Migrating applications to Windows Azure has the potential to lower costs, reduce management overhead and dramatically improve scalability. This session gave some insight into choosing which applications are suitable for migration, how to map existing technologies to cloud equivalents, and how to overcome common migration challenges based on lesson learned from a successful SaaS migration to Windows Azure Platform.

1. Smooth Application Migration
to Windows Azure
Ronald Widha
Solutions Architect
Infusion

2. Agenda
• Identify cloud opportunities in your projects
• Recognize the next steps
• No demo

3. Me
• MCPD Windows Azure Development
• Solutions Architect at Infusion
– Windows 8 WinRT, Mobility, Kinect, Surface, WPF
– SharePoint, Dynamics CRM
• @RonaldWidha

4. What is your project?
• External facing applications
• Internal facing applications
• Data & Storage Services
• Media Services
• Analytical
• .. What else?

7. Find the one(s)
• Business value: TCO, gains
• Compliance with standards & regulations
• Cloud Readiness

8. Constraints
• Web “services”
– Web based user interface
– Network based application interfaces (TCP, UDP, HTTP)

9. Patterns
(c) 2011 Microsoft. Tech Ed Australia 2011

10. Patterns
• identity provider, authentication, authorization
• runtime hosting
• caching
• file services
• data storage & connectivity
• analysis
• integration with other services, LOBs and partner

11. Architecture
Azure Compute
Web App Media Server
Video Processing
EES (Video Processing)
Memcached FTP
Azure Storage SQL Azure
SQL Federation
Images / Casting Profile /
Input Video Operational
Resources
DB Likes / View DB
Output Video Diagnostics
DB1 DB2 DBn

12.  Lesson Learned

13. Identity Providers
• Form based authentication still works
– Table Storage membership
– SQLMembershipProvider against SQLAzure
– Universal Providers: from SQLExpress to SQLAzure
Web App Web App Web App
Profile / Profile / Profile /
Operational Operational Operational
DB DB DB

14. Identity Providers
• LDAP & Windows Authentication
– Windows Azure Active Directory - Access Control Service
– Federated Identity Service
– enable Claim based authentications

15. Runtime Hosting
Web services Web Role
• .Net
• CGI
• PHP
• NodeJS
Windows Services Worker Role
Windows Server Application - VM Role
legacy support

16. Runtime Hosting
• Roles are (currently) made out of Windows Server 2008 R2
• Web Role provides a full blown IIS
• Overloading a role can be done – but be careful
• VM Role is the last resort

17. Caching
• Reducing round trip & fast access
• Asp.Net Caching Service and clustered computing
• Out of process & distributed caching:
Windows Server App Fabric Cache, Memcached, Ncache
• Windows Azure App Fabric Cache

18. Caching
• Keep an eye on the amount of data
• Designed to be co-located with the consumer

19. File Services
Video Processing
Input Video Output Video
• Tend to be the hardest
• Local server drive is transient
• Use blob storage
• Or, mount Azure blob as XDrive

20. Data Storage
• From SQL Server to SQL Azure
• A subset:
– Analysis service, replication and service broker are not available
– Max of 150GB
– SQL server authentication only
– Partial T-SQL

21. Data Storage
• Common gotchas
– Connection termination
– Partial T-SQL support
• Migration is crucial
– SQL Azure Migration Wizard
– BACPAC
• Use Windows Azure Storage for Big Data

22. Analysis
• SQL Azure Reporting Service
• SQL Data Sync
• SQL Server Integration Services on premise
• Apache Hadoop for Windows Azure

23. Analysis
• WCF Data Services and Silverlight PivotViewer

24. Integration
• Going hybrid
• The usual suspects are supported (HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, UDP)
• Queues

25. Integration
• Leverage existing middle layer

26. Summary
• Well architected SOA system & well designed application
tends to be easier
– minimal code changes
– preserve investment
• Black boxes are difficult
• Hybrid
– comply requirement & standards
– minimize effort and cost involved

27. Summary
• Be cost conscious: be efficient
• Be scale conscious: things can run more in one instance
• Be ops conscious: things will break