Migrating Large-Scale Services to the Cloud

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

   PDF

2. The Story of MSN

   • Eric Passmore

   Pages 1-6

3. Brave New World

   • Eric Passmore

   Pages 7-31

4. A Three-Step Process for Large-Scale Cloud Services

   • Eric Passmore

   Pages 33-48

5. Success

   • Eric Passmore

   Pages 49-58

6. What We Learned

   • Eric Passmore

   Pages 59-66

7. Pre-Release and Deployment Checklist

   • Eric Passmore

   Pages 67-73

8. Monitoring and Alerting Checklist

   • Eric Passmore

   Pages 75-81

9. Mitigation Checklist

   • Eric Passmore

   Pages 83-87

10. Back Matter

    Pages 89-91

    PDF

This book reveals the technical challenges and successful implementation details of migrating MSN, Microsoft’s consumer content portal--a business with 450 million worldwide users--into the Cloud. Following a technique long used in aviation, medicine, and other fields, MSN’s Chief Technical Officer, Eric Passmore, describes the set of release, deployment, monitoring, and mitigation checklists used to build cloud services supporting hundreds of millions of users on Azure, Microsoft’s Public Cloud.

An undertaking of this scale--involving services supported by a large team of engineers--involves unique challenges and risks. This book demonstrates through personal experience how to cut through the theory and provides checklists as a surprisingly simple antidote to the competing methodologies.

This book works at two levels.

• At a fundamental level, businesses need to be successful in the cloud if they want to seize new opportunities and transform theirbusiness to compete successfully. This book provides a framework for success by identifying the "hidden" work as part of moving to the cloud.

• At a more practical, level there is an incredible hunger for simple to follow, "how-to" information on Cloud migration. This book is a reference guide to reduce risk and achieve success without requiring the busy reader to wade through theory.

It contains simple to follow, "how-to" information on cloud migration. It is a reference guide to achieving success, and any team can modify these tasks to fit the needs of their own organization.

Who This Book is For:


Technology professionals who deploy services in the cloud or are thinking of moving to the cloud. Professionals in the DevOps and Cloud services fields need these skills to succeed in their current jobs or advance their careers.

• DevOps
• Cloud
• Azure
• Continuous Integration
• Continuous Deployment
• Cloud Monitoring
• Cloud Deployment
• Cloud Migration
• Agile
• Cloud Provisioning
• Geo-Redundant Cloud Services
• Global Cloud Services

“This is an account of how Microsoft’s MSN content portal was migrated to Azure, the company’s public cloud service. … This book will be a valuable hands-on guide for all teams working on similar tasks of migrating large-scale services to the cloud. It will also be an interesting and useful reference for all students and teachers of matters relating to the cloud. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.” (R. Bharath, Choice, Vol. 54 (6), February, 2017)

Eric Passmore is CTO of Microsoft Online Media and Publishing (MSN) is the world’s largest internet portal reaching over 450 million worldwide users, with over 20 billion monthly page views, and adding 60 million new users last year.

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