Windows Azure Resources

Here is a list of Windows Azure resources I come across helpful in getting started on Microsoft cloud computing platform:

• Bridging the Gap from On-Premises to the Cloud (Yousef Khalidi) - Watch this session to learn how Microsoft views the future of cloud computing, how it is starting to deliver this vision in the Windows Azure platform and how applications can be written to preserve much of the investment in code, programming models and tools, yet adapt to the scale-out, distributed, and virtualized environment of the cloud.
• Introduction to Building Applications with Windows Azure (David Lemphers) - If you want to understand the developer perspective on Windows Azure, you should watch this replay of David's talk.  You'll learn the high-level concepts you need as well as see hands-on demos, all from someone with a cool Australian accent.
• Windows Azure Present and Future (Manuvir Das) - Manuvir gave an overview of the new features and a peek at what's coming next year.  If you watch only one Windows Azure talk from PDC 2009, this is the one to see.
• Tips and Tricks for Using Visual Studio 2010 to Build Applications that Run on Windows Azure (Jim Nakashima) -This session focused on demos to show attendees the best way to use Visual Studio 2010 to develop Windows Azure applications. Watch this replay to learn tips, tricks and solutions to common problems when creating or moving an existing application to run on Windows Azure and understand how Visual Studio 2010 supports all parts of the development cycle.
• The Business of Windows Azure: What You Should Know About Windows Azure Platform Pricing and SLAs (Dianne O'Brien) - If you're interested in the business side of the platform, or if you're a developer who wants to understand how pricing should influence your application design, this talk is for you.  Unlike the talks below, this covers the full Windows Azure platform (including SQL Azure and .NET Services too).
• Developing Advanced Applications with Windows Azure (Steve Marx) - Steve Marx shared some advanced techniques using the new features we announced at PDC.  This was one of those build-up-an-app-throughout-the-session talks and worth a look.
• Building Java Applications with Windows Azure (Steve Marx) - Steve dusted off his Java and Eclipse skills and wrote some Java code to run in the cloud, including using the new Java storage client library in this very interesting session.
• Patterns for Building Scalable and Reliable Applications with Windows Azure (Brad Calder) - Brad talked about some of the more complex topics in building scalable apps.  The content in this session is deep, but really important if you're serious about designing for scale on Windows Azure.
• Windows Azure Blob and Drive Deep Dive (Brad Calder)  - Brad runs the storage team and knows every detail of the design and implementation.  If for no other reason than that, you should watch his session if you care about storage. 
• Windows Azure Tables and Queues Deep Dive (Jai Haridas) - Jai, who works on the storage team, gave a good overview of the features and talked about common pitfalls and tips for getting the most out of the storage service.
• Windows Azure Monitoring, Logging, and Management APIs (Matthew Kerner) - Matt works on the Fabric team, and he shared the new diagnostic APIs and what they can do.
• Automating the Application Lifecycle with Windows Azure (Sriram Krishnan)  - Sriram covered the new Service Management API and upgrade options, including how to automate things like deploying new bits to the cloud.
• Developing PHP and MySQL Applications with Windows Azure (Tushar Shanbhag and Mohit Srivastava) - Tushar and Mohit showed cool things like running MediaWiki using PHP, MySQL, and memcached in Windows Azure. A must-see for people interested in these technologies.

The Windows Azure Platform training kit can be downloaded from here: https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=413E88F8-5966-4A83-B309-53B7B77EDF78&displaylang=en.  This training kit contains a list of labs that cover majority of the Windows Azure Platform technical capabilities.

- Hanu

Comments

• Anonymous
  February 07, 2010
  Thanks a lot for the links to these very helpful videos!