16.1. Azure Overview

Microsoft's cloud computing offering can be divided into a number of stand-alone modules or services:

• Windows Azure Platform

• Microsoft .NET Services

• SQL Azure (formally SQL Data Services)

• Live Services

Books could be written on each of these areas (and will be), so in this chapter I will be covering only the core building block services to get you started. I will be covering the following:

• The Windows Azure Service Platform

• Azure storage

And we will be taking a brief look at the following:

• SQL Azure

• Microsoft .NET Services

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