Windows Azure Features and Technical Support Options

             

UPDATED POST CLICK HERE  Last Updated: June 04, 2014 

 

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[Disclaimer: This is not an official document regarding Windows Azure Support Structure.]

Last Updated: April 18, 2013 (Revision 2.0)

The following addresses some of the confusion that has been raised after a recent change in technical support for Windows Azure and SQL Database along with any supporting services.

As of January 22^nd, 2013, Microsoft Commercial & Technical Services Support implemented a paid support model based on subscription-based model. These changes still allow customers that have existing support benefits through MSNDN, TechNet and MPM to receive support. And of course we support Premier customers. Here is the page that allows you to compare the subscription- based Support Plans. [ Explore Support Plans ]

Windows Azure features and services fall into one of these statuses:

1. General Availability (GA) : Features under this category can be used for production purposes. As features under General Availability is fully supported by Microsoft Paid Support Plans.

2. Preview: Feature categorized under Preview should be used only for testing and development purposes. These features are not ready for production use. A feature with a Preview Status is typically supported through the Microsoft Communities.

   Note: For More information and for Service Level Agreements: https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/preview-status/

   Terms of Use for Windows Azure Preview Features: https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/legal/preview-terms-of-use/

   "You also acknowledge that the Preview Features are not covered by any Service Level Agreement pertaining to Windows Azure and that the Preview Features are "pre-release" products for purposes of any terms relating to warranties in your agreement to use Windows Azure". [Quoted text has been extracted from Terms of Use for Windows Azure Preview Features]

Private Preview: This status is not very common and you need to provide brief description before you can get access. Current example would be Big Compute.

To see which status a feature falls into please check this page (https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/details ). This page is kept up to date as features are released.

Your Windows Azure subscription entitles you to support for Windows Azure Services available within the management portal that are in the General Availability state. You are billed based on resource consumption – even for some features that are in a Preview or Private Preview state. To receive Technical Support, you need to have Support Plan or be entitled to support benefits through some other program.

           

	Status	Microsoft Paid Support	Forum Support
Mobile Services - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/mobile-services/
Windows Azure Mobile Services	Preview	Not Available	Click Here
Web Sites – https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/web-sites/
Windows Azure Web Sites	Preview	Not Available	Click Here
Windows Azure Virtual Machines (Iaas) - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/virtual-machines/
Virtual Machines for Windows	GA	Available	Click Here
Virtual Machines for Linux	GA	Support Details	Click Here
Virtual Machines for SQL Server	GA	Available	Click Here
Windows Azure Virtual Network	GA	Available	Click Here
Cloud Services - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/cloud-services/
VM Role	Discontinued	Details
Worker Role	GA	Available
Web Role	GA	Available
Data Management - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/data-management/
SQL Database (SQL Azure Database)	GA	Available	Click Here
Tables, Blobs, Queues, Drives	GA	Available	Click Here
Recovery Services : https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/recovery-services/
Windows Azure Backup	Preview
Hyper-V Recovery Manager	Preview
Business Analytics - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/business-analytics/
Business Analytics in Windows Azure Virtual Machines	Preview	Not Available	Click Here
SQL Reporting	GA	Available	Click Here
Data Marketplace	GA	Available	Click Here
Hadoop for Big Data	Preview	Not Available	Click Here
Windows Azure HDInsight : https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/hdinsight/
HDInsight Service	Preview
Caching - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/caching/
Content Delivery Network (CDN)	GA	Available	Click Here
Windows Azure Cache Service (Shared Cache)	GA	Available	Click Here
Windows Azure Role Based Caching (Dedicated, Co-located)	GA	Available	Click Here
Networking - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/networking/
Windows Azure Virtual Network	GA	Available	Click Here
Windows Azure Connect	Preview	Not Available	Click Here
Windows Azure Traffic Manager	Preview	Not Available	Click Here
Identity - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/identity/
Windows Azure Active Directory*	GA	Available	Click Here
Windows Azure AD Access Control Service (ACS)	GA	Available	Click Here
Messaging - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/messaging/
Windows Azure Service Bus	GA	Available	Click Here
Queues
Media Services - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/media-services/
Windows Azure Media Services	GA	Available	Click Here
Windows Azure Store (in the Azure Management Portal under 'Add Ons')
Windows Azure Store	Preview	Not Available	Click Here
BigCompute - https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/big-compute/
HPC	Preview
SQL Data Sync	Preview	Not Available	Click Here
TFS deployment to Windows Azure	Preview	Not Available	Click Here
GIT deployment to Windows Azure	Preview	Not Available	Click Here
Windows Azure Online BackUp	Preview	Not Available	Click Here

  *Few sub features still in preview      

      

Links to all Windows Azure Forums: https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windowsazureplatform,azuremarketplace,windowsazureplatformctp

Thanks to Jeff Wilkes, Tim Coffey, Kristin Bardwell, Avkash Chauhan, Narahari Dogiparthi for reviewing this blog post and providing valuable inputs.

(This might not be the complete list of services, I will try to keep this updated)

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Abhishek Anand
Senior Support Escalation Engineer
Windows Azure Technical Support

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 20, 2014
  Great