Hi All, Just a follow-up:- Slides can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/group/python-ireland
Stephen's answers to questions (also appended it to the Azure slides):- 1. Web Role V’s Worker role Clarification in Windows Azure A web role is intended to host customer or outward facing web applications in Azure. It usually involves hosting via IIS. Worker role is intended to perform back-end tasks, like continuous data processing. For example, one can have a multi-tier application, where users request processing of certain data (for example images). Web role would host a web site to handle the user interaction, store the data and to schedule asynchronous processing. Worker role would then pick up that scheduled task, do the processing and inform the web role it is finished. For details, see: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd179341.aspx. 2. HTTP / FTP / HTTPS Support in Windows Azure? HTTP/HTTPS are fully supported out of the box. FTP is not. However, one can create a custom FTP server as an Azure web or worker role if one desires so. 3. Can the Python Client communicate directly with the storage system in Windows Azure? Yes. Azure storage services expose an HTTP interface that can be accessed from any language that can create an HTTP connection. So either a custom solution is possible for Python, or an existing Python wrapper can be used ( https://github.com/sriramk/winazurestorage) that is developed by one of the members of the Azure team. 4. Can you store data by posting to a URL? Yes. Azure storage services are RESTful, which means that they use requests to specially crafted URLs for storage and retrieval of files. In this case, one would use a PUT request. More details about the storage APIs can be found at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd179355.aspx. 5. What is the difference between SQL and SQL Azure? SQL Azure uses the same query language (T-SQL) and same interface as the plain SQL. However, since it is hosted in the cloud, there are no concepts of mirroring, and administration and provisioning is handled differently. Most of the time, existing SQL code can be used on SQL Azure. SQL Azure has quotas for maximum storage though (around 50GB per database) for scalability purposes. For full details, check the doc at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=86f12b41-1eba-4567-9ac8-02eaa7d12034 6. Segmentation on available processor time? Usually there is none. Every service instance has its own dedicated VM, with at least one dedicated CPU (more for larger instances). The exception to this rule is ExtraSmall instance size which shares CPU cores. It is currently in beta phase, and unfortunately I don’t have information on CPU sharing policies. For specs on the instance profiles (CPU, RAM, etc.) see: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee814754.aspx 7. Is CDN usage variable? I do not understand what is meant by ‘variable usage’? CDN provides the shortest round trip time possible for content hosted on Azure from different parts of the world by caching it close to the end-user, effectively speeding up web downloads and web site browsing from Azure several times. The price is variable, depending on the region of the world where the traffic comes from (one price for North America/Europe and another for Asia Pacific region). For details on CDN and its pricing see: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/cdn/default.aspx 8. Are there free trials of Windows azure for individuals At the moment, anyone can download the Azure simulation environment (called Development Fabric) for free, and develop and execute Azure applications on a local machine. The real environment does not have a free option yet (mostly due to the cost required to build, deploy and maintain whole VMs), but an Extra small instance option is in beta right now, due to be released later this year, which costs only 5 dollar cents per hour of uptime, which is affordable for development use. Also, MSDN subscribers get a free account and quota with their subscription. For standard business offers, see: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/offers/ Once again, thanks to Liam and Stephen for their talks in Dec, and those who attended that evening (just hope it doesn't get that cold again). Cheers, /// Vicky ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~ http://irishbornchinese.com ~~ ~~ http://www.python.ie ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Python Ireland" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/pythonireland?hl=en.
