UK Windows Azure Dev Camps

Who is this camp for?

You’ve probably heard of Windows Azure but not done anything with it. Maybe you’ve seen a few demos at an event or an online video. Maybe you’ve even got as far as trying the introductory lab in the freely downloadable training kit. But now you are at the stage of wanting to get on-ramp and kick-start your learning of this technology: to get some hands-on experience of what it’s like to create Windows Azure applications.

If you just want to get over that initial hump of learning a new technology in the most efficient way, this free one-day, structured-learning, hands-on camp is for you.

 

 

Description

You’ll spend a lot of time in Visual Studio following lab guides, but there will be experienced Azure people in the room to answer your questions. There will be a series of introductory presentation/demo sessions followed by structured lab-time that solidifies your theoretical knowledge by getting you to actually code, build and deploy live Windows Azure services in a planned, organised and controlled way.

You need to bring your own wireless-enabled laptop with Windows, Visual Studio and a few other bits of software already installed (setup instructions included). During the course of the day you’ll gradually configure the laptop with a few other pieces of software: that way, when you walk away from the camp, you can simply continue with the work you’ve already started on a laptop which will be perfectly setup for developing on Windows Azure.

Agenda

Time	Session	Description
09:00 – 09:30	Registration and Coffee
09:30 – 10:00	Windows Azure Architecture and Services	A description of the services available such as Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastrucutre-as-a-Service (IaaS), the arrangement of the worldwide data-centres, the architecture of the software running within them and an overview of the major compute, storage and networking options.
10:00 – 10:20	FlashLab – Windows Azure WebSites or Windows Azure Mobile Services	The aim of this lab is to get you on to Visual Studio within a short time of starting the day. Choose either Windows Azure Websites or Windows Azure Mobile Services (if you have Windows 8).
10:20 – 11:00	Windows Azure Architecture and Services (cont).	In this session we start to delve deeper in to the PaaS features which interest the developer plus look at how Visual Studio and Windows Azure are linked up to give the development experience. You’ll learn nmore about Windows Azure Mobile Services and Windows Azure Websites and then we dive deeper in to Worker Roles and Web Roles and Windows Azure Storage. This is in preparation for the next lab.
11:00 – 11:15	Coffee Break
11:15 – 12:15	Lab: Web, Worker and Storage	You start to build an application that demonstrates how Windows Azure works. You will build a web front-end, store messages, use a queue to communicate messages to a back-end that you will build. You will scale the front and back ends to learn how load balancing works. You’ll use services built-in to Visual Studio to emulate the Windows Azure environment and you’ll also deploy your application to Windows Azure as a live, running, Internet-connected application.
12:15 – 13:00	Lunch
13:00 – 13:30	Lab: Web Worker and Storage (continued)
13:30 – 14:00	Windows Azure SQL DB	You’ll learn about the similarities and differences between a traditional SQL Server Windows Azure SQL DB. You’ll understand the notion of a Database service, which is consumed in an almost identical way to a traditional database.
14:00 – 15:00	Lab: Windows Azure SQL DB.	In this lab, you’ll add support to your application for Windows Azure SQL DB.
15:00 – 15:15	Coffee Break
15:15 – 15:45	Service Bus and Access Control.	When you move an application from an on-premises environment to the cloud, it may still need to access services running with your firewall. You’ll see how Windows Azure Service Bus is a way to do this without having to make major security configuration changes to the way your DMZ runs. You’ll then understand how claims based access control can work with cloud applications and how Windows Azure Access Control Service can federate between your cloud apps and external identity providers such as your on-premises Active Directory, Microsoft Accounts (Live IDs), Google, Facebook, Yahoo.
15:45 – 16:45	Lab: Access Control Service	In this lab you will add external authentication to your application such that a user must be logged in to either a Microsoft Account (Live ID) or Google (or both!) to get access.
16:45 – 17:00	Review and wrap-up	A final wrap-up of the day’s activities plus advice on what the next steps are. You can leave your Windows Azure service deployed and continue to work on it when you get home/back to the office, or you can de-deploy it before you leave and fire it all up later.

What will I need?

Detailed setup instructions will be sent to you but in general you’ll need a wireless-enabled laptop running Windows Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8 (64-bit preferred) with Visual Studio (2010 or 2012) installed and the Windows Azure SDK and either SQL Server 2008 R2 Express or another instance of SQL Server that you already have installed. You’ll also need the Adobe Reader.

 

Registration

28^th February 2013

URL: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032542509&Culture=en-GB&community=0

Phone Number: 0870 166 6680 ref – 2509

 

 

20^th March 2013

URL: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032542535&Culture=en-GB&community=0

Phone Number: 0870 166 6680 ref - 2535

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do I need to know about Windows Azure to attend this Camp?
You don’t need any prior experience or knowledge about Windows Azure to attend this Camp. The purpose of the event is to provide you with the basic skills and knowledge to get started with learning about Windows Azure.

Who can attend the Camps?
Students, developers, technologists, IT Pros, architects, hobbyist, technology enthusiasts. Everyone is welcome! All we ask is that you are ready and keen to learn about Windows Azure.

How much does it cost to attend this Camp?
Your luck’s in – it’s free.

What do I need to prepare in advance to make the most of the Camp?
There are a basic set of things you should prepare before attending the Camp, listed above. Please make sure you are prepared so you can make the most of your day at the Camp.

What if I have registered already and cannot make it on the day?
Please let us know as soon as you can if you can’t make the camp as there’ll be plenty of people who are keen to take your spot. Please respect the trainers and your fellow delegates by turning up if you have registered and committed. Thanks!