Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Azure SDK 1.3 / Tools AND Azure Training Kit November Update

by pbutlerm via Windows Azure Tribes on 12/1/2010 11:06:00 PM

We have just release the 1.3 version of the Azure SDK, Azure Tools for Visual Studio and the Training Kit. This is the information and links for them:

Azure Software Development Kit (SDK) 1.3:

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=7a1089b6-4050-4307-86c4-9dadaa5ed018&displaylang=en

• Virtual Machine (VM) Role (Beta):Allows you to create a custom VHD image using Windows Server 2008 R2 and host it in the cloud.
• Remote Desktop Access: Enables connecting to individual service instances using a Remote Desktop client.
• Full IIS Support in a Web role: Enables hosting Windows Azure web roles in a IIS hosting environment.
• Elevated Privileges: Enables performing tasks with elevated privileges within a service instance.
• Virtual Network (CTP): Enables support for Windows Azure Connect, which provides IP-level connectivity between on-premises and Windows Azure resources.
• Diagnostics: Enhancements to Windows Azure Diagnostics enable collection of diagnostics data in more error conditions.
• Networking Enhancements: Enables roles to restrict inter-role traffic, fixed ports on InputEndpoints.
• Performance Improvement: Significant performance improvement local machine deployment.

Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio also includes:

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=7a1089b6-4050-4307-86c4-9dadaa5ed018&displaylang=en

• C# and VB Project creation support for creating a Windows Azure Cloud application solution with multiple roles.
• Tools to add and remove roles from the Windows Azure application.
• Tools to configure each role.
• Integrated local development via the compute emulator and storage emulator services.
• Running and Debugging a Cloud Service in the Development Fabric.
• Browsing cloud storage through the Server Explorer.
• Building and packaging of Windows Azure application projects.
• Deploying to Windows Azure.
• Monitoring the state of your services through the Server Explorer.
• Debugging in the cloud by retrieving IntelliTrace logs through the Server Explorer.

Windows Azure Platform Training Kit - November Update

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=413E88F8-5966-4A83-B309-53B7B77EDF78&displaylang=en

The November update provides new and updated hands-on labs for the Windows Azure November 2010 enhancements and the Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 1.3. These new hands-on labs demonstrate how to use new Windows Azure features such as Virtual Machine Role, Elevated Privileges, Full IIS, and more. This release also includes hands-on labs that were updated in late October 2010 to demonstrate some of the new Windows Azure AppFabric services that were announced at the Professional Developers Conference (http://microsoftpdc.com) including the Windows Azure AppFabric Access Control Service, Caching Service, and the Service Bus.
Some of the specific changes with the November update of the training kit include:

• Updated all hands-on labs to use the new Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio November 2010 (version 1.3) release
• New hands-on lab "Advanced Web and Worker Role" – shows how to use admin mode and startup tasks
• New hands-on lab "Connecting Apps With Windows Azure Connect" – shows how to use Windows Azure Connected (formerly Project "Sydney")
• New hands-on lab "Virtual Machine Role" – shows how to get started with VM Role by creating and deploying a VHD
• New hands-on lab "Windows Azure CDN" – simple introduction to the CDN
• New hands-on lab "Introduction to the Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus Futures" – shows how to use the new Service Bus features in the AppFabric labs environment
• New hands-on lab "Building Windows Azure Apps with Caching Service" – shows how to use the new Windows Azure AppFabric Caching service
• New hands-on lab "Introduction to the AppFabric Access Control Service V2" – shows how to build a simple web application that supports multiple identity providers
• Updated hands-on lab "Introduction to Windows Azure" - updated to use the new Windows Azure platform Portal
• Updated hands-on lab "Introduction to SQL Azure" - updated to use the new Windows Azure platform Portal