Windows Azure VM Role: Looking at it a different way

The debate regarding PaaS vs. IaaS continues at pace. It seems as though no mention of this debate where Windows Azure is concerned, is complete without a frequently misunderstood notion of what the recently announced VM Role is. Many commentators are saying “It’s Microsoft’s IaaS offering”.

Let me put forward a way of explaining what it is:

With a PaaS service like Windows Azure, the developer creates an application package and hands that, plus a configuration, over to Microsoft and says “can you run this package in your Data Centre, according to this configuration”. Windows Azure goes ahead and runs the application. The fact that it spins up a VM to house the application, in theory, should not concern the developer. The existing Web and Worker Roles work in exactly this way.

When you hand over the package, it consist of all the files and resources needed to run the application. It’s rolled in to a file called a .cspkg file, a “cloud service package” file. The configuration or .cscfg accompanies the package. There is no guarantee of state for the application. If it fails for some reason, it must be capable of picking up where it left off and it’s down to the developer to work out how that is going to happen – perhaps by using persistent storage like blob or table storage.

The Windows Azure fabric has no knowledge of the internals of the application. Imagine a bug is identified – Windows Azure will not create and apply a patch to the application. We know that for the Web and Worker Roles, it will apply patches and fixes – ones that Microsoft has identified – to the operating system but not to the application itself.

The way to look at the VM Role is that the entire thing is a Windows Azure application. You don’t send a .cspkg file, but instead, the package is a .vhd file. Now, because these files are likely to be huge in comparison to a .cspkg, Windows Azure has created a method of updating with differencing disks, but that’s just an implementation detail. You can think of a VM Role application package as the .vhd file.

As is the case with the .cspkg, Windows Azure has no visibility of the internals of the application. Just as with a .cspkg application, it is the developer’s responsibility to keep it up to date, apply bug fixes, patches, updates etc. Only with an entire .vhd, the “application” updates are the patches, fixes and service packs of the OS itself plus any updates to the developer-built part of the “app”.

The application is still subject to the service model, it’s just the application package file-type that is diferent (.vhd) and the scope of the application is different (it includes the entire OS). Other than those differences, it’s a PaaS application that runs on Windows Azure, subject to the service model and all the other benefits and constraints, just like the Web and Worker Roles.

I hope this viewpoint helps describe VM Role as a PaaS offering and not the confusing IaaS that many folks think it mimics.

 

Planky