Developing Azure app locally before deployment

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21526023

Question

I'm developing an Asp.net MVC 5 single page application that will eventually be deployed on Azure when we enter beta stage. I'm delaying Azure deployment strictly because of short Azure trial period which would run out before we'd go beta.

If trial was longer it would make much development easier as I'd be able to develop directly on Azure. But that's not the case.

Azure services I'd like to use

I would like to use

  • SQL Database - for structured data
  • Tables - for unstructured content
  • Blob storage - for images and documents and other files

Development

It's easy to develop my Asp.net MVC application locally and then publish it on Windows Azure either publishing directly (which I think would be regarded as Azure Web Site) or by creating an Azure Cloud project and ass Web role (which I think would be regarded as Azure cloud service).

Questions

These are thing that bother me mostly at the moment:

  1. Is the deployment scenario mentioned correct (Azure Web Site vs Azure Cloud Service)?
  2. Can I create a local SQL Server database for development purposes and then deploy to Azure SQL Database (doesn't matter if I only create schema without any data on Azure later)
  3. How do I develop for Azure Tables locally?
  4. How do I develop for Azure Blob storage locally?

Please refer to my question numbers when providing answers.

Was it helpful?

Solution

Is the deployment scenario mentioned correct (Azure Web Site vs Azure Cloud Service)?

Azure Website and Azure Cloud Service are two (of the three) ways in which you can deploy your code in Windows Azure. Azure Cloud Service is Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering from Windows Azure and you can think of Azure Website as a specialized PaaS offering. Please see this thread on difference between the two: What is the difference between an Azure Web Site and an Azure Web Role.

Can I create a local SQL Server database for development purposes and then deploy to Azure SQL Database (doesn't matter if I only create schema without any data on Azure later)

Generally speaking yes. There are some differences between Windows Azure SQL Database and Local SQL Server and as long as your database does not include those unsupported features (like CLR data types for example), you should be fine. Please see this link for more details: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee336281.aspx.

How do I develop for Azure Tables locally? How do I develop for Azure Blob storage locally?

You would need to use Windows Azure SDK for that purpose. When you install Windows Azure SDK it also installs a Storage Emulator. Storage emulator has support for Azure Tables and Blob Storage. Current version of SDK is 2.2 which you can download/install from here: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/downloads/. Once you install the SDK you will see options to manage storage emulator in Visual Studio Server Explorer.

Note: Storage emulator which is included in version 2.2 does not support latest version of storage client library and for that you would need to install storage emulator 2.2.1 which is in preview currently. You can read more about it here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazurestorage/archive/2014/01/27/windows-azure-storage-emulator-2-2-1-preview-release-with-support-for-2013-08-15-version.aspx.

OTHER TIPS

Download Windows Azure SDK for Visual Studio 2013 and start coding..SDK will generate azure storage emulator where you can store tables,blobs and queues

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