This document provides an overview of the Windows Azure platform, including its core services and capabilities. The key points are: 1. Windows Azure is a cloud services platform that provides scalable compute and storage services hosted in Microsoft data centers worldwide. 2. It offers web and worker roles that can scale horizontally by replicating instances as needed to handle increasing load. Storage services allow scaling to store large amounts of data cost-effectively. 3. SQL Azure extends SQL Server capabilities to the cloud, providing a scalable and reliable database service with high availability and data replication.

1. Windows Azure OverviewSimon ThurmanAzure Incubation Email: simontTwitter: @simonthurman

2. The Windows Azure PlatformWindows Azure is an internet-scale cloud services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers around the world, proving a simple, reliable and powerful platform for the creation of web applications and services.

3. Manage Resources to Provide Abstraction

4. Service Management is performed by the Fabric Controller, which controls all the resources within the data center. The Fabric Controller deploys your service and monitors the overall health of the fabric.Security and Control State-of-the-art physical security processes combined with strictly controlled OS access model. Data is replicated in multiple fault domains in location selected by the customer. Virtualized Computation provides massive application scalability. Customers can build a combination of web and worker roles. Those roles can be replicated as needed to scale the applications and computational processing power.Storage Services allow customers to scale to store large amounts of data – in any format – for any length of time, only paying for what they use or store.State-of-the-art data centers located around the world. Host your applications and data securely, accessible from everywhere you allow.Windows Azure Automates the Management of Your IT Resources

5. Compute Services in Windows AzureGOAL: Massive ScalabilityTwo role types: Web Role & Worker RoleWindows Azure applications are built with web roles, worker roles, or a combination of both deployed to a number of instances.Scale out – not up – by replicating worker instances as needed.Allow applications to scale user and compute processing independently.Each instance runs on its own VM (virtual machine), replicated as needed

6. Defining Windows Azure RolesBuild services and solutions with any combination of Web and Worker Roles

7. Communicate via HTTP/HTTPS, TCP/IP, and ports other than 80 and 443

8. Develop with Microsoft and non-Microsoft tools: ASP.NET, WCF, other .NET tools, Java, Python, Ruby, etc.WEB ROLEInteracts with end-user or web services

9. Communicate with worker roles directly or via queues WORKER ROLEInitiates their own requests for data or tasks from the queue

10. Similar to a "batch job” or Windows serviceWindows Azure storage is an application managed by the Fabric Controller

11. Windows Azure applications can use native storage, MySQL within a VM, or SQL Azure

12. Application state is kept in storage services, so worker roles can replicate as needed