#Azure Action – Weekly Newsletter – 17th December 2010

Local Overview

• Regional Update: Fujitsu and Microsoft weigh up Data Center in Japan

  Readiness & Resources

• Reading:

• 2010 Year End Security Wrap

• “Cloud 9 or Cloud Crime”

• Microsoft Azure Cloud – Top 20 Lessons Learned about MSFT’s PaaS
• DataMarket for Government

• Watching:

• See the PDC introductory session on SQL Azure DataSync by Liam Cavanagh
• Also worth watch this short introduction to the Windows Azure ACS:
• What is ACS?

• Case study:

• Transport for London to use Windows Azure to help meet 7 million customer requests per day

• also, related funky visualisation: Live map of London Underground trains

• Tools:

• ActiveReports - Silverlight Report Viewer Beta Preview for .NET developers which includes enhanced support for Windows Azure reporting

• Walkthrough

• A lap around the new Windows Azure Portal - Part 3

In the news:

• Now Available- Updated Windows Azure Platform Training Kit – December 2010
• Windows Server HPC SP1 for Windows Server HPC R2. With this SP it is now possible to scale HPC Server with Windows Azure
• US Government CIO as part of 25 point plan recommends a shift to a “Cloud First” policy
• Our elastic future
• Novell joins Microsoft Windows Azure Technology Adoption Program to Test and Validate Novell Cloud Security Service 

Events:

• Windows Azure platform Acceleration Technical Training Tour – Sydney 27th/28th January
• Azure BizSpark Startup Camp - Melbourne 4th –6th February

Enterprise customer Hands On training – February – watch this space!

Community:

• Like Azure? …become a fan: www.facebook.com/windowsazure (Azure Facebook Toolkit)
• Want answers. See the forums

January/February community web cast boot camps

• 01/03: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Working with Messaging and Queues
• 01/10: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Using Windows Azure Table
• 01/17: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Diving into BLOB Storage
• 01/24: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Diagnostics and Service Management
• 01/31: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: SQL Azure
• 02/07: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Connecting with AppFabric
• 02/14: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Cloud Computing Scenarios

Guidance:

• Windows Azure AppFabric: Requesting a Token from Azure AppFabric Access Control Service using OAuth 2.0 in C#
• Windows Azure: Setting up RDP to a Windows Azure Instance

Lost in the cloud?

Questions

This week some Q&A on the Windows Azure Content Delivery Network

Quick links:

• About the Windows Azure CDN
• Getting Started with the Windows Azure CDN
• Pricing for the Windows Azure CDN
• DIY: A simple introduction to the CDN

Q: Is a CDN new?

A: No a Content Delivery Network is a common solution to the problem of a all clients accessing the same central server, so as to avoid bottlenecks near that server.

Q: What's coming in future of the Windows Azure CDN

A: See what's new

Q: Is CDN used internally at Microsoft

The Microsoft CDN network, now used by Windows Azure, has been around internally for many years and has been increasingly scaled for major business units

Q: How do I setup a Windows Azure CDN

Go to the Windows Azure portal and on the left navigation panel select Hosted Services, Storage Account & CDN. Select Storage Accounts and then Enable CDN

Q: What are the newest of the edge access points?

A: Moscow, Middle East, Korea, Taiwan

Q: Is there a way of having storage only in one Edge location? (.e.g. Sydney)

A: Not presently. Geo-fencing the ability to serve content only to specific countries is not currently available.

Q: Can I provide Smooth Streaming Video through the Windows Azure CDN?

Adaptive Streaming (usually HTTP Smooth streaming) can be achieved by publishing various encoded video/audio content, chopped into chunks, to Windows Azure Storage and from there onto the Windows Azure CDN. Whilst this approach is more cumbersome than using on-premise IIS the Windows Azure team is committed to running full IIS Media Services within Windows Azure web roles in the future. If you want to do this yourself you can follow and article on Creating and Publishing a Silverlight Video to Windows Azure. If you are looking for a true Silverlight streaming approach (e.g. Smooth Streaming), you will need to look at one of our CDN partners.

Q: Is the Windows Azure CDN suited for highly computational data?

A: No, the general guideline is that the Windows Azure CDN should be used for less volatile content. Its not ideal for Windows Azure Compute Storage

Q: Is there a case study for the Windows Azure CDN?

A: There are several but a good example is  Bing Maps, which makes extensive use of the Windows Azure CDN. Using the Windows Azure CDN Microsoft IT could boost map performance by 80%!