Book Recommendation: Cloud Computing with the Windows Azure Platform

When I first started working with Windows Azure, this book was one of my first purchases.  Not only does it cover the basics of working with Azure such as:

• Azure Roles
• Table and blob storage
• Queues
• Moving from the Enterprise to the Cloud
• Security and authentication
• SQL Azure Services

but it also gives a very in-depth explanation of the inner-workings of the Windows Azure platform so you could actually understand what was happening physically, when you upload and publish your Azure solution.

There are plenty of nuts and bolts code segments and samples to show you how things are done and Wrox Press makes these samples available for download here.  Additionally, chapters 12 and 13, covering SQL Azure, are actually in an online-only format and can be found at the same site.

The only issues that I had with the book were some late-breaking technology changes that shipped in the final Windows Azure release which were different from the community technology preview (CTP) releases so their examples didn’t quite work the same.  Overall, these issues were quite minor and a little digging into the RTM examples showed me the new and proper way of doing things.

Overall, Cloud Computing with the Windows Azure Platform is a great addition to your programming library should you be leaning toward Windows Azure as a solution.

Final Note

Roger’s company, OakLeaf Systems, has a blog that posts a daily summary of Azure-related articles and announcements. I have no idea how long it takes someone to assemble each post, but I would imagine it takes quite a bit of time.  I find these posts invaluable and greatly appreciate each summary.