Summary
The Windows Azure Platform is an application platform in the cloud that allows Microsoft datacenters to host and run applications. It provides a cloud operating system called Windows Azure that serves as a runtime for the applications and provides a set of services that allows development, management and hosting of applications off-premises. All Azure Services and applications built using them run on top of Windows Azure.
Windows Azure has three core components: Compute, Storage and Fabric. As the names suggest, Compute provides a computation environment with Web Role, Worker Role, and VM Role while Storage focuses on providing scalable storage (Blobs, non-relational Tables, and Queues) for large-scale needs. Relational Database functionality is offered through SQL Azure, which is a scalable version of SQL Server that runs on the Azure platform.
Azure Platform Components
- Windows Azure Compute
- Web Role
- Worker Role
- VM Role
- Windows Azure Storage
- SQL Azure
- SQL Azure Data Sync
- SQL Azure Reporting
- Content Delivery Network
- Azure AppFabric
- Access Control
- Caching
- Service Bus
- Windows Azure Fabric Controller
- Azure Market Place
- Azure Virtual Network
- Azure Connect
- Azure Traffic Manager
Keywords: Microsoft Azure