Today at the Twin Cities Cloud Computing User Group I gave a talk entitled “You Can Do What In Azure?!” I love this talk as I get to show a number of things you can do in Azure besides running web sites and services. One of my favorites demos is showing Windows Azure Connect. With Windows Azure Connect, you can use a simple user interface to configure IPsec protected connections between computers or virtual machines (VMs) in your organization’s network, and roles running in Windows Azure. This enables Azure based resources to communicate to on-premises resources, like SQL Server, and vice-versa.
Unfortunately, my demo of Windows Azure Connect, where I connect to a SQL Express database running on my laptop from the cloud didn’t work. I blame the wireless network I was on, but I’m not bitter. It’s a demo, it happens sometimes. So, since the demo didn’t work I want to provide you, dear reader, with some resources so you too can see just how easy it is to Windows Azure Connect up and running.
First up is a webcast I did with Mike Benkovich that talks about Windows Azure Connects and shows how it actually works. (Yes, this demo really works).
The remaining links are to various pieces of MSDN documentation for Windows Azure Connect.
- Overview of Windows Azure Connect
- Overview of Windows Azure Connect When Roles Are Joined to a Domain
- Overview of Using Endpoint Groups to Configure Connectivity in Windows Azure Connect
- Overview of Firewall Settings Related to Windows Azure Connect
Hope this helps!
Hey there! My name is Adam, and I'm a Technical Evangelist at Microsoft where I spend time focusing on Windows, Windows Phone, and Windows Azure.