Virtual Machine Role in Windows Azure
Windows Azure compute provides facility to run an
application in the cloud. For this azure provides three types of roles:
- Web role: used for web application programming
and supported by IIS7
- Worker role: used for asynchronous, long running
tasks, without any user interruption.
- VM role: used for migrating windows server
applications to Windows azure in an easy way.
In this article we will see Virtual Machine (VM) roles. VM
role fits for the situations where:
- Long running application installation is
required
- Error prone application installation
- Application installation needs manual
interaction
- Migrating existing applications
VM role is a special role, which gives user freedom to
control the operating system. While web role and worker role runs on a virtual
machine, but VM is a virtual machine. But this comes with the responsibility of
making sure that the OS image is up to date through the creation of difference
disks. So it increases the cost of development, testing and maintenance.
Creation of VM role in azure needs:
- Creating a Base Virtual Machine Image
- Preparation of the Base Image for Deployment
- Installation of the Windows Azure VM Role
Integration Components
- Uploading the Disk Image to Windows Azure
- Creating the Service Model
- Creating the Hosted Service and Deploying the
Package
I will blog each step in detail in my upcoming articles.