14 DAY TRIAL // Approximately a week ago an updated version of the Windows Azure Platform Management Portal went live, and it brought with it an additional upgrade for some of Microsoft’s Cloud customers. Essentially, the Redmond company kicked up a notch Windows Azure Connect, but despite the refresh, the development process is yet to be finalized.
What this means however, is that Windows Azure customers now have access to a new release of Windows Azure Connect. At the time of this article, Windows Azure Connect was still available to early adopters as a Community Technology Preview testing Build.
“As part of the Windows Azure Management Portal update, a new release of the Windows Azure Connect (which is in CTP) endpoint software (1.0.0952.2) is available. In addition to bug fixes, the Connect endpoint is localized into 11 languages, with a language choice selection at the beginning of the interactive client install,” a member of the Windows Azure Connect Team stated.
Version 1.0.0952.2 is served as an update to existing testers of Windows Azure Connect CTP, with the software giant leveraging Microsoft Update in order to serve the new bits to customers.
“For corporate machines distributing updates with WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) or SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager), the endpoint update can be imported into WSUS from the Microsoft Update Catalog,” the Windows Azure Connect team representative added.
“For machines not receiving updates from WSUS (Windows Server Update Services), just start Windows Update, Check for updates, and select Windows Azure Connect Endpoint Upgrade.”
Windows Azure Connect continues to be an invitation-only testing program from Microsoft. Provided that early adopters do get an invitation, testing Windows Azure Connect is free of charge, mostly, since the Redmond company will still charge customers for the network traffic between Windows Azure roles and Connect relays.
Joining the CTP allows customers to provide feedback to the software giant and influence the evolution of Windows Azure Connect.