Mitch Tulloch - Introducing Windows Azure for IT Professionals

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Microsoft Press
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Copyright 2013 Microsoft Corporation

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013949894
ISBN: 978-0-7356-8288-7

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The Windows Azure public cloud platform is one of the three pillars of Microsofts Cloud OS vision that will transform the traditional datacenter environment, help businesses unlock insights in data stored anywhere, enable the development of a wide range of modern business applications, and empower IT to support users who work anywhere on any device while being able to manage these devices in a secure and consistent way. The other two pillars of the Cloud OS are, of course, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Microsoft System Center 2012 R2, and Microsoft Press will soon be releasing free Introducing books on these platforms as well.

Whats really exciting to me personally as an IT pro is that this is all coming at once. General Availability (GA) of these latest versions of Windows Server and System Center is currently scheduled for October 18, 2013, which is less than two months away as this book is being written. In sync with these two releases, the Windows Azure platform has also been enhanced in recent months with preview releases of new services like Windows Azure BizTalk Services, Windows Azure Traffic Manager, and Windows Azure HDInsight. And in the same timeframe, services that were previously in preview like Windows Azure Web Sites and Windows Azure Mobile Services have now reached the GA milestone.

In fact, as I write this Introduction (it happens to be the last piece of the book that Im writing) I just noticed that another new service, Windows Azure Store, has just entered preview. Fortunately, it turns out that my free Windows Azure subscription as an MSDN subscriber currently doesnt support purchasing from the Store in my geographical region, so I cant test this preview feature just yet. Im actually glad about this because I just finished writing the last chapter and dont want to go back and have to revise it again!

My point of course is that Windows Azure, the public cloud portion of Microsofts Cloud OS, is a constantly evolving platform with new features entering preview all the time. One has to draw a line somewhere though, so weve decided to title this book Introducing Windows Azure for IT Professionals as it tries to capture the essence of what Windows Azure can do for your business as Microsofts Cloud OS vision becomes a reality with the release of Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2.

Whether youre new to the Windows Azure platform or are already using it in your business, this book has something that should interest you. Most Windows Azure services are described in some detail, with screenshots used to demonstrate some of the multitude of capabilities of the platform. And for the experienced we have lots of under-the-hood insights and expert tips written by Microsoft insiders who develop, test, and use the Windows Azure platform.

So whatever your goals are in reading this book, youre going to find new things about the Windows Azure platform that will amaze and delight you. Because, as youll soon see in , Windows Azure can be anything you want it to be!

The companion content for this book can be downloaded from the following page:

http://aka.ms/IntroAzure/files

The companion content includes the Windows PowerShell script and some code samples from sidebars in of this book.

Three groups of people have helped make this book possible, and as author Id like to thank them all here.

First, the following experts at Microsoft have contributed sidebars that explain and demonstrate different aspects of the Windows Azure platform:

Ashish Goyal

Brian Hitney

Clemens Vasters

Eric Mattingly

Hai Ning

Hanu Kommalapati

John Savill

Mike Gaal

Nikhil Sachdeva

Paulo Almeida Tanaka

Robert Nottoli

Yuri Diogenes

Second, the following Microsoft insiders have peer reviewed the content of this book to help us ensure its as accurate as possible:

Hanu Kommalapati

Ivan Aspillaga Velasco

Manoj K Jain

Simon Hart