keep up to date with our monthly CloudCast
Join the Mailing list for OzAzure
Get in touch with your local Microsoft Azure Team

Questions

With the OData implementation from the DataMarket how do you query across related tables?

In addition to URI conventions, you could use other querying mechanisms. For example you could use LINQ to query the data service that implements the Open Data Protocol (OData).

In OData there are no "joins" like in SQL server. Instead relationships are represented as "navigation" properties.

(more to follow)

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 12th September 2011

drmcghee — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:50:45 GMT

Local Overview

Centrebet deploys app integration platform with Windows Azure delivered by Microsoft partner Breeze

Congrats to participants of the Azure Startup Camp in Sydney and winner John Young with his Azure solution called uBalancer

In case you missed this earlier in the year, local born software product Nintex Workflow has been extended to Nintex Live running on Windows Azure and can leverage the Windows Azure DataMarket.

	Readiness & Resources
Windows Azure:	Autoscaling Windows Azure applications Managing Concurrency in Windows Azure with Leases Performing batch operations on disparate entity types in Windows Azure Table Storage Using Certificate-Based Encryption in Windows Azure Applications 10-Minute AX 2012 App: Windows Azure (Cloud) Overview of Command Line Deployment and Management with the Windows Azure SDK for PHP Sticky Sessions and Windows Azure
SQL Azure:	Review of the New Release of SQL Azure Best Practices and Guidance on SQL Azure Connectivity What’s New in SQL Azure Management Portal? (Part II of II) SQL Azure Q2 2011 Service Release Now Deployed (Part I of II) Sharding Library for SQL Azure Data Federation
AppFabric:	AppFabric Apps (June 2011 CTP)–Only 1 SQL Azure Instance at a time Windows Azure AppFabric ServiceBus Enhancements
MarketPlace:	MSBI Data MashUp on Facebook Sync Framework v4 is now Open Source, and ready to Connect any Device to SQL Server and SQL Azure
Watch:	How to leverage Windows Azure using social media applications
Case Study:	Ticketing Company [Flavorous] Scales to Sell 150,000 Tickets in 10 Seconds by Moving to Cloud Computing Solution Why MyGet uses Windows Azure
Tools:	SQL Server Data Tools Code-named “Juneau” With Full SQL Azure Support SQL Azure Backup application. Download the Trial OR Buy the full version. Business Intelligence (BI) software company SiSense announces native support for Microsoft SQL Azure

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	Building a Task Scheduler in Windows Azure
Architecture:	Why monitor Windows Azure with System Center? Why Did My Azure Application Crash? Using the Windows Azure Diagnostics API to Find Code Problems Rip and Replace or Extend and Embrace?
Book:	Microsoft Cloud Power eBook

	In the news:
General:	DevOps: Keep tabs on cloud-based app performance Cloud risk assessment and ISO 27000 standards Legal implications of cloud computing Is Cloud Computing Just Virtualization and Automation? No!!
Microsoft:	Follow the Windows 8 announcements from BUILD, using @windows or search the hashtag #BldWin Lync for Mac 2011 Released to Manufacturing
Windows Azure Platform:	Java on the Windows Azure Cloud What's new? SQL Azure Import/Export Service (CTP) is now available and live in all Windows Azure Data Centers Windows Azure Autoscaling Application Block ( Video) Enterprise Library 5.0 Windows Azure Integration Pack Local group Breeze running web training according to Azure: Training - Inside Windows Azure, the Cloud Operating System

	Events:
Local:	Thursday 15th September – Melbourne Azure User Group Planning. Calling all partners! 14th September VIC. NET UG meeting: Migrating your app to Azure by @johnazariah and @MaheshKrishnan Register here

Community:

Social:

Join the Sydney Windows Azure User Group
Become a Facebook fan
Add yourself to my Azure Australia Twitter list
Keep up to date with our monthly CloudCast
Join the Mailing list for OzAzure
Get in touch with your local Microsoft Azure Team

Questions

How can I upgrade SQL 2008 R2 to SP1?

The best way (regardless of edition) is to download the full service pack 1 from this link

Applications that utilize SQL Server Management Objects (SMO) will need to apply the Cumulative Update Package 7 for SQL Server 2008 R2

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 4th September 2011

drmcghee — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:22:04 GMT

Local Overview :

Curtin trials DNA sequencing in Azure

Since March, Curtin has used Azure to study genome sequences of four animals.

A couple from last week’s TechEd 2011 Australia:

And then there is this, which is a bit of a non article. I’d rephrase the title to describing the cloud as difficult, when using the cloud is easy. Its not that hard, even for the banks:

Westpac: A case study for the complex cloud

*****************

Windows Azure Sydney User Group [WASUG] this Thursday 8th of Sept, register for SQLAzure & Java Azure talks

	Readiness & Resources:
Windows Azure:	Windows Azure Remote Desktop Connectivity for PHP Applications Analytics, Leasing, and More: Extensions to the .NET Windows Azure Storage Library August 2011 release of the Windows Azure Tools adds some welcome bits Deploying An Azure Application CRUD operation on Windows Azure table storage as WCF Service MSDN update: Overview of Enabling Communication for Role Instances
SQL Azure:	Getting SQL Azure to handle your Session State DAC SQL Azure Import Export Service Client V 1.2
AppFabric:	Windows Azure Service Bus & Connect: Compared and Contrasted
Watch:	Exploring the Windows Azure Toolkit for Android
Case Study:	Traffic for London. Bus times go mobile with beta test of Countdown app in London
Tools:	Azure AppFabric ACS Authentication (4.1) for Adxstudio Updated: SQL Azure Migration Wizard v3.7.7 Quest Software, Inc.’s Spotlight on Azure management application

	Guidance:
Walkthrough:	Configuring the Systems Center Monitoring Pack for Windows Azure Applications on SCOM 2012 Beta Tutorial: Developing a Windows Azure Data Application Using Code First and SQL Azure:
Architecture:	Building Windows Phone Applications Using Windows Azure
Book:	Windows Azure Free Ebook and Free Online Course

	In the news:
General:	When Worlds Collide #2: HTML5 + Cloud = Elasticity²
Microsoft:	Microsoft: Our clouds are cheaper than VMware clouds
Windows Azure:	The Register says Apple's iCloud runs on Microsoft and Amazon services Number of roles in Windows Azure deployments is now 25. Internal endpoints can now be allocated to roles in any combination Workflow Foundation Activity Pack for Windows Azure CTP 1 Windows Azure Toolkits for Devices – Now With Android!

	Events:
Local:	Melbourne User Group Planning 15th September… watch this space Sydney Azure User Group First Meeting - 8th September. Register here BizSpark Azure Startup Camp – Sydney 9-11th of September Windows Azure Circle Architect Readiness (6-8th September, Sydney)
Webinar:	Webinar: Lap Around: Windows Azure and Kentico 6.0

	Community:
Social:	o Become a Facebook fan o Add yourself to the Azure Australia Twitter list o Keep up to date with our monthly CloudCast o Mailing list for OzAzure

	Questions
Q:	My compute emulator isn't running. How can I force it to start?
A:	Use the system tray icon, debug from Visual Studio or use the RunInEmulator.cmd to start up Compute Emulator and deploy your service package to it

Team Individualism

Windows #Azure Caching – Performance considerations

#Azure Action – Community Newsletter – 6th February 2012

#Azure Action - Community Newsletter - 27th January 2012

#Azure Action - Community Newsletter - 20th January 2012

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter - December 20th 2011

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 13th December 2011

December 14th 2011 10am PDT

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter - 6th December 2011

December 14th 2011 10am PDT

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 29th November 2011

December 14th 2011 10am PDT

#Azure Action - Weekly Newsletter - 22nd November 2011

December 14th 2011 10am PDT

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 15th November 2011

Azure Office Hours is an unstructured weekly event where you can get your questions answered

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 8th November 2011

How do I set Up Windows Azure End To End Development Environment

Go to this page to install everything you need. You can also get to it by first visiting www.azure.com, hovering on the Learn tab, and selecting Download SDK. This is the simplest way to get everything you need installed.

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 31st October 2011

Configuring load balancing for Windows #Azure #HPC Burst Scenarios

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter– 24th October 2011

Can I move a mainframe application to Windows Azure?

Yes. Like most application its possible but it would be wise to consider the overall architecture and what parts of Azure you are going to use for what benefit.

SQL Azure announcements from SQL Pass Summit 2011

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter - 17th October 2011

Have questions about the new SQL Azure Data Sync CTP Release?

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 10th October 2011

Migrating the .Net Pet Shop to Windows #Azure

STEP 1 – Create a Cloud Solution

STEP 2 – Change from a Web Site Project to a Web Application Project

STEP 3 – Migrate Data and Configure the Application

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 3rd October 2011

Data backup strategies for Windows and SQL Azure

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 26th September 2011

The challenge of migration – determining Windows #Azure migration complexity

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 19th September 2011

Gigaspace’s Cloudify for Azure - take an existing [Java] application and seamlessly deploy and manage it in Windows Azure

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 12th September 2011

#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 4th September 2011

#Azure Action - Weekly Newsletter - 22nd November 2011