Database Reference
In-Depth Information
NOTE
Representational State Transfer (REST) API is a lightweight, stateless
web service architectural pattern that is implemented from the HTTP
protocol. Commands are generally issued using the HTTP verbs (GET,
POST, PUT, and DELETE), making it easier to interact with than
traditional SOAP or XML-based web services.
Microsoft
Amazon continues as a leader in this space, but Microsoft (although arriving
later) has quickly and dynamically expanded their footprint through
innovative and proven solutions in their Windows Azure
(
http://www.windowsazure.com/
)
offering. Within the context of big data,
the services of interest include HDInsight and Azure Blob Storage.
HDInsight
HDInsight (
http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/services/
hdinsight/
) is Microsoft's 100% Apache Hadoop implementation
available as a cloud service. You can quickly and easily provision an elastic
Hadoop cluster ranging from 4 to 32 nodes that allows for seamless scaling.
Azure (ASV) Blob Storage
Like Amazon's S3 service, the Microsoft Azure (ASV) Blob Storage
offers a high-performance, reliable, scalable, and secure cloud storage
solution that supports backup and global distribution via a content delivery
network. In addition to traditional blob storage, the ASV service also
supports table-based and queue storage.Together, both of these service
providers offer a first-class storage service and robust, stable processing
platform capable of hosting your big data solution. The remainder of this
chapter walks you through setting up a sandbox environment for each
service provider before demonstrating tools and techniques for getting your
data to the cloud and integrating it once it is there.
