PDC 2008: More Nitty Gritty Details on Azure
From chatting with the independent developers leaving the Microsoft PDC keynote event on Monday, you can detect the buzz of excitement about Windows Azure, but there are also a number of questions. The developer sessions, which are spread out over the week-long conference, should answer many of those.
Microsoft has launched an in-depth website dedicated to the entire Azure platform. We had a chance to ask direct questions to a collection of Microsoft spokespersons. Here are some points of note:
- The key to understanding Azure on the most basic level is to think of it as Windows Server 2008 running on the web. You can develop, debug and deploy your apps using your local server and local resources, then deploy that same code to Azure, connecting to the platform’s databases, storage and identity management resources.
- The app architecture and development environments are the same, but once you move to Azure, you get the advantage of working without the constraints of your local infrastructure.
- Moving a pre-existing or legacy app from your local Windows server to the Azure platform will require only minimal changes. A Microsoft rep says “Azure’s services have heritage in the Windows Server environment.”
- Azure only runs inside Microsoft. It’s not available as a product you can use to create your own cloud environment.
- Azure’s data centers are only in North America right now. Microsoft is investing in data centers now to increase its geographic footprint.
- OpenID support will be available in Azure. For identity management, Microsoft LiveID is available now as part of the Live Services, but a rep says this is only the first step towards being a full OpenID provider. Update: Here’s the official word on OpenID support from Microsoft. We’ll have a follow-up post soon.
- The SDK has support for VisualStudio right now. Support for Eclipse, Python, Ruby on Rails, and PHP is listed as “coming soon.”
- Development tools include an isolated environment for testing with dedicated storage and processor resources. There are also command-line tools and VisualStudio plugins that will allow local debugging.
- Pricing details have not yet been announced, but Microsoft says there will be a tiered pricing plan competitive with what’s already on the market. That means storage, processor resources and database size will be charged on an as-needed basis, just like Amazon EC2 except (most likely) on a much larger scale.
- Unlike EC2, it’s unclear if the storage service will be persistent. So far, we know that once you deploy to Azure your data will be physically stored “close to your computational resources,” there will be triple replication for fail-safe performance, and you have access to your data via REST. A Microsoft rep says that data will be a “priced service node,” which the company isn’t ready to discuss. But it sounds like you’ll be able to choose between persistent and non-persistent data storage services, each at different prices.
Want to follow the buzz on Monday morning’s debut of Windows Azure? The best place to look is Twitter. Do searches for the hash tags #pdc2008 and #azure to see what the developers in attendance (and those listening in from afar) are saying.
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