While Azure projects can be created and packaged using a generic text editor and the command line, good tooling makes the process a whole lot more smoother and productive.

We recommend using Visual Studio 2008 / 2010 for developing applications on Azure.

Getting Started with Windows Azure

1. Get Visual Studio
You can either use the free Visual Web Developer Express edition or download the professional version of Visual Studio from MSDN AA or Dreamspark.

• Download Visual Studio 2008 from MSDN AA
• or Download VS 2008 from DreamSpark or VS2010
• or Visual Studio 2008 Trial Versions or VS2010 RC ISO
• or Free Download: Visual Web Developer 2008

If you are using VS2008, make sure SP1 is installed.


2. Install Windows Azure Tool for Visual Studio
Install the Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 / 2010 using the Web Platform Installer.

(Alternatively, if for some reason you choose to not use WebPI, you can follow the step by step instructions to install the Azure toolset at the MSDN download page and ignore the rest of the instructions below)



Why should you care? As many of you know, before using the Windows Azure Tools, you need install and configure IIS which requires figuring out how to do that and following multiple steps. The Web Platform Installer (we call it the WebPI) makes installing the Tools, SDK and IIS as simple as clicking a few buttons.

For example, on a fresh machine, when I use the WebPI to install the Tools – look at all of the dependencies that get brought in and installed for me. I also don’t need to know to install IIS as a separate step, *it just works*.



One thing I do want to point out is that if you to browse around the WebPI to find the Windows Azure Tools, you first have to go to the Options dialog:



And select the “Developer Tools” checkbox.


A couple of other notes:

• The Microsoft Web Platform home page is on microsoft.com/web
• If you have trouble with the link to install the Windows Azure Tools, try installing the WebPI manually first, then clicking on the link.
• The applications installed by the Web Platform Installer are intended to be run on IIS, not Windows Azure. We’re working on resolving this moving forward.

credits: http://blogs.msdn.com/jnak/archive/2009/09/24/installing-the-windows-azure-tools-using-the-web-platform-installer.aspx