Course Content
Cloud Computing
- Define cloud computing.
- Learn the benefits of cloud computing.
- Understand the different types of cloud computing services.
- Explore where computing clouds might exist.
- Hear about potential concerns with cloud computing.
- Learn where cloud computing can and cannot be applied.
- Place Windows Azure in light of general cloud computing.
- Know how Windows Azure compares to other cloud environments.
Lab :
- Windows Azure Account Setup (Optional)
- Understand how to create a Windows Azure account.
- Explore the types of Windows Azure accounts.
- Learn how to access and use the Windows Azure Developer Portal.
- Examine the Windows Azure Developer Portal.
Windows Azure Architecture
- See a simple Windows Azure application
- Learn about the Microsoft data centers.
- Explore the hardware, servers and virtualization (the Fabric) that host cloud applications and data.
- Understand the role of the Fabric Controller in managing the Windows Azure cloud.
- Know the general architecture and components of the Windows Azure Platform.
- Understand the tools used to create and deploy Windows Azure services and data stores.
- Understand the different types of roles in Windows Azure (Web,worker, VM).
- Understand the types of storages provided by the Windows Azure Platform (Azure Storage, SQL Azure, etc.)
Lab :
- Introduction to Windows Azure
- Explore your first Windows Azure project in Visual Studio.
- See how to test a cloud application in Visual Studio.
- Learn how to publish a cloud application.
- Examine the process of deploying an application via the Developer Portal.
- Learn how to remove a service from the cloud.
Windows Azure Web Roles
- Explore the purpose of Windows Azure Web roles.
- Understand how to create Web roles in a cloud service project.
- See how to configure a Web role.
- Learn how to test Web roles run in the Compute Emulator.
- Start exploring the Windows Azure API.
- Examine how to build Web roles with multiple Web sites.
Lab :
- Building a Web Role
- Create a Cloud Application using Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio.
- Explore the Web role project.
- Configure a Web role project.
- See a multi-instance role running in the Compute Emulator.
- Modify the application to use a custom configuration setting.
- Optionally, see a Web role cloud project deployed to Windows Azure.
Local Storage
- Examine Windows Azure local storage.
- See how local storage differs from normal server file systems.
- Learn how to configure local storage.
- Understand the limitations of local storage and where/when to use it.
- Explore the API to access local storage.
- Learn about Windows Azure Drive (formerly X-Drive).
Lab :
- Using Local Storage
- Configure a Web Role to have local storage.
- Alter the Web role code to read and write to local storage.
- Explore the relationship of local storage to roles and role instances.
- Explore how to clean local storage on role instance recycling.
- Optionally, deploy the local storage using cloud project to the Windows Azure cloud.
Windows Azure Administration
- Explore the various Windows Azure subscription administrators.
- Understand Windows Azure OS Families and Guest OS Versions.
- See how to Remote Desktop to a Windows Azure virtual machine.
- Learn how to define a startup task for a role.
Lab :
- Configuring and Using Remote Desktop
- Learn how to create a new hosted service without deploying code.
- See how to create and add a PFX certificate to a hosted service.
- Publish and deploy a Windows Azure project configured for Remote Desktop connections.
- Optionally learn how to configure remote access through the Portal.
- Optionally setup a co-administrator for your subscription.
Windows Azure Storage and Queues
- Understand the purpose of Windows Azure Storage.
- Learn how to create a Windows Azure Storage account.
- Explore Windows Azure Storage costs.
- Understand the Storage Emulator, how to use it, and how it is different from Windows Azure Storage.
- See how to access Windows Azure Storage using both the REST API and the Storage Client Library.
- Examine Windows Azure Storage Queues.
- Learn how to get messages in and out of Windows Azure Queues.
Lab :
- Learning Windows Azure Storage and Queues
- Use a Web role to create a queue and add messages to the queue.
- Learn how to add another Web role to your cloud service project.
- Use a Web role to read and display messages in the queue.
- Observe the difference between getting and peeking at messages in a queue.
- Optionally, see how to create a Storage Account service.
- Optionally, examine how to create an Affinity Group.
- Optionally, learn where to find storage account URLs and access keys.
- Optionally, deploy the cloud service project to the Windows Azure cloud.
- Explore Windows Azure Storage with external utilities.
Blob Storage
- Understand the rationale for using blob storage.Learn about the different types of blobs: block and page blobs.
- Examine blob storage containers and how they are used to organize and control access to blobs.
- Explore how to access blob storage with both the Storage Client and REST API.
Lab :
- Using Blob Storage
- Use a Web role to create a blob container and set permissions on the container.
- Learn how to upload blobs into a container.
- Use a Web role to retrieve a blob by its name (reference).
- Work with blob metadata.
- Explore the REST API used to access blob storage.
Table Storage
- Explore Windows Azure Storage's structural data service.
- Understand the reason for table storage.
- Examine the differences between table storage and traditional relational databases (as exhibited by SQL Azure).
- Learn how to access table storage with both the Storage Client and REST API.
- Understand entities as they relate to table storage.
- Examine how to save and retrieve entities in table storage.
Lab :
- Using Table Storage
- Define an entity class.
- Build a TableServiceContext object to negotiate data in and out of table storage.
- Learn how to save entity data to table storage.
- Explore queries to fetch entity data from table storage.
Worker Roles
- Explore the purpose of Windows Azure worker roles.
- Understand how to create worker roles in a cloud service project.
- See how to configure a worker role.
- Learn how to test worker roles run in the Compute Emulator.
- Learn how to use Windows Azure Storage queues and messages to communicate with worker roles.
- Explore how to setup worker role endpoints.
- Learn how to communicate with worker role internal and input endpoints.
- Hosting services in Windows Azure
Lab :
- Building a Worker Role
- Create a worker role and add it to your cloud project.
- Explore the contents of a worker role project.
- Configure a worker role to monitor a queue for messages.
- Re-explore the use of queue storage in role-to-role communications.
- Re-explore table storage.
SQL Azure Introduction
- Learn what SQL Azure is and why you want to use it.
- Understand SQL Azure in comparison to SQL Server and Windows Azure table storage.
- Learn how to provision a SQL Azure server and databases.
- Examine costs associated with SQL Azure.
- See how to use familiar tools and APIs to work in SQL Azure.
- Explore how to create and manage database objects in SQL Azure.
- Know how to limit SQL Azure access.
- Understand options for performing database backups.
- See how to migrate data to SQL Azure.
Lab :
- Introduction to SQL Azure
- Add a SQL Azure subscription to your current Windows Azure account subscription
- Create a SQL Azure server and administrator.
- Create a database in SQL Azure.
- Add a table to the SQL Azure database.
- Explore Database Manager for accessing and managing SQL Azure databases and tables.
Diagnostics
- Learn how to accomplish debugging and logging in Windows Azure.
- Examine Windows Azure Diagnostic Service.
- Understand the role of the Diagnostic Agent process in the diagnostic service.
- Learn how to configure the diagnostic service.
- See how to transfer diagnostic data to Windows Azure Storage.
Lab :
- Diagnostics
- See how Visual Studio cloud templates provide default diagnostic monitoring setup.
- Add trace statements to cloud code.
- Learn how to schedule diagnostic data to be transferred to Windows Azure Storage.
- Learn how to perform an on-demand transfer of diagnostic data to storage.
