Windows Azure Features and Technical Support Options
UPDATED POST CLICK HERE Last Updated: June 04, 2014
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[Disclaimer: This is not an official document regarding Windows Azure Support Structure.]
Last Updated: April 18, 2013 (Revision 2.0)
The following addresses some of the confusion that has been raised after a recent change in technical support for Windows Azure and SQL Database along with any supporting services.
As of January 22nd, 2013, Microsoft Commercial & Technical Services Support implemented a paid support model based on subscription-based model. These changes still allow customers that have existing support benefits through MSNDN, TechNet and MPM to receive support. And of course we support Premier customers. Here is the page that allows you to compare the subscription- based Support Plans. [ Explore Support Plans ]
Windows Azure features and services fall into one of these statuses:
General Availability (GA) : Features under this category can be used for production purposes. As features under General Availability is fully supported by Microsoft Paid Support Plans.
Preview: Feature categorized under Preview should be used only for testing and development purposes. These features are not ready for production use. A feature with a Preview Status is typically supported through the Microsoft Communities.
Note: For More information and for Service Level Agreements: https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/preview-status/
Terms of Use for Windows Azure Preview Features: https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/legal/preview-terms-of-use/
"You also acknowledge that the Preview Features are not covered by any Service Level Agreement pertaining to Windows Azure and that the Preview Features are "pre-release" products for purposes of any terms relating to warranties in your agreement to use Windows Azure". [Quoted text has been extracted from Terms of Use for Windows Azure Preview Features]
Private Preview: This status is not very common and you need to provide brief description before you can get access. Current example would be Big Compute.
To see which status a feature falls into please check this page (https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/details ). This page is kept up to date as features are released.
Your Windows Azure subscription entitles you to support for Windows Azure Services available within the management portal that are in the General Availability state. You are billed based on resource consumption – even for some features that are in a Preview or Private Preview state. To receive Technical Support, you need to have Support Plan or be entitled to support benefits through some other program.
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Status |
Microsoft Paid Support |
Forum Support |
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Mobile Services - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/mobile-services/ |
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Windows Azure Mobile Services |
Preview |
Not Available |
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Web Sites – https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/web-sites/ |
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Windows Azure Web Sites |
Preview |
Not Available |
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Windows Azure Virtual Machines (Iaas) - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/virtual-machines/ |
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Virtual Machines for Windows |
GA |
Available |
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Virtual Machines for Linux |
GA |
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Virtual Machines for SQL Server |
GA |
Available |
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Windows Azure Virtual Network |
GA |
Available |
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Cloud Services - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/cloud-services/ |
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VM Role |
Discontinued |
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Worker Role |
GA |
Available |
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Web Role |
GA |
Available |
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Data Management - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/data-management/ |
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SQL Database (SQL Azure Database) |
GA |
Available |
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Tables, Blobs, Queues, Drives |
GA |
Available |
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Recovery Services : https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/recovery-services/ |
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Windows Azure Backup |
Preview |
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Hyper-V Recovery Manager |
Preview |
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Business Analytics - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/business-analytics/ |
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Business Analytics in Windows Azure Virtual Machines |
Preview |
Not Available |
Click Here |
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SQL Reporting |
GA |
Available |
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Data Marketplace |
Available |
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Hadoop for Big Data |
Preview |
Not Available |
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Windows Azure HDInsight : https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/hdinsight/ |
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HDInsight Service |
Preview | ||
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Caching - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/caching/ |
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Content Delivery Network (CDN) |
GA |
Available |
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Windows Azure Cache Service (Shared Cache) |
GA |
Available |
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Windows Azure Role Based Caching (Dedicated, Co-located) |
GA |
Available |
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Networking - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/networking/ |
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Windows Azure Virtual Network |
GA |
Available |
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Windows Azure Connect |
Preview |
Not Available |
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Windows Azure Traffic Manager |
Preview |
Not Available |
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Identity - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/identity/ |
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Windows Azure Active Directory* |
GA |
Available |
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Windows Azure AD Access Control Service (ACS) |
GA |
Available |
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Messaging - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/messaging/ |
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Windows Azure Service Bus |
GA |
Available |
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Queues |
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Media Services - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/media-services/ |
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Windows Azure Media Services |
GA |
Available |
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Windows Azure Store (in the Azure Management Portal under 'Add Ons') |
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Windows Azure Store |
Preview |
Not Available |
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BigCompute - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/big-compute/ |
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HPC |
Preview |
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SQL Data Sync |
Preview |
Not Available |
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TFS deployment to Windows Azure |
Preview |
Not Available |
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GIT deployment to Windows Azure |
Preview |
Not Available |
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Windows Azure Online BackUp |
Preview |
Not Available |
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*Few sub features still in preview
Links to all Windows Azure Forums: https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windowsazureplatform,azuremarketplace,windowsazureplatformctp
Thanks to Jeff Wilkes, Tim Coffey, Kristin Bardwell, Avkash Chauhan, Narahari Dogiparthi for reviewing this blog post and providing valuable inputs.
(This might not be the complete list of services, I will try to keep this updated)
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Abhishek Anand
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Windows Azure Technical Support