This is not a guide, or a tutorial, this is my scratch pad for creating a hybrid cloud model that implements a 2-tier application model (Data Tier, Application Tier). This blog entry will evolve over time as the Azure tools evolve overt time. [3/14/15/]
Overview
Here’s a basic diagram of what I want to accomplish.
<insert image diagram here>
The key here is Azure Service Bus, before this you had to figure out how to ship the data up and down from the cloud. I’m going to approach this problem from the data tier and move my way up through the Service Bus to Azure Mobile Services (RESTful Web Service) and then to a presentation (HTML5, jQuery).
1. Configure Local SQL Server (persistent storage tier)
2. Create Azure Website
3. Configure Azure Mobile Services to connect to Service Bus
Configure Local SQL Server (persistent storage tier)
Okay, first things first we need is a version of SQL 2012 installed, I haven’t tested this done this with older versions. As we move more customers to this type of configuration I’ll update the list of SQL versions. 2012 is what I had installed and that’s what I’m going to be using, free version of SQL 2012 express. Free is good.
Next thing we need is a static IP for the on prim SQL Server. Some environments may not have static IPs, you can get around this by using No-IP, its free, you install a service and it keeps the DNS updated. Its super easy to use and worth the setup time, otherwise you’ll be redoing your Service Bus Connection later, frequently.
This is least documented part of guide, networking is way outside the scope of the article. SQL Port 1433 needs to be open to the outside, You can check if the port is open at http://checkmyports.net/. This can involve a ton of different steps, but you need the port open and responding.
Installs
How to Install SQL Server 2012 Express Edition With download link.
No-IP (Full Blog Post)
outline
1. Create Account 2. Activate Account 3. Create Hostname 4. Download Update Client (DUC) 5. Point DUC to Hostname 6. Configure DUC to run as Windows Service
Now that you have the port open you should try connecting to the SQL instance from another computer, a computer that is off your network. In this case I dialed into another customers SQL server and just tested the connection and it worked. I also tested it by connecting to the Hostname from the locally installed instance of SQL Management Studio, this is kind of a wonky test depending on how routing works and how DNS works inside your network.
Result
We have configured a SQL Server and mapped it to a Dynamic DNS. This fulfills the Azure Service Bus requirement that says we need a static IP. Basically, this is going to keep us from rebuilding the service bus every time the IP changes.
Create Azure Website
Create a new Azure Website and choose