Server 2008R2 in Extra Small Windows Azure Instance?
- by Shawn Eary
Windows Azure hosting for an Extra Small (XS) Windows VM seems to come out to be about $10 a month right now. I think this XS instance gives you the equivalent of a 1 GHZ CPU with 768MB of RAM. I think the minimum requirements for Server 2008 is 1GHZ CPU with 512MB of RAM.
Also, I think the minimum requirements for SQL Server Express is 1GHZ CPU with 256 MB of RAM and that the minimum requirements for Team Foundation Server Express 11 Beta is 2.2 GHZ CPU with 1 Gig of RAM (this 2.2 GHZ part could be a problem for my 1 GHZ XS VM...).
Given the performance of the XS Azure instance, would I be able to install: a very basic MVC web site; a free instance of SQL Server Express; a free single user instance of Team Foundation Server Express 11 Beta and run the XS VM instance without serious crashing?
I know there are other Shared WebHost providers that can provide these features for me, but those hosting providers have the following disadvantages:
They sometimes cost a lot of money after all of the "addons" are in place
They probably don't provide the level of security and employee integrity that Microsoft can provide
They don't provide the total control that an Azure VM seems to provide
