Microsoft demos DevOps capabilities with updates to Azure Stack Technical Preview

Microsoft previews developer services that will run on its Azure platform for inside customer data centres

Microsoft's Azure Stack was released as a Technical Preview at the end of January, but the firm is already extending its capabilities with extra platform as a service (PaaS) and DevOps tools for enterprise customers to evaluate.

Azure Stack can be regarded as a version of the Azure public cloud packaged so that it can be deployed on servers running in a customer's own data centre. It is a key part of Microsoft's hybrid cloud strategy, as customers running Azure Stack will find it easier to extend to the Microsoft Azure cloud thanks to the large degree of consistency across the two platforms.

In a new update, Microsoft has added extra that organisations can download and deploy onto the Azure Stack Technical Preview, including an updated Azure software development kit (SDK); a Web Apps capability in the Azure App Service; SQL and MySQL database resource providers; and Visual Studio support.

Microsoft said that this update represents just the first instalment of a continuous innovation process planned for Azure Stack, and which will eventually lead towards enterprise customers being able to fully deliver Azure services from their own data centres.

However, Microsoft said that the three PaaS resource providers it has now delivered, for Web Apps SQL and MySQL, are still only at the early preview stage.

"We're making them available early to solicit community and early adopter feedback to help simplify the installation and configuration experience. We will then incorporate the feedback and release another public preview for these services before we release the next Technical Preview of Azure Stack," the firm said in a posting on its Azure blog.

Meanwhile, adding Azure Stack support into the Visual Studio suite will help organisations move towards a DevOps strategy, enabling them to build and deploy cloud-like services from their own data centre.

"Enterprises today must manage both hyper-scale web applications and complex requirements such as ensuring regulatory compliance and data sovereignty," said Microsoft's senior programme manager for Azure Tools, Jason Shaver.

"To meet these needs, Microsoft lets enterprises approach the cloud as a model rather than a place: Azure and Azure Stack share a standardised architecture, portal, and application model, allowing developers to write once and deploy to public, private, or hosted cloud environments without code changes," he added.

Computing is set to host a DevOps Summit event in London on 5th July 2016. Follow the link for more details.