With the Windows Azure Service Management API we can control nearly all aspects of a Windows Azure deployment. This allows us to easily manage areas such as deployments, service upgrades, and subscription management. Additionally, with the PowerShell cmdlets we gain even greater power over the management of a Windows Azure service. In this webcast, we will take a look at managing a Windows Azure service from a developer's point of view. We'll look at using both the Windows Azure Service Management API and PowerShell cmdlets to exercise control over our Windows Azure services.

1. Windows Azure for Developers
Service Management API
Wednesday, January 11th 2012

2. About Me
Michael S. Collier
National Architect,
Windows Azure
michael.collier@neudesic.com
@MichaelCollier
www.MichaelSCollier.com

3. Today’s Agenda
• Windows Azure Overview
• Service Management REST API
• PowerShell Cmdlets
• Scenarios
• Q&A

4. Windows Azure Primer
• Flexible and powerful platform for developers
• Build, deploy, and manage applications
– Microsoft’s world-class datacenters
– Application management
– Developer SDK
• On-demand services
– Compute
– Storage
– Networking
– Identity Management
– Caching
• Ideal situations
– Scalability
– Availability
– Fault Tolerance

5. Windows Azure Primer
Business Portal
Developer Portal User
Code
REST Service Management Service
Runtime
API
Storage Cluster
Compute Cluster
… … VM Setup
VS Tools
…
Cloud VM
WA SDK
REST
Desktop MSFT Datacenters
Image courtesy: Windows Azure Training Kit, November 2011

6. Windows Azure Terms to Know
Term Description
Subscription An account – related to billing.
Storage Account Windows Azure storage services for the subscription. Zero or
more storage accounts.
Hosted Service Container for service deployments. Zero or more hosted services.
Deployment A running service in either production or staging deployment
environment. Reference by a deployment ID or environment.
Deployment Environment Staging or Production
Certificate X509 certificate for managing a subscription
Location One of 6 worldwide Windows Azure datacenters
Affinity Group Grouping of storage accounts & hosted services; performance
benefits
Operation A management operation against the Storage Management API
Operating Systems Guest operating system supported by Windows Azure

7. Windows Azure Management Options
• Developer Portal (http://windows.azure.com)
– Windows Live ID
– Co-admin support
• Microsoft tools
– System Center Operations Manager
– Visual Studio (dev)
– MMC (http://wapmmc.codeplex.com/)
• 3rd Party Tools
– Cerebrata
– Quest Software
• Service Management API

8. Understanding the
SERVICE MANAGEMENT API

9. Can we . . . Or Can We Not?
Yes No
• Manage hosted services • New subscription
– Create
– Update
• Billing
– Start, stop, delete • SQL Azure
• Manage storage accounts • ACS
• Certificates
• Affinity Groups
• List Locations
• OS Information
• Subscription History &
Details

10. Versions
• New versions added to support new features
• Request Header
– x-ms-version
– YYYY-MM-DD
• “2011-10-01” is the most recent
– New
• Rollback update or upgrade
• Get Subscription
– Updated
• Get Hosted Service Properties
• Get Deployment

11. Authentication
• X509 v3 certificates
• Maximum of 10 certificates per subscription
• Shouldn’t contain the private key
• Keep it secure!
• Must use HTTPS
• Can be a self-signed certificate
– IIS
– makecert
– Visual Studio publish wizard (new)

12. Exploring the Windows Azure Service Management
REST API

13. Getting Back to Basics with REST
• Base endpoint:
https://management.core.windows.net/<subscription-id>
• MSDN will be your friend
– http://bit.ly/AzureServiceMgmtRefMC
• Async Calls
– Need to poll to find the status
– API returns 202 (Accepted)
– Don’t poll too frequently – may get throttled

14. Create a New Hosted Service
DEMO

15. Exploring the Windows Azure
POWERSHELL CMDLETS

16. Cmdlets are your friend
• Windows Azure PowerShell Cmdlets
– http://wappowershell.codeplex.com
– Setup scripts install the 64bit version by default!
– Working with Visual Studio or Team Build? Need the 32bit
version
• Cerebrata’s Azure Management Cmdlets
– http://www.cerebrata.com/Products/AzureManagementCmdlets
• Ideal for
– IT Pros
– Developers
– TFS

17. Deploy a Hosted Service with PowerShell
DEMO

18. Scenarios
• Automated processes
– TFS
• Scheduled deployments to staging for integration testing
• REST or PowerShell Cmdlets
– Developer productivity
• Deploy to Azure for testing
• Clean-up tasks
• Instance Scaling
– WASABI
• Part of Enterprise Library 5.0 for Windows Azure Integration Pack
(http://bit.ly/EntLib5AzureMC)
• Source code available. Good example of using the API.
– Custom Code

19. Resources
• Windows Azure Training Kit
– http://bit.ly/AzureTrainingKitMC
• Mackenzie, Neil. Microsoft Windows Azure Development
Cookbook, Packt, 2011.
– http://www.packtpub.com/microsoft-windows-azure-
development-cookbook/book
• Michael Washam’s blog
– http://michaelwasham.com
• Tom Hollander’s blog
– http://blogs.msdn.com/b/tomholl
• MSDN
– http://bit.ly/AzureServiceMgmtRefMC