Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Microsoft Updates Azure Provisioning Tool

  • By Jeffrey Schwartz
  • 02/22/10

To help IT pros automate the provisioning and management of services deployed to the recently released Windows Azure cloud offering, Microsoft has released a new version of its Windows Azure Service Management (WASM) Cmdlets for PowerShell. The tool is available for download on Microsoft's MSDN site.

The tool lets IT pros who script in PowerShell add new Azure management functions, such as deploying, upgrading, and removing hosted services, and managing storage accounts and certificates.

"Many people have been asking for this toolset for quite a while," said Jeffery Hicks, a Windows PowerShell expert. "Amazon's S3 service has had third-party PowerShell support for a while and Microsoft's offering eliminates one more adoption hurdle."

Ryan Dunn, a Microsoft developer and platform evangelist, said in a blog post last week that IT pros were looking for an "automation API that would fit into the standard toolset for IT pros. Given the adoption and penetration of PowerShell, we determined that cmdlets focused on this core audience would be the most effective way forward."

Furthermore, he noted that "since PowerShell is a full scripting language with complete access to .NET, this allows these cmdlets to be used as the basis for very complicated deployment and automation scripts as part of the application lifecycle."

Each call to the Services Management API requires an X.509 certificate and subscription ID, Dunn noted. Those provisioning apps must upload a valid certificate and have it installed on a local PC. Microsoft posted a Channel 9 video that describes the procedure.

About the Author

Jeffrey Schwartz is executive editor, features, for Redmond Developer News. You can contact him at [email protected].

Featured

  • large group of college students sitting on an academic quad

    Student Readiness: Learning to Learn

    Melissa Loble, Instructure's chief academic officer, recommends a focus on 'readiness' as a broader concept as we try to understand how to build meaningful education experiences that can form a bridge from the university to the workplace. Here, we ask Loble what readiness is and how to offer students the ability to 'learn to learn'.

  • Graphic of connected devices protected by digital padlocks

    Veeam Launches Agent Commander to Help Detect Enterprise AI Risk

    Veeam Software has introduced Agent Commander, a new platform designed to help enterprises detect AI risk, protect AI systems, and undo AI mistakes.

  • abstract coding

    Anthropic's New AI Model Targets Coding, Enterprise Work

    Anthropic has released Claude Opus 4.6, introducing a million-token context window and automated agent coordination features as the AI company seeks to expand beyond software development into broader enterprise applications.

  • globe surrounded by network connections

    AI Adoption Is Surging, but Infrastructure and Language Gaps Persist

    Artificial intelligence may be spreading faster than previous waves of consumer tech, but a report from Microsoft's AI Economy Institute suggests its benefits are concentrating in a relatively small set of countries, with infrastructure and language emerging as major dividing lines.