I recently wrote an article with my friend and colleague Bruno Terkaly for MSDN magazine on using Windows Azure to support mobile device applications (including iOS, Android, and Windows Phone) that require back-end services. The solution that we propose is based on a REST style architecture, a very popular approach that provides flexibility and speed….
Great article explaining the differences between Windows Azure Queues and the new messaging capabilities in the Windows Azure Service Bus. It contains typical scenarios, as well as general guidelines on when to use one vs. the other. Click here to open link…
Cloud Fest is coming to Denver on February 9th, 2012, and you should not miss it. Take this opportunity to learn about cloud computing, and how it is affecting deployment and development models across multiple industries around the world. I will be personally presenting a session on designing software architectues for distributed environments, including real…
Tom Hollander recently posted a great article on how to use the new deployment capabilities in the Windows Azure SDK v1.6, including the use of the .publishsettings file with a build server using TFS and MSBuild. Enjoy! Click here to open link…
The Windows Azure team published today a post about one of the ISVs that I've been working with: Digital Folio. In the article, they share their experience choosing and using the different storage options that the Microsoft cloud platform offers, specifically Windows Azure storage tables and SQL Azure databases… which, by the way, it is…
As part of the effort of better integrating and managing on-premises and cloud resources, System Center 2012 offers different capabilities to monitor Windows Azure instances. This article from the Microsoft Server and Cloud Platform team shows how to upload, deploy and monitor applications to the cloud using the latest version of System Center. Click here…
Today, my colleague Silvano Coriani pointed me to this excellent article about SQL Azure Performance and Elasticity. This is a common topic of conversation when I talk to Microsoft ISVs, and should give you a good understanding of best practices and optimization of SQL Azure databases. Click here to open link…
In order to deploy the default ASP.Net MVC 3 web role that comes with version 1.4 (and later) of the Windows Azure SDK, it is necessary to make some changes linked to the SQL connection strings, which point by default to the local SQLEXPRESS instance. This article from Wade Wegner explains how to make them…
Two days ago, significant changes and enhancements to the In-place update process were announced for the Windows Azure platform. It is now possible to apply multiple changes to virtual instances without having to redploy the whole solution, including the following: change the VM size, increase the local storage, add or remove roles, or change the…
Great post from Jim O'Neil on running PowerBuilder applications on Azure, as well as compatibility with SQL Azure, the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus, and Windows Azure Storage. Click here to open link…
