Friday, January 18, 2013

Windows Azure Interview Questions

1. What is cloud computing?
http://azurelearning.blogspot.in/2013/01/what-is-cloud-computing.html 

2. What are the three types of roles in Compute component in Windows Azure?
Web, Worker and VM.
Web and worker roles are essentially same except that web roles have IIS enabled on them.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7118942/in-windows-azure-what-are-web-role-worker-role-and-vm-role
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/networking/windows-azure-web-worker-and-vm-roles-demystified/4017
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/silverlining/archive/2012/06/27/windows-azure-websites-web-roles-and-vms-when-to-use-which.aspx


3. Difference between Web and Worker Roles in Windows Azure?
The main difference between the two is that an instance of a web role runs IIS, while an instance of a worker role does not. Both are managed in the same way, however, and it's common for an application to use both.For example, a web role instance might accept requests from users, then pass them to a worker role instance for processing.


4. What is Azure Fabric Controller?
The Windows Azure Fabric Controller is a resource provisioning and management layer that manages the hardware, and provides resource allocation, deployment/upgrade, and management for cloud services on the Windows Azure platform. 
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2013/01/16/details-of-the-december-28th-2012-windows-azure-storage-disruption-in-us-south.aspx
http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/definition/Windows-Azure-Fabric-Controller
http://www.cooper.fi/2013/05/understanding-windows-azure-fabric-controller-error-handling-model/


5. What is AutoScaling?
Scaling by adding additional instances is often referred to as scaling out. Windows Azure also supports scaling up by using larger role instances instead of more role instances.
By adding and removing role instances to your Windows Azure application while it is running, you can balance the performance of the application against its running costs.
An autoscaling solution reduces the amount of manual work involved in dynamically scaling an application.
 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh680945(v=pandp.50).aspx
http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/how-to-guides/autoscaling/


6. Difference between Block and Page BLOBs.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ee691964.aspx
https://sites.google.com/a/cloudenablers.com/blog/windowsazure/block-blob-page-blob
http://shayyannay.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/understanding-block-blobs/

7. Why should you use Windows Azure Storage as opposed to Local Resources/Storage?


8. Difference between VM role and Virtual Machines on Windows Azure Offerings.

9. Difference between IAAS, PAAS and SAAS.
http://apprenda.com/library/paas/iaas-paas-saas-explained-compared/
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/102511-tech-argument-iaas-paas-saas-252357.html

10. Difference between Azure Storage Tables and Azure SQL Database.

11. Difference between On-Premise SQL Server and Azure SQL Database.

12. Limitations on Azure SQL Database.



http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ff394102.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/ee336245.aspx

13. Explain the Billing model for Windows Azure.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2010/02/22/windows.aspx
http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/contact/

14. Explain Windows Azure Cloud Service Lifecycle.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh127476.aspx
http://www.azurecloudpro.com/the-windows-azure-service-life-cycle/

15. Difference between Windows Server AppFabric and Windows Azure AppFabric

16. Difference between Vertical and Horizontal scaling
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5401992/what-does-scale-horizontally-and-scale-vertically-mean
http://singinghorsestudio.com/horizontal-vs-vertical-scaling/
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/architecturegeneral/thread/0e47ddf3-4505-4943-95cc-1bc1af26197a
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalability#Horizontal_and_vertical_scaling


17. How to manage/handle Session support on Windows Azure compute environment

18. Difference between Azure storage Queues and Azure Service Bus Queues.


For more details
Azure Learning Resources: http://azurelearning.blogspot.com