Developing Applications for the Cloud on the Microsoft Windows Azure Platform

Audience

This is for any architect, developer, or information technology (IT) professional who designs, builds, or operates applications and services that run on or interact with the cloud. Although applications do not need to be based on the Microsoft Windows operating system to work in Windows Azure, this workshop is for people who work with Windows-based systems.

Prerequisites

Delegates should be familiar with the Microsoft .NET Framework, Microsoft Visual Studio development system, ASP.NET MVC, and Microsoft Visual C# development tool. Attending the preceding course in this series ‘Moving Applications to the Cloud on the Microsoft Windows Azure Platform’ is required.

Duration

3 days. Hands on.

Course Objectives

This course is the second in a planned series about Windows Azure technology platform. It demonstrates how you can create from scratch a multi-tenant, Software as a Service (SaaS) application to run in the cloud by using the latest versions of the Windows Azure tools and the latest features of the Windows Azure platform.

Course Content

The Tailspin Scenario
This module introduces you to the Tailspin company and the Surveys application. It provides an architectural overview of the Surveys application and the topics provide more information about how Tailspin designed and implemented the Surveys application for the cloud. Having completed this module you will understand Tailspin's business model, its strategy for adopting the cloud platform, and some of its concerns.

Hosting a Multi-Tenant Application on Windows Azure
Discusses some of the issues that surround architecting and building multi-tenant applications to run on Windows Azure. It describes the benefits of a multi-tenant architecture and the trade-offs that you must consider. This module provides a conceptual framework that helps you understand some of the topics discussed in more detail in the subsequent chapters.

Accessing the Surveys Application
Describes some of the challenges that the developers at Tailspin faced when they designed and implemented some of the customer-facing components of the application. Topics include the choice of URLs for accessing the surveys application, security, hosting the application in multiple geographic locations, and using the Content Delivery Network to cache content.

Building a Scalable, Multi-Tenant Application for Windows Azure
This module examines how Tailspin ensured the scalability of the multi-tenant Surveys application. It describes how the application is partitioned, how the application uses worker roles, and how the application supports on-boarding, customization, and billing for customers.

Working with Data in the Surveys Application
The module explains how the application uses data. It begins by describing how the Surveys application stores data in both Windows Azure tables and blobs, and how the developers at Tailspin designed their storage classes to be testable. The chapter also describes how Tailspin solved some specific problems related to data, including paging through data, and implementing session state. Finally, this module describes the role that SQL Azure technology platform plays in the Surveys application.

Updating a Windows Azure Service
Describes the options for updating a Windows Azure application and how you can update an application with no interruption in service.

Debugging and Troubleshooting Windows Azure Applications
Describes some of the techniques specific to Windows Azure applications that will help you to detect and resolve issues when building, deploying, and running Windows Azure applications. It includes descriptions of how to use Windows Azure Diagnostics and how to use Microsoft IntelliTrace with applications deployed to Windows Azure.