Pie in the Sky (August 17, 2012)

Larry is on vacation this week, so my reading list will have to suffice for this week (and it has some good stuff, if I do say so myself ). If you’ve got interesting Azure/OSS-related links, let us know in the comments.

• Comparing Service Bus for Windows Server & RabbitMQ: An in-depth, side-by-side comparison.
• Data Series: Control Database Access Using Windows Azure SQL Database Firewall Rules: Learn how to use firewall rules to protect your Windows Azure SQL Databases.

• Cory Fowler interviews Doug Mahugh about the Windows Azure Storage Plugin for WordPress: Learn about Microsoft Open Tech and the Windows Azure Storage Plugin for WordPress.

• OData Server Module for Drupal: "The OData Server module exposes entities, like nodes and users, through the OData Producer Library for PHP. Properties and core fields are supported, and the module can be configured to limit the bundles, properties, and fields that are exposed through the server. Hooks are provided for developers to add support for their custom field modules. Most of the read-only conventions of the OData specification are supported."
• Mono 2.11.3 is out: "This is our fourth preview release of Mono 2.11. This version includes Microsoft's recently open sourced EntityFramework and has been updated to match the latest .NET 4.5 async support." (Mono is a software platform designed to allow developers to easily create cross platform applications.)
• Building PHP Applications on Windows Azure: Manchester, Aug. 30..."Join Cory Fowler, Windows Azure Technical Evangelist, as he demonstrates how to develop PHP Applications from Command-line to the Cloud. He will outline the different deployment patterns in Windows Azure, as well as how to leverage several building block services offered by the platform for us in your PHP applications. Oh, did we mention he’ll be developing and deploying all of this from his Mac?"
• Calling the Windows Azure Service Management API from Python: "Written as a response to a Stack Overflow question about how to do it, [this post contains] a little Python command-line tool that takes a .publishsettings file as an argument and calls the List Storage Accounts method of the Windows Azure Service Management API."
• PHP application on Azure as “Console App”: Interesting Stackoverflow discussion around using Websockets in Windows Azure.

• Using the Cloudant Data Layer for Windows Azure: "If you need a highly scalable data layer for your cloud service or application running on Windows Azure, the Cloudant Data Layer for Windows Azure may be a great fit. This service, which was announced in preview mode in June and is now in beta, delivers Cloudant’s “database as a service” offering on Windows Azure."

• URL Shortener now Available on GitHub: PHP URL Shortening service running on Windows Azure Web Sites.

Have a great weekend!

-Brian