Getting Started with the Windows Azure SDK

This topic describes how to configure your system to develop and test Windows Azure services using the Windows Azure SDK 1.0 (November 2009).

Prerequisites

Installing the Windows Azure SDK and running the development storage and the development fabric requires the following minimum system configuration:

  • Operating system:

    • The 64-bit (x64) version of the SDK requires a 64-bit edition of Windows 7, Windows Vista® SP1 or higher, or Windows Server® 2008.

    • The 32-bit (x86) version of the SDK requires a 32-bit editions of Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or higher, or Windows Server 2008.

noteNote
The 32-bit version of the SDK cannot be installed on a 64-bit operating system; running the SDK under Microsoft Windows 32-bit-On-Windows-64-bit (Wow64) is not supported.

Enabling IIS 7.0 with ASP.NET

The following instructions enable IIS 7.0 with ASP.NET.

To enable IIS 7.0 with ASP.NET on Windows Server 2008

  1. Click the Start button, and then point to All Programs. Point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.

  2. In Server Manager, under Roles Summary, verify that Web Server (IIS) appears in the list of available roles. If it does not, click Add Roles to install Internet Information Services.

  3. In Server Manager, under Roles Summary, click Web Server (IIS).

  4. In the Web Server (IIS) management window, click Add Role Services.

  5. In the Add Role Services dialog box, expand Web Server, expand Common HTTP Features, and then click Static Content.

  6. In the Add Role Services dialog box, expand Web Server, expand Application Development, and then click ASP.NET.

  7. Click Next to enable Static Content and ASP.NET.

To enable IIS 7.0 with ASP.NET on Windows 7 or Windows Vista

  1. Click the Start button, click Settings, click Control Panel, click Programs, and then click Programs and Features.

  2. Click Turn Windows Features On or Off.

  3. Under Internet Information Services, expand World Wide Web Services.

  4. Under Application Development Features, click ASP.NET.

  5. Under Common HTTP Features, click Static Content.

  6. Install the selected features.

Enabling CGI

You can optionally enable CGI in IIS 7.0, if you wish to host native applications on FastCGI.

To enable CGI on Windows Server 2008

  1. Click the Start button, and then point to All Programs. Point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.

  2. In Server Manager, under Roles Summary, click Web Server (IIS).

  3. In the Web Server (IIS) management window, click Add Role Services.

  4. In the Add Role Services dialog box, expand Web Server, expand Application Development, and then click CGI.

  5. Click Next to enable CGI.

To enable CGI on Windows 7 or Windows Vista

  1. Click the Start button, click Settings, click Control Panel, click Programs, and then click Programs and Features.

  2. Click Turn Windows Features On or Off.

  3. Under Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0, click Windows Communication Foundation HTTP Activation.

  4. Under Internet Information Services, expand World Wide Web Services.

  5. Under Application Development Features, click CGI.

  6. Install the selected feature.

Installing the SDK

Before installing the SDK, you must remove any previous CTP versions you may have installed. Right-click the Microsoft Windows Installer file, and then click Uninstall to remove the SDK. Then, install the SDK on your computer by running the Windows Installer file. By default, the SDK is installed into the C:\Program Files\Windows Azure SDK\ directory.

Note that you must provide administrator credentials to install, uninstall, or repair the SDK if you are installing as a user other than the computer administrator. If you are not the administrator and you are not running in elevated mode, you'll be prompted with User Account Control (UAC) dialog boxes.

Testing the SDK

The Windows Azure SDK includes two sets of sample projects:

  • The samples-cs.zip file includes samples written in C#.

  • The samples-vb.zip file includes samples written in Visual Basic.

Both files contain the same samples; the only difference is the language.

To use the samples, navigate to the installation directory of the SDK and unzip your desired samples file to a directory where you have write access.

noteNote
You may not have write access to directories under the Program Files directory by default. Therefore, it's recommended that you choose a different parent directory for the sample applications, such as C:\Samples.

Next, test the SDK installation as follows:

  1. To open the Windows Azure SDK command prompt, click the Start button, click Program Files, click Windows Azure SDK 1.0 (November 2009), and then click Windows Azure SDK Command Prompt.

  2. Navigate to the HelloWorld application directory, and then run the runme.cmd script.

If the development fabric and development storage are not already running, you will see the Windows Azure Simulation Environment icon appear in the system tray after a minute or two. Running the sample will automatically launch your Web browser and point to the service's default Web page. You should see the Web interface for the Hello World sample displayed in the browser window. Note that you may need to refresh the browser.

See Also

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