Every few months, Microsoft adds more features and improvements to its Windows Azure cloud-based servers. On Monday, the company announced the general availability of two new features to Windows Azure, along with other new additions and improvements.
In a blog post from Microsoft VP Scott Guthrie, he announced SQL Server AlwaysOn Support is now available for all Windows Azure customers, which should help with disaster recovery. Guthrie stated, "We are really excited to be the first cloud provider to support the full range of scenarios enabled with SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups – we think they are going to enable a ton of new scenarios for customers."
Windows Azure also now enables all customers to use Notification Hubs, which lets servers that are connected to mobile apps send out push notifications to iOS, Android, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps. Microsoft"s own Bing News apps for Windows 8 and more recently Windows Phone 8 already use the Notification Hubs feature.
In addition, Microsoft has added more AutoScale features in Windows Azure for websites and cloud services, along with an easier way to configure and manage load balancing support for any Virtual Machines that are set up on the service.
Source: Microsoft | Image via Microsoft