This page is a companion and update to an article that appeared in MSDN Magazine in January 2011.

I submitted this article shortly before PDC 2010, knowing that there would be a feature announced at PDC that would make the scenario I proposed much more cost effective – namely, the ability to run multiple web applications in a single Windows Azure web role. What I did NOT realize was just how much the user interface for the Azure account portal would change! On this set of pages, I will attempt to address both issues. Refer to the article for the high level reasoning for combining multiple Visual Studio project types to solve a single problem. Refer to this page for updated step-by-step screenshots that walk through the example.

To work through the example, you will need an Azure account. Visit the Azure offers page to find a plan that works for you. The “Introductory Special” provides everything you need to work through this example without incurring any costs, provided you delete your web roles after you verify the functionality works. It’s a great way to dip your toe into Windows Azure without making any commitment.

NEW! Here’s a way to get 30 days free access to Azure that doesn’t even require a credit card – go to this link and enter your country and the promo code DPCE01. After 30 days, all your deployments and data will be erased, so make sure you don’t put anything into production using the Windows Azure 30 day pass.

Prerequisites: setting up Windows Azure and SQL Azure

Log into the Windows Azure account portal at http://windows.azure.com. The new Silverlight-based portal looks like this:

Click the Database section, select your account under Subscriptions, and then click “Create” from the Server section of the toolbar … select the region closest to you:

Create an administrator name and password (will be used for SQL Server authentication):

Check “Allow other Windows Azure services to access this server”:

Click Add to add a firewall rule for your current working location:

… and finally click Finish to create your server.

Now that you have a server, you can click Create on the Database section of the toolbar to create a new database:

Your database admin screen should look something like the following: