For those architects moving from a traditional ASP.NET, SQL and IIS world to developing applications for Azure, there are some new challenges in designing applications that are maintainable, high performance and secure.
Design Patterns are prescriptive and re-usable solutions or best practices that can be used by Architects to solve problems and optimize their solution architectures.
As you move to the cloud, there are some key challenges such as availability management, data consistency, distributed caching, and security that are unique to the cloud and present some challenges for those moving from a traditional on premise context to develop cloud optimized applications.
Microsoft has published a series of articles and e-books on Design Patterns for Azure that you might find useful if you are moving your existing application to the cloud and/or implementing a new architecture using Azure services:
- Cloud Design Patterns from Patterns and Practices group at Microsoft: these are design patterns specifically for architects building applications for Azure.
- CodePlex Patterns and Practice Site: a number of code samples and documentation for moving applications, developing new applications, building hybrid applications and developing big data solutions using Azure.
- Building Real-World Cloud Apps with Windows Azure: a collection of best practices and guidance, more focused on application lifecycle management and environment setup but also includes some architecture design patterns as well.
- Developing Multi-tenant Applications for the Cloud: a Microsoft published 200+ page ebook that describes best practices for developing multi-tenant applications for the cloud.
Enjoy!
