14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is planning to introduce an upgrade to the Windows Azure AppFabric LABS environment this week.
According to the Redmond company, the refresh process is scheduled to start in just three days, and as such Cloud customers will not be able to take advantage of the AppFabric LABS portal.
Not only will the AppFabric LABS portal be down, but the associated services will also be unavailable, the software giant explained.
The first enhancements to the Windows Azure AppFabric LABS environment will start being introduced on May 12, 2011, at 10am PST, with the upgrade planned for finalization by 5pm the same day.
“AppFabric LABS Service Bus, Access Control and Caching services, and the portal, will be unavailable during this period,” Microsoft said.
Still, the impact on the Service Bus will last a tad longer, namely until May 16, 2011, 10am PST, according to a member of the Windows Azure AppFabric Team.
Customers need to know that the time that the AppFabric LABS portal and services will be offline is nothing more than scheduled maintenance downtime.
“Access to portal, Access Control and Caching will be available after the maintenance window and all existing accounts/namespaces for these services will be preserved,” the company explained.
The Service Bus is a small exception, with the software giant estimating that it will be back online starting on May 16, 2011, 10am PST.
“Furthermore, Service Bus namespaces will be preserved following the maintenance, BUT existing connection points and durable queues will not be preserved. Users should back up Service Bus configuration in order to be able to restore following the maintenance,” the Windows Azure AppFabric Team representative stated.
The Redmond company is encouraging Cloud customers to head over to the Windows Azure AppFabric CTP Forum in order to provide feedback or to ask any questions they might have.