Book Image

Microsoft Windows Azure Development Cookbook

By : Neil Mackenzie
Book Image

Microsoft Windows Azure Development Cookbook

By: Neil Mackenzie

Overview of this book

The Windows Azure platform is Microsoft's Platform-as-a-Service environment for hosting services and data in the cloud. It provides developers with on-demand computing, storage, and service connectivity capabilities that facilitate the hosting of highly scalable services in Windows Azure datacenters across the globe. This practical cookbook will show you advanced development techniques for building highly scalable cloud-based services using the Windows Azure platform. It contains over 80 practical, task-based, and immediately usable recipes covering a wide range of advanced development techniques for building highly scalable services to solve particular problems/scenarios when developing these services on the Windows Azure platform. Packed with reusable, real-world recipes, the book starts by explaining the various access control mechanisms used in the Windows Azure platform. Next you will see the advanced features of Windows Azure Blob storage, Windows Azure Table storage, and Windows Azure Queues. The book then dives deep into topics such as developing Windows Azure hosted services, using Windows Azure Diagnostics, managing hosted services with the Service Management API, using SQL Azure and the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus. You will see how to use several of the latest features such as VM roles, Windows Azure Connect, startup tasks, and the Windows Azure AppFabric Caching Service.

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Microsoft Windows Azure Development Cookbook
Neil Mackenzie
Aug, 2011 | 392 pages
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Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Microsoft Windows Azure Development Cookbook
Microsoft Windows Azure Development Cookbook
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Controlling Access in the Windows Azure Platform
Controlling Access in the Windows Azure Platform
Introduction
Managing Windows Azure Storage Service access keys
Connecting to the Windows Azure Storage Service
Using SetConfigurationSettingPublisher()
Connecting to the storage emulator
Managing access control for containers and blobs
Creating a Shared Access Signature for a container or blob
Using a container-level access policy
Authenticating against the Windows Azure Service Management REST API
Authenticating with the Windows Azure AppFabric Caching Service
2
Handling Blobs in Windows Azure
Handling Blobs in Windows Azure
Introduction
Setting properties and metadata for a blob
Using blob directories
Creating and using a blob snapshot
Creating and using the root container for blobs
Uploading blocks to a block blob
Uploading a VHD into a page blob
Downloading a blob asynchronously
Optimizing blob uploads and downloads
Using retry policies with blob operations
Copying a blob with the Windows Azure Storage Service REST API
Leasing a blob using the Protocol classes in the Windows Azure Storage Client Library
Using the Windows Azure Content-Delivery Network (CDN)
3
Going NoSQL with Windows Azure Tables
Going NoSQL with Windows Azure Tables
Introduction
Creating a table
Creating a data model and context for an entity
Using entity group transactions
Diagnosing problems when using the Table service
Handling concurrency with the Table service
Choosing a PartitionKey and RowKey for a table
Using continuation tokens and server-side paging
Performing asynchronous queries
Performing queries in parallel
Handling the WritingEntity and ReadingEntity events
4
Disconnecting with Windows Azure Queues
Disconnecting with Windows Azure Queues
Introduction
Managing Windows Azure queues
Adding messages to a queue
Retrieving messages from a queue
Storing large amounts of data for a message
Implementing a backoff when polling a queue
Identifying and handling poison messages
5
Developing Hosted Services for Windows Azure
Developing Hosted Services for Windows Azure
Introduction
Choosing the service model for a hosted service
Choosing which Windows Azure storage type to use
Configuring the service model for a hosted service
Hosting multiple websites in a web role
Providing a custom domain name for a hosted service
Implementing HTTPS in a web role
Sharing session state with the Windows Azure AppFabric Caching Service
Using local storage in an instance
Using startup tasks in a Windows Azure Role
Managing upgrades and changes to a hosted service
Handling changes to the configuration and topology of a hosted service
Using an Azure Drive in a hosted service
Using the Azure Drive simulation in thedevelopment environment
Using a VM Role
Using Windows Azure Connect
Consuming data from the Windows Azure MarketPlace DataMarket
Using Web Deploy with Windows Azure
6
Digging into Windows Azure Diagnostics
Digging into Windows Azure Diagnostics
Introduction
Initializing the configuration of Windows Azure Diagnostics
Using a configuration file with Windows Azure Diagnostics
Using the Windows Azure Diagnostics trace listener
Performing an on-demand transfer
Implementing custom logging
Accessing data persisted to Windows Azure Storage
Using the Windows Azure Platform PowerShell cmdlets to configure Windows Azure Diagnostics
Using IntelliTrace to diagnose problems with a hosted service
7
Managing Hosted Services with the Service Management API
Managing Hosted Services with the Service Management API
Introduction
Creating a Windows Azure hosted service
Deploying an application into a hosted service
Upgrading an application deployed to a hosted service
Retrieving the properties of a hosted service
Autoscaling with the Windows Azure Service Management REST API
Using the Windows Azure Platform PowerShell cmdlets
8
Using SQL Azure
Using SQL Azure
Introduction
Provisioning a SQL Azure Server
Creating a SQL Azure database
Migrating a database to SQL Azure
Measuring SQL Azure usage
Connecting to SQL Azure with ADO.NET
Handling connection failures to SQL Azure
Scaling out SQL Azure into the Windows Azure Blob Service
9
Looking at the Windows Azure AppFabric
Looking at the Windows Azure AppFabric
Introduction
Creating a namespace for the Windows Azure AppFabric
Using the Service Bus as a relay service
Using Service Bus events
Using a Service Bus message buffer
Using the Windows Azure AppFabric Caching service
Index
Index

Managing upgrades and changes to a hosted service

Windows Azure instances and the Guest OS they reside in have to be upgraded occasionally. The hosted service may need a new software deployment or a configuration change. The Guest OS may need a patch or an upgrade to a new version. To ensure that a hosted service can remain online 24*7, Windows Azure provides an upgrade capability that allows upgrades to be performed without stopping the hosted service completely, as long as each role in the service has two or more instances.

Windows Azure supports two types of upgrade: in-place upgrade and Virtual IP (VIP) swap. An in-place upgrade applies changes to the configuration and code of existing virtual machines (VM) hosting instances of the hosted service. A VIP swap modifies the load-balancer configuration, so that the VIP address of the production deployment is pointed at the instances currently in the staging slot and the VIP address of the staging deployment is pointed at the instances currently...

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