Does the Windows Azure SDK Installer support Windows XP at all?

Question

Hello,
 
I tried to run the install on a Windows XP machine with SP3 installed. It indicated that installation could not proceed because I did not have Windows Vista SP1 installed. However, the site mentioned that this requirement only applied to computers with Windows Vista, as if those with XP would support it without SP1.

What are the true minimum requirements of the SDK?

Answer 1

The minimum requirements are Vista SP1 or Windows Server 2008 (64 bit and 32 bit platforms).

Answer 2

ouch. that hurts.

Answer 3

ouch indeed. so there's no way to develop for Azure on XP? (this seems like quite an oversight)

brian

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http://www.spatialdatalogic.com/CS/blogs/brian_flood/

Answer 4

Unfortunately, you can't.

Answer 5

 The Windows Azure storage services (Blob, Queue and Table) have no dependency on any particular OS and are available through REST protocol for any platform/language. The SDK provides ability to write hosted applications and therefore requires Vista SP1 or Windows Server 2008 to properly simulate cloud environment.

Answer 6

iceanfire said:

ouch. that hurts.

In this day and age where you can create a virtual machine and throw a virtual OS on it pretty easily, I don't see it as that much of an inconvenience to require Windows Server 2008 or Vista SP1. In fact, properly trimmed down, you can create a pretty darn lean Server '08 install in a virtual machine. Besides, all this stuff is pre-beta anyway so we're safer virtualizing it anyway :)

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The .NET Addict - http://dotnetaddict.dotnetdevelopersjournal.com

Answer 7

Aleks Gershaft said:

 The Windows Azure storage services (Blob, Queue and Table) have no dependency on any particular OS and are available through REST protocol for any platform/language. The SDK provides ability to write hosted applications and therefore requires Vista SP1 or Windows Server 2008 to properly simulate cloud environment.

Thanks for the clarification, however neither SDK nor Tools for VS can be used on XP - or at least that's what it says in the "System Requirements".

It's still a big ouch if you want to "engage existing .net developers" into the Microsoft version of cloud services. We all know whats out there in the way of "clould computing" and well, if we're going to spend time trying to adopt a "cloud offering", the least path to resistance applies....and when any effort has already been spent, "switching" isn't really going to be in the plans unless there's some major issue - re: if a start developing on cloud offering A and get somewhere, I'd be hard pressed to switch/try cloud offering M :)

Hopefully this is addressed - before the XP crowd embraces the "daddy" of these types of services (which recently, and finally announced support for Windows/SQL). In all honesty, it was the impending release of Azure that kept us from jumping into that other offering. Now that we know there's actually this barrier, we'll evaluate which one gets us up and running more easily efficiently.

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Answer 8

Kevin Hoffman said:

iceanfire said:

ouch. that hurts.

In this day and age where you can create a virtual machine and throw a virtual OS on it pretty easily, I don't see it as that much of an inconvenience to require Windows Server 2008 or Vista SP1. In fact, properly trimmed down, you can create a pretty darn lean Server '08 install in a virtual machine. Besides, all this stuff is pre-beta anyway so we're safer virtualizing it anyway :)

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The .NET Addict - http://dotnetaddict.dotnetdevelopersjournal.com

Well, that isn't exactly "path of least resistance" - particularly if, as you said, you want someone to dip into a BETA...and not exactly the only game in town.

The attraction to Azure was the hope of "ease" since that's somehow assumed with an all-Microsoft shop. No extra gyrations needed....well, so much for that I guess.

Hey, to those that have the time, resources, investment, appropriate licenses (VISTA), by all means go for it.....Hey, its a start regardless.

To the rest, we'll go through MSDN docs and do an apples to apples comparison and go for, yep, path of least resistance....

Thanks!

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Answer 9

As Aleks pointed out, currently the only dependency on Vista SP1/Server 2008 is Development Fabric, the simulated execution environment for hosted services.  This is because it is based on IIS7 technology for hosting ASP.NET application, but IIS7 is only available only in the newer OS versions.  The Development Storage has no dependency on OS.  The tools for building cloud apps have no dependency on the OS either but you have to use the newer OS to simulate the execution on Development Fabric for the preceeding reason.

We will explore options to enable the SDK on XP.  Meanwhile, if you are into hacking and really want to give it a try on XP by side-stepping the System Requirement, you might want to use the ORCA.EXE tool (found in the Windows Installer SDK) to remove the OS and IIS7 requirement from the SDK MSI.  At least you can play with the simulated storage system for now.  We never tested this out, so try it at your own risk :-)  If you are in the luck, also check out the sample PowerShell snap in named "cloud drive", which allows you to mount your blob/queue storage account as a drive.

Answer 10

 

Zhe Yang said:

As Aleks pointed out, currently the only dependency on Vista SP1/Server 2008 is Development Fabric, the simulated execution environment for hosted services.  This is because it is based on IIS7 technology for hosting ASP.NET application, but IIS7 is only available only in the newer OS versions.  The Development Storage has no dependency on OS.  The tools for building cloud apps have no dependency on the OS either but you have to use the newer OS to simulate the execution on Development Fabric for the preceeding reason.

We will explore options to enable the SDK on XP.  Meanwhile, if you are into hacking and really want to give it a try on XP by side-stepping the System Requirement, you might want to use the ORCA.EXE tool (found in the Windows Installer SDK) to remove the OS and IIS7 requirement from the SDK MSI.  At least you can play with the simulated storage system for now.  We never tested this out, so try it at your own risk :-)  If you are in the luck, also check out the sample PowerShell snap in named "cloud drive", which allows you to mount your blob/queue storage account as a drive.

Hi Zhe Yang:

Thank you for further clarifying things. I did understand the reason (IIS 7). I also hope that the "powers that be" of the Azure group understand the disappointment.

I've become accustomed to the power and ease of MS tools over the years (VS family) that helps us get the job done in the most efficient manner, so stuff like this is somewhat of an unpleasant surprise - particularly when we're talking development. 

Anyway, it's cool. It sort of reminds me of .Net 1/VS.Net development which required a "separate" web server, and the subsequent iterations that included a built-in one (Cassini?), which continues today. Not sure what the effect to adoption was when that was done...but I'm willing to make an educated guess that was seen as an excellent move...I know I sure did :)

Have a great day!

Ed

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Answer 11

I did a write up of the a process you might try in getting it to work. I haven't tested it myself, and as noted it's not supported. Try it at your own risk:
http://mycloudapp.net/wiki/Installing%20Windows%20Azure%20SDK%20on%20XP.ashx

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MyCloudApp.net - Your Unofficial Source for Azure Services Platform Information

Answer 12

By bypassing the requirements, I was able to get the Development Storage service up and running, as Zhe Yang said.

The Development Fabric, however, crashed on launch, as expected.

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MyCloudApp.net - Your Unofficial Source for Azure Services Platform Information

Answer 13

I am not disappointed.  Vista is just about 2 years old now.  I would never move back to XP.  Never.  I love IIS 7 development, and using Vista for my development machine certainly makes it easier for me to build web applications that I deploy to Windows 2008 using the IIS 7 integrated pipeline.

Shan

Answer 14

We all don't have the luxury of being able to move on to Vista in our development environments.

I unfortunatly have to support several .Net 1.1 web apps, which is for all intents and purposes impossible to debug on Vista.

Answer 15

hmm

I used to work on NET1.1 until I move on to more PM than hands on.
I did get myself VS2005 certified and was very excited when Azure comes along.

Had this great idea for a biz web app that I think will work well on cloud.
Esp with the minimal infra and investment outlay at the beginning etc.

I did a search and find that AppXchange require all user to have SF account (big no-no), EC which at the end still require server admin for the vm and lastly learning phython for the Big G.

I thought I was saved by Azure but the Vista SP1 definitely throw a spanner on the work esp with my 3 years old setup.

Sigh*
guess I may take a look at EC2 again which imo is not the best solution for 24/7 web app.

Hope that ZY is right and a XP SDK is available soon for some work to be done...

Answer 16

The Azure development fabric will never run on Windows XP, so I wouldn't wait for it.  Windows Azure requires IIS 7, which can be done using Windows 2008 Server or Windows Vista.  If you are stuck supporting old legacy applications, you can do what the rest of the industry does - use virtualization.  If you are maintaining an application, you should REALLY consider upgrading it to the newer framework - you will spend much less time supporting it in the end.  You can upgrade your OS to Vista and build new applications using new technologies using virtualization to support your old legacy environments, or you can keep your desktop with XP and use virtualization for your Azure development environment. 

Every developer should have a plan for maintaining the infrastructure of their application.  I typically keep my applications on the latest frameworks because it makes me much more productive, but if you neglect to maintain your application you will eventually find yourself locked into old technologies like quicksand with no way to get out of the mess.  I couldn't imagine developing or supporting .net 1.1 now considering the emense value in the newer frameworks.  I also would not find it acceptable to not be able to upgrade my infrastructure because I neglected to keep my applications on current frameworks.

Microsoft is not going to back-port IIS 7 to Windows XP and allow developers to use the development fabric on Windows XP.  As such, you will have to use virtualization or upgrade your operating system to a newer version to use the Azure development fabric.

Shan McArthur
www.shanmcarthur.net

Answer 17

FWIW, i've started a set of azure storage samples that reply only on baseline .NET on XP. no Vista, no VS2008, no SDKs.

i posted info on a thread in this forum.
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsazure/thread/0fcd9754-e15a-4b22-bf4f-84f442b968a3

it's early, but it's a start.

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Mike Amundsen [http://amundsen.com/blog/]

Answer 18

That's unfortunate.  I'd like to advocate trying out Azure for a team of developers at a local University-based software company.  They currently do not do any web development -- in fact, they're still developing their commercial app using VB6 and they have to support their user base running NT/XP, so I imagine that they are probably reluctant to ditch XP for that reason.  

Answer 19

Jim:

I posted a simple console-based app that accesses Azure Table Storage using winXP and .NET 2.0.  depending on what you want to do, you could use this as the heart of some stand-alone app or as a 'proxy' that even VB6 apps can use to access Azure Storage.
http://amundsen.com/examples/azure/

I've created a similar proxy for SDS that has worked out quite well for folks who do not need to know the details of Windows, .NET, etc. 
http://amundsen.com/examples/sds/

Maybe this can give you some ideas on how to provide access to Azure/SDS for your VB6 folks.

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Mike Amundsen [http://amundsen.com/blog/]

Answer 20

Thanks.  I'll take a look.

Answer 21

I just want to also register my disappointment that XP is not supported. I don't have a copy of Vista or Server 08 to install on a virtual machine.

XP is still in wide use among developers, from what I've seen, and I'm one of them. Not happy.

Answer 22

Quite a 'strange' requirement considering we are building cloud applications to remove the underlying OS support. Damm Microsoft, if you want to sell Vista do it to co-orporates not to developers...