Posted by Ricardo Villalobos on May 6, 2013
PowerPoint presentations used last April, during the Global Windows Azure Bootcamp in Denver, CO USA, can now be downloaded from this Skydrive location.
The following files are included:
- GWAB Denver Intro.
- Windows Azure Platform overview.
- Windows Azure Compute overview.
- Windows Azure Storage overview.
- Windows Azure Messaging overview.
- Windows Azure Virtual Machines and Virtual Networks overview.
Enjoy!
Posted by Ricardo Villalobos on May 6, 2013
For the May 2013 edition of the MSDN magazine Windows Azure Insider column, Bruno and I cover a common scenario that developers and companies face when trying to distribute video files around the world: protecting content from being accessed in specific countries. The solution is based on a Node.js server running on Windows Azure Web Sites, which can be scaled as more traffic is detected. The information that correlates originating IP addresses and world countries is stored in MongoDB, and hosted by MongoLab as-a-Service. Finally, Windows Azure Storage tables are used to save restrictions and logs. This is a good example of combining multiple frameworks to achieve highly-scalable solutions in the cloud that solve day-to-day problems.
The full article can be found here.
Your comments and feedback are appreciated. Enjoy!
Posted by Ricardo Villalobos on April 30, 2013
The April 2013 version of the Windows Azure Training Kit is now available for download. You can find it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8396
Content Updates:
• New Presentation: Windows Azure Mobile Services and Android
• New Lab: Windows Azure Mobile Services and Android
• New Lab: Windows Azure Mobile Services and Windows Phone
• New Presentation: Introduction to Windows Azure HDInsight Service (Hadoop)
• New Lab: Introduction to Windows Azure HDInsight (Hadoop)
• Updated ITPro Content + Agenda
• Updated Presentations for new feature support Windows Azure Overview, Windows Azure Web Sites, Windows Azure Virtual Machines & Windows Azure Mobile Services.
Enjoy!
Posted by Ricardo Villalobos on April 23, 2013
This Saturday, April 27th 2013, Microsoft will be hosting the Global Windows Azure Bootcamp at our office in Denver, Colorado. Brendon McCarthy, Joe Mayo, Bill Wegerson and I will be presenting on different topics, including hybrid cloud architectures, messaging and storage strategies. This one day deep dive class was created with developers in mind, wanting to get up to speed on developing for the Microsoft cloud platform. More information can be found here.
You can register by visiting the following page: https://gwabdenver.eventday.com/ and clicking on the "Register" button. The event is free, but we have limited capacity, so make sure to reserve your place as soon as possible.
Microsoft
7595 Technology Way, Suite 400
DENVER, CO 80237
See you there!
Posted by Ricardo Villalobos on April 3, 2013
This month, in the Windows Azure Insider column for MSDN Magazine, Bruno and I talk about the current NoSQL data landscape, explain how it's affecting the design of new solution architectures, and take a deep dive into Windows Azure Tables.
We start by showing developers how to perform basic operations (insert, query data), while fully disclosing the architecture - with the help of the Windows Azure Product Group - behind the Storage infrastructure that offers up to 200TB in capacity, and 20,000 entities per second for a single account.
The full article can be found here. Enjoy!
Posted by Ricardo Villalobos on March 18, 2013
We have published the PowerPoint slides from the Azure OSS Summit in Argentina, presented last week.
They include the following topics (in Spanish, unless otherwise stated):
1. Introducción a Windows Azure.
1a. Microsoft GFS Datacenter tour (English only).
2. Arquitecturas Híbridas de Nube.
3. Desarrollo OSS en Windows Azure (PHP, Java, Python)
4. Motores de Bases de Datos OSS en Windows Azure
5. Node.js en Windows Azure
The files can be downloaded here: http://sdrv.ms/Xl60jt
Also, a few additional helpful resources:
- Task demos in different programming languages
http://task.codeplex.com
- MSDN Magazine Service Bus article (English and Spanish)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/es-ar/magazine/jj863132.aspx
- MSDN Magazine Node.js introduction (English only)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/jj991974.aspx
Thanks to everyone who attended and participated during the event!
Posted by Ricardo Villalobos on March 7, 2013
For those who attended the Windows Azure OSS Summits (Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore) in India, we just uploaded the PowerPoint presentations used during the different sessions, including:
1. Windows Azure Overview.
2. Building Hybrid Cloud Architectures
3. The OSS Developers Story
4. The OSS Data Story
5. Windows Azure and node.js
They can be found here: http://sdrv.ms/12nKpOS. Enjoy!
Posted by Ricardo Villalobos on March 5, 2013
Now is the turn for Buenos Aires, Argentina, where we will be talking about the integration between Windows Azure and Open Source technologies. Don't miss the Python, PHP, Java and node.js sessions, while we show you how to take advantage of multiple database engines - including Azure table storage, MongoDB, neo4j and Cassandra - for effective and scalable polyglot persistence architectures. If you are in the area, register today!
Ahora es el turno para Buenos Aires, Argentina, donde hablaremos sobre la integración de Windows Azure con technologías de código abierto. No te pierdas las sesiones de Python, PHP, Java y node.js, mientras te mostramos cómo aprovechar la combinación de bases de datos - almacenamiento en tablas Azure, MongoDB, neo4j y Cassandra - para lograr arquitecturas efectivas y escalables basadas en una capa de persistencia políglota. Si te encuentras en la región... ¡regístrate ahora!.
http://lanyrd.com/2013/windows-azure-open-platform-summit-buenos-aires/
Posted by Ricardo Villalobos on March 5, 2013
For the March 2013 edition of the Windows Azure Insider column in MSDN Magazine, Bruno Terkaly and I talk about node.js, the javascript server-side programming language that it's taking the world by storm (for the right use cases). We show you how to create a basic HTTP server, as well as how to use it for two specific situations: real-time web browser communication using long-polling mechanisms, including WebSockets; and exposing SQL DB data using a RESTful layer. Finally, we've included instructions on how to easily deploy your code to Windows Azure Web Sites. The full article can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/jj991974.aspx. Enjoy!
Posted by Ricardo Villalobos on February 1, 2013
Following the successful Windows Azure OSS Summit that I presented in Paris with David Makogon, Bhushan Nene, and Karandeep Anand; we are now flying around the world to meet with Windows Azure developers in India, where we will be visiting three different cities: Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.

We will talk about the latest features incorporated into our cloud platform, how to access them from different programming languages such as Java, PHP and Node.js; while showing how to store, extract, transform, and analyze data using popular DB engines like Cassandra and MongoDB. If you are in the area, make sure to drop by!