Contagious Curiosity : Cloud development

Windows Azure information for Architects (includes #PDC09 announcements)

llangit — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:20:13 GMT

I’m attending the Microsoft Architect Council Presentations today in At the Microsoft office in Irvine, CA. Our local Architect Evangelist, David Chou is presenting. Several attendees have asked for his decks so I’ll post them here. The first deck is an overview of the capabilities of the Windows Azure platform (which includes the announcements from PDC09).

Windows Azure Platform

View more presentations from lynnlangit.

The next deck is on SOA and Cloud Computing

SOA and Cloud Computing

View more presentations from lynnlangit.

Check out David’s blog as well.

Also watch my blog for the schedule of the next round of local MSDN Developer events. The content will be all about implementing Windows Azure, SQL Azure and .NET Services for developers. I will publish the schedule and outline here as soon as it is finalized.

Windows Azure ROI Calculator

llangit — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:02:24 GMT

Why Azure? Well, how about saving money? Need to figure it out – try out the new Windows Azure ROI / TCO calculator

After you agree to the terms, then you have to fill in a one page questionnaire. I put in some sample data to illustrate. The most interesting question is about the expected ‘growth profile’ of your application, i.e. steady, predictable or spiked growth, etc…

You are then presented with a detailed cost estimate, which includes estimated costs for Windows Azure, SQL Azure, .NET Services and bandwidth costs.

The next tab breaks down the Windows Azure costs. This includes platform application migration and setup cost estimates (shown below) and more.

It also includes estimates for Platform IT Administration and Support and then a Windows Azure Platform TCO rollup for your application.

The last tab shows a detailed ROI comparison including the important ‘cost-savings’ estimated value.

I’d be really interested in hearing the usefulness of this tool.

Happy programming!

SQL Azure – Let’s Get Started

llangit — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:07:49 GMT

As you may know we’ve announced that Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Windows Azure, will have commercial availability as of the first day of the upcoming Professional Developer’s Conference in Los Angeles on November 17th, 2009. In addition to data storage via Windows Azure, included in our offering will be SQL Azure. I’ve been following the product team’s progress with SQL Azure for quite some time now, given my long-term interest in, and professional use of, SQL Server.

In fact, just this week the product group announced on the the SQL Azure blog, that the current build is feature-complete for PDC09 now. The product team’s most recent blog details features that have been added to the most current CTP, such as the ability to configure firewall (access) rules, support for bulk copy (mostly for initial data load-in), and more. I’ve been watching and waiting, eager to ask lots of detail questions of product group as we start our first phase of commercial availability. Of course, the paramount questions are around security of your data in our cloud. We have a large number of sessions at the upcoming PDC in Los Angels, which runs from November 17 to November 19. The announced schedule to date already included 9 dedicated sessions on SQL Azure. These sessions are being conducted by members of the SQL Azure product group team.

If you can’t attend the PDC and want to get started learning the capabilities of SQL Azure, then I recommend downloading the October 2009 Windows Azure Platform Training Kit. It includes power point decks, demos, hands on labs and more. Of course this kit will be updated to reflect changes in the product as we add features. There will also be a good bit of SQL Azure coverage at the upcoming SQL Pass Summit in Seattle from November 2 to 5th. In addition, there will be sessions at TechEd, Europe in Berlin from November 9th to 13th.

An interesting new development is the recent update to the SQL Azure management portal. The CTP access URL is changing as of PDC (from https://ctpportal.database.windows.net to https://sql.azure.com) and the portal itself has been updated to reflect the newly-added features of SQL Azure.

Due to the level of interest in SQL Azure (including my own interest), I have decided to write a technical book about the topic. Readers of this blog will get to preview partial chapters, as I plan to begin the writing in December. I intend to write about topics thtat will have interest for developers, ITPros and architects. These will include development of .NET and non .NET front-end solutions (i.e. PHP, Java) which use SQL Azure as a partial or entire storage solutions, also deployment and management considerations such as auditing and synchronization between cloud and local copies of data stores. Of course there will be a strong emphasis on security implementation best practices throughout the book.

I am quite interested in your feedback if you have worked with any version of the SQL Azure CTP (beta). Take a minute to drop me a mail via this blog to tell me what you’ve liked or not liked about your experience so far.

SoCalDevGal is getting ready for the Cloud

llangit — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:42:47 GMT

As you may already know, we (Microsoft) have announced that we will have ‘general availability’ of our version of cloud computing, Windows Azure, on the opening day of the Professional Developer’s Conference (Nov 17).

As we prepare to ‘go-to-market’ with Azure, I’ve been doing some preparatory reading and wanted to share with you. First I’ve finished ‘Cloud Application Architectures’ by George Reese (O’Reilly). The focus of this book is on implementing using Amazon’s cloud services (EC2 and/or S3), there is also some coverage of RackSpace and GoGrid. The focus of the book is on architecture, i.e. designing for availability, scalability, securability, etc…I found this short book to be a well-written introduction to these areas.

The second book that I read is ‘Cloud Security and Privacy’ by Tim Mather, Subra Kamaraswamy and Shahed Latif (O’Reill). I was lucky enough to meet two of the three authors recently. They attended my talk on SQL Azure at Silicon Valley Code Camp in Mountain View. This book does a great job covering all aspects of cloud data security considerations. It focuses on explaining security concepts deeply and does not focus on a a particular cloud provider. I particularly like the chapters on regulatory issues and on auditing.

Since I have yet to find a dedicated book on Windows Azure, I am also working through the freely downloadable ‘Windows Azure Platform Training Kit’ as preparation. I am finding a wealth of information there and am particularly liking the Hands on Labs, Demos and Presentations sections of the kit.

In addition, MSPress has approached me about writing a book on SQL Azure and I am working on the proposal now. To that end, I’d be interested to hear from you about what topics would be of most interest. Also, the Azure team has asked me to record a series of ‘How do I…SQL Azure?’ screencasts (similar to those I did for my last SQL Server BI book ‘How do I…BI?’) as a companion to my book.

Let me know what you are interested in seeing / reading!

SoCalDevGal is a Twitter Evangelist

llangit — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:05:09 GMT

SoCalDevGal asks ‘Want 5k? – Can YOU code a killer Cloud app?’

llangit — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:08:18 GMT

From the site…GOOD LUCK and happy coding!

“new CloudApp() is a US-based developer challenge for .NET & PHP developers creating cloud applications or services (hereafter "application") on the Azure™ Services Platform. Have your application judged by industry leaders Om Malik and Michael Cote and share your cloud coding skills with other developers. Grand Prize Winners will be announced on stage at Structure 09 and featured on azure.com. Register and submit your application now! – there are three contest categories (listed below):

1) .NET Applications - Create a .NET application running on Windows Azure.

2) PHP Applications - Build a PHP application running on Windows Azure.

3) Community Winner - A community winner will be chosen in addition to the individual category winners determined by Michael Cote and Om Malik. Starting June 19th through June 29th, your friends and peers will be allowed to vote for their favorite application to determine the Community winner. Spread the word about your application through your blog and Twitter.

Winning submissions will:

Be featured on www.azure.com as well as at major Microsoft events
Be featured in a video interview on Channel 9
Be announced at Structure 09
Receive cash ($):
- NET App Category winner: $5,000 VISA gift card
- PHP App Category winner: $5,000 VISA gift card
- Community winner: $2,500 VISA gift card

When?

April 30: Contest Open
June 18: Submission deadline
June 19: Community voting starts
June 25: .NET & PHP category winners announced @ Structure 09
June 29: Community voting ends
June 30: Community winner announced

Getting Started

Sign up for the Azure Services
Download the SDKs and Tools
Learn more about the Azure Services
Tutorial videos are also available here
More info on deploying PHP applications on Windows Azure

Need Microsoft Development Tools?

Students can get Visual Studio to write a .NET application through Microsoft DreamSpark
Startup companies can use BizSpark to get software licenses and developer tools
Developers can also use the free Visual Studio Express to get started “

SoCal Architect Councils | The Importance of the Client

llangit — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:31:28 GMT

The Value of the Client – In the past, the choice of how an end user interacts with an application has been dictated by IT and often without regards to the usage. Recently, as the population has become more tech savvy and are experiencing interactions on the web, computer, and the phone their expectations have increased tremendously. Many organizations now have to support multiple standards and technologies to accommodate their user base. We will discuss the opportunities and challenges this presents.

The Changing Face of the Web – The web has changed from a static collection of data to an application platform. In many cases, JavaScript and AJAX have enhanced the experience to enable more advance application scenarios. In other cases, the Rich Internet Application using technologies such as Silverlight and Flash can bring the experience to a new level. In this session we will discuss the web and in particular the investments Microsoft is making in this technology.

Creating Powerful Applications on Computers and Devices – The web has been a boon to application development and deployment, but it doesn’t always fit every scenario. There are certain classes of applications which provide a better experience when running on a device and utilizing local hardware. The ubiquity of the mobile device has also extended the expectations of users with anytime/anywhere access.

The Future of the Client – The pace of change in client technologies over the past few years has been tremendous and is expected to continue to evolve. From support of new device types such as tables and walls, to continued improvements in interactions on the web, client, and the phone the client will become more and more important from a technology perspective and more strategic to the organization.

AGENDA

12:15 PM Arrival

12:30 PM Lunch and announcements

01:00 PM The Evolution of the Client

01:45 PM The Changing Face of the Web

02:45 PM Creating Powerful Applications on Computers and Devices

03:45 PM The Future of the Client

04:15 PM Raffle and close

SPEAKERS

Joe Shirey - Senior Architect, Developer & Platform Evangelism Microsoft - http://www.joeshirey.com

Joe is a Senior Architect Evangelist for Microsoft based in the Denver area. In this role, Joe works closely with customers and the community to help them understand where Microsoft technologies fit into the architecture of their solutions. Prior to joining Microsoft, Joe was a Vice President at Interlink group where he was responsible for service and delivery for Interlink's Denver market. In the past, Joe was a Microsoft Regional Director, a member of the Microsoft Architect Advisory Board, and sat on the .NET Partner Advisory Council. Joe has more than eighteen years of hands-on technical and functional experience in project management, systems analysis, design, development, and implementation. Joe attained his Microsoft Certified Architect award in 2005.

Woody Pewitt - Technology Evangelist, Developer & Platform Evangelism Microsoft - http://blog.pewitt.org/

Woody is a Technology Evangelist with Microsoft in Southern California. He gets to work with all kinds of people who are interested in Microsoft development technologies. He is an experienced teacher/trainer and is a part-time instructor at University of California San Diego. Before joining Microsoft in 2005 he worked for as a Principal Engineer for a Microsoft partner, InterKnowlogy. He has been involved in software and system architecture, code, development and infrastructure reviews and analysis of several fortune 500 companies for salability, security, performance and standards & practices. He is also an accomplished author, having written Microsoft Official Curriculum and has authored several published magazine articles.

REGISTER

March 24, 2009 | Bellevue, WA Microsoft Corporation Registration Link: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032399661&Culture=en-US
March 25, 2009 | Mountain View, CA Microsoft Corporation Registration Link: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032399662&Culture=en-US
March 26, 2009 |San Francisco, CA Microsoft Corporation Registration Link: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032399663&Culture=en-US
March 31, 2009 |San Diego, CA Microsoft Corporation Registration Link: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032399664&Culture=en-US
April 1, 2009 |Irvine, CA Microsoft Corporation Registration Link: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032399665&Culture=en-US
April 2, 2009 | Los Angeles, CA Microsoft Corporation Registration Link: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032404032&Culture=en-US
April 7, 2009 | Denver, CA Microsoft Corporation Registration Link: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032404033&Culture=en-US

SoCalDevGal on Azure for .NET Developers

llangit — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:54:03 GMT

Here's the Azure for .NET Developers deck from today's presentation in Anaheim. Thanks to everyone who came out the the Event.

Windows Azure for .NET Developers

View more presentations from llangit. (tags: services azure)

Here's a link back to my earlier blog post on 'how to get Azure tokens'

Below is a link to the 'How do I...Azure?' screencasts -- happy coding!

Azure Services Platform Videos

Introduction To SQL Services from SoCalDevGal

llangit — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:49:47 GMT

Introduction To Sql Services

View more presentations from llangit. (tags: windows azure)

Introduction To SQL Services - these are the slides from my talk at MDC Conference in SFO yesterday. Thanks to all of those who attended!

Windows Azure screencast series for .NET Developers

llangit — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:09:12 GMT

I am planning to record a many-part screencast (demo-filled) series for you, my .NET developer friends. As I work on the outline and abstracts, it occurs to me that I might simply ask you, 'what topics would you like to see me cover?' The idea is to make a USEFUL set of screencasts focused on implementing Windows Azure (code samples and sample applications) - no power point.

To get you started thinking, here's my 'rough list' - you comments are WELCOMED!

Ideas for Azure

types of services (core Azure, SQL Services, premium Azure - SQL / .NET / Workflow, Live A and B, any others?)

getting a token

setting up the development environment - required downloads

setting up the development environment - IIS and SQL config

understanding local Azure development

implement web roles

implement worker roles

implement Azure - hosted services

implement Azure storage - blobs

implement Azure storage - queues

implement Azure storage - tables

about configuration files

implement SQL Services storage

implement .NET Services

implement Workflow Services

implement Live A

implement Live B

Community - Events & Webcasts | Azure Services Platform

Bruno's Blog

llangit — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:21:02 GMT

Has a whole lot of useful information about working with Windows Azure. Bruno (Terkaly) is my counter-part from NorCal. RSS his blog.

Bruno's Blog

SoCal Code Camp Jan 24 and Jan 25 -- also Silverlight 2.0 HOLs on Jan 22

llangit — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:34:53 GMT

A busy event week in Socal. SoCalCodeCamp runs this Sat/Sun - have you picked your sessions to attend yet?

Here's where I'll be in case you want to say 'hi' or you can just reach me via Twitter, Facebook, email or text. I like to say, if you can't find me, then you aren't looking ;)

8:45 am UH246 - Geoffrey Emery on Virtual Earth and Live Services

10:00 am UH339 - Woody Pewitt on Windows Azure

11:15 am H123 - Paul Sheriff on LINQ to XML

1:15 pm H110 - Brian Loesgen on Oslo

2:30 pm UH335 - Me (speaking) on What's new in SSAS 2008

3:45 pm MH121 - Chuck Esterbrook on Cobra Language (he wrote it!)

5:01 pm The Cantina Lounge at 2736 Nutwood Ave in Fullerton, CA 92831 for geekDinner (remember to register for this AT CodeCamp)

SoCal Code Camp (Schedule)

Other events...

On Thursday, Jan 22 - I'll be at QuickStart, Irvine for the second iteration of the highly successful MSDN Unleashed, Silverlight 2.0 proctored Hands on Labs. If you plan on attending, make sure to register. If registration is full, then register for the Feb 5 (third overflow!) session at QuickStart in Irvine.

New Azure User Group On line

llangit — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 20:59:05 GMT

Is growing fast! Join the national group and then join the Local Group(s) that you are interested in. You'll get general info, links, videos, discussions and notification of events.

Groups - Azure User Group

Windows Azure Service Token Acquisition Explained

llangit — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 09:03:28 GMT

As I journey into Windows cloud-land (otherwise known as Azure and Azure Services), I am finding the path to getting starting to be a bit tricky. I have run into several gotchas as I worked through the process of requesting and using the various token types that are needed. To that end, I decided to talk about what I've learned here.

First - all token types will at some point require you to log in with a Windows Live ID. For testing purposes you may want to create a new, unique Windows Live ID. Alternatively, you may wish to use an existing Live ID. In either case, to prepare whichever Live ID you choose to use, you'll want to visit the Microsoft Billing site at http://billing.microsoft.com and then to fill in any blank or 'TBD' fields for EACH account associated with the Live ID that will use. I had, for example, three account types associated with the Windows Live ID I choose to use (regular, Geneva [internal] beta, and XBox). The immediate reason for this is that some token types require a credit card for authorization (there are no fees during the beta period) and that credit card authorization will fail if there is missing information for any of the accounts at the billing site.

Second - you'll want to take a look at the Azure stack to decide which parts you wish to work with. Each of these three main types has a different token acquisition and usage method currently. Here are your choices:

1) Core Azure Services - there are two service types - Azure Storage (table, blob, or queue) or Azure Hosting (currently for .NET apps only) This is represented by the large rectangle at the bottom of the graphic above.

2) Live Services - there are two service types - Live Framework CTP or Live Services Existing APIs

3) Premium Azure Services - there are two offerings - either all (includes .NET Services, SQL Services and Workflow) or SQL Services only

To get started, you'll want to navigate to the core Azure Services Platform website registration page (shown in the screenshot below).

Third - set up your development environment. You must have VS2008, and I would recommend downloading every SDK shown on the main Azure Services Platform website section (shown in the screenshot above). That is the Windows Azure SDK, Windows Azure Tools for VS (2008), etc...

Fourth - request your first token. I am going to first describe the process for requesting a Core Azure Services token. Go to the main Microsoft Azure Service Platform website and then sign in with the Live ID that you have chosen to use. You'll note that when you click 'Sign In' you will see the three types of projects described above, i.e. Windows Azure, Microsoft .NET & Microsoft SQL Data Services or Live Services. If you click on 'Windows Azure' or 'Live Services' you'll be prompted for a Windows Live ID. If you click on 'Microsoft .NET & Microsoft SQL Data Services' you'll be prompted to enter a token (we'll come back to this option later). Click on Windows Azure and then sign in with your Live ID.

You will be redirected to another site Microsoft Connect. Here you sign up and wait to receive an email response which contains a token that must redeem at which ever developer web site is associated with the service type that you've requested. The amount of time it takes to receive a response (and a token) will vary due to the capacity for the beta and the status of your invite. After you get your response email (sent to the email address associated with the Windows Live ID you used to sign in), then...

Fifth - redeem your token. For core Azure Services, you go to the Azure Services Platform registration website (shown in the previous screenshot), sign in and then click on 'Windows Azure', you will then be re-directed to the Azure Developer Portal (shown below). There you click on the 'Account' tab and then on the 'Manage my Tokens' link. Then you copy and paste the token value you received in email into the text box and then click on the 'Claim Token' button. The portal will generate a Token ID and display it on the 'Tokens' page. This generated value (tokenID) is NOT needed when your coded solutions, rather it is used for account validation in general. Having a valid tokenID will enable you create an Azure Services Project, which you have to do BEFORE you write any code for your particular solution.

Azure Services tokens have two types of functionality - either core Azure Services (in that either hosting or data storage or both) -OR- Live Services. Live Services Tokens also have two flavors (either Public APIs or Live Framework CTP). For this first example, I'll assume you've requested a token for the former. That being said, you should see the 'Bucket' column on the Tokens page with the value 'Compute Only'.

Sixth - create a project. After the token redemption process is complete, you should be able to create a new project in Azure Services Developer Portal website (shown above) by clicking on the 'New Project' Link. Your choices are either Windows Azure (core) or Azure Services Platform (currently the two types of Live Services). You'll note in the screen below that I have already used all the allotment from my tokens (created project names are listed down the left side, 'LynnDemo', etc...) because the Windows Azure project type is greyed out and says '0 project(s) remaining.' Remember that tokens are issued EITHER for core or live, so if you expected your token to allow you to create core projects and this option is greyed out, then you probably got a token that is only valid to create live projects.

After you've successfully created a project, then you'll want to click on the project name (listed on the left side of the main Azure Services Developer Portal) to see details which you will need when you write code to work with that project. For example, for an Azure storage project, the details will include the blob, queue and table storage endpoint URIs as well as the primary and secondary access key values. You normally include these values in your config file. Fortunately, before you work directly with cloud storage or hosting, azure hosted services and storage have a the ability to test locally first. This is a fantastic feature, for more about how it works, read this blog post.

You can see in the screenshot below that I've been busy working with Azure Services projects. In Red, LynnDemo and LynnStorage are projects of type Azure Storage Account. In Blue, LynnHostedDemo is a project of type Azure Hosted Services. In Green, LynnLiveFramework, LynnLiveMesh and LynnLiveServices are projects of type Azure Services Platform (or Live Services).

Seventh - now you may want to work with SQL Data Services. The process for requesting a token is a bit different for this. From the main Azure Service portal site sign in page, click on the Microsoft .NET & Microsoft SQL Data Services link. This will open a new site, shown below. You'll note that you need to enter an invitation code in the text box. As with core Azure services tokens, you request a code (or token) via the Microsoft Connect site (linked on the page).

After you receive two emails from Connect with the invite code and another one with more information, then return to this page and enter the invitation code that was emailed to you here. Then click on the 'Sign Up' link. You'll be take to a validation page where you must enter valid credit card information for authorization. As I mentioned earlier, you won't be charged during the beta period. One point to be aware of is that all fields must match exactly and ARE CASE SENSITIVE. If you are getting rejected by the validation page and you don't know why, then call your credit card company and get their authorization number and send that number in an email back to the email address where you got the invitation code and you will receive further instructions on how to resolve the issue.

After you successfully authenticate, then you will create a solution name and password. Passwords must be 10 characters. The solution name is the username for your SQL Services account. You will also need to provision an authority (which represents a geo-location) to work with SQL Services. Be aware that at this time Authority string values must be all lower-case character values only. For testing purposes you can generate a Authority value using a web-based utility that community .NET developer Mike Amundsen wrote. Use this only for testing as the utility requires you to enter your username and password in clear text into his website. When you are developing with SQL Data Services, be aware there is no local testing mechanism at this time. If you receive 'authority not found' errors in test clients, then your URI construction is invalid, if you receive 'container not found' errors, remember that must first CREATE the container in the cloud (this differs from Azure table storage).

You may also wish to download the SDS SDK (which includes the SDS Explorer [shown in the screenshot below] and the SDS tool) as well as the Azure Services Training Kit. The latter includes hands on labs, whitepapers and more.

Happy coding!

Learn about Windows Azure Services for FREE

llangit — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:12:37 GMT

We've got it all -- live webcasts, live presentations, proctored hand on labs, architecture councils, and more...However you'd like to learn, we've got it. Here's a list for January 2009.

Live, interactive Webcasts

MSDN Webcast: geekSpeak: REST and the Windows Azure Services Platform with Adnan Masood - Wed, Jan 7 from 12 to 1pm live PST

MSDN Webcast: geekSpeak: SQL Data Services with James Johnson - Wed, Jan 14 from 12pm to 1pm live PST

MSDN Webcast: geekSpeak: Windows Azure Storage Services with John Croft - Wed, Jan 21 from 12pm to 1pm live PST

Proctored Hands On Labs

MSDN Unleashed - a new event, just you, configured machines and labs (written by the Silverlight product team) Join us next week Thursday, Jan 15 from 6pm to 9pm at Quick Start in Irvine- register

Architecture and Developer deep dive - live presentations

XAML fest - 2 days of great content at Microsoft Irvine on Wednesday, Jan 14 and Jan 15 from 9am to 5pm, to register send email to xamlfest-socal@live.com.

Partner content - live presentations, Feb 3 from 1pm to 4:30 pm at Microsoft Irvine - register here

New Cloud Developer User Groups

Thurs, Jan 8 from 6pm to 9pm at Microsoft San Diego, sponsored by Neudesic - register

Tues, Jan 20 from 6pm to 9pm at Microsoft Irvine, sponsored by Neudesic - (registration link to be provided shortly)

Don't like people?

Read these great Whitepapers and also this blog post.

Watch these Videos or these Channel 9 talks or this geekSpeak with Aaron Skonnard.

Get the Training Kit.