Cloud computing – the most used (misused) term now a days is becoming more and more popular. I must say with Microsoft’s Azure Offerings the competition became tough and there seems to be no end to enhancements that these players will continue offering in this space. Although as a developer you might try to skip Windows Azure as a buzz word – you will still need to learn and gain knowledge around the tools, technologies and standards supported on this platform.

Before I start taking about what I am going to cover in this step-by-step tutorial I must appreciate the work that Microsoft has done so far in terms of providing learning resources and tools that are free to use. One of such freely available resources is “Windows Azure Platform Kit” which comes with very good presentations and Hands on exercise. Second such resources is “Channel 9 Videos” which are excellent to dive deep into a particular topic on Windows Azure.(for that matter I would say any of the Microsoft Products). By now you must be wondering if I am giving information about the resources etc.. here, then why I am creating “Step – By- Step Tutorial” ?? The answer is in the title itself – all these resources are excellent for those who has some basic knowledge on Windows Azure but these resource do not provide step wise learning. This is what I am trying to address via this tutorial.

Below is the agenda which I will be covering during this tutorial (via couple of blog posts/video):

1. Introduction to Windows Azure and Cloud Computing

1. Understanding Cloud Computing
2. The Windows Azure Platform
3. Azure AppFabric
4. SQL Azure
5. When not to use the Cloud

• The Infrastructure

1. Inside the Cloud
2. The Data Centers
3. The Hypervisor
4. The Fabric

• Developing Applications with Windows Azure

1. The Windows Azure Tool Set
2. Developing Your First Azure Application
3. Using the Visual Studio Tools

• Service Model

1. Windows Azure Roles
2. Service Definition and Configuration
3. EndPoints
4. Inter-Role Communication
5. Worker Role Lifecycle and Patterns

• Service Management

1. Windows Azure Development Portal
2. Service Management API
3. Dealing with Upgrades

• Storage Fundamentals

1. Windows Azure Storage Characteristics
2. Windows Azure Storage Services
3. Getting started with a Storage account
4. Using SDK and Development Storage

• Using Blobs

1. Understanding Blobs
2. Usage Considerations
3. Understanding Blob types

• Using Queues

1. Windows Azure Queue Overview
2. Understanding Queue Operations
3. Understanding Message Operations

• Using Tables

1. Windows Azure Table Overview
2. ADO.NET Data Services
3. Table Operations

• Common Storage Tasks

1. Exploring Full-Text Search
2. Modeling Data
3. Improving Performance
4. Concurrent Updates

• Building a Secure Backup System

1. Understanding Security
2. Protecting Data in Motion
3. Protecting Data in Rest

• SQL Azure

1. Creating and Using SQL Azure Database
2. Difference between SQL Azure and SQL Server

I will start covering all these topics one-by-one during coming weeks. I expect to post 2 steps every week and that will allow me to complete all the videos by 6 weeks starting tomorrow. Feel free to post your comments/suggestions to make changes to the agenda. I think the biggest task (creating the agenda/plan) is complete today and now I will start focusing on smaller pieces.