Similar to the initial identity crisis that .NET suffered, defining Azure and its associated component/services has evolved over time. If you remember back to the early days of .NET, I believe even a version of NT was labeled as .NET Server during Beta releases. Microsoft branded everything with a .NET prefix or suffix. Azure has largely flown under the radar, so any name changes have probably been less noticed- but they’ve been happening nonetheless. The platform naming current stands as follows…
Live Services
Microsoft offers a number of hosted applications utilizing the Live Framework. The Live Services provide developer’s access to this application data. Additionally, this framework provides data synchronization services between desktops and mobile devices.
- Windows Live Messenger – Microsoft’s messenger code can be integrated into your application quickly with ‘pre-built’ components. Of course new accounts can be created at any time, but Microsoft’s claim is that you immediately extend your application to any of the 300+ million existing users.
- Contacts – Allows people to use their Windows Live contact information (including Hotmail, Messenger, and Mobile contacts) with your site—while allowing them to keep complete control of their data. Initially there was a Beta program for something called the Contacts Control. However as of September 2009, this control is no longer supported by Microsoft and developers have been asked to remove it from their application. Instead there is a RESTful API which is now available which is identified as the Contacts API. This API offers a more granular control over the user experience and allows users to grant and revoke permission to their data on a site-by-site basis. Windows Live ID Delegated Auth provides the protocols to manage the permissioning process. Microsoft apparently intends to keep an army of software developers employed for a long time because Live ID is supported by three different SDKs. These SDK’s are described in the following section.
- Windows Live ID – If 300+ million messenger users aren’t enough for you then 460+ million Windows Live credentials may be just the thing you need to motivate you to create an identity-aware application.
- Web Authentication
- Client Authentication
- Delegate Authentication
Without a full investigation, Web and Client authentication seem to be similar in the sense that they extend Windows Live ID authentication to your web or desktop application respectively. Delegate Authentication allows the applications you design, to access user information stored by Live Services. Additional information regarding these API’s can be found at http://dev.live.com/liveid/
AppFabric (previously known as .NET Services)
The AppFabric contains those systems, frameworks, API’s that developers rely upon to create and maintain applications which run in the cloud or on their premises. The AppFabric was previously known as BizTalk Services. The AppFabric consists of the following:
- Service Bus – The Service Bus is all about endpoints. Cloud based applications, by definition are designed to run in the cloud- off premises. Constructing applications that run ‘somewhere else’ need to be communicated with- either by additional web services that comprise the solution and/or web applications that present a front-end to the user representing the application. Additionally, there are challenges with communicating through firewalls and dealing with NAT’s (Network Address Translation). The Service Bus exposes endpoints as URI’s and helps deal with these network topology issues.
- Access Control – Simply put, Access Control provides a means to control access and define/manage permissions to a cloud-based application. This service manages user identity with tokens and associated claims. A detailed paper will be posted shortly describing the capabilities of this service. As with the other Azure services Access Control offers a REST interface and supports standards such as X.509 certificates.
- Workflow – Cloud applications generally consist of many services hosted in various locations. Some of the activities preformed by these processes complete quickly, other’s take a significant amount of time or require prerequisite steps to complete before initiating. Workflow services allow you to organize, sequence and prioritize these operations.
For more information on AppFabric: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/appfabric/
Windows Server AppFabric
Windows Server AppFabric is a set of integrated technologies that make it easier to build, scale and manage web and composite applications that run on IIS. Windows Server AppFabric is in Beta and begins to address the issues that businesses have with wanting to host a piece of the cloud on their premises.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/app-main.aspx
SQL Azure
While the AppFabric provides table, queue and blob storage services most applications require a relational data store. Microsoft’s answer to this is SQL Azure. This database is hosted in the cloud and is based on Microsoft SQL Server and supports T-SQL. This database implementation is designed to scale to support the demands of your cloud-based application.
SharePoint Services and Dynamic CRM Services
SharePoint and Dynamic CRM Services round out the Azure Services Platform. Eventually this series of discussions and site posting may cover these services, but for the meantime, Stratton addresses SharePoint on its sister-site www.ultimatesharepoint.com.
