16-04-2012, 04:58 PM
INTRODUCING WINDOWS AZURE
Introducing Windows Azure, Final PDC10.pdf (Size: 2.27 MB / Downloads: 72)
COMPUTER
Windows Azure compute can run many different kinds of applications. Whatever an application does, however, it must be implemented as one or more roles. Windows Azure then typically runs multiple instances of each role, using built-in load balancing to spread requests across them. how this looks.
STORAGE
The simplest way to store data in Windows Azure storage is to use blobs. A blob contains binary data, and as Figure 4 suggests, there’s a simple hierarchy: Each container can contain one or more blobs. Blobs can be big—up to a terabyte—and they can also have associated metadata, such as information about where a JPEG photograph was taken or who the singer is for an MP3 file. Blobs also provide the underlying storage for Windows Azure drives, a mechanism that lets a Windows Azure role instance interact with persistent storage as if it were a local NTFS file system.
CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK
One common use of blobs is to store information that will be accessed from many different places. Think of an application that serves up videos, for example, to Flash, Silverlight, or HTML 5 clients around the
world. To improve performance in situations like this, Windows Azure provides a content delivery network. The CDN stores copies of a blob at sites closer to the clients that use it. Figure 6 illustrates this idea.
CREATING A SCALABLE WEB APPLICATION
Suppose an organization wishes to create an Internet-accessible Web application. The usual choice today is to run that application in a data center within the organization or at a hoster. In many cases, however, a cloud platform such as Windows Azure is a better choice. For example, if the application needs to handle a large number of simultaneous users, building it on a platform expressly designed to support this makes sense. The intrinsic support for scalable applications and data that Windows Azure provides can handle much larger loads than more conventional Web technologies.
CONCLUSIONS
Running applications and storing data in the cloud is the right choice for many situations. The various parts of Windows Azure work together to make this possible. Together with the Windows Azure
development environment, SQL Azure, and the rest of the Windows Azure platform, they provide a bridge for Windows developers moving into this new world.