At PDC 2008, Microsoft unveil it’s answer to the cloud computing phenomena. Want to know more? Check out the official Microsoft site: http://www.microsoft.com/azure/windowsazure.mspx
So to get started, you will need the following software:
1. Visual Studio 2008 SP1
2. Windows Vista SP1 (why not XP?)
3. .NET Framework installed
Firstly, download all the software package that you’ll need to develop on Windows Azure:
For these software to work, you have to ensure that you have IIS7 installed with ASP.NET enabled. You will also need to ensure that WCF HTTP Activation is enabled
1. Go to Start –> Control Panel
2. Choose Programs and Features
3. Choose “Turn Windows feature on or off”
4. Select Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0
5. Ensure that Windows Communication Foundation HTTP Activation is checked
After WCF HTTP Activation is enabled, you will proceed to install IIS7 on your machine (if you have yet to do so):
After both IIS7 and WCF HTTP Activation is installed and enabled, proceed to register ASP.net with IIS:
Go to command prompt by pressing Start and type in “cmd”, then navigate to the folder where .NET Framework is installed. Your path might be different from mine if you have installed .NET framework in a different directory.
Why are we using the v2.0.50727 folder instead of v3.5? This is because ASP.net 3.5 is actually sitting on top of ASP.net 2.0 so the tool to register is actually residing in that folder.
Next, type in aspnet_regiis –i
This command will register ASP.net with IIS and you should now satisfy the pre-requisite of installing all the tools required to make use of Windows Azure.
After installing Windows Azure SDK, Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft .NET Services SDK you should be able to find a new project in your Visual Studio:
Once the project has been created, you will see 2 projects in the solution explorer:
Roles are configuration files that you will modify to tell the Windows Azure platform your configuration settings. HelloCloud_WebRole is just like your typical ASP.net web application. You can now code as per normal like what you used to do.
After you are done, you can build/start the solution which will launch a utility (this configuration step will only happen for the first time) where it adds your existing Windows account to the Data Services (Development Storage – if you have the SSDS SDK). After you’ve been added to the service, the application will continue to execute.
Your file will then execute and you can view the page like a normal ASP.net application:
The development fabric will be launch and your site will be hosted in the mini-cloud that exist within your system. This cloud is exactly the same as the one Azure is using so you can port over to the Azure when your application is ready.
You can right click on the first icon to view the development fabric UI
Here you go! Your first application written for Windows Azure.