Windows Azure, Hadoop, SSIS, BI Hadoop and BI are complementary Unsurprisingly, Hadoop is a big buzz word when it comes to big data. Nevertheless, Hadoop may not solve all problems working with big amounts of data. For instance, visualization is typically not at the center of what Hadoop does well in terms of intrinsic capabilities. On the other side, Microsoft’s Business Intelligence platform is good at managing large amounts of data in predefined structured schemas. This data can be queried and visualized by final users. While Hadoop would typically store petabytes of data, SQL Server would typically handle terabytes of data today. While data can be put unstructured (without a predefined schema) on Hadoop, it may take hours or days to execute a query. On the other side, while it may take weeks or months to define the right schemas for SQL Server, queries typically execute in seconds. Hadoop can store data with no precise usage in mind and enable early exploratory phases, while SQL Server enables structured data mining and makes specific data usages very efficient. The following sections of this chapter provide general information on technologies used in the rest of the paper. Windows Azure Windows Azure is Microsoft’s public cloud for the developers. It includes Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) capabilities that are composed of three main parts: A distributed application can live in one or several parts that play complementary roles. Websites represent a fast and easy way to host web apps that are created in .NET, PHP, Node.js and other languages and platforms. Deployment can be done in seconds with FTP, Git, TFS or Web Deploy. Cloud services are a way to run vastly scalable applications and services. They support rich multi-tier architectures and enable automated application management. Hadoop on Azure is built on top of this model. Virtual Machines are a way to host Windows and Linux workloads in the cloud. They come with a virtual private networking feature too. Windows Azure contains many services and this expands regularly. Windows Azure blob storage is at the heart of the platform.
Windows Azure, Hadoop, SSIS, BI Hadoop and BI are complementary Unsurprisingly, Hadoop is a big buzz word when it comes to big data. Nevertheless, Hadoop may not solve all problems working with big amounts of data. For instance, visualization is typically not at the center of what Hadoop does well in terms of intrinsic capabilities. On the other side, Microsoft’s Business Intelligence platform is good at managing large amounts of data in predefined structured schemas. This data can be queried and visualized by final users. While Hadoop would typically store petabytes of data, SQL Server would typically handle terabytes of data today. While data can be put unstructured (without a predefined schema) on Hadoop, it may take hours or days to execute a query. On the other side, while it may take weeks or months to define the right schemas for SQL Server, queries typically execute in seconds. Hadoop can store data with no precise usage in mind and enable early exploratory phases, while SQL Server enables structured data mining and makes specific data usages very efficient. The following sections of this chapter provide general information on technologies used in the rest of the paper. Windows Azure Windows Azure is Microsoft’s public cloud for the developers. It includes Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) capabilities that are composed of three main parts: A distributed application can live in one or several parts that play complementary roles. Websites represent a fast and easy way to host web apps that are created in .NET, PHP, Node.js and other languages and platforms. Deployment can be done in seconds with FTP, Git, TFS or Web Deploy. Cloud services are a way to run vastly scalable applications and services. They support rich multi-tier architectures and enable automated application management. Hadoop on Azure is built on top of this model. Virtual Machines are a way to host Windows and Linux workloads in the cloud. They come with a virtual private networking feature too. Windows Azure contains many services and this expands regularly. Windows Azure blob storage is at the heart of the platform.