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Windows Azure for Function as a Service
June 24, 2014

Windows Azure for Function as a Service

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Windows Azure Public Cloud

Modules Used

  • Worker Role
  • Application Resource Routing
  • Storage Queue
  • Storage Tables

Overall Satisfaction with Windows Azure

Windows Azure is being used as a vehicle for implementing Function as a Service in various capacities. We find that this is an excellent vehicle to implement single purpose functions (both from a cost and simplicity standpoint) that can then be scaled up and out. We are currently using this model to integrate between an on premise PeopleSoft installation with a mobile platform for work order management and related activities. We find that this provides the field users better and accurate up to date information compared to a timed push model.
  • Azure table storage has worked well for eventual consistency problems.
  • Multi-tenant compute and data architecture was simple and intuitive
  • Mechanism & Patterns to access Storage Queues have worked well for our multi-system (owned and operated by independent teams).
  • Java support for worker role was satisfactory & helped us develop the overall architecture without needing to make adjustments.
  • All the Java Application Servers that we analyzed for the solution were supported allowing us to test out models.
  • Data management tools though third party were satisfactory
  • Deployment was complicated with a lot of data (including SDK and Application Server) to be moved.
  • Support for global distributed transactions through the platform for message oriented middleware was not found.
  • Quick ROI given the low capital expense.
  • Allowed us to be truly agile model given the flexibility of using all the features of the solution with low procurement cost and time.
  • Helped us implement YAGNI and achieve design simplicity
  • We found that this agile YAGNI model helped us keep all the teams up to speed with the solution as we can dissipate targeted message instead of a large complex soluition
We have reviewed an on premise and AWS model for this. The 2 main drivers for choosing Azure were the mobile platform being on Azure allowed for much better integration than a multi-cloud model. We also saw that Azure table storage handled the eventual consistency problem better than Amazon SimpleDB (at the time of our testing).
We are looking to use this solution as a multi-tenant offering. We are satisfied with the performance and scalability. Adding clients to this solution will need renewal.
The scope and complexity of the overall solution is the main driver for this. Azure worker role is well suited for Function As A Service model and websites. I would not recommend this for complex transactional systems that may have deployment and initialization level dependencies with other roles. This model was not verified in our analysis.