Azure Tools Belt: SQL Azure Migration Wizard

One of the questions that clients often ask is: What tools could be used for Windows Azure development. Everyone knows that you need a web browser and a code editor (ex: Visual Studio), but what else? So, I decided to do a serie of posts to present them. I’m therefore beginning with the indispensable SQL Azure Migration Wizard, since it’s used more often at the beginning of a project.

This serie is not meant to be an exhaustive list of all tools. Some other excellent tools are surely available. If you think I have forgotten one or want me to talk about one, let me know. I will be more than happy to adding it to the list.

What is SQL Azure Migration Wizard?

Most of the Azure projects that are starting these days are migration project or at least contain some data migration. The SQL Azure Migration Wizard, like its name implies , is a tool that will take you be the hand and help you migrate your database. In a few clicks the wizard will bring the database schemas and the data to the cloud.

Because Azure SQL database is very similar, but not totally compatible to Windows SQL Server 2008,the Wizard will also provide you a list of things that you should take care of like a missing clustered key.

How to use it

First, I will assume that you already have an active Azure account, if you don’t, please follow the instructions on this web page. Then of course you will need the SQLAzureMW tool that you can download on the CodePlex page project. Let’s do a simple migration from a local database to SQLAzure.

	To get started, just double-click on the executable. Some options will be proposed, but in our case we need to select: Analyse / Migrate SQL Database (second choice from the top)
	Then pick your source. One nice thing with keeping the Master database selected, the list of all available databases on the specified server will be populated. Once you are done, click the Connect button.
	The database used in this demo is a subset of Northwind database with three tables: Products, Suppliers, and Categories. Once you have selected what you wanted to migrate, click the Next button.
	Here three outputs are generated: A result Summary: This explains all the steps made to extract the schemas and data of the database. The analysis will also highlight some incompatibilities and suggest some modifications. In this case, since I have not added any primary keys or indexes, it warned me that a clustered index will be added. SQL Script: A nicely written database creation script that you can save for maintenance. Data file: Since one of the best way to import massive data in AzureSQL database is by using BCP, some data files have been prepared to be imported. Click the Next button to continue.
	For the next step you will need a database server in Azure. So connect to the Azure portal, and from the left panel select Database. You can than create a new server by clicking the Create button. You could also use a server that you already have. Put the server name in your clipboard you will needed.
	Back to our SQLAzureMW, paste the full name of the server in the Server name dropdown. It should be something like xxx.database.windows.net Then enter the credentials of your SQL server. Note that the username should be follow by “@” and the first part of the server name. Click Connect when you’re done.
	Since no database was created, the list is empty. Let’s create a new database by clicking the Create Database button. A popup window will ask for the name, location and format of the database to be created. Click Create Database, and after few seconds you should be able to click the Next button to continue.
	To see that the new database is really created go on the AzurePortal: you will see it in the database section.
	After a quick confirmation the migration will be done. A Nice summary is displayed so you can see if something went wrong. The migration has been performed successfully, click Exit.
	You can now connect to the new database by SQL Server Management Studio or by the Azure Management Portal. You can see that the three tables are there and the data has also been migrated.
	Like it was supposed to, the index was successfully created. This is really magic!

Conclusion

To conclude, let’s say that this tool is really fantastic and that you should definitely try it if you are planning to do a migration. It will save you a lot of time. Please note that the SQLAzureMW does not manage logins and users. I therefore strongly suggest using the Azure User Management Console – AUMC, available on CodePlex.

If you have any comments, suggestions or experiences to share, feel free to let me know by adding a comment, by e-mail or by the contact page. Next post is about the Windows Azure Auto-scaling Application Block (WASABi)


~Frank

References

• Windows Azure : https://windows.azure.com
• CodePlex SQLAzureWM: http://sqlazuremw.codeplex.com
• Management Portal: https://manage.windowsazure.com
• Tools and Utilities Support:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ee621784.aspx
• Azure User Management Console – AUMC: http://aumc.codeplex.com

Reading Notes #50

Cloud

• 5 Reasons Why Your Company Is Safer in the Cloud - This is only 5 reasons why your data is safer in the cloud but 5 good one. What do YOU do to make your data safe?
• Simple .NET Database Programming using SQL Azure - Nice tutorial to get started with Azure SQL when developing an application.
• Cool Azure InfoGraphic - See how the cloud is creating job...
• Azure Store XRay - Great tool that improve the simplicity to work with Azure Storage Analytics. Available on CodePlex, a project to follow.
• Windows Azure Multi-Tenant (Hosted) Sample - Another nice Codeplex project that will require our attention.
• Outside-the-Box Pizza, Part 5: Hosting the Front End in the Cloud (David Pallmann) - I like this series about buildind a complete application. This post is focusing on how to structure your front end to be cost efficient and stay scalable.
• Announcing New Windows Azure Services to Deliver “Hybrid Cloud” (blogs.msdn.com) - This is a great news! Joy Joy Joy! (this is me dancing the happy dance) When this note will be posted the Meet Windows Azure event will be past, I hope you didn't miss it.
• New - Programmatic Access to AWS Billing Data - Good idea, this could be very useful for a multi-tenant solution. With this tool you can parse your billing data and breakdown the information to generate some invoices.
• Meet the New Windows Azure - Really nice summary of the keynotes. If you can’t watch the video (or want shorter version) then this post is for you.

Programming

• Site44 Turns Dropbox Folders Into Websites - Really good initiative! It couldn't be easier to build AND maintain a web site than doing it using DropBox.... brilliant.
• Using GitHub for Windows with non-GitHub repositories - Get started with GitHub for Windows. This post is doing step by step everything so be connected with a Codeplex project.
• Marked As Pertinent - The perfect post to read when looking for a NoSql (or a key/value store), because this post compare a lot of them.

Miscellaneous

• How to Speak More Strategically (Peter) - Nice post and nice reflection too.
• You're Not Trying Hard Enough (Dave Jafari) - Nice post that explains working harder is less efficient than working smartly.
• It’s not about them, it’s about you - Easier to say then to do. It's true that the ideas of what other people will think is difficult or forget, but if you succeed you will be free.

~ Frank

Reading Notes #48

Cloud

• Windows Azure Start-up Tasks Part 1 - First of a series this nice post explain the basics of start-up task when deploying in Windows Azure.
• Windows Azure Start-up Tasks Part 2 - Great post that gives a lot of information on Azure start-up tasks: environment variables, useful xPath query, important tips that will save you a lot troubles.
• Windows Azure Myths - Nice post that demystify 5 important myths about Windows Azure.
• Cloud SLAs: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You - SLAs are an important topic. Here is a good post to have a better understanding of it. This post talk about SLAs in general so you will also need to get more info from your cloud provider.
• Amazon Attracts Windows and .NET Developers to the AWS Cloud (Saroj Kar) - Amazon is really pushing harder to be attractive for the .Net developer. That good news since it will give you more options ;)
• My CDN Progression - Great post about true life experience. This post will definitely help people, looking for a CDN, to take better decision or at least start their search with more wisdom.
• Debugging Windows Azure Web Role Application_Start() method in Global.asax.cs (Avkash Chauhan - MSFT) - Nice quick tips to reach break point in Application_Start().
• 5 Issues Cloud Computing Can’t Solve (Xath Cruz) - The cloud is good but not magic. Here are 5 frequent ideas where in fact the cloud (whoever is your provider) can’t help you.

Programming

• Automating Visual Studio 2010 builds and deployments with Nant.Builder (Iain Hunter) - Really interesting series. The steps are simple and well explained. In the next one deploy to Azure...
• [MONITORING] Les 10 raisons de développer son application en HTML5 (Web App) (Gamorlive) - If you agree with the fact that your user must be connected (like when looking your web site), then here are 10 reasons why you should do your new application in HTML5.
• Le Monkey Patching - I'm new to the idea of dynamic code, and I tend to use it to help me testing/ mocking. These posts illustrate how it could be very useful in other situation.
• Quick Status of Your Windows Azure Apps with PowerShell - Really nice script. Thanks Steve!

Miscellaneous

• I took Hanselman's advice and now look at me... - Nice post a thru story telling how by following Scott Handselman advice someone become more productive.
• Cool Tools: How to Find Free and Cheap Ebooks - Good references of tools to get eBooks and also to search them.

[…]Sources, InkMesh is the best search engine I have found for identifying if an author or a book is available in eBook form,[…]

 
~ Frank

Reading Notes #47

Cloud

• Is AWS or Windows Azure the Right Choice? It’s Not That Easy. - Really good question that compare AWS with Azure.
• Downloading Windows Azure Publish Settings (Subscription Configuration) file (Avkash Chauhan - MSFT) - Time saver quick tips to retrieve Azure Publish settings in one click.
• Avoiding cloud lock-in - Nice post that explain why it is important keep our application loosely couple. Or if we don't to know what we do.
• Corporate Filesharing with Security and Control - This is the perfect alternative for a super private "DropBox" and it is true that it make full of sense in a corporate perspective.
• WordPress on S3: run a beautiful website on Amazon S3 cloud storage (Artem Livshits) - Great initiative! This is a perfect example of a application that take the advantage of the cloud safe cheap and that will grow with your need.
• Comparing Windows Azure Blob Storage and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)–Summary (Gaurav) - Very long and exhaustive comparison between those 2 services. I didn't even know some features... Nice post.
• Episode 80 - Getting Started with SQL Azure Data Sync Preview (Channel 9) (Nick Harris Nathan Totten) - Really nice episode. I try the Azure Data Sync in one of my project (I should post something about it...) it is a very promising tool.
• Maarten Balliauw {blog} (maartenba) - Nice post about the changes that append now because of the cloud computing.
• Why You Need Compuware for Application Performance Monitoring - This looks like a very useful tool.
• Comparing Windows Azure Blob Storage and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)–Part I (Gaurav) - Amazing post that covers ALL features of both Windows and Amazon cloud service. This is the part 1 of a series and it focus on containers and buckets.
• CloudTip #13-What do you need to know to get started? (mbenkov) - Great post that presents all 9 screencasts of soup of nuts. If you like watching video to quickly get started, you will like this one.
• Comparing Windows Azure Blob Storage and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)–Part II (Gaurav) - Second part of a series, this one compares Azures blob storage to Amazon Simple storage. It covers all details even the different methods to upload and download files.
• Cloud Ninja Metering Block - Really promising project that provides tools to measuring a multi-tenants Azure solution. More to come.
• Windows Azure Service Bus EAI Doesn’t Support Multicast Messaging. Should It? - The Azure service bus EAI is still at a hurly stage right now, but Seroter is highlighting a good point... It should.
• An Introduction to Windows Azure (Part 2) - Really nice post part 2 of 2 this introduction post is focussing on available services in Windows Azure.
• Scott Guthrie on Cloud-Powered Revolutions (scottgu, Jonathan Rozenblit) - Really nice (and funny) introduction of Azure by the great Scott Gu. (1h video)

Programming

• An Introduction to NuGet - Nice post that explain quickly what is NuGet and witch tools are available.
• Why I Hate Unit Testing - What a nightmare! I'm not sure that this post will help the undecided to join the unit testing but this JusMock tool deserved a look.

"This is easy to do with Telerik JustMock. I wrote about using JustMock to get you started in From Legacy to Dependency Injection.
Steve Forte and Joel Semeniuk have a great presentation on this called The Agile Buffet Table."

• Automating Visual Studio 2010 builds and deployments with Nant.Builder (Iain Hunter) - Really interesting series. The steps are simple and well explained. In the next one deploy to Azure...

Miscellaneous

• A Super-Efficient Email Process (Peter) - Explain a simple method to be more productive and efficient with e-mail management.
• the Continuous Client (Joshua Topolsky) - So true, I'm looking for a continuous Twitter client for a long time now. I don't understand why this isn't in all application. Congratulation to Kindle for this! You can start reading on one device and continue to another one without effort.
• 9 Steps to Take When You Loathe Your Own Blog (Guest Blogger) - Having a blog is a lot work. Here are 9 tips to keep you inspired and proliferates.
• 5 Things to Ask Your Cloud Backup Services Provider - I'm a Mozy user and really happy with it. Of course this post is also a sales pitch but the questions are the good one and should be considered when selecting your backup solution. When did you do your last backup?
• 5 Steps To Choosing The Right Challenges (Brendon Burchard) - Nice post that give good tips to identify good challenges.

~Frank

Reading Notes #46

 

Cloud

• War in the Cloud ! (Pradeep) - Today few big players are fighting to get their part of the cake. This post try to found how could be the winner.
• Article: I’ve built a SaaS solution on Windows Azure: now, how do I know what to charge my customers? - Great idea. A tool to help monitoring our application.
• Preparation is key to a successful cloud deployment - This post gives some advice to prepare our cloud life
• 5 Reasons to Start Working with Windows Azure - Highlight some keys features of Windows Azure especially debugging tools.
• Automating Azure deployment with Windows PowerShell (adambird.com) - Quick intro and nice script to get started about using Azure PowerShell cmdlets to deploy.
• All Things Distributed (Werner Vogels) - Big announcement from AWS for the .Net community. Amazon is releasing is RDS for MSSQL and a tools kit for Visual Studio.
• Cloud is a corporate strategy, not a tactical solution (Switch Mark Thiele) - Nice post that will help you to focus on the good things and ask you the good questions when planning your cloud adventure.
• Is AWS or Windows Azure the Right Choice? It’s Not That Easy. - Really good question that compare AWS with Azure.

 

Programming

• Ajax Control Toolkit May 2012 Release - Great! The timing is perfect. One day after this new release some project arrived and they need exactly this new version of the upload control... thanks!
• Request Filtering, URLScan With Windows Azure Web Role (Avkash Chauhan - MSFT) - Simple script for start-up task to install URLScan since it's not there by default with IIS7.
• Create a Continuous Client Using Portable Class Libraries - Very nice article. By following the realisation of an application to solve a real world problem, the author introduces the client portable library “cpl” that gives the opportunity to easily write a cross platform application.

“there is, as Joshua Topolsky puts it, “a missing link in our computing experience” (engt.co/9GVeKl). “

• The key to AddOrUpdate (Arthur Vickers) - While waiting for the next release of EF this post explain very clearly how to implement an extension method to help use in a more generic context when we want the same functionality of the DbSet.Find in a AddUpdateEntity method.
• Mocking Dependencies != IoC (or at least it doesn’t have to) (Vincent-Philippe Lauzon) - Interesting tutorial that explains an alternative to mock without using dependency injection IoC by using the Lazy.

 

Integration

• Michael Stephenson - Tips on when not using BizTalk config file and reference on another post to more details.

"I wrote a blog post a few years ago around the options for where you could put configuration settings in BizTalk (Click here)."

 

Miscellaneous

• The Blog of Scott Hanselman - Interesting post here Scott explain how he did introduce Star Wars to is kids. I like the 20 minutes segment idea.
• The Myth of Informed Consent - I agree, how many times did you got a firewall or anti-virus popup asking to approve something that you really don't know about? That why we install them, so they should take the decision...
• The key to AddOrUpdate (Arthur Vickers) - While waiting for the next release of EF this post explain very clearly how to implement
• The Floppy Disk means Save, and 14 other old people Icons that don't make sense anymore (hanselman.com) - Really funny, if you are older than 30... So just for fun ask around to the junior people if they know about those techs.

~Frank

Reading Notes #44

They will bring you in the cloud.

Cloud

• “You Complete Me” Says SharePoint to Windows Azure (Jonathan Rozenblit) - Really nice post that just open the possibilities on how could be implanted Azure with other application and in this case with SharePoint.
• Services Hosted in Windows Azure Service Bus (Stephen Kaufman) - This is definitely something to remember... How to work with proxies and Azure.
• Cloud Computing is Designing For Failure - Nice short post about the why using cloud computing instead of the other more common web server developing.
• A world of pretty cloud drive icons - SkyDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, BitBucket and GitHub (Scott Hanselman) - Nice free icons for ours cloud storage.
• SkyDrive brings your personal cloud across devices (Steve Clayton) - Great new, it will become a lot easier to share or "backup" files with this new tool.
• Why Infrastructure As A Service Is A Bad Deal - It could be difficult to have a idea of the saving you could do going in the cloud. This post only looks the storage scenario. You could be surprise of the result, but I bet that the arrival of Google Drive and is aggressive pricing will makes thing moved.
• Using Windows Azure Caching for Session State can make the application slow if right programming practices are not followed (Farida Bharmal) - Nice tips. Simple once you know it.
• Five ways to reduce Azure Costs - Really good advice, this post is a must! It also contain ref to good tools or more detailed articles.
• Amazon: Cloud computing to be the norm in future - Nice post that show how easy and cheap to do a gigantic task using the cloud computing.
• Google Drive vs. Dropbox, SkyDrive, SugarSync, and others: a cloud sync storage face-off (Ellis Hamburger) - The most complete and detailed comparison ever. Really nice post. Pick the best tool(s) for your needs.
• Windows Azure Diagnostics–From the Ground Up (Greg Oliver) - Really nice post with a lot of good references and a lot of information. Perfect to get started or have a better understanding of Azure diagnostics.
• Fun with the Service Bus (Part 1) - What a great tutorial! This post is covering a lot a material by doing for a to z an application where the heart is Azure Service Bus.
• Announcing Windows Azure Achievements for Visual Studio (Karsten Januszewski) - Nice update even more since the achievements are good things.
• Auto-scaling Azure with WASABi–From the Ground Up (Greg Oliver) - Great tutorial about Wasabi framework.
• Greenpeace Cloud Protest: Do Amazon, Microsoft Deserve the Doghouse? - Those giants need to take care of the environment and also they need us to remember it.

Programming

• Code First model builder versions (Arthur Vickers) - This post explain how to configure EF code first to avoid any breaking code when updating the framework to a newer version. Nice work.
• Créer son propre Gem et le publier - Very nice tutorial (in French) that explain in detail with a simple case how to create and also publish a Ruby Gem.

Miscellaneous

• 5 Tricks for a Killer Company Blog - Five simple tips to get started blogging in a business perspective.
• Hit the Presentation Sweet Spot - Twenty minutes is very short. Maybe it is a good idea for a specific type of presentation... How do you plan a 2-3 formation?
• Your Personal Brand as a Developer: Implementing (Part 2 of 2) (Jonathan Rozenblit) - Part 2 on an unusual topic but important. Our brand, as a person. On the internet everything is amplified and could be seen by a lot of people very quickly. A post to read "before it is too late".
• Coping with Email Overload (Peter) - This could be a good advice for a lot of people. While I'm working on a project where co-workers are across the country I not sure I can do this but maybe tweaking it with rules for only those people.

Reading Notes #41

Cloud

• Single-Tenant Vs Multi-Tenant SaaS Invoicing Models (David) - Describe both single and multi-tenant architecture and explain the real power of the multi-tenant in the cloud.
• Quantifying and Avoiding Risk on the Windows Azure platform (Richard S. Parker) - Great post that identifies different types of risk and help to understand each of them. It’s also explained how you should manage the risk by not being dependant of Microsoft SLA.
• HTML5, CSS and Browser Compatibility (David Pallmann) - Second of a series, this post describes the HTML structure of the main page.
• Microsoft Research and Windows Azure Partner to Influence Discovery and Sharing (Himanshu Singh) - Nice post that introduces three projects of Partners have done in Windows Azure.
• Microsoft offers free cloud backup beta for Windows Server "8" (Sean Gallagher) - Great idea. I hope this service could be used by the other windows version.
• Transactional Messaging in the Windows Azure Service Bus - Really nice post that explains how could works a resequencer, why one could be needed and how to test it.
• Windows Azure Dev Fabric (Rodrigo De Castro) - Good tips using a ip:port mapper tool to access remotely to a compute emulator.
• Protecting Your Data in SQL Azure: New Best Practices Documentation Now Available (Gregory Leake) - Well best practices are always welcome, a must.
• Cloud Tip #5-Secure your settings in Web.config with Encryption (mbenkov) - Nice quick tip! Add a little more security to your config file.
• Announcing SQL Azure Data Sync Preview Update (GregoryLeake) - This is a great news! not being able to update sync group was REALLY painful... Otherwise Azure Data Sync is a great application.
• How We're Using Amazon Web Services - Moustach.io is sharing their experience of the cloud by showing how they use the AWS. Nice true story.
• Exploring Cloud Architecture - A really nice recap of different architectures in the cloud. Putting them in context with cost efficiency.

[…]cost efficiency doesn’t equate to cheap or even free. You can determine the cost to be efficient when the equation can’t be changed to reduce cost without also reducing the services or functionality—meaning[…]

• 4 Cloud Computing Pain Points That Still Hurt - Interesting post. Contain other post references and important cloud facts.
• Why (or Why Not) to Migrate to the Cloud - Great post that hi-light the pros and cons of the cloud migration.
• Migrating an on-premise database from SQL Server to SQL Azure using SSIS (zafarx) - Really well done tutorial using SSIS instead of the other tools to migrate a database to SQL Azure. By doing it that way you have the possibility do more with your schemas before moving them.
• Getting Acquainted with NoSQL on Windows Azure (Bruce Kyle) - A real good post. It compares different noSQL databases and explains how they work. A lot of other good posts and tutorials are also referred. Definitely perfect to get started.
• Announcing SQL Azure Data Sync Preview Update (Gregory Leake) - This is a great news. Not being able to edit the sync group in my previous projects was really painful. I can’t wait to try the new version...
• Announcing New Datacenter Options for Windows Azure (Cameron Rogers) - Always good to have more and more options. Maybe, some day one will be in Canada. We have a good temperature and plenty of water...
• An Up-Close Examination of the Microsoft RDP Vulnerability (Guest Author) - Important RDP vulnerability was fixed in the March patch. Since in Azure the remote is disables by default and that some firewall rules protect some connections, if you use Azure you are now safe and probably you were never really in danger. But if you are using an image on AWS you probably should apply you Windows Updates...

Programming

• Why You Should Be Excited About Garbage Collection in Ruby 2.0 - Garbage collector is not the more glamour feature, but it's nice to go under the hood and see that some innovation are going on. Very well explain.

Miscellaneous

• I'm Sure It Will Only Take You A Few Days To Code - Interesting, I didn't think our usual or natural sensor to estimate the complexity of something cannot be use when it comes to estimate software... but it makes senses!
• What geeks need to tell our parents about shopping online safely and securely (Scott Hanselman) - Nice post. read this post than go talk to your parent, uncle, brothers and sisters all those people that call you when they did nothing but the PC doesn't works anymore... ;)

[…]HTTPS (SSL) doesn't mean "I can trust this site," it means "this conversation is private." You still might be having a private conversation with Satan. - Scott Hanselman Trust[…]

Reading Notes #40

Cloud

• Best practices for migration to the cloud - Nice post that contain all the link you need in one place to read all the best practice and useful information on migration to the cloud.
• A Must-Have for Most Organizations (Gartner) - Learn all the benefits to have a cloud service brokered (CSB) in your cloud strategy.
• Take Your Cloud Like Your Coffee–Half and Half (Jonathan Rozenblit) - Good analogy between coffee and cloud solution. Different mixtures depending of the context.
• Windows Azure Storage Emulator or Service? - Useful tips to fix some problem/limitation when working locally with Windows Azure storage.
• How to Make the Private Cloud More Secure - Nice post that introduce some products to help maintaining the security of your cloud solution.
• A Social, Mobile, and Cloudy Modern Web Application (David Pallmann) - First of a series, this nice post present a well done application that combines HTML5, mobility, social networking and cloud computing.
• Inside SQL Azure – Self-healing, Self-governing, Massively Scalable Database service in the Cloud. (Cihan Biyikoglu) - A great presentation that explain a lot about SQL Azure.
• Microsoft Reinvents its Cloud Strategy (Martin Tantow) - Nice post comparing the new cloud positioning strategy o Microsoft with the majors players when looking for CRM
• Best practices for building Windows Azure service (Qingsong Yao) - Nice post with best practices to develop and to test. It also introduce briefly great MSTest framework.
• Protecting Windows Azure Web and Worker roles from malware (maartenba) - Not long time ago Microsoft release the Microsoft Endpoint Protection for Windows Azure Customer Technology Preview (EP for friends) and in this great post you will know how to install it, configure it and how to use it.
• Microsoft Endpoint Protection for Windows Azure Customer Technology Preview Now Available For Free Download (Elyasse_El_Yacoubi) - A vey complete post about the Microsoft Endpoint Protection for Windows Azure (MEP). Everything you should know about it, and even more.
• In cloud computing moves, money isn’t everything (Barb Darrow) - Explain the result of a survey about the reason why companies are moving (or not) to the cloud.
• An Amazon Web Services primer (Matthew Braga) - To know all Amazon Web Service AWS products this post is a must.
• A Comprehensive Introduction to Cloud Computing - I did already mention is great introduction post in some Reading Notes, but at this time the author was rebuilding is blog and the article was removed. So if you didn't have the time to read it the first time, here is your chance.
• Cloud Tip #1–How to set a connection string in Web.config programmatically at runtime in Windows Azure (mbenkov) - Great tips that will save times to many developers.
• Auto scaling and Endpoint Protection in Windows Azure (Wade Wegner) - This Cloud Cover Show Episode explain in detail the great Wasabi. Azure developer this is a must.

Programming

• A use of Enumerable#chunk - Explain with different examples the #chunk method that was added in Ruby 1.9.2
• How to Test External APIs (Jared Carroll) - Nice post that explain good strategies to execute unit tests on our code that is using external API.
• How to Use Bundler Instead of Rvm Gemsets (Stephen Ball) - Great post that show few tricks about the really useful bundler.
• Ruby Style guide - A good quick start to code respecting style convention.
• 10 Best Practices of Code Commenting & Formatting (Bio Website) - 10 simple tips to keep the code clean and clear. A good way to help the maintainability.
• ASP.NET MVC 4, ASP.NET Web API and ASP.NET Web Pages v2 (Razor) now all open source with contributions (Scott Hanselman) - Amazing news! All the details about the release of Asp.Net as open source project.
• ASP.NET MVC, Web API, Razor and Open Source (Scott Gu) - The post by The Scott Gu announcing the release of Asp.Net MVC as open source project and some features of the version 4.0.
• Introduction to Ruby code optimization - Nice post that present few tools to help when you need optimization. Those tools are good specially if you don't know where is the bottle neck.
• I wish I knew about string.Join a long time ago (Carlos Figueira) - Nice refactoring. As Carlos is saying looking into the code you write on year ago is good. Some mistake wear done, but at least we learn.

Miscellaneous

• 10 Good Reasons to Get a Mentor - Interesting thoughts. I'm sure a lot of people would gain a lot by having a mentor. Starting with me!

~ Frank

Just release: Azure User Management Console - AUMC

This week, Matricis just release open source tool to help us managing the Azure Sql Users and Logins.

Since only T-SQL commands are available for Azure SQL in SQL Server management Studio, a friendly interface was missing. The AUMC is simply converting your action into T-SQL commands and execute them in the Azure SQL Database.

You can find the Azure User Management Console on CodePlex at:http://aumc.codeplex.com

Read the complete post on Matricis blog.




~ Frank

Reading Notes #39

Cloud

• Amazon data center size - Interesting post that gives an opportunity to put numbers on the cloud architecture, in this case AWS servers.
• Using Import-Subscription in WAPPSCmdlets 2.2.2 - Explains quickly one of the new features of Azure PowerShell Cmdlets last release: caching the Azure subscription by importing it.
• Windows Azure Security Best Practices – Part 7: Tips, Tools, Coding Best Practices (Bruce Kyle) - Again a lot of really good advices about security with Azure and many good references.

[…]shows a friendly face to customers and still provides the detailed technical information developers will need in his article Rich Custom Error Handling with ASP.NET. […]

[…]Wade Wegner describes the steps he recommends in his post Using ELMAH in Windows Azure with Table Storage. […]
[…]To learn more about ELMAH, see the MSDN article Using HTTP Modules and Handlers to Create Pluggable ASP.NET Components by Scott Mitchell and Atif Aziz.[…]

• Building Hybrid Applications in the Cloud on Windows Azure (Ferglo) - The third book of a series about Windows Azure. A lot good information, scenarios and details about hybrid application.
• Do We Need A Desktop OS Anymore? - A nice reflection about our future.
• Azure Storage and its Various Abstractions (Chris Clayton) - Nice post that explain how to configure and use local storage in an Azure WebRole.
• Versioning SQL Azure Schemas by Using Federations - Wow this is a really good idea. Using Azure SQL federation to maintain different schemas version in a single or multi-tenant scenario.
• The Hidden Risk of a Meltdown in the Cloud - Interesting post that explain why companies should think about moving to the cloud to see if they saw (and understand) all the pros and cons.
• 'Personal Cloud' to Replace PC by 2014, Says Gartner - This nice post talks about the emergence of the "personal cloud" and is progression against PC.
• New Tools for Windows Identify Foundation and ACS (Wade Wegner) - Great show (Cloud cover Show) again this week, with Wake and David that present a lot of nice functionalities of the Windows Identity Foundation (WIF).
• Windows Azure™ and X509 Certificates (Chris Clayton) - A very useful post from Chris that specify all steps you need to do (screenshots and code snippet) in order to setup your X509 certificates.
• My Disappointments with Amazon DynamoDB - DynamoDB is a pretty young product, but still some of the limitations look disappointing. However I think that is this king of database binaries, images and big files shouldn't be in. They should be in storage and the url/path is in the db.
• Leaving Microsoft (Wade Wegner) - Another big evangelist of Windows Azure is leaving Microsoft. Wade is someone to follow.
• Using CSPack and CSRun With a Worker Role (Jason Haley) - Nice post where Jason try to fix a result discrepancy between using Visual Studio or CSPack-CSRun to create a Azure project. But the question remains...
• How Do I Get Started On My Developer Workstation? - Nice tutorial to get started with Windows Azure. Or to setup a new clean VM.
• Beware Fake Clouds - Good post that help to demystify what the cloud is computing and what is not be by hi-lighting the differences.
• Why do I need two Instances in Windows Azure? - This is a really important fact to understand when planning/developing a project with Windows Azure. A clear answer for a good question.
• The Microsoft Private Cloud whitepaper (Nikosan) – A reference to a PDF document that contains a lot a info about all the options you have if you planning to go with Private cloud.
• Best practices for migration to the cloud - Nice post that contain all the link you need in one place to read all the best practice and useful information on migration to the cloud.

Programming

• Improving Launch Performance for Your Desktop Applications (Brandon Bray) - See how the and witch new tools in Visual Studio 11 will improve the launching speed of our application.
• EF Code First Migrations, Update-Database outside of Visual Studio - Nice! This post introduces a great console tool that gives the opportunity to update a database using PowerShell.
• EF Code First Migrations Update-Database Parameters Documentation? - Useful information about all the parameters of the EF Migration tool.

Miscellaneous

• 3 Great Things My Mentors Taught Me - Great thought. Simple and efficient.

~ Frank

Reading Notes #38

Cloud

• Amazon data center size - Interesting post that gives an opportunity to puts numbers on the cloud architecture, in this case AWS servers.
• How I work with Live Mesh, SkyDrive, and Office Live Workspace (Buck Woody) - Good post that explain one setup you can use to get your files synchronize and available on many device.
• 4 Azure milestones Microsoft must hit — and soon (Barb Darrow) - Interesting post that point out 4 milestones that Microsoft Azure should reach ASAP to stay in the cloud race.
• Can we pronounce “The Cloud” hype over yet? - Nice post that raise some objection that the cloud is for everything. Some people seem to still think this way, but its true cloud is not the answer to all situations.
• Learn The Cloud, Make A Difference, @home with Windows Azure - Great initiative! A good way to learn Winnows Azure and an easy way to get free Azure account for 3 months!
• How to Share a Local Drive when Remoting into Windows Azure Instance (Jason Haley) - Nice quick tips that is very useful when debugging.
• Multiple Sites in Single Role Running Local (Jason Haley) - This post is a time saver, if you plan to put more than one web site in the same web role... read this.
• Optimizing apps for cloud (Tim O'Brien) - Great post that explain few principles of cloud architecture to be able of building a more structured application.
• Why So Many Azure Storage Transactions? - Nice advice! Good think that since last release, when you are busting your limits they just deactivate the web application instead of giving a big bill.
• Windows Azure Security Best Practices - Part 2: What Azure Provides Out-of-the-Box (Bruce Kyle) - Amazing post that describes perfectly the architecture of Windows Azure and the security in it. It also explains what we should do to keep a good security level. This is the second post of the series a third one is already out... more to come.
• Windows Azure Security Best Practices – Part 3: Identifying Your Security Frame (Bruce Kyle) - Part 3 a is bout pattern in the ms document.
• Windows Azure Security Best Practices – Part 5: Claims-Based Identity, Single Sign On (Bruce Kyle) - A lot of information about windows Identity Foundation (WIF).
• Windows Azure Security Best Practices – Part 6: How Azure Services Extends Your App Security (Bruce Kyle) - Great post that talk about the strength of Windows Azure Active Directory, Azure Connect and Service Bus. The 3 options that you have to extend your security on Azure.
• Big Data and the case for IT relevancy - This post explain why big data will not "kills" IT jobs but in fact probably it will actually create more.
• HTML5 + Cloud = Personal Cloud (David Pallmann) - Nice post (the fourth of a series) explain the cloud is personal and why HTML5 could be a better tools to present this personal cloud.
• Windows Azure PowerShell Cmdlets (v2.2.2) (Michael WashamMS) - Present the new features of the last release of Windows Azure PowerShell. A lot of great new functionalities, but before downloading it be aware of some breaking changes.
• How to Download Windows Azure Blob Containers - We often found code sample to upload files to the cloud but here it is to download. This is well done demo to replicate the structure of an Azure Blob Container on premise.
• What Size VM Should I Go With? - Point a article here this question is answered by 2 authors well presented in this article.
  

  […]questions Joel & Stephen attempt to answer in the article. […]

• Book Review: Just for fun (Jan Van Ryswyck) - That look like a book that will easily find a place in my to read list.

Programming

• C# Reflection Performance And Ruby (Tim Kellogg) - Interesting test to compare the speed of different methods to access a property.
• 5 Tools to to Run a Small Business in the Cloud - 5 online very useful tools are presented in this post.
• EF Code First - Tips and Tricks - Nice tips. I never thought of putting extra safeguard code in this section... but I like it, so i will.

Miscellaneous

• Agile Adoption Success Factors – Nice quick post about why Agile adoption pass or fail base on a survey result.
• Touch, Not the Mouse - Nice editorial from MSDN Mag that kind of contest that popular idea of touch is for everything.
• You’re Working Too Hard to Make an Impact (Study Hacks) - This short post illustrate we should prefer be valuable than busy.
• A geek with a hat » The one book that gets me offline - Editorial about people reading habit today, and a nice book suggestion... can you resist?

Reading Notes #37

Cloud

• Enableing gzip compression with Windows Azure CDN through Web Role (Avkash Chauhan) - Because compression is not supported by default here a nice tips about how to implement it.
• Working with SSL certificates on Azure and IIS7 (Iain) - Nice post where few "gotchas" are explained with their workaround/solution.
• Cloud Comments .net - Discuss about the new price drop of AWS and the lack of tools to help to calculate the cost, or to compare it with the usual on premise solution.
• Doing a Multi-Cloud Deployment of an ASP.NET Web Application (James Urquhart) - Great article that deploy a simple Asp.Net application in three different cloud environments: Azure, AWS, Iron Foundry then compare the effort.
• Announcing Reduced Pricing on Windows Azure Storage and Compute (Steven Martin) - A fantastic news! we can now have a instance 24/7 with a database for less than 20$.
• Moving SQL Azure Servers Between Subscriptions (R Syam Kumar) - It's now eaiser than ever to move a database between different Azure subscription. that all possible to a new feature that been add:Server Move in the database section. be aware that price may be different in each subscription.
• My Experience as a Developer at Startup Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) (Jason Haley) - Nice post about true experience at start-up weekend.
• Logging best practices - Good post to re-align our logging practice. What to log, or what to not.
• Using Cloud9 IDE to Deploy to Windows Azure - As usual nice show. this week is a lot about Node.js.

Programming

• How I work with Live Mesh, SkyDrive, and Office Live Workspace (Buck Woody) - Good post that explains one setup you can use to get your files synchronized and available on many device.
• How to access NuGet when NuGet.org is down (or you're on a plane) (Scott Hanselman) - Nice one... be sure to take note of this because when the network will be down... it will be too late.
• 10 web development concepts designers should know - Nice tips that apply more for designers but developers should found some of them really useful.

  [..] Beanstalk also have a brilliant guide to version control for those who are using it for the first time.[..]

• Maarten Balliauw {blog} (maartenba) - Nice short post on how you could "improve" your works with MyGet using less feeds.
• 3 Simple Things to Make Your jQuery Code Awesome (Joseph Zimmerman) - Great tips that will take only 5 minutes to read/ learn and that will save a lot of time and memories at runtime.
• Visual Studio Magazine (Eric Vogel) - This nice article explains clearly the strategy pattern by refactoring a simple scenario.

Miscellaneous

• Castle Death! A Dead Simple RPG for Kids and Parents, Part 2 (Chatty DM) - Part 2 of a series about Dad and son playing RPG.
• Castle Death! A Dead Simple RPG for Kids and Parents, Part 3 (Chatty DM) - Part 3 of a simple RPG game to be the best dad ever!
• Why I really love SCRUM - Nice post to learn more about Agile Scrum, the idea of icebox and pivot tracker, a nice tool.
• Dark Matter Developers (Scott Hanselman) - Nice post where some analogies between Dark Matter and some developer is made. Funny and true.

Frank

Reading Notes #36

Cloud

• Microsoft Private Cloud Part 1 - Nice first post of a series comparing Azure with private cloud. This one is more about being prepare to the real comparison and define what is private cloud.
• Windows Azure Storage and Concurrent Access (Larry Franks) - Known a to read/write in Azure Storage is not enough when doing multi-instance. Learn how-to manage this situation in this post.
• Cloud Needs Application Architects To Understand IaaS - Great post explaining how Amazon build the great platform they are and why it work.
• Come for the PaaS Functional Model, stay for the Cloud Operational Model - A really complete post about all those "things" that cloud provider are talking about and how it should be see by customer.
• Uploading Big Files in Windows Azure Blob Storage using PutListBlock - A really great tutorial to upload files in Azure Blob Storage. Two technics are presented with the code, pros and cons for each of them.
• Cloud computing and the “me versus you” problem - An interesting discussion about different cloud's structures and the pros and cons of each. Also a nice idea of what could be the future.
• SignalR powered by Service Bus (clemensv) - Nice post about using the SignalIR with Azure Service Bus, with all the reference you need to get started.
• If you're using Node.js, you're doing life wrong - A really specific opinion about Node.js. if thinking about picking this server... then should read that.
• Is uptime the wrong metric for cloud service-level agreements? - Really interesting thoughts about what more important for cloud SLA, elasticity or reliability?
• Full Version of AdventureWorks database for SQL Azure and and SQL Azure Federations - Now available the classic AventureWorks database for Azure SQL and Azure Federation. More advanced version is coming soon.
• Everything you need to know about Windows Azure Blob Storage including permissions, signatures, concurrency, … - Amazing post that contain really EVERYTHING on Azure blob storage. It's documented, well explain and complete.

  The only reason you would not be interested in the Windows Azure storage platform would be if you’re called Chuck Norris …

• A few things you should know about EC2 - Quick post about some less know EC2 facts.
• Azure deployment stuck Preparing node (ASP.NET Debugging) - Nice to know this tips can save a lot of time.
• Exploring Cloud Architecture - Nice article that present different cloud architecture to follow your cost/efficiency strategies.
• BizTalk in the Cloud, One Step Closer Part 1 (Jean-Paul Smit) - Great post (first part of series of two) that present the new interface of schemas and mapping in the new CTP release of Azure Service bus EAI and compare them to the BizTalk ones.
• BizTalk in the Cloud, One Step Closer Part 2 (Jean-Paul Smit) - A really great post that continue to pass all the functionalities of the new (still in CTP) Azure Service Bus EAI and making the correlation with the BizTalk equivalence.

Programming

• Mercurial vs Git: Why Mercurial? - Great posts series about source control. Because source control is so important, knowing why to pick git or mercurial is really important.
• WebAPI and Ninject (Shawn Wildermuth) - Nice trick with Ninject...as the author said easy when you know how to.
• JavaScript for C# developers: currying - Nice trick with Javascript to avoid copy/pasting code... looking forward to to the next part.
• PowerGUI 3.2 Released! – Everything is in the title... And it's a good news.
• Differences Between jQuery .bind() vs .live() vs .delegate() vs .on() (Elijah Manor) - Give a simple but very clear description, pros and cons of JQuery .bind, .live, .delegate and the new .on.

Miscellaneous

• The myth of the eight-hour sleep (Stephanie Hegarty) - Nice article talking about sleep and pattern.
• Castle Death! A Dead Simple RPG for Kids and Parents, Part 1 (critical-hits.com) - Another great dad's time with the great Chatty DM.

~ Frank

Reading Notes #35

Cloud

• Moving apps to the cloud - This great post help you to build a check list before, during and after moving to the cloud. Ask the good questions, found your spot in the cloud.
• Start-Up Encrypts Data in the Cloud - A new stat-up is offering THE solution for the safest encryption in the cloud...look promising.
• Deploying Your Applications on Windows Azure (Bruce Kyle) - Nice post enumerating all the possibilities available when deploying and testing your app in Azure.
• Solving SSL Certificate expiration problem with an existing Windows Azure Application (Avkash Chauhan) - Great post that must be kept somewhere you will retrieve it. It will save you a lot of pain when your certificate will expire... and that you will maybe don't have access to the original project.
• Comparing AWS/Box/Azure for Managed File Transfer Provider (R Seroter) - Interesting post that compare the features of 3 different cloud solutions.
• Don’t look now but Microsoft Azure is a kick-butt cloud (Barb Darrow) - Nice post about the fight between how will be the next Dropbox between Google, Amazon and Microsoft.
• Windows Azure service bus messaging with publish/subscribe pattern using topics and subscriptions - A fantastic tutorial that build a Azure service bus messaging application using topics.
• Part 1 Introduction and Architecture (Dave Crook) - A really nice post that demystify what are the part of the Azure architecture and what is the impact of each of them in a developer life.
• Windows Azure Blob Upload Scenarios (Avkash Chauhan) - Think to know before coding application that will upload file into Azure blob storage. Different scenarios are possible with pros and cons for each of them.
• Microsoft's Windows Azure Active Directory plans takes shape - Quick post that talk about recent Azure's news like the WAAD (windows azure active directory).
• Node.js, Windows Azure (and socket.io) (Neil Mackenzie) - A great post about Node.js in Azure. All the features, requirement are discuss.
• 4 Things to consider when researching an assignment for Saas - Nice post about 4 keys points to think of when looking for a Saas (software as a service).
• Migrating a SQL Server database to SQL Azure - A good story of someone doing a migration of an "old" MS SQL 2005 database to Azure SQL using multiple tools.
• Implementing MERGE command using SQL Azure Migration Wizard (Cihan Biyikoglu) - Quick post to introduce what should be Merge At command in an Azure Sql Federation database. Also this post refer to a lot more detail article on the how-to.
• Free samples that help you get started with Azure - Great group of link to get started with Azure.
• The Evolution of PaaS (davidchappellopinari) - Nice post that compare the features of the "usual" PaaS with some "new" version of this like Cloud Foundry.
• Microsoft Private Cloud Part 1 - Nice first post of a series comparing Azure with private cloud. This one is more about being prepare to the real comparison and define what is private cloud.

Programming

• Structurez votre code Ruby (Bruno Michel) - This nice post introduce the unused Struct. A simple but power class in Ruby.
• Soyez unique, utilisez des Sets (Bruno Michel) - Wow I didn't know the Set class in Ruby. I got to edit one of my script immediately.
• Asp.Net MVC 4 beta - Nice post that quickly present some of the main new features in the brand new ASP.Net MVC 4. Also video and slide reference.
  

  Spending limits are a new feature we added to Windows Azure last month, and ensure that you never have to worry about accidentally going over the resources included in a free offer and being charged.

  You can learn more about the spending limit feature here.

  The ASP.NET MVC 4 Beta release works with VS 2010 and .NET 4.0, and is side-by-side compatible with prior releases of ASP.NET MVC

  Bundling and Minification

  Database Migrations – ASP.NET MVC 4 includes the new Entity Framework 4.3 release,

  Web API

  new support for building mobile web applications and mobile web sites,

  Razor Enhancements – ASP.NET MVC 4 includes V2 of our Razor View engine.

  Async Support and WebSockets

• Fun with Ruby Block Parameters - Nice post going dipper in Ruby's Blocks capabilities...

Miscellaneous

• How to Master Any Skill - Nice post that will help to make a checklist when trying to masterize a new skill.
• 11 Easy Ways to Make Work Fun - Quick tips/ideas how to change the office in a more agreeable and more productive place.

~ Frank