I've been trying different scenarios/configs and finally decided to just ask for your advice...the Azure forum linked me here so I hope this is the right spot!
Just going crazy with the many different variables...need a solid, FAST, web hosting solution that I have much, if not complete, control/access.
I have a Wordpress site with 75K custom posts, a 2 gb mysql db, getting about 10,000 visits a month, currently on a shared 1and1 hosting package. Now I'm looking to implement some advanced search functionality using either "Views" or something like "Php Maker"...any of these tools, or ones like it, are resource intensive as they allow searching from the custom fields in the db.
I have credits on Azure so...
Linux/Lamp or Windows Wamp or Windows IIS? And I'm not a great Linux admin.
Can I, should I, setup the MySql on it's VM?
What would you all recommend for a minimum, solid, config?
Do I really "need" an availability set?
A Linux DB server and an IIS webserver?
I'm not sure where to spend the money - if I host the DB on it's VM and beef it up is that fact that it's not on the webserver VM going to cost me any of that benefit?
I've been searching for some general documentation outlining specific web hosting, website, scenarios but the data I've found is not at all conclusive - it's all over the place!
Finally (although I think I know the answer to this one ;) - can I access VM's, or Azure services, spanning multiple user accounts? A friend has offered his corporate account where he has a few hundred a month in credits - it would be cool if I could setup the DB there, at least, and the webserver on my account.
I very much appreciate your time and advice!
Rob
The last thing wou want to do is create and maintain VMs. Create an Azure website with a WordPress template, use ClearDB for your MySQL DB (the standard MySql option for Azure websites) - you'll need to get a paid solution for this size of DB.
With Azure website extensions, like Kudu, you can use any browser to maintain your files, or use a standard FTP option.
Related
I am a newbie to web development
I would like to host my site in azure.
There are so many subscriptions plans.
So which subscription is reasonably good and give me price details of that?
Thanks in advance
Windows Azure has few types of hosting. For a website you might want to look at the following -
Web Sites - You can host right away without modification of your existing project.
Cloud Services - I used this, but it requires changes such as Caching.
Here is the calculator based on your need.
FYI: Rule of thumb is you need a least two instances in Production to minimize the downtime.
If you are a newbie , I would strongly suggest using azure websites for now, and you can always move to a custom solution using webroles/caching Etc later if you feel it doesn't cater all your needs..
Azure websites pricing can be obtained from here :
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/web-sites/
Again on what parameters would you choose the right package, you are the best judge for that since you know what traffic are you expecting and how much memory etc you need
We have got an application running fine on On premises and plan to move it to IaaS on Ms Azure, do we need to make any changes to it or will it work as is?
I agree with the above post. You have not detailed if you are using Virtual Machines (Sql server or going to use Azure SQL). You will have to make choices about fail-over and geo redundancy, cloud services, etc. There are IP restrictions that may affect you (I don't know since I am not sure what you are moving). More than anything, I always warn people about the cost, it is difficult to understand. Here is an article series I wrote on Azure & SharePoint, you can skip the SharePoint stuff but the cost/limitation/VMs and such would still apply.
http://www.matthewjbailey.com/sharepoint-azure-guide/
We've managed a lift-and-shift of an on-premise Windows app into Azure, but I wouldn't say it's been without its pain. The above comments definitely ring true; you need to provide a bit more of an overview of what the current application does so that people can help answer your question.
In my experience, the only stumbling blocks to moving on-premise into Azure are:
Hardware requirements; i.e. if your application requires some specific hardware
Cost: It's not always cheaper to move large systems into Azure
Licensing: Make sure that your existing licensing is compatible with a cloud system which you don't control
Azure - this is a really dumb Azure question, sorry to all of you who know this stuff backwards. We're looking at Azure. We want a website, which will contain some relatively static material (white papers, information sheets), and a SQL-Server database which supplies data to website visitors' requests. The database will be about 1GB of actual data which we assume will be about 4 GB of database size. We estimate 14GB of data output per calendar month, worldwide so "zone 2". We need SSL. We have our own software writers to handle loading and outputting data from the database. We do not currently have a SQL-Server licence for this. Can anyone (some great, patient person) tell us exactly what components from the long list of Azure options and components we need to accomplish this, please?
Without going into much details, here're the components from Windows Azure arsenal you could use in your project:
Websites - Windows Azure Websites (http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/services/web-sites/)
SQL Server - Windows Azure SQL Database (http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/documentation/services/sql-database/?fb=en-us)
Static Content - Though you could store this data with your website also, I would actually recommend using Windows Azure Blob Storage for that (http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/documentation/services/storage/).
I am using a normal IIS web host to host my website and web services.. It is just a hobby and I get very little traffic. I would let to be using Azure instead since I would like an excuse to learn azure.
Is anyone out there using Azure in this way and can tell me about what is thier monthly cost? I long ago subscribed to azure and forgot about it and a month later had a $90 bill so that really scares me.
Right now my web host + sql is about $25 a month.
Is there a way to have azure shut the service off if it gets over a certain monthly cost?
Well, even a very small instance costs $0.05/hour, and the SLA is only guaranteed if you run two or more instances. That in itself adds up to approximately $75/month.
SQL Azure is at least $9.99/month. Add to this charges for traffic, etc.
There are reasons why the SQL Azure pricing model is like this. You do get your very own virtual machine instances with dedicated RAM, which you typically don't get in a web hotel, so taking that into account, the Azure price may be reasonable, but isn't very competitive for very small hobby sites.
The official price list is here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/pricing/
Unfortunately, Azure is not designed to host hobbyist sites. You won't be able to beat $25 a month, but then you don't need things like SLA's and HA databass. But, as I commented earlier, it is nice to be able to work with it to train up on the platform.
There are ways of getting onto Azure cheaply.
Firstly There is the free introductory offer. Very much a "toe in the water" just to play/learn the platform. There aren't enough compute hours to host a site.
Secondly, if you're prepared to put in a little effort you can join either the partner or Bizspark programs which will give you access to enough resources to host a site for free, but there is an expectation that you're trying to build "something".
Oh, and for a hobbyist site you don't need the SLA so a single instance is fine.
I'm considering to join the Windows Azure Platform Introductory Special, but I'm a little bit afraid of losing money with it. I don't wanna develop any fancy large scale application, I want to join just to learn Azure and do my experiments, what should I be afraid of?
In the transference, it says: "Data Transfers (per region)", what does that mean?
Can I put limits to stop the app if it goes over this plan in order to avoid get charged?
Can it be "pre pay" instead "bill pay"?
Would it be enough for a blog?
Any experiencie so far?
Kind regards.
As ligget pointed out, Azure isn't cost affect as a host for an application that can be easily deployed to a traditional shared hosting provider. Azure's target market are those that want dedicated resources without the need to micro-manage the infrasture and the capability to easily scale up/down based on demand.
That said, here's the answers to the questions you posted:
Data Transfers are based on bandwidth in and out of the hosting data center. bandwidth for communication occuring within components (SQL Azure, Windows Azure, Azure Storage, etc...) in the same datacenter are not billable.
Your usage is not currently capped when the free quotas are used up. However, you will recieved warning emails when those items approach their usage threadsholds.
There is the option to pay your subscription using a PO, but the minimum threshold for most of these operations is $500/month. So as a hobbyist, its unlikely you're wanting that route.
The introductory special does not provide enough resources for hosting a 24x7 personal blog. That level includes only 25hrs of compute resources. Each hour a single instance of your application is deployed will count against this, even if the application received no traffic. Think of it like renting office space. You still pay rent on the office even if there are no customers there.
All this said, there's still much to be learned with the introductory special. The azure development tools allows you to work with Windows Azure and Azure storage locally and get a feel for how they work. The introductory special then lets you deploy those solutions so you can see what works and what doesn't (not everything that works locally works hosted).
I would recommend you host your blog somewhere else - it's a waste of resources running it on Azure and you'll find much cheaper options. A recently introduced extra small instance would be a better choice in this case, but AFAIK it is charged separately as of now, e.g. even when you have an MSDN subscription those extra small instance hours do not count towards free Azure hours that come with the subscription.
There is no pre-pay option I know of and it's not possible to stop the app automatically. It'll be running until the deployment is deleted (beware! even if suspended/stopped the deployment will continue to accrue charges). I believe you will be sent a notification shortly before reaching your free hours threshold.
Be aware that when launching more than 1 instance you are charged for every hour of every instance combined. This can happen for example when you have more than one role in your Azure project (1 web role + 1 worker role - a separate instance will be started for each role).
Data trasfer means your entire data trasfer: blobs/Table storage/queues (transfers between your hosted service and storage account inside the same data center are free) + whatever data is transfered in/out of your hosted application, e.g. when somebody visits your pages. When you create storage accounts and hosted services in Azure you will specify a region that will be hosting your account/app - hosting in Asia is slightly more expensive than in Europe/U.S.
Your best bet would be to contact Microsoft with these questions.