Whitepapers

• Introducing the Windows Azure Platform

  Using computers in the cloud can make lots of sense. Rather than buying and maintaining your own machines, why not exploit the acres of Internet-accessible servers on offer today? Learn about the Windows Azure platform in this white paper.

• Introducing Windows Azure

  Cloud computing is here. Running applications on machines in an Internet-accessible data center can bring plenty of advantages. Yet wherever they run, applications are built on some kind of platform. For on-premises applications, this platform usually includes an operating system, some way to store data, and perhaps more. Applications running in the cloud need a similar foundation. The goal of Microsoft’s Windows Azure is to provide this. Part of the larger Windows Azure platform, Windows Azure is a platform for running Windows applications and storing data in the cloud.

• Windows Azure and ISVs – A Guide for Decision Makers

  Why should an independent software vendor (ISV) care about cloud computing? The answer is simple: Using the cloud has the potential to increase an ISV’s revenues and/or decrease its costs. Running code and storing data on computers in large Internet-accessible data centers owned and operated by another organization can offer compelling advantages. If you are responsible for charting your course as an ISV, you'll want to consider how cloud computing can positively impact your business. This white paper explains how ISVs can benefit by using Windows Azure.

• Windows Azure Table – Programming Table Storage

  Windows Azure Table provides scalable, available, and durable structured storage in the form of tables. The tables contain entities, and the entities contain properties. The tables are scalable to billions of entities and terabytes of data, and may be partitioned across thousands of servers. The tables support ACID transactions over single entities and rich queries over the entire table. Simple and familiar .NET and REST programming interfaces are provided via ADO.NET Data Services. This paper describes these concepts and the advanced features of Windows Azure Table.

• Windows Azure Blob – Programming Blob Storage

  Windows Azure Storage provides durable, scalable, available, and performance-efficient storage services for the cloud, and it does this through familiar and easy-to-use programming interfaces. Windows Azure Blob provides a simple interface for storing named files along with metadata for a file. This paper describes the Windows Azure Blob programming interface and the advanced blob concepts.

• Windows Azure Queue - Programming Queue Storage

  Windows Azure Storage provides durable, scalable, available, and performance-efficient storage services for the cloud, and it does this through familiar and easy-to-use programming interfaces. Windows Azure Queue provides reliable storage and delivery of messages for an application. This paper describes the Windows Azure Queue programming interface and the advanced queue concepts.

• An Introduction to AppFabric for Developers

  This overview paper introduces the Services Bus and Access Control for the Windows Azure platform AppFabric and how they fit together.

• A Developer’s Guide to Access Control for the Windows Azure platform AppFabric

  This whitepaper shows developers how to use a claims-based identity model and Access Control to implement single sign-on, federated identity, and role based access control in Web applications and services.

• A Developer’s Guide to Service Bus for the Windows Azure platform AppFabric

  This whitepaper shows developers how to use the Service Bus to provide a secure, standards-based messaging fabric to connect applications across the Internet.

• Overview of Microsoft SQL Azure

  Companies today are faced with ever-increasing amounts of data from numerous sources that need to be shared across a variety of devices. Meeting these needs requires constant investment in servers, operating systems, storage, and networking. Microsoft® SQL Azure Database, provides an improved way to respond to these challenges with enhanced manageability, scalability, and developer agility. This whitepaper provides an overview of the SQL Azure Database. It lays out the advantages for using a cloud-based relational database service, and also describes practical usage scenarios that help you understand how SQL Azure Database can be used to optimize business solutions.

• Similarities and Differences - SQL Azure vs. SQL Server

  SQL Azure Database is a cloud database service from Microsoft. SQL Azure provides web-facing database functionality as a utility service. Cloud-based database solutions such as SQL Azure can provide many benefits, including rapid provisioning, cost-effective scalability, high availability, and reduced management overhead. This paper provides an architectural overview of SQL Azure Database, and describes how you can use SQL Azure to augment your existing on-premises data infrastructure or as your complete database solution

• System Integrator Whitepaper

  This white paper describes how Microsoft® system integrator partners are using Windows Azure™, an Internet-scale cloud services platform that is hosted in Microsoft data centers, to develop applications and services that are quick to deploy, easy to manage, readily scalable, and competitively priced.