1. 02 – Cloud Services Bret Stateham | Senior Technical Evangelist​
Sidney Andrews | Cloud Applications Consultant​

2. Module Overview Cloud Service Architecture Developing Cloud Services
Deploying Cloud Services
Monitoring Cloud Services

3. Cloud Service Architecture

4. Cloud Services - Azure’s original PaaS solution
You create the code, define the configuration, and deploy it to Azure.
Azure sets up the compute environment, runs your code then monitors and maintains it for you.
No need to get your hands dirty with the Virtual Machine configurations unless you need to.

5. Web Sites vs. Cloud Services vs. Virtual Machines
Control
Legacy App Support
Ease of Management
Ease of Mgmt
Ease
Agility

6. A collection of related service roles
What is a Cloud Service?
A collection of related service roles
Web Role
Worker Role

7. Web Roles Pre-configured Windows Server IIS Pre-Installed
Firewall open for port 80
Default Endpoint for port 80
You can run pretty much any IIS workload on it
Customizable with startup scripts

8. Worker Roles Pre-configured Windows Server Nothing else installed
No default Azure endpoints
Run custom workloads that don’t require IIS
Install additional software, etc. using scripts
Implement Logic in the WorkerRole.cs class

9. Roles vs. Instances Role (“Template”) Instance Configuration
OS Family (Server 2008, 2012)
VM Size
Role Type (Web, Worker)
Endpoints
Settings
Etc…
Code
Keep at least two instances running for improved fault tolerance and SLA. Load balanced Endpoints are automatically maintained.
Instance
Running VM, configured, with code deployed, endpoints opened, etc. *

10. Scale Up Role (“Template”) Instance Configuration
Add more instances for load balancing and improved fault tolerance when demand is high.
Role (“Template”)
Scale Up
Configuration
OS Family (Server 2008, 2012)
VM Size
Role Type (Web, Worker)
Endpoints
Settings
Etc…
Code
Keep at least two instances running for improved fault tolerance and SLA. Load balanced Endpoints are automatically maintained.
Instance
Running VM, configured, with code deployed, endpoints opened, etc. *

11. Scale Down Role (“Template”) Instance Configuration
Remove un-needed instances to save money when demand is low
Configuration
OS Family (Server 2008, 2012)
VM Size
Role Type (Web, Worker)
Endpoints
Settings
Etc…
Code
Keep at least two instances running for improved fault tolerance and SLA. Load balanced Endpoints are automatically maintained.
Instance
Running VM, configured, with code deployed, endpoints opened, etc. *

12. Compute Web / Worker Role VMs
STATELESS
A “Platform as a Service” (PaaS) solution
Preconfigured Virtual Machines (VMs)
Running Windows Server 2012 R2, 2012, or 2008
You DO NOT need to install the OS
You DO NOT need to maintain the OS
They are STATELESS
When a VM is recycled, no data is preserved
Data in local storage (local to the VM) will be lost
Persist data in Table or Blob Storage or SQL Azure
Role Virtual Machines
STATELESS

13. EMBRACE STATELESS AND YOU’LL LOVE PaaS!

14. Azure Fabric Controller & Role Instance Recovery
Server Rack
Physical Servers VM VM VM VM VM VM VM
Tables / Queues/ Blobs / Azure SQL Database
Data
Data

15. Cloud Services Windows Azure Data Center
Cloud Service (cloudservicename.cloudapp.net)
Storage (accountname.*.core.windows.net)
Web Role
Web Role
Load Bal. 80
SQL Database (server.database.windows.net)
Worker Role
Firewall
Worker Role
8081 ? ?
Lot’s of other cool stuff they can use….
Virtual Machine
1433

16. Creating a Cloud Service using the Portal

17. Developing Cloud Services

18. Azure SDK

19. Visual Studio Project Templates

20. Add & Configure Cloud Service Role Projects

21. Cloud Service & Roles in Solution Explorer
Cloud Service Project
Configuration Files (*.cscfg)
Definition File (ServiceDefinition.csdef)
Web Role Project(s)
Regular ASP.NET Projects
References to Azure Libraries
WebRole.cs RoleEntryPoint
Worker Role Project(s)
Regular Class Library Projects
WorkerRole.cs RoleEntryPoint

22. Microsoft.WindowsAzure.* Assembly References
Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Configuration
Contains the CloudConfigurationManager class
Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Diagnostics
Diagnostics monitoring classes
Diagnostics management classes
Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime
Role, RoleEntryPoint, & RoleEnvironment classes
Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage
Classes to work with Tables, Blobs and Queues

23. RoleEntryPoint Class Implementations
Called by the Service Runtime
Used to manage role lifetime
Class Names
WebRole.cs for Web Role Projects
WorkerRole.cs for Worker Role Projects
Virtual Methods
OnStart()
OnStop()
Run()

24. ServiceDefinition.csdef File
Used to set
<WebRole />
<Sites />
<WorkerRole/>
<InputEndpoints />
<InstanceInputEndpoints />
<InternalEndpoints />
<ConfigurationSettings />
<Certificates />
<LocalResources />
<Imports />
<Startup />
Changes require the package to be re-deployed

25. ServiceConfiguration.*.cscfg Files
“Cloud” version used by default when deploying to the cloud
“Local” version used by default when debugging locally
Used to set
<Instances />
<ConfigurationSettings />
<Certificates />
Must match pre-defined values in ServiceDefinition.csdef
Can be changed without re-deploying package

26. Compute and Storage Emulators
Shipped as part of the Azure SDK
Two Versions of the Compute Emulator
Full Emulator
Original Emulator
Requires Visual Studio to be run as Administrator
Express Emulator
Only supports a single instance of each role
Does NOT require Visual Studio to be run as Administrator
Storage emulator uses SQL Server LocalDB by default
Use WAStorageEmulator.exe /init to point to a different instance

27. Developing Cloud Services

28. Deploying Cloud Services

29. Packaging & Deployment
Azure Data Center Fabric Controller
Cloud Service
Deployment Slot Production or Staging
Firewall
Load Bal.
ServiceConfiguration.cscfg
Web Role
Web Role
Package (*.cspkg zip file) 80
csupload
cspack
Worker Role
Worker Role ?
Azure SDK command line tools ?

30. Deployment Slots Cloud Service Production Deployment Slot
Staging Deployment Slot
Staging Deployment Slot
Production Deployment Slot
Worker Role ?
Web Role 80
Worker Role ?
Web Role 80
Firewall
Load Bal.
Firewall
Load Bal.
CloudServiceName.cloudapp.net and Virtual IP (VIP1)
GUID.cloudapp.net and Virtual IP (VIP2)
VIP SWAP

31. Deploying Cloud Services

32. Monitoring Cloud Services

33. Monitoring via the Portal

34. Diagnostics Monitoring
Collect Logs, Performance Counters and Trace data.
Data is transferred periodically to Azure Storage
Visual Studio can help you configure it!

35. Auto Scale
Automatically scale up or scale down the number of instances for each role
Can be
Scheduled
Automatic based on CPU load
Automatic based on Queues
You can also manually scale using APIs

36. Monitoring Cloud Services