Azure in Action is a fast-paced tutorial intended for architects and developers looking to develop cloud-based applications on the Windows Azure Platform. Written by two of Microsoft's leading Azure evangelists, it's designed both for readers new to cloud concepts and for those familiar with cloud development but new to Azure.

Starting with core concepts, the book explores designing and scaling front-end and back-end services that run in the cloud, and more advanced scenarios in Windows Azure. Later chapters introduce the rest of the Azure Services Platform with a particular focus on SQL Azure Database.

Both of us have a passion for cloud computing and Windows Azure, and in this book we’d like to share with you what we’ve learned from working with the technology. We want to show you how to get the most out of Azure and how to best use the cloud.

Writing a book is a far more complex project than either of us expected, involving a lot of people, a lot of collaboration, and plenty of late nights hunched over a keyboard. We did it because we wanted to help you understand what happens inside Azure, how it works, and how you can leverage it as you work with your applications. We wanted to show you not only how to run your complete system in the cloud, but all the other ways you can leverage the cloud, specifically by using hybrid applications and distributed applications.