This document contains the release notes for the Windows® Azure™ SDK version 1.2 (May 2010).

Windows Azure Guest OS Versions and SDK Compatibility

The Windows Azure Guest OS is the operating system on which your service runs in the cloud. When you deploy a service to Windows Azure, you must ensure that the version of the Windows Azure Guest OS is compatible with the version of the SDK with which you developed it. For details, see Windows Azure Guest OS Versions and SDK Compatibility Matrix in the Windows Azure SDK documentation.

Prerequisites for Installing and Using the Windows Azure SDK

This section describes the software and configurations required to install and use the Windows Azure SDK.

Note
Please note that you must exit any running versions of the Windows Azure Simulation Environment before installing.

The SDK is available in a 64-bit version and a 32-bit version.

  • The 64-bit (x64) version of the SDK requires a 64-bit version of Windows 7, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or greater, or Windows Server 2008.

  • The 32-bit (x86) version of the SDK requires a 32-bit version of Windows 7, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or greater, or Windows Server 2008.

Note
The 32-bit version of the SDK cannot be installed on a 64-bit operating system; running the SDK under Microsoft Windows-32-bit-On-Windows-64-bit (WOW64) is not supported.

Microsoft .NET Framework

The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is required to install and run the Windows Azure SDK. Additionally, the Windows Azure SDK now supports .NET Framework 4.0. Note that if you choose to install the .NET Framework 4.0, you must first install the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 if it is not already present on your computer.

If you are running the Windows Azure development environment on an operating system prior to Windows Vista Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2, you must take one of the following actions before you can run a web role that targets the .NET Framework 4.0:

IIS 7.0 Settings

Depending on what kind of service you wish to build, you may wish to enable different IIS 7.0 components. Follow the appropriate set of instructions below to configure these components for your operating system.

ASP.NET

Windows Server 2008

  1. Click the Start button, and then point to All Programs. Point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.

  2. In Server Manager, under Roles Summary, verify that Web Server (IIS) appears in the list of available roles. If it does not, click Add Roles to install IIS.

  3. In Server Manager, under Roles Summary, click Web Server (IIS).

  4. In the Web Server (IIS) management window, click Add Role Services.

  5. In the Add Role Services dialog box, under Application Development, click ASP.NET, and then click Next to install.

Windows 7/Windows Vista

  1. Click the Start button, and then click Control Panel.

  2. In Control Panel, open Programs and Features.

  3. In the Program and Features dialog box, click Turn Windows features on or off.

  4. Expand Internet Information Services, expand World Wide Web Services, expand Application Development Features, and then select ASP.NET.

  5. Install the selected features.

Fast CGI

Windows Server 2008

  1. From the Start menu, choose All Programs | Administrative Tools | Server Manager.

  2. In Server Manager, under Roles Summary, verify that Web Server (IIS) appears in the list of available roles. If it does not, click Add Roles to install Internet Information Services.

  3. In Server Manager, under Roles Summary, click Web Server (IIS).

  4. In the Add Role Services dialog, expand Web Server, then Application Development. Select Static CGI.

  5. Click the Next button to install.

Windows 7/Windows Vista

  1. From the Start menu, choose Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features.

  2. Click Turn Windows Features On or Off.

  3. Under Internet Information Services, expand World Wide Web Services.

  4. Under Application Development Features, select CGI.

  5. Install the selected features.

Required QFE for FastCGI

To use FastCGI on IIS in the development environment on Windows Vista SP1, you must install the following QFE:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967131

This QFE is not required if you are running on Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, or Windows Server 2008.

IIS7 URL Rewrite Module

If you wish to use the IIS URL Rewrite module, you must install it and configure your rewrite rules. See URL Rewrite Module for more information.

Database Requirements for Development Storage

To run the development storage services, you must have an installation of either SQL Express 2005 or SQL Express 2008 or Microsoft SQL Server.

By default development storage runs against an instance of SQL Express. To configure development storage to run against a local instance of SQL Server instead, call the DSInit tool with the /sqlInstance parameter, passing in the name of the target SQL Server instance. Use the name of the SQL Server instance without the server qualifier (e.g., MSSQL instead of .\MSSQL) to refer to a named instance. Use "." to denote an unnamed or default instance of SQL Server.

You can call dsInit /sqlInstance at any time to configure development storage to point to a different instance of SQL Server.

Windows PowerShell (Optional)

To build and run the PowerShellRole sample, you must have Windows PowerShell™ command-line interface installed. Follow the appropriate set of instructions below to install PowerShell for your operating system.

Windows Vista

You can download and install PowerShell from How to Download Windows Powershell 1.0.

Windows Server 2008

  1. Click the Start button, and then point to Programs.Point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.

  2. In Server Manager, under Features Summary, click Add Features.

  3. In the Add Features dialog box, click Windows PowerShell, and then click Next.

  4. Click Install to start the installation.

What's New

For information on new features in the Windows Azure SDK, see the Windows Azure SDK documentation on MSDN.

Known Issues

For up-to-date information on known issues, see the Windows Azure SDK documentation on MSDN.

  1. If a service name is too long, an error may result. To resolve this error, you can try shortening your assembly name, your service name, and/or your role name, because they are components of the service name.

  2. It’s currently not possible to attach to a debugger from the development fabric user interface on a 64-bit computer. Instead, you should use Microsoft Visual Studio® to attach to a role running in the development fabric.

  3. If you are running SQL Express 2008 as the basis for development storage, you must explicitly add the user to the sysadmin group even if the user belongs to a Windows Administrator group.

  4. There is limited support for Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) in Windows Azure. Some of the known issues include:

    • Using the WF SQL persistence provider with SQL Azure is not supported.

    • When attempting to run .NET 4 WCF Workflow Services in a web role, you must add the following section to your web.config file:

      <system.xaml.hosting>
  <httpHandlers>
    <add xamlRootElementType="System.ServiceModel.Activities.WorkflowService, System.ServiceModel.Activities, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" httpHandlerType="System.ServiceModel.Activities.Activation.ServiceModelActivitiesActivationHandlerAsync, System.ServiceModel.Activation, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
    <add xamlRootElementType="System.Activities.Activity, System.Activities, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" httpHandlerType="System.ServiceModel.Activities.Activation.ServiceModelActivitiesActivationHandlerAsync, System.ServiceModel.Activation, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
  </httpHandlers>
</system.xaml.hosting>
      We expect to fully support Windows Workflow Foundation 4 (WF4) on Windows Azure in subsequent Windows Azure releases.