Orchestration Comes to Microsoft Azure

Microsoft has announced a new automation service for Microsoft Azure (aptly named Microsoft Azure Automation), mirroring the features available in the Windows Azure Pack, but placing it directly in the Cloud.

Prior to this release, Service Management Automation was part of the 2012 R2 release of System Center and required an on-premise connection due to the integration with the Windows Azure Pack. The release of Microsoft Azure Automation eliminates the required connection and hosts the entire service inside Microsoft's datacenters.

Microsoft Azure Automation utilizes PowerShell and runs as a Cloud service, meaning there's no additional software to install locally. The service allows automation of creating, deploying, monitoring, and maintaining resources running in a Microsoft Azure environment. For now, the service supports Cloud Service, Storage Services, Web Sites, Virtual Machines, and SQL Database, but that will expand to all Microsoft Azure services eventually.

The new service is in Preview mode and a free trial is available:

Microsoft Azure Automation