Search results matching tags 'cloud computing', 'Cloud', and 'How I work'

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/

Team Foundation Server (TFS) in the Cloud - My Experience So Far

BuckWoody — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:45:13 GMT

I recently joined a software development project that involves not only myself and other internal Microsoft employees, but a partner and a customer as well. We are building a hybrid solution that uses assets on premises as well as Windows Azure for processing. When we put the team together we picked a methodology (Agile) for the project (we use multiple methodologies at Microsoft - whatever the project needs) and then we started talking about Source Control.

We’re all comfortable with various tools for check-in-check-out, branching, and so on. We have all used GIT, SVN, and TFS. Some of us have even used Source Safe in past, but that’s another post. Each company has a full set of Source Control systems in place. But using each other’s systems requires logins, firewalls and the like - so we decided to use the TFS Service Preview to run the entire project from “the cloud”. Here are my experiences with that.

The process was really simple. In fact, we talked about using the cloud TFS in the first SCRUM, and the team was working from the Work Items list that afternoon. The original account login provides a web interface to allow people to join the team. Each of us happened to have a Live.Com address, so we just invited those addresses to join and they got a link, like this:

projectname.tfspreview.com

I’m using Visual Studio, and it’s a requirement for TFS preview to have SP1 installed, and this patch: KB2581206

From there, I opened Visual Studio and navigated from the main menu to Team and then Connect to Team Foundation Server. I’m given this menu:

Selecting port 443 and HTTPS (for security) and then ensuring the lower link has the “tfs” appended as the location, I opened the project.

(This VSTS screenshot is of a project I did in my University of Washington class I teach - I never show client code or names in a blog post)

From there it’s a normal set of operations. Right now the preview doesn’t have some things I’d really like, such as an automated build or some of the testing tools, but you can read this blog entry to learn more about the entire sign-up process, and what the team has planned.

Each day I log in to the project, and I’m given this new sign-in option:

I click the option, and I open the environment, hit My Work Items query, and get to work. All in all, a seamless - although basic - experience. The speed at which we could set up and work on a project was really sweet. It’s remarkable how un-remarkable this is - I just do my work each day, everything is running and backed up in the cloud. I think that’s the point.

Cloud Computing In Action: How I work with Live Mesh, SkyDrive, and Office Live Workspace

BuckWoody — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:27:44 GMT

Recently I had an tweetversation with a couple of friends on some confusion around two of our products: SkyDrive and Live Mesh. Like most of our software, there’s no single way to do things. That can be a strength or it can cause that confusion. They asked if I would blog how I work with these two products, and what advantages there are to this way of working.

Before I start - this is specific to these two Microsoft products. If you’re a fanboi of another product, that’s great. Awesome. Go for it. You don’t have to use these. There’s no law about it or anything. It’s all good. I use the products you see below because I evaluated lots of them, and these work the best for me - not because I work at Microsoft. But do what makes you happy.

Let’s start with what each of these products do. Live Mesh synchronizes files to various locations. You can create a file on one PC, save it, and then when you fire up another PC that file will be copied from the original location. It’s a mirror of the file, and it exists in both places. You can change the file on the second location, and it will be copied back to the other system, stepping right on top of it.

SkyDrive is a storage system. You can store lots of data in there - larger than most of the other free offerings.

Office Live Workspaces allows you to integrate SkyDrive into your local copy of Microsoft Office, so that you can create, save and edit a document and it will be stored in SkyDrive, and not only that, it will keep a local, synced copy so that you can work offline. But it also has a web-based subset of Microsoft Office. You can create, edit and work with Microsoft Office documents with no software installed at all. From Linux, Mac, a cell phone, whatever has a browser. In fact, we’ve released one of my favorite products, OneNote, in iPhone and iPad flavors, which also buffer down the file as if you had a PC and Microsoft Office.

I rely on these each of these products every day. Here’s how I use them.

I use Live Mesh to copy my entire “Data” directory - files, music, everything - from my home “server” to my work and other systems. Since SkyDrive has a limit, I only send certain files to SkyDrive using Mesh. Just the ones I need access to from non Microsoft-OS devices. Of course, this means I have to leave my home server turned on - which I do anyway since it’s my media server, web server, TV, etc. But everything else I sync to about four computers running Windows.

For my OneNote files - quickly becoming the center of my universe - and anything else I want to access from anywhere, all the time, I use SkyDrive and Live Office. Here’s how that works.

If it’s an MP3, Visual Studio Code, a training video or whatever my customer needs, I save it in SkyDrive, mark it public, and send them the link. Done. Any device that can render these can access the file over the web. Since I play in a group on Sunday, I even put my music there (I use MuseScore) and then I can pop the music up on my netbook right at the pulpit and leave the paper at home.

For OneNote or other Microsoft Office documents, I create the document first in Office Live. Once the file is open, and before I even type in it, I click the button marked “Open in OneNote” (or Word, or Excel, or whatever) and from them on I have that file linked in the local system, and a shadow copy for working offline. I can also work with that document from the web using my Linux or Apple OS’s if needed. I recently attended a very Microsoft-hostile environment, so everything from the presentation to the code review for Windows Azure I did from Live Office and my SkyDrive, all from my Linux Laptop.

As I’ve always said - use what works. This arrangement gives me the ultimate flexibility. I have my data from Live Mesh synchronized on multiple systems. More than once I’ve deleted something I needed, or changed something. I simply boot up the other device without being connected to the web, copy the old version off, and then let it connect and sync. I also back up my home server once a week to a set of local drives, so I have offsite and onsite backups. I can work from anywhere I have a browser, or someone that will let me borrow a device. I have all my presentations ready to present from any system, even if mine breaks.

Hopefully this helps - and hopefully it inspires you to write a blog entry on how you use your favorite cloud products. There are always multiple ways to do things, and I love to learn.

Windows Azure Emulators On Your Desktop

BuckWoody — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:39:00 GMT

Many people feel they have to set up a full Azure subscription online to try out and develop on Windows Azure. But you don’t have to do that right away. In fact, you can download the Windows Azure Compute Emulator – a “cloud development environment” – right on your desktop. No, it’s not for production use, and no, you won’t have other people using your system as a cloud provider, and yes, there are some differences with Production Windows Azure, but you’ll be able code, run, test, diagnose, watch, change and configure code without having any connection to the Internet at all. The best thing about this approach is that when you are ready to deploy the code you’ve been testing, a few clicks deploys it to your subscription when you make one.

So what deep-magic does it take to run such a thing right on your laptop or even a Virtual PC? Well, it’s actually not all that difficult. You simply download and install the Windows Azure SDK (you can even get a free version of Visual Studio for it to run on – you’re welcome) from here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsazure/cc974146.aspx

This SDK will also install the Windows Azure Compute Emulator and the Windows Azure Storage Emulator – and then you’re all set. Right-click the icon for Visual Studio and select “Run as Administrator”:

Now open a new “Cloud” type of project:

Add your Web and Worker Roles that you want to code:

And when you’re done with your design, press F5 to start the desktop version of Azure:

Want to learn more about what’s happening underneath? Right-click the tray icon with the Azure logo, and select the two emulators to see what they are doing:

In the configuration files, you’ll see a “Use Development Storage” setting. You can call the BLOB, Table or Queue storage and it will all run on your desktop. When you’re ready to deploy everything to Windows Azure, you simply change the configuration settings and add the storage keys and so on that you need.

Want to learn more about all this?

Overview of the Windows Azure Compute Emulator: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg432968.aspx

Overview of the Windows Azure Storage Emulator: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg432983.aspx

January 2011 Training Kit: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=413E88F8-5966-4A83-B309-53B7B77EDF78&displaylang=en