Azure Web Sites or Azure Cloud

Question

We're looking at creating our own company CRM system and i'm a little confused on which to choose. Either Websites or Cloud.

Are we able to scale up/down with websites and what sort of redundancy do they have?

Answer 1

Hi Nathan - I have exactly the same question. Guess you could build it for on-premise and then make some tweaks to move it to the Cloud.

Answer 2

Here is some info on Hybrid Solution development:

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/tutorials/hybrid-solution/

Answer 3

One of the big things this boils down to is how much control you need over the environment the application will run in, and then other areas of consideration include amount of scale you'll need, do you need SSL support, and more flexibility on drive space.  If you have a .NET application that will run completely in ASP.NET and not specialized installs or admin level rights then a WAWS may fit your needs just fine.  Now, if you have a lot of additional setup or configuration you need done then you will be looking at the Cloud Services, or even Virtual Machines in some scenarios where you need a persisted OS drive.  So, as you move forward think about the requirements of the system, including 3rd party components that may require a more flexible environment than the web sites can offer, and go from there.  Also, you can start on premises as Dharni indicates, or even start in the web site space until you run into something that keeps you from using it, then make the decision to move to one or the other.  Remember that you can scale web sites (in shared or reserved) and additional instances are spread across fault domains.  But in preview the limit is 3 instances I believe, so if you need massive scale you'll want to go Cloud Service in production.

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- Mike Wood http://mvwood.com | http://cinnug.org | http://windowsazurebootcamp.com

Answer 4

If you can give us your architecture, we could propose some solutions we believe that works for you. Azure has lot of components that will help us build from fully cloud applications to hybrid applications.

If you want to use MS dymaics CRM here is the best documentation available.

If you would like to go with your own system, please let us know some more details of your architecture and what kind of features or control you are looking at.

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Answer 5

Actually the reply is really simple:

Use (cloud) Webrole with worker role... the Website is over expensive at this time for what you get. Enable Remote desktop access as well which will give you the fine grain control over the server. This is the only way to go!

I used both before realising that WebSites are not ready for production use at this time and will only be useful if you are getting millions of visitors a day - remember though that the Webrole can handle anything that websites can.

I personally think websites have been implemented incorrectly by MS. They are easy set-up services for novices and those who want a kind-of point-and-click setup. But they priced them at corporation and enterprise levels. Which makes no sense at all.

So as said use (cloud) Web and Work roles. You will be happy you did.

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