windows azure

Hoping that my last article, on cloud computing was useful.

Introduction:
To begin with my article I would first like to recall what actually cloud is:
Cloud an integration of:
1) Cloud based Operating System
2) Distant Data storage facility
3) Developer’s platforms
In this article I am going to discuss with you a famous Cloud platform:”Windows Azure”
Majority of computer users around the world are using either Operating systems of Microsoft Corporation or their Software. Either it is personal computer based operating system say Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows 98 , latest Windows 7 or are thinking about using beta versions of Budding Windows 8;server based operating system say Windows server 2003 and windows server 2008 ; Software say Office and Internet Explorer ; Development platforms such Visual Studio. Microsoft has been a market Driver since long back, under the leadership of its founder Bill gates (He was ruling the list of most riches persons on this earth for 10-12 long years).Microsoft has been always delivering to customers the varied and best products to the customers according to customer needs. Microsoft has been a good Innovator and delivering their customers new technologies. Microsoft has been ruling the market because of their innovation and their focus on what is current needs of the customers.
Another Innovation by Microsoft is Windows Azure and this time the field is Cloud Computing.

Overview
The Windows Azure is an application in the cloud that allows Microsoft datacenters to host and run applications. It provides a cloud based operating system called Windows Azure that serves as a runtime for the applications and provides a set of services that allows development, management and hosting of applications off-premises. All Azure Services and applications built using them run on top of Windows Azure.

When was Windows Azure Released?
Windows Azure was put open commercially to the customers on 1 February 2010.

What features does windows azure platform offers?
Windows Azure Platform is a Microsoft cloud platform used to build, host and scale web applications through Microsoft datacenters. The platform consists of various services and is divided into three core products:
1) Compute: Windows Azure (an operating system)
2) Storage: SQL Azure (a cloud-based Database same as SQL Server)
3) Fabric: Windows Azure AppFabric (a collection of services supporting applications both in the cloud and on premise).
As the names suggests, Compute provides environment for computation, while Storage focuses on providing scalable storage and security of data for large-scale needs. Fabric makes up hardware of the Windows Azure platform as the network of interconnected nodes consisting of servers, high-speed connections, and switches. Conceptually, the repetitive pattern of nodes and connections suggests a woven or fabric-like nature. Compute and Storage components are part of the Fabric.
Fabric resources, applications and services are managed by the Windows Azure Fabric Controller service. It acts as the kernel of the Windows Azure distributed cloud operating system, providing scheduling, resource allocation, device management, and fault tolerance for the nodes in the Fabric. It also provides high-level application models for intelligently managing the complete application lifecycle, including deployment, health monitoring, upgrades, and de-activation.
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 so that it can be used as the IDE to develop and publish Azure-hosted applications.
Windows Azure also offers Content Delivery (CDN) services as an option. As of 2010 in no-cost "Community Technology Preview" the Azure CDN enables worldwide low-latency delivery of static content from Azure Storage to end-users from 18 data centers worldwide.
Implementation
The Windows Azure platform 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.
The platform includes five services:
1) Live Services
2) SQL Azure (formerly SQL Services)
3) AppFabric (formerly .NET Services)
4) SharePoint Services
5) Dynamics CRM Services
Which the developers can use to build the applications that will run in the cloud. A client library, in managed code, and associated tools are also provided for developing cloud applications in Visual Studio. 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.
The Azure Services Platform can currently run .NET Framework applications compiled for the CLR, while supporting the ASP.NET application framework and associated deployment methods to deploy the applications onto the cloud platform. It can also support PHP websites. Two SDKs have been made available for interoperability with the Azure Services Platform: The Java SDK for AppFabric and the Ruby SDK for AppFabric. These enable Java and Ruby developers to integrate with AppFabric Internet services.
Datacenters
Some datacenters have servers grouped inside containers - each containing 1800-2500 servers.
The location of the data centers are:
North America
North-central US - Chicago, IL
South-central US - San Antonio, TX
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 17 countries.
Security
Microsoft has stated that, per the Patriot Act, the USA government can have access to the data even if the hosted company is not American and the data resides outside the USA.





Windows Azure
Home
Features
Compute
Database
Virtual Machines
Storage
CDN
Caching
Virtual Network
Service Bus
Business Intelligence
Access Control
Marketplace
Learn More
Building ASP.NET applications with Windows Azure
Creating a hosted service for Windows Azure
Running multiple websites in a Windows Azure Web role Get Windows Azure

Windows Azure Compute
A great application hosting environment
Windows Azure provides developers an internet-scale hosting environment with a runtime execution environment for managed and unmanaged code. With geographically distributed datacenters, Windows Azure Compute provides developers with the functionality to build, host and manage complete and compelling applications across the world.
A Windows Azure compute service is built from one or more roles. Windows Azure supports the following three types of roles: Web role, Worker role, and Virtual Machine (VM role ).
Web role (Frontend): The Windows Azure Web role is customized for web application programming, as supported by Internet Information Services (IIS) 7 and ASP.NET. Since the Windows Azure Web role is pre-configured with IIS7, it’s easy to create applications using ASP.NET, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) or other web technologies. Developers can also create applications using native code in languages such as PHP and Java.
Worker role (Backend): A Worker role is used for generalized development, and can perform background processing for a web role. The biggest difference between a Web role and a Worker role is that Worker roles don’t have IIS configured inside them, and so the code they run isn’t hosted by IIS. A Worker role might run a simulation, for example, or handle video processing or do nearly anything else. It’s common for an application to interact with users through a Web role, then hand tasks off to a Worker role for processing. Developers are free to use the .NET framework or other software that runs on Windows with the Worker role.
Focus on your application, not operational constraints.
Windows Azure Web and Worker roles enable developers to deploy and manage applications services as a whole as opposed to individual Virtual Machines (VMs). The automated service management provided by Windows Azure offers customers the following administration, availability and scalability benefits:
Administration: Windows Azure automatically takes care of things such as load balancing and failover thereby reducing the effort and cost of administering the application environment.
Availability: Windows Azure is designed to let developers build applications that are continuously available, even in the face of software upgrades and hardware failures.
Scalability: Windows Azure enables developers to build scalable applications that run in Microsoft’s global data centers. Just as important, it allows developers to scale down applications when necessary, letting them use just the resources they need.
Flexible instance sizes to meet your application needs.
Your application requirements dictate the instance size that you need, so we built a range of options for you to choose from. Each Windows Azure compute instance represents a virtual server. The table below summarizes the resources provided by each instance size.
Although many resources are dedicated to a particular instance, some resources associated to I/O performance, such as network bandwidth and disk subsystem, are shared among the compute instances on the same physical host. During periods when a shared resource is not fully utilized, you are able to utilize a higher share of that resource.
The different instance types will provide different minimum performance from the shared resources depending on their size. Compute instance sizes with a high I/O performance indicator as noted in the table above will have a larger allocation of the shared resources. Having a larger allocation of the shared resource will also result in more consistent I/O performance.Compute Instance Size CPU Memory Instance Storage I/O Performance Cost Per Hour
Extra Small 1.0 GHz 768 MB 20 GB Low $0.05
Small 1.6 GHz 1.75 GB 225 GB Moderate $0.12
Medium 2 x 1.6 GHz 3.5 GB 490 GB High $0.24
Large 4 x 1.6 GHz 7 GB 1,000 GB High $0.48
Extra Large 8 x 1.6 GHz 14 GB 2,040 GB High $0.96


Windows Azure compute instance details
Pricing and Metering
Windows Azure compute hours are charged only when your application is deployed. Compute charges are based on a clock hour model, and not on CPU utilization. Compute hours are billed based on the number of clock hours your service was deployed multiplied by the number of compute instances. If you have two tenants deployed for a hosted service, one for staging and one for production, both will be charged as both are utilizing Windows Azure platform resources. Please note that suspending your deployment will still result in compute charges since the compute instances are still allocated to you and cannot be allocated to another customer. When developing and testing your application, developers will want to remove the compute instances that are not being used to minimize compute hour billing.

All compute hours, except for extra small compute instances which are billed separately, are converted into small instance hours when presented on your bill. For example, one elapsed hour of a medium compute instance would be presented as two small compute instance hours at the small instance rate of $0.12 per hour on your bill. The table above describes how each of the compute instance sizes correlates to the number of small compute instance hours.

The Next Generation Cloud Database
Microsoft SQL Azure Database is a highly available, and scalable cloud database service built on SQL Server technologies. With SQL Azure, developers do not have to install, setup, patch or manage any software. High availability and fault tolerance is built-in and no physical administration is required. Additionally, developers can get productive on SQL Azure quickly by using the same familiar T-SQL based relational model and the same powerful development and management tools used for on-premises databases.
Use SQL Azure Database to
Extend business opportunities and reach new markets by building Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications quickly and efficiently
Build custom enterprise and web applications that benefit from scale-out database capabilities
Extend reach of data assets and consolidate data sources in the cloud to facilitate greater collaboration between partners, branch offices, remote workers and mobile devices
Streamline resources by consolidating existing departmental databases in the cloud and quickly provision new databases
Develop solutions that provide new insight into business performance and processes by integrating multiple data sources with existing analysis tools
Top Benefits of SQL Azure Database
No physical administration required – software installation and patching is included, as this is a platform as a service (PAAS)
High availability and fault tolerance are built in
Simple provisioning and deployment of multiple databases
Scale databases up or down based on business needs
Multitenant
Integration with SQL Server and tooling including Visual Studio®
Support for T-SQL-based familiar relational database model
Option for pay-as-you-go pricing
Top Features of SQL Azure Database
Relational Database Management Services (RDBMS)
Create, access, and manipulate tables, views, indexes, roles, stored procedures, triggers, and functions
Execute complex queries and joins across multiple tables
Insert, Update, and Delete
Constraints
Transactions
Temp tables
Basic functions (aggregates, math, string, date/time)
A subset of the existing SQL Server built-in stored procedures and system views
Support for tracking billable metrics in real time and for historical analysis
Programmability
Managed ADO.NET data access
Native ODBC
Support for PHP
JDBC Support
Tools
Provision logical servers and databases through the SQL Azure Database account portal, which includes a lightweight web-based database manager.
SQL Server Management Studio: an integrated environment with graphics tools for accessing and configuring SQL Server and SQL Azure databases: 32-bit | 64 bit
Visual Studio 2010 supports building applications with data connections to SQL Azure, enabling developers to design queries, manipulate data and perform data binding operations in their applications from the Visual Studio environment.
In addition to the above, a number of tools support SQL Azure for activities such as moving and migrating data, as well as command line deployment and administration. Read more here.
SQL Azure Data Sync
SQL Azure Data Sync, currently in CTP (Community Technology Preview) is a cloud-based data synchronization service built on Microsoft Sync Framework technologies. It provides bi-directional data synchronization and data management capabilities allowing data to be easily shared between multiple SQL Azure databases and between on-premises and SQL Azure databases.
Extend enterprise data to the cloud, rather than replacing it, by synchronizing on-premises SQL Server with SQL Azure
Synchronize data between SQL Azure databases within a data center, to help scale-out data access across multiple databases for elastic demand and usage spikes
Synchronize data between SQL Azure databases in different data centers, to extend data and provide geo-available data access
Top Features SQL Azure Data Sync
Elastic Scale: Service scales as resources requirements grow
No-Code Sync Configuration: Easily define data to be synchronized with easy to use tools
Schedule Sync: Choose how often data is synchronized
Conflict Handling: Handle issues where same data is changed in multiple locations
Logging and Monitoring: Administration capabilities for tracking data and monitoring potential issues
Data sub-setting: Control of tables to be synchronized between SQL Azure database
Resources for SQL Azure Data Sync
Register for SQL Azure Data Sync CTP2
Sync Framework Developer Center on MSDN
Read the Sync Framework Blog and Sync Framework whitepaper
Pricing and Metering
Web Edition:Site/Meter Monthly Charges
Up to 1 GB relational database $9.99
Up to 5 GB relational database $49.95
Business Edition:Site/Meter Monthly Charges
Up to 10 GB relational database $99.99
Up to 20 GB relational database $199.98
Up to 30 GB relational database $299.97
Up to 40 GB relational database $399.96
Up to 50 GB relational database $499.95
You can provision multiple SQL Azure databases for your application(s). The databases can be either Web or Business Edition databases. A single Web Edition databases can support up to 5 GB of data, and uses billing increments of 1GB and 5GB. A Business Edition database will support up to 50 GB, and uses 10 GB billing increments.
You will be billed based on the peak database size in a day, rolled up to the next billing increment. SQL Azure Database is charged as a monthly fee for each database, but we amortize that database fee over the month and charge you on a daily basis. This daily fee is dependent on which database type you use (Web Edition or Business Edition). For example, if you utilized three 10 GB Business Edition databases for 1 day in a 30 day month, your daily usage for that day would show 0.1 10 GB Business Edition database (3 databases / 30 days).
Windows Azure Virtual Machine role
The Windows Azure Virtual Machine (VM) role enables you to deploy a custom Windows Server 2008 R2 (Enterprise or Standard) image to Windows Azure. The VM role runs a VHD image of a Windows Server 2008 R2 virtual machine. This VHD is created using an on-premises Windows Server machine and then uploaded to Windows Azure. Customers can configure and maintain the OS and use Windows Services, scheduled tasks etc. in the VM role. Once it’s stored in the cloud, the VHD can be loaded on demand into a VM role and executed. The VHD can be used as the base image for all instances of a VM Role. You can now sign up for the Windows Azure VM role and Extra Small Instance BETA via the Windows Azure Platform Management Portal.
More control of your application environment
The VM role and elevated privileges functionality in Windows Azure provide developers with more control over their application environment. Developers can use the VM role when the customizations that you require are large in number or cannot be automated. When developers use the VM role, they retain most benefits of automated service management (load balancing and failover) with the exception of Guest OS patching.
A VM role differs from a web role and a worker role, because with these roles, you focus on creating and running your code in an operating system that is managed by Windows Azure; for the VM role, you provide a preconfigured operating system image. Developers have full control of the operating system image. Administrators can remote into the virtual machine of all roles to perform maintenance and troubleshooting tasks.
Pricing and Licensing
The pricing model for the Windows Azure VM role is the same as that for the Web and Worker roles. Customers are charged at an hourly rate depending on the compute instance size. The Windows Azure fee for running the VM role – whether consumption or commitment based - includes the Windows Server licensing costs.
The license for the Windows Server 2008 R2 is covered through the Windows Azure VM Role licensing. Customers may use bits obtained through Volume Licensing (physical or electronic) to create the image. At launch, customers can deploy Windows Server 2008 R2 for production use in the VM role. In addition, During the Windows Azure™ VM role beta, developers can use the 64-bit version of Windows Server R2 in the VM Role for production services. Other Microsoft® software acquired through an active MSDN® license or subscription can be run in the Windows Azure VM Role for development and test purposes only. Microsoft will gather feedback on how customers and partners utilize the Windows VM Role and use that feedback to develop broader licensing scenarios for the cloud. This provision for MSDN in the Windows Azure VM Role is being offered until May 2011 irrespective of the duration of the Beta phase. Use of any third party software in the VM Role will be governed by use rights for that software.
There is no requirement for Windows Server Client Access Licenses (CALs) to connect to the Windows Azure VM role. There is also no transfer of use rights from any existing WS08 R2 license acquired through any other licensing program to the Windows Azure VM role nor are rights from the VM Role transferable to any other device.

Windows Azure Storage
Need persistent and durable storage in the cloud? Windows Azure is a perfect fit. Windows Azure gives you four core storage services that are secure, scalable and easy to access.
Binary Large Object (BLOB) Service, the simplest way to store text or binary data with Windows Azure.
Table Service is better for large amounts of data that need additional structure, which works exceptionally well with applications that need to work with data in a very detailed manner via queries.
Queue Service for reliable, persistent messaging between Web and Worker role instances.
Windows Azure Drive allows Windows Azure applications to mount a Page Blob, which is a single volume NTFS VHD. This allows applications to upload/download VHDs via blob.
Fault-tolerance and CDN built in
All your content stored on Windows Azure is replicated three times. No matter which storage service you use, your data will be replicated on different fault domains thereby making it much more fault tolerant.
What’s more, the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) offers 1-click integration with our Storage services. The CDN dramatically boosts performance by automatically storing content near where it is most frequently accessed.
For more information about the REST API for the storage services, see Windows Azure Storage Services REST API Reference. For information about the managed API for the storage services, see Windows Azure Managed Library Reference.
REST and managed APIs
You can use Window Azure storage services not just for your applications running on Windows Azure, but also with applications running on-premises or on a different cloud platform. Download the SDK to get both the REST API and a managed API for working with the storage services. Learn more about the REST API over at MSDN
Pricing and Metering
Windows Azure Storage utilization is calculated based on your average usage during a billing period of blob, table, queue, and Windows Azure Drive storage. For example, if you consistently utilized 10GB of storage for the first half of the month and none for the second half of the month, you would be billed for your average usage of 5GB of storage.
For Windows Azure Drive storage, you will be billed only for the storage space used by the page blob and the read/write transactions to the page blob. You will not be charged for read transactions that utilize the local drive cache. Windows Azure Drive usage is billed at the same rates as standard Windows Azure Storage and is included in these totals on your bill. There will not be a separate line item for Windows Azure Drive on your bill.
If your storage needs are more than 10TB, please Contact Us for special pricing.
Windows Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Your content is now closer to your users.
The Windows Azure content delivery network (CDN) enhances end user performance and reliability by placing copies of data closer to users. By caching your applications static objects at strategically placed locations, the Windows Azure CDN provides the best experience for delivering your content to users. The Windows Azure CDN can be used to ensure better performance and user experience for end users who are far from a content source, and are using applications where many ‘internet trips’ are required to load content. It can also help handle large distributed scale to better handle instantaneous high load, say, at the start of an event such as a product launch.
The Windows Azure CDN today delivers many Microsoft products – such as Windows Update, Zune videos, and Bing Maps - which customers know and use every day. By adding the CDN to Windows Azure capabilities, we’ve now made this large-scale network available to all our Windows Azure customers.
Support for multiple content types
The Windows Azure CDN can deliver content from a number of Windows Azure resources including Windows Azure storage and Windows Azure compute roles. Content types include web objects (e.g. JPG, CSS, and JavaScript), downloadable objects (media files, software, and documents), applications, real time media streams, and other components of Internet delivery (DNS, routes, and database queries). Plus it’s completely integrated with Windows Azure Storage services, so it just takes a click to enable CDN delivery through the Windows Azure platform Management Portal.
24 nodes around the globe
With 24 physical nodes globally (United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America), the Windows Azure CDN offers developers a global solution for delivering high-bandwidth content. The list of the physical nodes is as below:

Smooth Streaming
The Smooth Streaming capability in the Windows Azure CDN will enable developers to deliver video to Silverlight as well as iOS and Android Honeycomb clients without any software development, management or configuration. Developers can do this by uploading IIS Smooth Streaming-encoded video to a CDN-enabled Windows Azure Storage account. The Windows Azure CDN scales as needed, so developers don’t need to spend time setting up servers, worrying about capacity, or grappling with spikes in demand. Microsoft will release a CTP for the Windows Azure CDN by the end of 2011. Additional information on applying for this CTP will be available on the Beta Programs section of the Windows Azure Platform Management Portal.
Pricing and Metering
Windows Azure CDN charges will not include fees associated with transferring this data from Windows Azure Storage to CDN. Any data transfers and storage transactions incurred to get data from Windows Azure Storage to the CDN will be charged separately at our normal Windows Azure Storage rates. CDN charges are incurred for data requests it receives and for the data it transfers out to satisfy these requests.
*A Windows Azure CDN customer's traffic may not be served out of the physically "closest" node; many factors are involved including routing and peering, Internet "weather", and node capacity and availability. We are continually grooming our network to meet our Service Level Agreements and our customers' requirements.
Caching
Caching provides a distributed, in-memory, application cache service for Windows Azure and SQL Azure applications. It provides applications with high-speed access and scale to application data. These capabilities are provided entirely as a service (no installation or management of instances, dynamically increase/decrease cache size as needed).
Caching is commercially available today.
Use Caching to
Accelerate performance of ASP.NET web applications running on Windows Azure with minor configuration change – no change to application code
Decrease latency of access to data that is stored in in SQL Azure Databases or Windows Azure storage
Caching Benefits
Highly scalable caching solution with low latency and high throughput
Provided entirely as a service - no installation or management of instances required
Flexible management - dynamically increase/decrease cache size as needed
Integrates easily with existing ASP.NET web applications
Caching Features
Pre-built ASP.NET providers for session state and page output caching, enabling acceleration of web applications without having to modify application code
Caches any managed object - no object size limits, no serialization costs for local caching
Easily integrates into existing applications
Consistent development model across both Windows Azure AppFabric and Windows Server AppFabric
Secured access and authorization provided by the Access Control service
Additional features on roadmap: high-availability, configurable regions, notifications, and more
Pricing and Metering Site/Meter Monthly Charges
128 MB cache $45
256 MB cache $55
512 MB cache $75
1 GB cache $110
2 GB cache $180
4 GB cache $325
AppFabric Caching is priced per cache size per month, no matter how much cache you actually end up using. We are running a promotion and will start charging for Caching usage only from August 1, 2011, and until then you will not be charged for usage of the service. If you are signed up to one of the Windows Azure Platform offers you might be eligible to get the 128MB cache option for free for a certain period of time depending on the specific offer. You can find more details on the Windows Azure Platform Offers page.

In addition to the prices noted above for AppFabric Caching, you will also be charged for the associated data transfers, for ingress and egress outside the data center that your app is provisioned in. Visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg602420.aspx#CACHING_FAQ to get in-depth information on Windows Azure AppFabric Caching pricing.

Windows Azure Virtual Network
Since its release, Windows Azure has offered Compute, Storage and CDN functionality for developers. We are now introducing a range of networking functionality that will be offered under the Windows Azure Virtual Network name. The first Windows Azure Virtual Network feature we enabled was Windows Azure Connect. The next feature we are enabling is Windows Azure Traffic Manager.
Windows Azure Connect
Windows Azure Connect provides a simple and easy-to-manage mechanism to setup IP-based network connectivity between on-premises and Windows Azure resources. This capability makes it easier for an organization to migrate their existing applications to the cloud by enabling direct IP-based network connectivity with their existing on-premises infrastructure. For example, a company can deploy a Windows Azure application that connects to an on-premises SQL Server database, or domain-join Windows Azure services to their Active Directory deployment. In addition, Windows Azure Connect makes it simple for developers to setup direct connectivity to their cloud-hosted virtual machines, enabling remote administration and troubleshooting using the same tools that they use for on-premises applications.
Windows Azure Connect CTP is now available. We would like you to try it out and provide feedback. During the CTP period, Windows Azure Connect is free of charge*, and invitation-only. To request an invitation, please visit the Beta Programs section of the Windows Azure Portal. For more information about submitting feedback, refer to the feedback page.
You can now sign up for the Windows Azure Connect CTP via the Windows Azure Management portal.
* All relays for Windows Azure Connect during the CTP are located outside of Windows Azure Data Centers, thus network traffic between Windows Azure roles and Connect relays will be charged as normal Windows Azure bandwidth usage.
Windows Azure Traffic Manager
Windows Azure Traffic Manager is a new feature that allows customers to load balance traffic to multiple hosted services. Developers can choose from three load balancing methods: Performance, Failover, or Round Robin. Traffic Manager will monitor each collection of hosted service on any http or https port. If it detects the service is offline Traffic Manager will send traffic to the next best available service. By using this new feature businesses will see increased reliability, availability and performance in their applications.
The Windows Azure Traffic Manager CTP is now available. We would like you to try it out and provide feedback. During the CTP period, Windows Azure Traffic Manager is free of charge, and invitation-only. To request an invitation, please visit the Beta Programs section of the Windows Azure Portal.

Service Bus
The Service Bus provides secure messaging and connectivity capabilities that enable building distributed and disconnected applications in the cloud, as well hybrid application across both on-premise and the cloud. It enables using various communication and messaging protocols and patterns, and saves the need for the developer to worry about delivery assurance, reliable messaging and scale.

Service Bus and BizTalk Server AppFabric Connect
Service Bus enables hosting in the cloud endpoints to on-premises BizTalk Server artifacts, enabling easy interactions to external parties you need to integrate with, without needing complex firewall and security infrastructure. To learn more regarding how Service Bus and BizTalk Server work together visit this link: AppFabric Connect.
Service Bus is commercially available today. An updated preview version of the service showcasing enterprise reliable messaging enhancements is available in our Previews environment.
Use Service Bus to Connect Windows Azure Platform applications with existing applications and databases
Bridge on and off-premises applications
Create composite applications
Service Bus Benefits
Expose apps and services through firewalls, NAT gateways, and other problematic network boundaries
Lower barriers to building composite applications by exposing endpoints easily, supporting multiple connection options and publish and subscribe for multicasting.
Lightweight developer friendly programming model that supports standard protocols and extends similar standard bindings for Windows® Communication Foundation programmers
Helps block malicious traffic and shields your services from intrusions and denial-of-service attacks
Service Bus Features
Services discovered through a stable, internet-accessible URL, irrespective of location
One-way messaging between sender and listener supports unicast and multicast datagram distribution
Services discovered through a stable, internet-accessible URL, irrespective of location
Full-duplex connection-oriented sessions between sender and listener support bi-directional communication
Full-duplex, connection-oriented peer-to-peer sessions with network-boundary traversal create direct end-to-end connectivity through NAT
Multiple publishers and multiple subscribers can simultaneously use the service’s topic management and event distribution system
Support of REST and HTTP Access from non-.NET platforms
Global hierarchical namespaces that are DNS- and transport-independent
Anonymous access to services is supported only if you permit it
Pricing and Metering
Monthly charges:Site/Meter Monthly Charges
Pay-as-you-go (1 connection) $3.99 per Connection
5 Connections $9.95
25 Connections $49.75
100 Connections $199.00
500 Connections $995
Since AppFabric Service Bus is designed for high efficiency and fluid scale, we can offer a pricing structure that reflects both resources in a single pricing meter that maps to your usage. This is called a “Connection,” which reflects the basic function of Service Bus: to connect two or more applications. To send data to or from Service Bus, whether it is a transactional message or a data stream, you need a connection to Service Bus. You can think of these connections as communication sessions between your application and Service Bus, which your application can “open” or “close” at any time. When you create applications that are connected to Service Bus, we charge you for each connection, instead of for the number of messages or the volume of data. These connections result from opening services, opening client channels, or making HTTP requests against Service Bus. AppFabric Service Bus is charged per number of connections per month. It costs $3.99 per Connection-month on a consumption (pay-as-you-go) individual basis. If you are able to forecast your needs ahead of time, you can purchase ‘packs’ of connections. Connection Packs are available in sizes of 5, 25, 100, and 500 connections.

If you have purchased an offer that includes a specific connection pack size, you must use the same size connection pack for it to count against the amount included with your offer. For example, our MSDN offer includes a pack of 5 connections. If you provision a different size connection pack (e.g., a pack of 25) than what is included with your offer, you will be charged separately. If you end up using more connections than are included in the pack you purchased, you will pay for the overage based on consumption prices ($3.99 per connection per month).

In addition to the prices noted above for AppFabric Service Bus, you will also be charged for the associated data transfers, for ingress and egress outside the data center that your app is provisioned in. Visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg602420.aspx#SB_FAQ to get in-depth information on Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus pricing.
Access Control
Access Control provides an easy way to provide identity and access control to web applications and services, while integrating with standards-based identity providers, including enterprise directories such as Active Directory®, and web identities such as Windows Live ID, Google, Yahoo! and Facebook.
The service enables authorization decisions to be pulled out of the application and into a set of declarative rules that can transform incoming security claims into claims that applications understand. These rules are defined using a simple and familiar programming model, resulting in cleaner code. It can also be used to manage users’ permissions, saving the effort and complexity of developing these capabilities.
Access Control is commercially available today.
Use Access Control to
Create user accounts that federate a customer's existing identity management system that uses Active Directory® service, other directory systems, or any standards-based infrastructure
Exercise complete, customizable control over the level of access that each user and group has within your application
Apply the same level of security and control to Service Bus connections
Access Control Benefits
Federated identity and access control through rule based authorization enables applications to respond as if the user accounts were managed locally
Flexible standards-based service that supports multiple credentials and relying parties
Lightweight developer-friendly programming model based on the Microsoft .NET Framework and Windows Communication Foundation
Access Control Features
Setup Issuer trust with a simple Web interface or programmatically through APIs
Supports Active Directory and other identity infrastructures, with minimal coding
Support for multiple credentials, including X.509 certificates
Support for standard protocols including REST
Applications that run inside and outside the organizational boundary can rely on the service
Validate application and user request from data and connectivity services
Pricing and MeteringSite/Meter Monthly Charges
100,000 Transactions $1.99
AppFabric Access Control is included in the subscription offers, as well as the Pay-As-You-Go offers. There is no difference in the inclusion in offers or the price between the January 2010 and the April 2011 version of the service. The Pay-As-You-Go Access Control price is $1.99 per 100,000 transactions. However, we are running a promotion and will not charge for the usage of the service until January 1, 2012. Additionally, if you buy the subscription offers or the introductory special Pay-As-You-Go plan, you will not be charged for overage above and beyond the allotted amount that is part of your offer. AppFabric Access Control pricing includes token requests and management operations, plus associated data transfer. Typically, Service Bus developers depend on Access Control to secure their Connections.
In addition to the prices noted above for AppFabric Access Control, you will also be charged for the associated data transfers, for ingress and egress outside the data center that your app is provisioned in. Visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg602420.aspx#ACS_FAQ to get in-depth information on Windows Azure AppFabric Access Control pricing.

Delivering rich reporting, without having to maintain an infrastructure.

Microsoft SQL Azure Reporting lets you use the familiar on-premises tools you’re comfortable with to develop and deploy operational reports to the cloud. There’s no need to manage or maintain a separate reporting infrastructure, which leads to the added benefit of lower costs (and less complexity). Your customers can easily access the reports from the Management Portal, through a web browser, or directly from your applications.

While SQL Azure Reporting is not yet commercially available, you can register to be invited to the community technology preview (CTP).
Use SQL Azure Reporting to:
Deliver rich insights to your customers without building and managing a reporting platform in house.
Create robust, easy-to-read reports available directly within your applications, on the SQL Azure portal or online via a browser.
Keep your data secure while offering access to even more users. The rich authentication/authorization model gives reliable, secure access to reports and underlying data.
Top Features

The Business Intelligence Design Studio (BIDS) offers a consistent report authoring experience that make your reports rich with visualizations – maps, charts, gauges, sparklines and more.

Export to various popular file formats, including Excel, Word, HTML, PDF, XML, CSV and ATOM feeds.

Scale and flex to meet elastic demand. Our cloud services platform automatically scales up and down to meet demand and has built-in high availability and fault tolerance.

Here’s a quick comparison between cloud-based SQL Azure Reporting and on-premises SQL Server Reporting Services: SQL Server Reporting Services SQL Azure Reporting
Developer Design Tool Business Intelligence Design Studio (BIDS)
Report Builder Business Intelligence Design Studio (BIDS)
Report Builder (Authoring only - deployment to SQL Azure Reporting through BIDS)
Supported Data Sources Diverse Data Sources SQL Azure Databases
Report Embed reports into your apps Embed hosted reports into your apps
Management and Delivery Report Manager or SharePoint Portal
Display Reports
Rendering to Multiple Formats
Subscriptions
Scheduled Delivery SQL Azure Development Portal
Display Reports
Rendering to Multiple Formats
Developer Extensibility Extensible for custom data sources, assemblies, report items, authentication, etc. Extensibility is not yet enabled
Security Model Windows Authentication SQL Azure Username/Password


Windows Azure Marketplace
The Windows Azure Marketplace is a global online market for customers and partners to share, buy, and sell finished SaaS applications and premium datasets. Whether you are looking for new customers for your Windows Azure based application or datasets, or are seeking new Windows Azure solutions to power your business, the Windows Azure Marketplace is a one-stop location supported by Microsoft to help you succeed.
One Marketplace… Everything you need
Data

The data section of Windows Azure Marketplace includes data, imagery, and real-time web services from leading commercial data providers and authoritative public data sources. Customers will have access to datasets such as demographic, environmental, financial, retail, weather and sports. The data section also includes visualizations and analytics to enable insight on top of data.
Applications

The application section of the Windows Azure Marketplace contains valuable finished applications to help power your business, all built on the Windows Azure Platform. From billing engines to content managements systems to HPC solutions and everything in between, the applications in the Windows Azure Marketplace can help accelerate your success with the platform.