Getting Started with Windows Azure

Platform as a Service (PaaS).

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

Software as a Service (SaaS).

Creating a Windows Azure account.

Using the Windows Azure Management Portal.

Installing Windows Azure tools in Visual Studio.

Creating Cloud Services

Overview of cloud services.

Creating web roles and worker roles.

Communicating between web roles and worker roles.

Using SQL Database

SQL Database architecture.

Features and limitations.

Data access techniques.

Creating and connecting to SQL Database.

Developing Windows Azure services that use SQL Database.

Getting Started with Windows Azure Storage

Storage service architecture.

Windows Azure storage accounts.

Understanding connection strings.

Using the Windows Azure Storage Emulator.

Overview of blobs, queues, and tables.

Going Further with Windows Azure Storage

Blob containers, block blobs, and page blobs.

Blob directories.

Creating a table for table storage.

Defining entity types.

Using the table APIs.

Querying entities.

Creating a queue for queue storage.

Sending and receiving messages.

Using asynchronous APIs.

Using REST APIs.

Windows Azure Access Control Service

Overview of claims-based authentication.

Introduction to Access Control Service (ACS).

Creating and configuring an ACS namespace.

Using the Identity and Access Tool in Visual Studio.

Creating and configuring Relying Party applications to use ACS.

Deploying Services

Using Web Deploy in Visual Studio.

Web deployment packages.

Command-line tools for Web Deploy.

Deploying to Windows Azure.