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Microsoft's Azure cloud platform: A guide for the perplexed

By | October 27, 2008, 12:42pm PDT

Now that the initial Microsoft PDC pixie dust has settled, developers are trying to digest exactly what Microsoft’s cloud platform is. Here’s my attempt to explain it.

Microsoft layed out its “Azure” foundational infrastructure for the cloud during the keynote kick-off on day one of the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) here in Los Angeles. The goal of Azure is to provide developers who want to write applications that run partially and/or entirely in a remote datacenter with a platform and set of tools.

Microsoft did not disclose pricing, licensing or timing details for Azure. The company is planning to release a Community Technology Preview (CTP) test build of Azure to PDC attendees on October 27. (The CTP consists of a software development kit and access to Microsoft’s cloud.

This is what Microsoft’s cloud looks like, from an architectural diagram standpoint:

Layer zero (which is not on this slide) is Microsoft’s Global Foundational Services. GFS is like the hardware abstractionlayer (HAL) in Windows. It is the lowest level of the software that interfaces directly with the servers.

Layer one is the base Azure operating system. This is what used to be codenamed “Red Dog.” Red Dog was designed by a team of operating-system experts at Microsoft, led by Amitabh Srivastava, Corporate Vice President of Cloud Infrastructure Services. Dave Cutler, the guy who is credited as the father of VMS and Windows NT, was one of the lead developers on Red Dog. (I asked Srivastava what Cutler’s role was with Red Dog and he said he focused heavily on how the hypervisor/virtualization technology could be made to scale across datacenter servers.)

Red Dog is what networks and manages the set of Windows Server 2008 machines that comprise the Microsoft-hosted cloud. At the highest level, Red Dog consists of four “pillars”: Storage (like a file system); the “fabric controller,” which is a management system for modeling/deploying and provisioning; virtualized computation/VM; and a development environment, which allows developers to emulate Red Dog on their desktosp and plug in Visual Studio, Eclipse or other tools to write cloud apps against it. The way Red Dog is architected is Microsoft only has to deploy Red Dog on a single machine and then multiple instances of it can be duplicated on the rest of the servers in the cloud using virtualization technology, Srivastava said.

“We do Xcopy to deploy on every machine. Each machine has its own cache,” Srivastava explained.

Layer two is the set of building block services that run on top of Azure. Developers are not required to use these services and will be able to mix and match among them. The initial set of services include Live Services (a k a the Live Mesh platform); SQL Server Data Services (now known as SQL Services); .Net Services (formerly known as “Zurich”); SharePoint Services and Dynamics CRM Services. Developers will be able to build on top of these lower-level services when constructing cloud apps. SharePoint Services and CRM Services are not the same as SharePoint Online and CRM Online; they are just the platform “guts” that don’t include user-interface elements.

(Another clarification: Layers one and two together — the thing Microsoft calls the “Azure platform” — is what was briefly known as “Windows Strata.”)

Layer three are the Azure-hosted applications. Some of these are from Microsoft and include SharePoint Online, Exchange Online, Dynamics CRM Online. Others will be authored by third-party developers.

Over time, Microsoft is promising some bigger things from its cloud platform. First, the company has committed to delivering Microsoft-hosted versions of all its enterprise apps. So those rumors of Forefront Online and System Center Online that I’v been hearing about for months sound like they are on the drawing board. These Online services — as well as all of Microsoft’s Live services — are being slowly moved to run on top of Azure. (Right now, the only Microsoft Live property hosted on Azure is Live Mesh. The next one that will be is Live Meeting, Srivastava said.)

So besides the obvious — licensing, pricing and due date — what else do you want to know about Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure? Any holes you see so far?

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Topics

Developer, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Corp., Azure, Data Centers, Microsoft Windows, Virtualization, Collaboration, Groupware, Enterprise Software, Storage, Hardware, Data Management, Operating Systems, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Disclosure

Mary-Jo Foley

Freelance journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley has nothing to disclose. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). I do not own Microsoft stock or stock in any of its partners or competitors. I have no business ventures that are sponsored by/funded by Microsoft or any of its partners or competitors.

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 25 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.

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Superb!
lawtonterri 28th Feb
Fantastic post. Here???s a tool that lets you build your cloud database apps without coding http://www.caspio.com/
View in thread
0 Votes
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Head in the clouds...
tburzio 27th Oct 2008
So, Microsoft "cloud computing" is another huge boon to IT Departments who want to hire more staff? I wonder if anyone will eventually wake up and realize that IT departments can usually be replaced by a dozen temp clerks and some triplicate forms?
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Hire more staff??...triplicate forms??
storm14k 27th Oct 2008
It moved the servers out of the server room...why would you need more staff? And how are triplicate forms going to handle the website of say an online retailer?
0 Votes
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I guess you did not get hired
GuidingLight 27th Oct 2008
for that IT job, did you?
Your response indicates you may not fully understand the subject being discussed?
0 Votes
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Wow... you don't get this do you?
skillaid 27th Oct 2008
I was shocked to read your reply to this story... do you have a clue about what this represents and means for the future?

I mean not to slam you, sorry if it sounds like that... but your way off course with your response here.
0 Votes
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People already have.
HypnoToad 27th Oct 2008
And that's why nobody likes having to use support services.

Now if companies built quality products, nobody would need to call support, listen to people parroting immaterial nonsense off a piece of paper, and think that'll have their problem resolved.
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Huh? Come into the 21st century
Al_nyc 28th Oct 2008
Sure, that will work if you have a few hundred customers. When you get to the thousands, you will need more than a dozen full time clerks and a place to store all those triplicate forms.
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Head in the clouds?
devmonkey@... 19th Jan 2009
Wow.. triplicate forms? how did you get on the internet from the 1950's? I suppose your business of buggy whip manufacturing can probably be supported by three or four temps and pen and paper.
0 Votes
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Not your father's PDC keynote topic
johngalt_0705 27th Oct 2008
More than anything else, having this topic lead off Day 1 of the PDC is indicative of the sort of developer that Microsoft thinks the "D" in PDC represents these days, which is apparently an enterprise developer in a small-to-medium-sized business. Azure strikes me as basically a datacenter outsourcing play. It is an attempt to extend the reach of SQL Server. To me it seemed out of place for a PDC. Especially the section at the end on Dynamics CRM. Hello? This is not Tech-Ed. I really felt like this was Microsoft saying "Let's use Day 1 of the PDC to market our datacenter outsourcing play to PDC attendees". Some of us ISV's in the audience develop tools that compete with parts of Azure. This is Microsoft's inherent conflict of interest: Here they are having a conference for ISV's, yet at times Microsoft seems to want to be the only ISV.

Azure will be interesting when it is a shipping product that companies can install in their own datacenters and it is not tied to SQL Server.

Maybe I'm cynical, but for me, the PDC starts tomorrow.

Eric
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Azure will never ship...
skillaid Updated - 27th Oct 2008
I understand your plite in that you want to see some more generalized help towards trad. ISV approaches to solving customer needs... howver the "D" in today's PDC is exactly what Developer Microsoft is shaping too.

If your an ISV, Azure is a platform to offer your end solution to a wider base, on a scalable platform that can work great for customers of 5-5,000+ users.

Azure will never 'ship' it is the cloud platform that is hosted by Microsoft. Parts of your solution might reside on premise at the customer site, tied to whatever database you want... but could interact with solutions that were developed with Azure, live on Azure and Run on Azure. Also, to add part of your solution, being a Hyrbid could have been developed and live on Azure while part lives on premise... or your entire solution could be developed on with Azure and run on Azure.

Make sense?
0 Votes
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Plight
sjbinaz 28th Oct 2008
What sounds intelligent loses its effect when my old eyes see such errors. To me the argument is lost in seeing the error. Use simple words if you don't have time to make it right. I understand your situation; you want to share your opinion.
Does that make sense?
0 Votes
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Spelling?
skillaid 28th Oct 2008
So my spelling error is what you chose to write about? Are you serious? I guess not... because if that is your focus and issue, man you for sure... whatever man. Sorry your old eyes had to read my spelling errors... geez, and what about the content buddy?
0 Votes
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That's the point
sjbinaz 28th Oct 2008
You are and want to appear to be intelligent and insightful so don't be lazy.
0 Votes
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Point taken
skillaid 29th Oct 2008
I admit, I can be lazy when it comes to spell check. I get in a hurry to write the thoughts that are in my head... and I get into what I am writing, and forget about it honestly.

But point well taken... happy
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P'lite
RDrr Updated - 24th Jun 2009
Very p'lite guys. happy

Anybody notice Ms. Foley's use of the spelling 'layed'?

"Microsoft layed out..."

...not in the dictionary wink
0 Votes
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your father's PDC
george22301 27th Oct 2008
This sounds like a repackaging of Oracle's Grid computing, yes, no?
0 Votes
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I'm curious to know...
rmac_z 27th Oct 2008
...how ISP's offering Windows/SQL Server boxes are going to respond. Will they 'sub out' services from MS? And how will web developers and ISV's feel about there IP ending up in an MS datacenter?
0 Votes
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Now we are getting to something...
skillaid 27th Oct 2008
... Here we have a good set of questions. How will services offered by Microsoft Partners, etc. change because of this? How will this be accepted by the community?

Also to the next thing... what about IP? What about Security? Do we trust the host?

These are things, fundemental things that will need to be addressed, that are in some forms, not such a technical answer is needed, but a concept or institutional answer.
0 Votes
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Transport thoughts
yet_another 27th Oct 2008
Since this appears to be an implementation of RPC in some nature, I expect that the base comm and security would be from that protocol. If within an MS ADS, DCOM would probably be used. Between externals, like a b2b, would require some sort of embedding or tunnelling. Each of these base proto's have there own security and authentication issues, so if Azure rolls out, I would expect that one effect would be products that reduce the comm to a separate, single, ACL friendly proto. This will probably have a proprietary security scheme. I'm just guessing with all of this, but it seems likely.
0 Votes
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RPC/HTTPs.
JoeMama_z 27th Oct 2008
Outlook uses it, ActiveSync Uses it, RDP2008 uses it.

I could definitely see Azure using it.
0 Votes
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skillaid, you just hit the nail on the head!
vulpine@... Updated - 28th Oct 2008
What about Security? Do we trust the host?

The enterprise is not yet ready to accept Cloud
Computing in the sense offered by any current
provider. Over and over and over again we see where
applications and services that we thought secure leaks
data critical to the operation of the business and the
privacy of employees and customers. This is evident in
the Gap thefts and even in the World Bank where data
perceived to be secure was not only accessed but acted
upon as well; costing the victims millions of dollars. In
almost every case these leaks were due to Windows or
an application within Windows.

And now Microsoft yet again wants us to trust them
with critical internal functions and services.

Microsoft really needs to drop back and punt. They
need to start from scratch and design software that is
inherently secure, functional and efficient. Until then, I
and many other users will avoid Microsoft as much as
possible.
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Well now..
skillaid 28th Oct 2008
I for one actually trust the host... it was more of a question to start this kind of discussion.

Of course I am bias in my thought process, being a Microsoft Partner.

Still the question must be answered by more than Microsoft and it's Partners... trust must be proven, and I think that is one of the biggest hurdles this will see for secure data Applications.
0 Votes
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Why the govvernment loves Azure
Zathros 27th Oct 2008
Just imagine how easy it will be for the NAS, CIA and FBI to snoop *all* your personal and corporate data if it's housed in a readily accessible "public" server facility (with or without justifiable warrants). They won't even need to leave their office chairs, let alone physically raid your home or office.
0 Votes
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not necessary
coffeeshark 27th Oct 2008
The platform and application is in the cloud, but where the data is stored will be up to the user, it could still be served from a company database, you don't have to use distributed SQL Services.

Cloud-based storage will always be a security risk, I think. The dual approach of online apps + local storage is the optimum approach.
0 Votes
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Enterprise privacy compliance
odenni 27th Oct 2008
In the Q&A after John Shewchuck's session he said that because Microsoft is focused on the enterprise with offerings such as Exchange Online, and because they have enterprise customers such as pharmaceuticals with strict requirements on where their emails are allowed to be stored, you will be able to "pin" your services to certain locales or data centers to ensure that it doesn't get into the wrong hands.
0 Votes
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Big brother can get you anyway
LBiege 27th Oct 2008
... with Patriot Act hanging there.
0 Votes
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It's not as much the government as it is money for nothing.
HypnoToad 27th Oct 2008
Whoops, I mean leased services.

Remember "Software Assurance" and the promise of getting the latest software? Well, between the time SA came out and now, there have been 2 major releases of software: 2003 and 2007. Before that, new Office and Windows releases came every 2 years (office 4, office 95, 97, 2000 that came out in 1999... Win95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 Pro, XP... Vista...)

Getting all that money for little, where's the incentive to do anything? And the other token sentences thrown at people?

The government can track anybody already - URLs, bank statements, privacy was a pipe dream - even in the 1960s when all hippies did was smoke it.
0 Votes
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All your TPS Reports belong to US!
wolftalamasca 24th Jun 2009
While it is true this would make it even easier for the Feds to snoop your data, that alone shouldn't really be the biggest concern; though very admittedly, that power is too easy to abuse as it is. The bigger danger is, and always will be, hackers of all nature.

The more I think about a Global Virtual Datacloud from MS, or any company.. I am NOT going to give preferential treatment.. the more worried about it I become.

Yes, I think it is an awesome idea- but the lack of track record security on -all- platforms is truckpiles of doubt past reasonable that this cloud computing your sensitive business is safe. Imagine one -JUST ONE- full root security breach on a fully linked cloud data host. In minutes all your data copied...and 4000 other companies just like yours. Or, simply wiped at dozens of gigs/sec... or, slightly and unsuspectingly altered over time by an undetected worm in the fabric layer of the main system.

The security of this boggles the mind. And those saying "your data is stored on premise" are ignoring the fact it must be sent to the cloud to be processed.. and cached there.. etc.

None of this even goes into the obvious other problem of nearly ALL commercial, even expensive SLA'd net connections having no real guarantee of service.

Envision the Global Bluescreen.
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft's Azure cloud platform: A guide for the perplexed
sundeviltk 27th Oct 2008
I would think going forward this will be very good for companies who want to have only 1 or 2 datacenters, but need deployment and specifically development available to many different locations. I think this is just taking RDC to the next level, so it can be used to actually develop apps.

Also, I don't see anything here that says you have to use SQL server with this. I would assume this would work with most databases, not just SQL Server.
0 Votes
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What you can use, what you can't
jrepenning@... 28th Oct 2008
Whether it's practical to use services other than the built-ins will depend on the
deployment services provided. Haven't heard much about that, yet.
0 Votes
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Do you suppose Microsoft is aware...
Userama 27th Oct 2008
that azure is defined as a blue, clear, CLOUDLESS sky?
What a perfect name for their new CLOUD OS.

Way to go, you crazy Redmondians, you!!!
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft's Azure cloud platform: A guide for the perplexed
PreventRage 27th Oct 2008
Perhaps the "cloud" analogy is getting a little tired anyway. I could learn to prefer "sky" as a metaphor. And "Azure" is certainly more inspirational than GAE, S3, EC2.
0 Votes
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Well, if we're going with 'sky'...
Smarty_Pantz Updated - 28th Oct 2008
Well, if we're going with 'sky',we might as well stick 'net' on the end and call it a day.
[ http://tinyurl.com/2lu7wl ] wikipedia

What could possibly go wrong?
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft's Azure cloud platform: A guide for the perplexed
johngalt_0705 27th Oct 2008
Yes, I actually do see where they're going with it. And I can certainly see how it might appeal to a segment of Microsoft's customers. It's just not the sort of material I expect to be headlining PDC. But I guess that could be my own bias, as Azure just does not apply to what I do.

Ozzie did say that a point would come when Azure would be available to put on your own servers, as opposed to having Microsoft host it. That's what I mean by Azure "shipping". But that would not be V1.

Eric
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This explains ...
wackoae 27th Oct 2008
... why Azureus suddenly and with no explanation changed its name to Vuze.
0 Votes
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Layer 0: Connect your wallet to MS Treasury
bbneo 28th Oct 2008
That's the first layer in every Microsoft product.
0 Votes
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Why not just go Citrix ?
neil.postlethwaite@... 28th Oct 2008
Might as well just use Citrix as a proven technology as they by and large covered much of this off 10 years ago with Metaframe for W2K.

Recent Presentation Server --> XenApp consolidates this and all you need is a Web Browser with ICA plug in.

Many of the gotcha's have already been encountered and resolved by Citrix - USB peripherals on your terminal, managing printer drivers for local devices, printing down tight bandwidth connections without killing the experience, screen refresh optimisation etc.....
0 Votes
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How do you install web apps in Azure?
barriosa@... 28th Oct 2008
Will the VMs be the points of access for developers? Will you rent VMs, install your apps and go?
0 Votes
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I'm not sure I really get it...
TonyF2013 28th Oct 2008
So, you'll be able to develop applications online and then distribute them across your network from a remote database?

And if I'm right about that, then wouldn't it seem like Microsoft is trying to lock all IT Professionals everywhere into using their Live Services platform, and dominate the distributed software market by squeezing out smaller software companies?

I guess what I'm getting at is that I'd be very reticent to use something to run IT services for a business that I didn't really understand, and where my servers weren't right there in the next room where I could monitor them.
0 Votes
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Summary - WE WANT YOUR DATA!
scott1329 28th Oct 2008
Executive summary: Cloud computing is a way for third parties to get your data.
0 Votes
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An option for the insane
DaffyDuck 28th Oct 2008
Yes, I have issues with this:

1. Privacy and data control: once it's out of your control, it's out of your control. Sure, you could sue for breach of something or another. But why even tempt fate?

2. Reliability and redundancy: a year or so ago, several web servers in SF went down and it affected a large part of the area's ability to get online for several hours. If my programs/data reside in the cloud but I can't get to the cloud, what good is it to me?

3. Accessibility: There are still parts of the country where wireless coverage is spotty at best. WiFi is not always reliable as either a secure or fast connection. Or what happens when MS or whoever decides there's something even better or more secure than cloud computing and decides to do away with it? Thinking of photo and music websites that have just shut down their servers and subscribers have lost photos or music. Or when Gmail suddenly goes down for whatever reason (or decides that your ISP is suddenly in Spain). All meaning to point out the potential unreliability of a system administered by some unknown party.

Currently, with all of my data and my programs reside on my computer, it's available. Even in a power outage (assuming I have either a UPS for a desktop or sufficient power in the laptop batteries). Also, control of the data, access to the data, and security of the data stays completely in my hands.

I'll let the bleeding-edge techies cut through the cloud thicket and deal with the lack of security. Until then, things work just fine for me.
0 Votes
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Azure "Head in the Clouds"
Mahegan 28th Oct 2008
says it all.
Of course, the underlying network will have to be, how reliable?
Just setting yourselves up for a single point of failure, economy crippling security "just in case" one of those dang terrorists get the server farm, or listening to PB (Pitt Bull) Palin, even Obama...

Learn from Vancouver just trying to run the winter games, or indeed, NSW in Australia - too many public events crippled the state's budget, security for Pope, Olympics, etc, etc. So, sooner or later, the crippling costs of IT security will down it, just like that terrorist iceberg did the Titanic.
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft's Azure cloud platform: A guide for the perplexed
SirLanse 28th Oct 2008
I said that when Bill Gates wrote "the road ahead" the cover picture should have had a toll booth on the road with M$ on the booth.
This is his way of putting the road through M$ and making sure you pay the toll.
If your app relies on M$ infrastructure, you will have to pay, EVERY TIME.
No more running your company on NT 3.5 and not paying for upgrades.
0 Votes
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Is this a new spin on timesharing?
sjbinaz 28th Oct 2008
Seriously, I know it is more complex. But before the internet we had timesharing. The customer had dumb terminals and we had the CPU's storage, etc. We used Telnet and Tymnet. Is this the same idea but for this century? If so, it seems to mean a great way for smaller companies to have better resources which is a positive.
0 Votes
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Will this be exclusively a MS controlled service?
LastDefense Updated - 28th Oct 2008
Is this positioned only for Microsoft as a SaaS, or will Azure be available to closed envirnoments as well. Will Enterprises be able to deploy Azure within their own global enterprise so they have full control over the data and avoid having the data exposed to individuals outside the control of the company?
0 Votes
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Az what?
Narg 28th Oct 2008
Who the hell names this stuff? This one's going to be
short lived. People don't like names that are hard to
pronounce or say.
0 Votes
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You're right. Doofs won't like it
marksashton 28th Oct 2008
But most people who are half educated won't have a problem with the name. Besides, who the hell cares whethere everyone pronounces it the same way? Do you pronounce Facconable the same way as a Frenchman?
0 Votes
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RE: Microsoft's Azure cloud platform: A guide for the perplexed
johnso 28th Oct 2008
still like Amazon Clou better.
http://aws.amazon.com/
Amazon
0 Votes
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Excellent explanation
xp-client 28th Oct 2008
Now I've finally understood it at least. so is Live Mesh is a layer three hosted application building atop the layer 2 Live Framework? Also, why aren't you interested in consumer stuff?
0 Votes
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Bye, bye, Network administrator job.
visualintel 28th Oct 2008
Looks like IT job cuts in the enterprise to me, it's 24/7 availability, pay per use, low cost...etc. Companies don't need to kept those high paying M-certified overhead network czars and IT staffs now since the cloud will give us all the computing power we need!
0 Votes
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Superb!
lawtonterri 28th Feb
Fantastic post. Here???s a tool that lets you build your cloud database apps without coding http://www.caspio.com/

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