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Microsoft Azure

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Windows Azure
DeveloperMicrosoft
OS familyWindows
Source modelClosed source for platform, Open source for client SDKs
Released to
manufacturing		1 February 2010 (2010-02-01)[1]
Official websiteOfficial website

Windows Azure is a Microsoft cloud computing platform used to build, deploy and manage applications through a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters. Windows Azure allows for applications to be built using many different languages, tools or frameworks and makes it possible for developers to integrate their public cloud applications in their existing IT environment. Windows Azure provides both Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) services and is classified as the “Public Cloud” in Microsoft's cloud computing strategy, along with its Software as a Service (SaaS) offering, Microsoft Online Services.

Overview

Windows Azure is Microsoft's application platform for the public cloud. Windows Azure can be used to build a web application that runs and stores its data in Microsoft datacenters. It can connect on-premises applications with each other or to map between different sets of identity information.

In June 2012 Windows Azure released the following new features:

  • Websites allows developers to build sites using ASP.NET, PHP or Node.js and can be deployed using FTP, Git or TFS.
  • Virtual Machines lets developers migrate applications and infrastructure without changing existing code. Can run both Windows Server and Linux virtual machines.
  • Cloud Services - Microsoft’s Platform as a Service (PaaS) environment that is used to create scalable applications and services. Supports multi-tier scenarios and automated deployments.
  • Data Management - SQL Database, formerly known as SQL Azure Database, works to create, scale and extend applications into the cloud using Microsoft SQL Server technology. Integrates with Active Directory and System Center and Hadoop.
  • Media Services - A PaaS offering that can be used for encoding, content protection, streaming and/or analytics.

The Windows Azure Platform provides an API built on REST, HTTP, and XML that allows a developer to interact with the services provided by Windows Azure. Microsoft also provides a client-side managed class library which encapsulates the functions of interacting with the services. It also integrates with Microsoft Visual Studio, GIT and Eclipse so that it can be used as the IDE to develop and publish Azure-hosted applications.

Windows Azure became commercially available on 1 Feb 2010.[citation needed]

Services

  • Web Sites - High density hosting of web sites. This feature was announced in preview form in June 2012 at the Meet Windows Azure event. Customers can create web sites in PHP, .NET, and node.JS, or select from several open source applications from a gallery to deploy. This comprises one aspect of the Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings for the Windows Azure Platform.
  • Virtual Machines - Announced in preview form at the Meet Windows Azure event in June 2012 the Windows Azure Virtual Machines comprise the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering from Microsoft for their public cloud. Customers can create Virtual Machines, of which they have complete control, to run the Microsoft Data Centers. As of the preview the Virtual Machines supported Windows Server 2008 and 2012 RC operating systems and a few distributions of Linux.
  • Cloud Services - Previously named "Hosted Services", the Cloud Services for Windows Azure comprise one aspect of the Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings from the Windows Azure Platform. The Cloud Services are containers of hosted applications. These applications can be internet facing public web applications (such as web sites and ecommerce solutions), or they can be private processing engines for other work, such as processing orders or analyzing data.
    • Developers can write code for Cloud Services in a variety of different programming languages; however, there are specific Software Development Kits (SDKs) started by Microsoft for Python, Java, node.JS and .NET.[2] Other languages may have support through Open Source projects. Microsoft published the source code for their client libraries on GitHub.
  • Data Management
    • SQL Database
    • Tables
    • BLOB Storage
  • Business Analytics
    • SQL Reporting
    • Data Marketplace
    • Hadoop
  • Identity
    • Active Directory
    • Access Control Service
  • Messaging
    • Windows Azure Service Bus
    • Queues
  • Media Services

Implementation

Windows Azure uses a specialized operating system, called Windows Azure, to run its "fabric layer" — a cluster hosted at Microsoft's datacenters that manages computing and storage resources of the computers and provisions the resources (or a subset of them) to applications running on top of Windows Azure. Windows Azure has been described as a "cloud layer" on top of a number of Windows Server systems, which use Windows Server 2008 and a customized version of Hyper-V, known as the Windows Azure Hypervisor to provide virtualization of services. Scaling and reliability are controlled by the Windows Azure Fabric Controller so the services and environment do not crash if one of the servers crashes within the Microsoft datacenter and provides the management of the user's web application like memory resources and load balancing. ,.

History

October 2008 (PDC LA)

  • Announced the Windows Azure Platform
  • First CTP of Windows Azure

March 2009

  • Announced SQL Azure Relational Database

November 2009

  • Updated Windows Azure CTP
  • Enabled full trust, PHP, Java, CDN CTP and more
  • Announced VM Role, Project Sidney, Pricing and SLAs
  • Project “Dallas” CTP

February 2010

  • Windows Azure Platform commercially available

June 2010

  • Windows Azure Update
    • .NET Framework 4
    • OS Versioning
    • CDN
  • SQL Azure Update (Service Update 3[3])
    • 50GB databases
    • Spatial data support
    • DAC support

October 2010 (PDC)

  • Platform Enhancements
    • Windows Azure Virtual Machine Role
    • Role enhancements
    • Admin mode, Startup tasks
    • Full-IIS support
    • Extra Small Instances
  • Windows Azure Connect
    • Access to on-premise resource for cross-premise apps
    • Support for Domain-joining VMs
    • Direct role-instance connectivity for easier development
    • Use your existing remote administration tools
  • Improved Dev / IT Pro Experience
    • New Windows Azure Platform Management Portal
    • Multiple users & roles for management
    • Remote Desktop
    • Enhanced Dev Tools
    • PHP Development
    • Marketplace

Dec 2011

  • Traffic Manager
  • SQL Azure Reporting
  • HPC Scheduler
  • Service Bus Queues

June 2012

  • Web Sites
  • Virtual Machines for Windows and Linux (backed by persistent storage)
  • Python SDK
  • New Portal
  • Locally Redundant Storage

Datacenters

Some datacenters have servers grouped inside containers - each containing 1800-2500 servers. [4] [5]

The location of the data centers [6][7] are:

  • North America
    • North-central US - Chicago, IL
    • South-central US - San Antonio, TX
    • West US - California
    • East US - Virginia
  • Asia
    • East Asia - Hong Kong, China
    • South East Asia - Singapore
  • Europe
    • West Europe - Amsterdam, Netherlands
    • North Europe - Dublin, Ireland

The CDN nodes are located in 24 countries.[8][8][9]

Success Stories

As of July 2010, Microsoft had completed 6,000 installations of Azure in Ireland.[10] Executives at Microsoft hoped that this figure would rise to 100,000 installations by 2011.[10] Examples of companies using Azure in Ireland are Aer Lingus and HR Locker. “Aer Lingus is using Azure to create an interactive web application that integrates route maps with their reservation and booking process”.[11] HR Locker, a Web 2.0 provider of HR solutions to small- to medium-size companies, was built on the Azure platform. HR Locker chose to use Azure in order to improve scalability, backup, security and the various other issues associated with hosting.[12]

The $500 million facility[13] is one of the largest construction projects in Ireland over last 12 months and has generated approximately 1 million man-hours of work with a peak workforce of around 2,100 workers. The data center will also provide approximately 35-50 jobs in the Dublin area. The facility, which began operating on July 1, 2009, currently covers 303,000 square feet (2.815 hectares), with 5.4 mega watts of critical power available to deliver services to consumers and business customers. Over time, the data center can expand to a total of 22.2 mega watts of critical power to support future growth.

Privacy

Microsoft has stated that, per the USA Patriot Act, the US government can have access to the data even if the hosted company is not American and the data resides outside the USA,[14] however Windows Azure is compliant with the E.U. Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC). To manage Privacy and Security related concerns Microsoft has created a Windows Azure Trust Center[15] and Windows Azure has several of its services compliant with several compliance programs including ISO 27001 and HIPAA. A full and current listing can be found on the Windows Azure Trust Center Compliance page.[16]

Competitors

Outages

  • There was an outage on 2012-02-29 because of bad code when handling leap day dates.[17]
  • There was an outage on 2012-07-26[18] due to a mis-configured network device.[19]

References

  1. ^ "Windows Azure Platform Launch schedule". Microsoft. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  2. ^ http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/overview/
  3. ^ http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlazure/archive/2010/06/25/10030461.aspx
  4. ^ http://www.neowin.net/news/main/09/11/02/inside-windows-azures-data-center-one-of-worlds-largest
  5. ^ http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2010/03/23/video-building-microsofts-itpac-container/
  6. ^ http://joranmarkx.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/microsoft-azure-data-center-locations-worl-wide
  7. ^ https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/trust-center/privacy/
  8. ^ a b http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2010/08/09/20-nodes-available-globally-for-the-windows-azure-cdn.aspx
  9. ^ http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2010/09/02/two-new-nodes-for-the-windows-azure-cdn-enhance-service-across-asia.aspx
  10. ^ a b Sunday Business Post
  11. ^ Silicon: Microsoft Azure
  12. ^ Microsoft Ireland
  13. ^ "Microsoft's new Dublin Data Centre to support demand for online services for business and consumers".
  14. ^ Microsoft: European cloud data may not be immune to the Patriot Act
  15. ^ Windows Azure Trust Center
  16. ^ Windows Azure Trust Center Compliance
  17. ^ Summary of Windows Azure Service Disruption on Feb 29th, 2012
  18. ^ Windows Azure outage hits Europe
  19. ^ [http://gigaom.com/cloud/microsoft-pins-azure-outage-on-network-miscue/ Microsoft pins Azure outage on network miscue]

Windows Azure Cloud Computing Platform: Technology Partner selection Guide

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