Developing Windows Azure and Web Services

Issues

Module 1: Overview of service and cloud technologies

This module provides an overview of services and cloud technologies using the Microsoft .NET Framework and the Windows Azure cloud.

Lessons

• Key components of distributed applications

• Data and data access technologies

• Service technologies

• Cloud computing

• Exploring the Blue Yonder Airlines Travel Companion app

Lab: Exploring the work environment

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Describe the key components of distributed applications.

• Describe data and data access technologies.

• Explain service technologies.

• Describe the functions and functionalities of cloud computing.

• Describe the architecture and operation of the Blue Yonder Airlines Travel Companion application.

Module 2: Querying and manipulating data using the Entity Framework

This module describes the Entity Framework data model and how to create, read, update and delete data.

Lessons

• Overview of ADO.NET

• Creating an entity data model

• Data request

• Data manipulation

Lab: Creating a data access layer using the Entity Framework

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Explain the basic objects in ADO.NET and asynchronous operations.

• Create an Entity Framework data model.

• Search the data using the Entity Framework.

• Insert, delete and update entities using the Entity Framework.

Module 3: Creating and using ASP.NET Web API services

This module describes HTTP-based services that are developed, hosted and used using the ASP.NET Web API.

Lessons

• HTTP services

• Creating an ASP.NET Web API service

• Handling HTTP requests and responses

• Hosting and using ASP.NET Web API services

Lab: Creating an ASP.NET Web API travel booking service.

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Design services using the HTTP protocol.

• Create services using the ASP.NET Web API.

• Use the HttpRequestMessage/HttpResponseMessage classes to control HTTP messages.

• Host and use ASP.NET Web API services.

Module 4: Extending and securing ASP.NET Web API services

This module details the ASP.NET Web API architecture and how to extend and secure ASP.NET Web API services.

Lessons

• ASP.NET Web API Pipeline

• Creating OData services

• Implementing security in ASP.NET Web API services

• Injecting dependencies into controllers

Lab: Extending the ASP.NET Web API Travel Companion services.

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Extend the ASP.NET Web API request and response pipeline.

• Create OData services using the ASP.NET Web API.

• Secure ASP.NET Web APIs.

• Inject dependencies into ASP.NET Web API controllers.

Module 5: Creating WCF services

This module introduces you to Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and describes how to create, host and use a WCF service.

Lessons

• Advantages of creating services using WCF

• Creation and implementation of the contract

• Configuring and hosting WCF services

• Using WCF services

Lab: Creating and using the WCF reservation service

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Describe why and when to use WCF to create services.

• Define the service contract and implement it.

• Host and configure the WCF service.

• Use the WCF service from the client application.

Module 6: Hosting Services

This module describes how to host Web services both locally and in Windows Azure. It explains the different components of Windows Azure cloud services: the Web role, the worker role and the Windows Azure Web site.

Lessons

• On-site hosting services

• Windows Azure hosting services

Lab: Hosting services

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Host services locally using Windows services and IIS

• Host services in a Windows Azure cloud environment, using Windows Azure cloud services and websites

Module 7: Windows Azure Service Bus

This module describes the Web-scale messaging patterns and infrastructures provided by Windows Azure Service Bus.

Lessons

• Windows Azure service bus relays

• Windows Azure service bus queues

• Windows Azure service bus themes

Lab: Windows Azure Service Bus

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Describe the purpose and functionality of forwarded and buffered messages.

• Provide, configure and use the service bus queue.

• Improve the efficiency of queue-based communication using themes, subscriptions and filters.

Module 8: Service Deployment

This module describes various techniques for implementing web applications.

Lessons

• Deploying to the Web using Visual Studio 2012

• Development and implementation of web application packages

• Command line tools for Web deployment

• Deploying web and service applications on Windows Azure

• Continuous delivery using TFS and Git

• Best practices for production deployment

Lab: Implementing services

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Deploy web applications using Visual Studio.

• Create and deploy web applications using IIS Manager.

• Deploy web applications using the command line.

• Deploy web applications in Windows Azure environments.

• Use continuous delivery with TFS and Git.

• Follow best practices for deploying web applications locally and on Windows Azure.

Module 9: Windows Azure Storage

This module describes Windows Azure Storage, the services it provides, and the best way to use these services.

Lessons

• Introduction to Windows Azure storage

• Blob object storage in Windows Azure

• Table storage in Windows Azure

• Queue storage in Windows Azure

• Restricting access to Windows Azure storage

Lab: Windows Azure Storage

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Describe the architecture of the Windows Azure Storage service.

• Implement Blob Storage service in your applications.

• Use Table Storage service in your applications

• Describe how to use the Windows Azure Queues service as a mechanism for communication between different parts of an application

• Control access to storage elements.

Module 10: Monitoring and Diagnostics

This module describes how to perform monitoring and diagnostics in Windows Azure services.

Lessons

• Performing diagnostics with tracking

• Configuring service diagnostics

• Monitoring services with Windows Azure diagnostics

• Collecting Windows Azure metrics

Laboratory: Monitoring and diagnostics

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Perform tracing in the .NET Framework with the System.Diagnostics namespace.

• Configure and explore web services and IIS tracking.

• Monitor services using Windows Azure diagnostics.

• View and collect Windows Azure metrics in the management portal.

Module 11: Identity management and access control

This module describes the basics of modern identity handling and shows how to use infrastructure such as Windows Azure Access Control Service (ACS) to implement authentication and authorization with assertion-based identity in Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).

Lessons

• Claims-based identity concepts

• Using Windows Azure Access Control Service

• Configuring services to use federated identities

Lab: Identity management and access control

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Describe the basic principles of statement-based identity.

• Create a Security Token Service (STS) using the Windows Azure ACS service.

• Configure the WCF service to use a federated identity.

Module 12: Scaling Services

This module describes ways in which you can ensure that services can handle increasing loads and user demand.

Lessons

• Introduction to scalability

• Load balancing

• Scaling local services with distributed cache

• Windows Azure caching

• Global scaling

Lab: Scalability

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Explain the need for scalability.

• Describe how to use load balancing to scale services.

• Describe how to use distributed caching for both local and Windows Azure services.

• Describe how to use Windows Azure caching.

• Describe how to scale services globally.

Module 13: Appendix A: Designing and extending WCF services

This module discusses the design of Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) service contracts, creating services that support distributed transactions, and extending the WCF pipeline with custom execution environment components and custom behavior.

Lessons

• Applying design principles to service contracts

• Handling distributed transactions

• Extending the WCF pipeline

Lab: Designing and extending WCF services

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Design and create services and clients to use different types of message patterns.

• Configure the service to support distributed transactions.

• Extend the WCF pipeline with execution environment components, custom behavior and extensible objects.

Module 14: Appendix B: Implementing Security in WCF Services

This module deals with the various issues that need to be considered when designing a secure Web service, such as encryption, input validation, authentication and authorization, and the techniques to be used when applying these issues to services developed using WCF.

Lessons

• Introduction to network service security

• Transportation safety

• Message security

• Configuring service authentication and authorization

Lab: Securing the WCF service

Upon completion of this module, students will be able to:

• Describe web application security.

• Configure the transportation security service.

• Configure the message security service.

• Implement and configure authentication and authorization logic.