Windows Azure Web App, Cloud Services, and VMs: When to use which?

Question

Hi,

I am working on a project that is using Cloud Services. Please help me to understand Cloud Services better. Thanks. 

Windows Azure Web App, Cloud Services, and VMs: When to use which?

Have a good day.

Answer 1

Hi,

 The Following articles gives differences between WebApps (Websites), Cloud Services and VMs, I would suggest you go through the articles.
  http://dotnetthread.com/articles/30-Choosing-between-Windows-Azure-Web-Sites-Web-Roles-and-VMs.aspx
  http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/choose-web-site-cloud-service-vm/
  http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/fundamentals-application-models/
 
 Cloud Services is a PAAS (Platform as a Service) offering, which is ideal for Multi-Tier Applications, where you have Less Control over the VM in terms of Managing and Updating, azure will take care of that.
 Cloud Services are deployed in Roles, Web Role Has IIS installed by default and is primarily used as a Public facing Front End for your applications, where as Worker Roles are used for Background Processing. Each Role can be scaled independently according to your application performance requirements.
 I would suggest you watch the following videos which show how to Develop and Deploy Cloud Service Applications. The Channel9 website also has many more videos and tutorials on Azure Services that you can search.
 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/DevRadio/Microsoft-DevRadio-Part-10-Practical-Azure-with-Jim-ONeil--Web-Roles
 http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/DevRadio/Microsoft-DevRadio-Part-11-Practical-Azure-with-Jim-ONeil--Worker-Roles
 
Regards,
Nithin Rathnakar

Answer 2

Thanks Nithin Rathnakar for your generous help. :)