Azure Architecture

This example of cloud computing system architecture diagram was created on the base of picture in the post "Sending Windows 8 Push Notifications using Windows Azure Mobile Services" from the Nick Harris .NET blog.
"The goal of Windows Azure Mobile Services is to make it incredibly easy for developers to add a cloud backend to their client apps be it a Windows 8, Windows Phone, iOS or Android application. ... Mobile Services today provides:
- Structured Storage
- Server Logic ...
- Auth ...
- Push Notifications ...
- Common tenants of Windows Azure Services
- Scale ...
- Diagnostics ...
- Logging ...
What are Push Notifications?
The Windows Push Notification Services (WNS) enables you to send toast, tile, badge and raw notifications from the cloud to your Windows Store applications even when your app is not running. Push notifications are ideal for scenarios when you need to target a specific user with personalized content.
The following diagram depicts the general Lifecycle of a push notifications via the Windows Azure Notification Service (WNS). We’ll walk through the steps shortly but before doing so I thought it would be important to call out that as a developer implementing a push notification scenario all you need to do is implement those interactions in grey and the applications/ services in blue." [nickharris.net/ index.php/ 2012/ 10/ 04/ blog-series-sending-windows-8-push-notifications-using-windows-azure-mobile-services/ ]
The diagram example "Push Notification Lifecycle Overview" was created using ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Azure Architecture solution from the Computer and Networks area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.

This Azure cloud architecture pattern diagram template was created on the base of figure in the article "Valet Key Pattern" from the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) website.
"Valet Key Pattern.
Use a token or key that provides clients with restricted direct access to a specific resource or service in order to offload data transfer operations from the application code. This pattern is particularly useful in applications that use cloud-hosted storage systems or queues, and can minimize cost and maximize scalability and performance. ...
Client programs and web browsers often need to read and write files or data streams to and from an application’s storage. ...
Data stores have the capability to handle upload and download of data directly, without requiring the application to perform any processing to move this data, but this typically requires the client to have access to the security credentials for the store.
... applications must be able to securely control access to data in a granular way, but still reduce the load on the server by setting up this connection and then allowing the client to communicate directly with the data store to perform the required read or write operations. ...
To resolve the problem of controlling access to a data store where the store itself cannot manage authentication and authorization of clients, one typical solution is to restrict access to the data store’s public connection and provide the client with a key or token that the data store itself can validate.
This key or token is usually referred to as a valet key. It provides time-limited access to specific resources and allows only predefined operations such as reading and writing to storage or queues, or uploading and downloading in a web browser. Applications can create and issue valet keys to client devices and web browsers quickly and easily, allowing clients to perform the required operations without requiring the application to directly handle the data transfer. This removes the processing overhead, and the consequent impact on performance and scalability, from the application and the server." [msdn.microsoft.com/ ru-RU/ library/ dn568102.aspx]
The Azure cloud system architecture diagram template "Valet key pattern" for the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software is included in the Azure Architecture solutin from the Computer and Networks area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.

This Azure cloud architecture pattern diagram template was created on the base of figure in the article "External Configuration Store Pattern" from the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) website.
"External Configuration Store Pattern.
Move configuration information out of the application deployment package to a centralized location. This pattern can provide opportunities for easier management and control of configuration data, and for sharing configuration data across applications and application instances. ...
The majority of application runtime environments include configuration information that is held in files deployed with the application, located within the application folders. In some cases it is possible to edit these files to change the behavior of the application after it has been deployed. However, in many cases, changes to the configuration require the application to be redeployed, resulting in unacceptable downtime and additional administrative overhead. ...
Store the configuration information in external storage, and provide an interface that can be used to quickly and efficiently read and update configuration settings. The type of external store depends on the hosting and runtime environment of the application. In a cloud-hosted scenario it is typically a cloud-based storage service, but could be a hosted database or other system.
The backing store chosen for configuration information should be fronted by a suitable interface that provides consistent and easy to use access in a controlled way that enables reuse. Ideally, it should expose the information in a correctly typed and structured format. The implementation may also need to authorize users’ access in order to protect configuration data, and be flexible enough to allow multiple versions of the configuration (such as development, staging, or production, and multiple release versions of each one) to be stored." [msdn.microsoft.com/ ru-RU/ library/ dn589803.aspx]
The Azure cloud system architecture diagram template "External Configuration Store Pattern" for the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software is included in the Azure Architecture solutin from the Computer and Networks area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.