Buck Woody : Link Lists, Learning, Cloud

The Windows Azure Software Development Kit (SDK) and the Windows Azure Training Kit (WATK)

BuckWoody — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:40:40 GMT

Windows Azure is a platform that allows you to write software, run software, or use software that we've already written. We provide lots of resources to help you do that - many can be found right here in this blog series. There are two primary resources you can use, and it's important to understand what they are and what they do.

The Windows Azure Software Development Kit (SDK)

Actually, this isn't one resource. We have SDK's for multiple development environments, such as Visual Studio and also Eclipse, along with SDK's for iOS, Android and other environments. Windows Azure is a "back end", so almost any technology or front end system can use it to solve a problem.

The SDK's are primarily for development. In the case of Visual Studio, you'll get a runtime environment for Windows Azure which allows you to develop, test and even run code all locally - you do not have to be connected to Windows Azure at all, until you're ready to deploy.

You'll also get a few samples and codeblocks, along with all of the libraries you need to code with Windows Azure in .NET, PHP, Ruby, Java and more.

The SDK is updated frequently, so check this location to find the latest for your environment and language - just click the bar that corresponds to what you want:

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/downloads/

The Windows Azure Training Kit (WATK)

Whether you're writing code, using Windows Azure Virtual Machines (VM's) or working with Hadoop, you can use the WATK to get examples, code, PowerShell scripts, PowerPoint decks, training videos and much more. This should be your second download after the SDK. This is all of the training you need to get started, and even beyond. The WATK is updated frequently - and you can find the latest one here:

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/other-resources/training-kit/

There are many other resources - again, check the http://windowsazure.com site, the community newsletter (which introduces the latest features), and my blog for more.

Windows Azure End to End Examples

BuckWoody — Tue, 29 May 2012 13:45:59 GMT

I’m fascinated by the way people learn. I’m told there are several methods people use to understand new information, from reading to watching, from experiencing to exploring.

Personally, I use multiple methods of learning when I encounter a new topic, usually starting with reading a bit about the concepts. I quickly want to put those into practice, however, especially in the technical realm. I immediately look for examples where I can start trying out the concepts. But I often want a “real” example – not just something that represents the concept, but something that is real-world, showing some feature I could actually use.

And it’s no different with the Windows Azure platform – I like finding things I can do now, and actually use. So when I started learning Windows Azure, I of course began with the Windows Azure Training Kit – which has lots of examples and labs, presentations and so on. But from there, I wanted more examples I could learn from, and eventually teach others with. I was asked if I would write a few of those up, so here are the ones I use.

CodePlex

CodePlex is Microsoft’s version of an “Open Source” repository. Anyone can start a project, add code, documentation and more to it and make it available to the world, free of charge, using various licenses as they wish. Microsoft also uses this location for most of the examples we publish, and sample databases for SQL Server.

If you search in CodePlex for “Azure”, you’ll come back with a list of projects that folks have posted, including those of us at Microsoft. The source code and documentation are there, so you can learn using actual examples of code that will do what you need. There’s everything from a simple table query to a full project that is sort of a “Corporate Dropbox” that uses Windows Azure Storage.

The advantage is that this code is immediately usable. It’s searchable, and you can often find a complete solution to meet your needs. The disadvantage is that the code is pretty specific – it may not cover a huge project like you’re looking for. Also, depending on the author(s), you might not find the documentation level you want.

Link: http://azureexamples.codeplex.com/site/search?query=Azure&ac=8

Tailspin

Microsoft Patterns and Practices is a group here that does an amazing job at sharing standard ways of doing IT – from operations to coding. If you’re not familiar with this resource, make sure you read up on it. Long before I joined Microsoft I used their work in my daily job – saved a ton of time. It has resources not only for Windows Azure but other Microsoft software as well.

The Patterns and Practices group also publishes full books – you can buy these, but many are also online for free. There’s an end-to-end example for Windows Azure using a company called “Tailspin”, and the work covers not only the code but the design of the full solution. If you really want to understand the thought that goes into a Platform-as-a-Service solution, this is an excellent resource.

The advantages are that this is a book, it’s complete, and it includes a discussion of design decisions. The disadvantage is that it’s a little over a year old – and in “Cloud” years that’s a lot. So many things have changed, improved, and have been added that you need to treat this as a resource, but not the only one. Still, highly recommended.

Link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff728592.aspx

Azure Stock Trader

Sometimes you need a mix of a CodePlex-style application, and a little more detail on how it was put together. And it would be great if you could actually play with the completed application, to see how it really functions on the actual platform.

That’s the Azure Stock Trader application. There’s a place where you can read about the application, and then it’s been published to Windows Azure – the production platform – and you can use it, explore, and see how it performs.

I use this application all the time to demonstrate Windows Azure, or a particular part of Windows Azure.

The advantage is that this is an end-to-end application, and online as well. The disadvantage is that it takes a bit of self-learning to work through.

Links: Learn it: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/bb499684 Use it: https://azurestocktrader.cloudapp.net/

Windows Azure Learning Plan - Storage

BuckWoody — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:24:00 GMT

This is one in a series of posts on a Windows Azure Learning Plan. You can find the main post here. This one deals with Storage for Windows Azure.

Overview	Overview and general information about Windows Azure Storage - what it is, how it works, and where you can learn more.
General Overview Whitepaper (registration of a screen name, but free)	http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/understanding-data-storage-offerings
Official Microsoft Site on Azure Storage	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee924681.aspx
Scalability Targets for Azure Storage	http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazurestorage/archive/2010/05/10/windows-azure-storage-abstractions-and-their-scalability-targets.aspx
Understanding Azure Storage by using the API	http://blogs.msdn.com/b/paolos/archive/2011/02/21/yet-another-application-to-handle-windows-azure-storage-services.aspx
Blobs	Blob Storage is a binary-level "container" that can hold one or more streams of data.
Understanding Block Blobs and Page Blobs	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee691964.aspx
Blob Service Concepts	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd179376.aspx
Tables	Tables are key-value-pair type storage, and can be in the terabyte range of size.
Understanding the Table Storage Data Model	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd179338.aspx
Table Service Concepts	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd179463.aspx
Querying Tables and Entities	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd894031.aspx
Queues	Queues are actually more table storage - but specifically designed to allow Web and Worker Roles to communicate.
Queue Service Concepts	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd179353.aspx
Queue Service API	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd179363.aspx
Azure Drive	An Azure Drive isn't something you mount over the web (although that's possible to do with a little code) - it's a "local" NTFS drive for Windows Azure Applications.
Windows Azure Drives white paper	http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9710117
Content Delivery Network	An "Edge" network of storage that buffers after the first use by a client.
General Overview	http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2009/11/05/introducing-the-windows-azure-content-delivery-network.aspx
Delivering High-Bandwidth Content with the Windows Azure CDN	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee795176.aspx
Tools and Utilities	Free and not-free tools to work with Azure Storage.
Storage SDK	http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.windowsazure.storageclient.aspx
Benchmarks and Throughput tests	http://azurescope.cloudapp.net/BenchmarkTestCases/
Mount an Azure Drive as an NTFS Drive	http://azurescope.cloudapp.net/CodeSamples/cs/792ce345-256b-4230-a62f-903f79c63a67/
Command-line and other tools for working with Azure Storage	http://tinyurl.com/2acx6d8 and http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazurestorage/archive/2010/04/17/windows-azure-storage-explorers.aspx