Tell me more ×
Programmers Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professional programmers interested in conceptual questions about software development. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 7 down vote favorite
3

What are the best tools to use when targeting Windows Azure?

This isn't supposed to be a duplicate of general windows development tools mentioned here, but is rather more focused on Azure development:

Azure Web (Worker Roles and Web Roles)
Azure AppFabric (ACS, Service Bus)
Azure Storage (Blob and table storage)
SQL Azure

share|improve this question
Wow 5 days and no-one posted a link to the most obvious tool, the SDK? Am I the only Azure dev here? – makerofthings7 Oct 10 '10 at 15:43

closed as not constructive by gnat, Martijn Pieters, Walter, MichaelT, Oleksi Mar 24 at 17:38

As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance.

5 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

If you're going to want/need automation around build and deployment - particularly deployment, have a look at the powershell extensions for Azure - http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/azurecmdlets. Waaay nicer than having to use the web UI for deployments and pretty slick once you get all the kinks worked out.

share|improve this answer
up vote 2 down vote

I have enjoyed using the following:

and

Red Gate SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare - free trial versions available with easy survey, go to www.surveymk.com/s/JN8QTZ3 (sorry I can't link it since I'm a new user and you cannot have more than 1 hyperlink in a post)

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

Blobber
A command line tool that will manipulate Azure Blob storage

clemenson - With a MS-PL License
bhavik1st - With a GPLv3 License

I'd probably use the top one, since it's MS-PL and I've always liked clemenson's code...

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

I recommend (in no particular order) ...

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

I agree with and use many of the tools in the other responses. Here are a couple more:

  1. Web-based viewer for your storage: www.myazurestorage.com
  2. Fiddler for diagnosing issues, it is often helpful to view raw http traffic: http://www.fiddler2.com/
share|improve this answer
Also the [Azure Throughput Analyzer from Microsoft Research]( research.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/…) – codingoutloud Apr 17 '11 at 15:20

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.