FAQ: Windows Azure Platform, Windows Azure and Competitors
Recently I heard a lot of different questions about the Windows Azure Platform. In this FAQ series, I will answer the most frequently asked ones.
General issues
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What is the Windows Azure Platform?
The Windows Azure Platform is a scalable Internet-based cloud computing services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers. The Windows Azure platform provides a wide choice of functions for creating applications at all levels: from web applications for users to complex corporate systems. It includes an operating system for cloud computing and a set of services for developers. Key components of the Windows Azure platform are Windows Azure, Microsoft SQL Azure, and AppFabric.
What is Windows Azure?
Windows Azure provides developers with on-demand application execution and scalable storage facilities that enable them to host, scale, and manage web applications on the Internet using Microsoft data centers.
What is Microsoft SQL Azure?
Microsoft SQL Azure is a Microsoft SQL Server data platform implementation that allows you to use its capabilities in the cloud environment as web services. SQL Azure provides a wide range of services for relational databases, reporting, analytics, and data synchronization with mobile users, remote offices, and business partners.
What is Microsoft SQL Azure Database?
The Microsoft SQL Azure Database is a relational database service for cloud computing based on SQL Server technologies. It provides a highly available, scalable multi-client database service that is hosted by Microsoft in the cloud. The SQL Azure Database makes it easy to prepare and deploy multiple databases. Developers do not need to install, customize, fix software or manage it. The solution has built-in high availability and fault tolerance and does not require physical administration. SQL Azure Database supports Transact-SQL. Customers can apply existing Transact-SQL development skills and the familiar relational database model for symmetry with existing local databases. The SQL Azure Database provides significant economic benefits by helping to reduce development costs by leveraging existing tools and symmetry between on-premises and cloud databases.
What is the service bus and access control AppFabric platform Windows Azure?
The services bus and access control included in the Windows Azure AppFabric component are web development services that simplify the connection and collaboration of Windows Azure applications and SQL Azure databases with existing and new Windows Server resources. These services, based on the Windows Azure operating system, provide connectivity and access control for customers who need to integrate cloud services with local systems or to interact with other organizations.
The service bus provides flexible connectivity for services and applications outside of firewalls and networks using various communication scenarios. The access control service provides federated, claims-based access control for REST web services. With their help, developers can create distributed or composite applications and services.
What are the main benefits of the Windows Azure platform?
Customers and partners who use the Windows Azure platform gain the following benefits.
- Flexibility. Partners and customers can take advantage of development tools, automated service management and a global data center network to more quickly respond to customer needs, focus their efforts on strengthening competitive advantages and expand into new markets.
- Efficiency. The Windows Azure platform improves productivity and operational efficiency by reducing capital investment. Customers and partners can reduce operating costs for some processes by 30–40% in 3 years. Payment based on actual consumption, packages and discounts for partners reduce initial costs when implementing cloud services and provide predictable IT costs.
- Concentration on the main thing. Partners and customers can concentrate on serving customers and meeting their needs rather than spending time and resources on managing technological infrastructure. The Windows Azure platform allows partners and customers to spend less time on solving current problems and to pay more attention to strengthening competitive advantages.
- Simplicity. Partners and customers can use existing development skills in familiar languages, such as .NET and PHP, to create web applications and services, as well as manage them both in cloud data centers and in local ones.
- Reliability. Partners and customers can rely on enterprise-class service, supported by robust service level agreements and extensive web services experience.
Where can I find more detailed information about customers and partners who have developed solutions on the Windows Azure platform?
You can find out how customers and partners, such as Kelly Blue Book, Associated Press, Origin Digital and Lokad, have developed solutions on the Windows Azure platform, here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/evidence
What languages is the Windows Azure platform available in?
Currently, the Windows Azure platform is available in English.
In which countries is the Windows Azure platform available for commercial use?
Currently, the Windows Azure platform is available in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Trinidad and Tobago .
Is Windows Azure currently available in Russia?
No, it is not available, but we are consistently developing our cloud services in Russia and are preparing them for launch. - Follow our announcements.
When will Windows Azure be available in Russia?
We have not yet announced the date of official availability of Windows Azure in Russia.
Is Windows Azure a hosted service exclusively?
Not. Windows Azure is not Grid computing, not a software package, and not a standard hosted service. Windows Azure is an integrated development and deployment environment for services, as well as their management, deployed in Microsoft data centers. It runs on a robust and efficient core of computing resources and simple storage capabilities, and also supports a wide range of development tools and protocols.
Does the BPOS package work on Windows Azure platform?
Over time, we will expand the capabilities of Microsoft Online Services to make them available to the scalability and flexibility provided by the Windows Azure platform.
Will the BPOS package ever work on Windows Azure platform?
The current Business Productivity Online Suite (Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online and Live Meeting) was developed and released before the Windows Azure platform appeared. Although both products use the same work items (data centers, training and identity infrastructure, basic commercial platform), BPOS services were originally designed to work based on current releases of server systems, such as Exchange 2007.
When will the BPOS package work on Windows Azure platform?
We cannot give exact dates, but gradually we will bring these products closer together. For example, the underlying storage technology in the latest release of the Exchange Hosted Archive is now SQL Azure.
Why are Live services not part of the Windows Azure platform?
We presented the CTP version of the Windows Azure platform at the PDC conference in October 2008 to collect feedback and comments from community members. One of the most frequent and important requests was related to the composition of the Windows Azure platform. Customers and partners indicated that they would like to see clarity in the platform and that it should include an operating system, database and connectivity. We took these reviews into account: currently, the Windows Azure platform contains Windows Azure, SQL Azure and AppFabric components.
Live services are an integral part of combined software packages and Microsoft services. They are not part of the Windows Azure platform, but developers can use them to create functional and attractive solutions on the Windows Azure platform. This also applies to SharePoint and CRM services. Customers and partners will be able to use them along with the Windows Azure platform to achieve their business goals.
Windows Azure Questions
What is Windows Azure Drive?
Windows Azure Drive allows Windows Azure applications to attach a blob of a page (BLOB), which is a virtual hard disk with a single NTFS volume. All entries in the application are securely executed in the BLOB, and reading occurs from the cache of the local virtual machine or from the BLOB page if there is no cache. Because of this, applications can unload and load virtual hard disks using BLOBs, and the data stored on virtual disks is saved when virtual machines fail over because they are also stored in BLOB pages.
What features provide new diagnostic features in Windows Azure to developers?
New diagnostic functions in Windows Azure provide logging using standard .NET APIs. They can also be used to collect logs and other diagnostic data, such as performance counter readings, to monitor application status.
What is the API for managing Windows Azure services?
APIs for managing Windows Azure services are REST-based APIs that allow customers to automate the deployment, scaling, and management of an application.
Does Windows Azure provide flexible virtual machine sizes?
Yes. Developers can now choose the size of virtual machines to run applications based on their resource requirements. Computing instances of Windows Azure come in four different sizes to accommodate complex applications and workloads.
| Compute instance size | CPU | Memory | Instance Storage | I / O rate |
| Small | 1.6 GHz | 1.75 GB | 225 GB | Average |
| Average | 2 x 1.6 GHz | 3.5 GB | 490 GB | High |
| Big | 4 x 1.6 GHz | 7 GB | 1000 GB | High |
| Very big | 8 x 1.6 GHz | 14 GB | 2040 GB | High |
Each computing instance of Windows Azure represents a virtual server. Many resources are allocated to a specific instance, but some (related to I / O speed — for example, network bandwidth and disk subsystem) are shared by all computing instances of a single physical host. During periods of underutilization of a shared resource, you can increase the share of its use for a given instance.
Different types of instances provide different minimum performance based on shared resources depending on their size. Computing instances with a high I / O rate indicator, as indicated in the table above, correspond to an increased share of shared resources. If there is a larger share in total resources, the I / O rate will be consistently higher.
Will Microsoft add virtual machine functionality to Windows Azure to expand the range of supported applications?
Yes, Microsoft will add a virtual machine feature to Windows Azure to expand the range of supported applications. Thanks to the deployment of virtual machines, developers will be able to run a wide range of Windows applications in Windows Azure and at the same time take full advantage of the built-in automated service management capabilities. The feature is currently available in test mode.
What will be the price of this proposed virtual machine feature in Windows Azure?
At the moment we are not reporting prices for the proposed function of Windows Azure virtual machines. However, the pricing model used for Windows Azure will be used to determine prices.
Does Windows Azure support Windows Server Hyper-V virtual machines?
Not. However, moving applications from Windows Azure to Windows Server and vice versa is facilitated by using a common basic Windows programming model.
Will Microsoft license Windows Azure to work in data centers of customers and partners?
Over time, Microsoft will make Windows Azure technology available to work in data centers customers and partners. This will be implemented by embedding Windows Azure features in our local products, such as Windows Server and System Center.
Competitor Questions
How is Microsoft's cloud computing strategy different from IBM, Google or Amazon? What advantages do you offer compared to competitors?
The main advantage of cloud computing is a wide choice, and Microsoft is in the best position to offer companies and developers the widest choice when using cloud services. Microsoft is fundamentally different from Amazon, Google, and all other competitors in that it allows customers to use local technologies, cloud technologies, or both types as part of the Microsoft Software + Services (S + S) strategy. Microsoft has everything you need to provide the most comprehensive set of services, including private customers and companies, and to provide developers with the most functional tool for accessing cloud computing.
How does Windows Azure look like compared to Amazon Web Services?
Windows Azure is a cloud service that uses computing resources similar to physical computers (and with their help receives payment), but it has a number of important differences from platforms, such as AWS, offering virtual machines on demand. Platforms offering only virtual machines are in many ways similar to hosting services: the user needs to configure and manage virtual machines and their software themselves. When using Windows Azure, you only need to provide the application, as well as instructions regarding the number of instances. Everything else, including updating the system software, the platform does itself.
The Windows Azure platform also offers features for conveniently connecting applications and databases hosted in the cloud to other hosted and local software components. These functions are provided through the service bus and the access control service. Unlike other offerings, such as AWS, which provide functions primarily for connecting one EC2 instance to another EC2 instance, the services bus and the access control service are designed to connect applications regardless of their location. This means that Windows Azure applications and SQL Azure databases can connect to applications beyond the boundaries of the organization and firewalls, with many options and configuration options. Thanks to this, partners and customers gain flexibility and freedom and can deploy applications to any location in accordance with the requirements of their business.
Although the Windows Azure platform offers a Content Delivery Network feature similar to Cloudfront (Amazon CDN offer), Windows Azure CDN has more coverage than Amazon offers.
How are the prices for the Windows Azure platform comparable to the prices for Amazon Web Services?
First, Amazon is an IaaS provider, and Windows Azure is Microsoft’s PaaS offering. This means that the Windows Azure platform has built-in features such as an operating system, database, load balancing, backup, automated service management, automated high availability tools, physical administration, integrated development environment and monitoring.
Second, Amazon uses a multi-tier pricing system for various AWS products. Based on publicly available information and user reviews, most customers need to focus on Amazon’s highest price levels. Windows Azure prices are lower than many of these Amazon upper price levels. Instead of increasing the complexity and application of several levels, we provide our customers with uniform prices based on the actual consumption of computing resources, storage, data transmissions, etc. According to the general concept, we have simplified the number of indicators. For example, in Amazon EC2, there are 9 indicators to track usage, and in Windows Azure only 4. These usage indicators apply to instances of all sizes. In SQL Azure, there is only one simple indicator: the price is calculated per database per month for Web Editions and Business Editions. Developers using a hosted Amazon database pay for the running time of the virtual machine instance, regardless of the actual use of the database. Since virtual machines do not provide data storage, databases must be stored in external storage, which is charged separately. In addition, developers incur additional costs for backing up and replicating data. We also offer special prices to attract partners.
How are prices for Windows Azure platform comparable to prices for Google App Engine?
Windows Azure platform prices are comparable to Google AppEngine (GAE) for storage and data transfers. Our prices for a vault transaction are more profitable than GAE prices for vault operations. GAE services are also less profitable in terms of prices because they do not have service level agreements. GAE does not provide relational database services. SQL Azure offers a relational database service for which there is only one simple indicator: the price is calculated per database per month for the Web Edition and Business Edition.
How does SQL Azure Database differ from Amazon SimpleDB?
Unlike Amazon SimpleDB, SQL Azure Database offers a familiar development model based on a relational database using T-SQL and provides all the benefits associated with it, including a wide range of familiar query tools, tools, and a knowledge base.
How does the SQL Azure Database differ from the Amazon Relational Database service?
On October 27, 2009, Amazon announced the release of a beta version of the new relational database service, the Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS). As part of this service, the MySQL 5.1 platform is offered, hosted in the cloud, and limited database management capabilities (backups and patches); fee is charged for each database based on the running time of the computing resources. Amazon offers all the features of MySQL, so existing applications, tools, and code based on MySQL 5.1 can run unchanged on Amazon. To monitor, manage, and expand instances, customers need to use Amazon Cloudwatch. Amazon is positioning this service for developers and individual companies using MySQL, and points out advantages such as ease of deployment, manageability, compatibility, scalability, reliability, compatibility with other Amazon services, security, and cost-effectiveness.
SQL Azure offers a self-managed database with the following key benefits:
- High availability. SQL Azure has robust three-level protection against failures with instantaneous redundancy and automatic failover; installing patches and maintenance does not cause downtime. Amazon RDS does not provide high availability.
- Prices are 3-10 times lower. The cost of SQL Azure is 3-10 times lower than Amazon RDS (while Amazon does not provide high availability). SQL Azure prices start at $ 9.99 a month, and Amazon RDS starts at $ 79 a month.
- No infrastructure management required. SQL Azure independently configures, scales, installs, replicates, monitors for high availability, and installs updates. Amazon RDS only provides backup and patching.
- Elastic scaling. Azure SQL databases can initially be small and then gradually expand automatically. You do not need to analyze I / O utilization, backup, and pay for unused space above a minimum of 1 GB. With Amazon, customers have to select and manually change instances, reload databases, and so on.
- Compatible with SQL Server and SQL Server Ecosystem. SQL Server applications and knowledge can be used in SQL Azure. SQL Azure supports work with SQL Server-based services (reporting, analytics, integration), development and management tools, as well as other Microsoft Internet services, such as Windows Azure and SharePoint.
- Simple business model. The SQL Azure Database has a very simple and predictable pricing structure and business model. You do not need to measure I / O requests, storage size, and perform complex calculations. You can start with a small size and gradually increase it, paying for the actual use.
Useful materials:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/113312/
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