Many of you have an MSDN subscription. Frankly, I don’t think I would take a development job if it didn’t come with MSDN, it simply provides all the tools you need to be a developer in the Microsoft world.
Along with that subscription comes a hefty amount of free Windows Azure resources. This makes it really easy to get into cloud computing, do some trial work, and even use that time during your project development.
We have worked hard to make it easier than ever to activate your MSDN benefits. If you tried before, and bailed out because you didn’t have the subscription id, or didn’t want charges to your credit card, then now is your time!
You don’t need to know your MSDN Subscription ID. Just use the Live ID your MSDN account is tied to.
To get started, go to Windows Azure membership offers page.
A quick walkthrough on how to activate your free MSDN Windows Azure benefits.
Why do I need to give credit card?
Yes, you still need a credit card, but you don’t need to worry. We use it to verify you are over 18 (to accept the terms of service) as well as to prove you are a human.
We will never charge to the card because when you activate your MSDN account a spending cap will be placed on your account. This will limit the resources you consume in Windows Azure to those that you get for free from your MSDN subscription. If you hit that limit, we shut down your app until the next month.
You can remove the spending cap if you want. In this case, when you go over your free allocation of resources we will charge any overage to your credit card. Once removed the spending cap cannot be re-activated.
With an MSDN subscription, I can’t think of a reason why you would remove the spending cap. In most instances you will have the amount of time you need for dev/test. Your free utilization resets every month. If you really are going over this cap, maybe you need a different type of subscription.
What do I get?
You will get a generous allocation of free Windows Azure resources. How many you get depends on your MSDN subscription level. I have copied those allocations here, but you should always check WindowsAzure.com for the latest details.
What are compute hours?
When you deploy an application to Windows Azure we allocated hardware to you. We charge based on how many hours of CPUs (across all of your servers, or as we say instances) that are allocated to you. We do not charge based on how busy the CPU is. Meaning, an app that is used heavily is charged the same as one that is stagnant and not in use.
Why do we charge this way? Think of it like a hotel room. You are renting the room by the day. When you leave the hotel room to go have fun, or go to a business meeting, you have left your stuff in the room. No one else is going to use that room, at least until you check out.
So even if there isn’t any load on your servers, if your app is deployed to them, you are being charged. This means you need to look at what you have deployed, and for how long. What this also means is that if you don’t need a server up GET RID OF IT. You will be charged for those servers until you tear them down. Just like in a hotel, you will be charged until you check out. The only difference is we charge by the hour, and most hotels charge by the day. 
This is the age of disposable servers. Why have all your QA servers up and running all night long when the test team has gone home? That’s a waste of money. Shut them down at night, and restart them in the morning when you are ready to run some more tests. Same thing with your development environment. This is a great way to get the most out of your hours.
To make this even easier, write a simple PowerShell script to do it for you. You could even schedule the script to run everyday at 6am to start up the servers, and at 8pm to shut them down.
What do they mean by ‘Small Instance’?
An instance is a virtual server that we have deployed on your behalf. There are different sizes of instances. You will choose how big the instances are when you deploy, to meet the needs of your app. The typical web app will use a flock of small instances.
Each size of instance (small->medium->large->x-large) basically doubles the amount of CPU and RAM available to your app. Since we charge by the number of CPUs in total, the size does not really affect your bill, only the resources you have per virtual server. As an example, an app that is deployed with 8 small instances (eight servers that have a single CPU each) will cost the same as a single x-large instance (a single server with 8 CPU’s). These instances are running on hardware that is dedicated to you. You won’t have to worry about the noisy-neighbor problem.
You are billed for CPU run time, not CPU load utilization.
When you have 1,500 hours of free small instance hours, we mean 1,500 hours of small instance EQUIVELANT hours. If you run 10 x-large instances, that counts as 80 small hours per running hour. In this configuration you would run for 18.75 hours for free per month.
There is one exception to this setup. We also have extra-small instances. These are still independent virtual servers, but they are running on some shared hardware. You are basically getting a third of a CPU instead of a whole one. Because of this you are charged the equivalent of 1/3 of a small instance hour . If you deploy 10 extra-small instances (which is 10/3 small instance hours per running hour) you could run for about 450 hours per month.
The extra-small instance is meant for either lightweight needs (a small administrator app) or for running your development environment.
What other free stuff do I get?
You will get free storage (blobs, queues, and tables), a SQL Azure database, a cache, bandwidth, lots of other stuff.
I work for a large company, how do I know if I have an MSDN subscription?
You have to figure out who your MSDN administrator is. This is usually someone in IT management or purchasing. I would recommend you start with whoever actually gives you access to downloads, or ISO’s internally. You don’t need to know this person if you already have access to your MSDN subscription with your Live account. If you don’t yet, this person can link your MSDN subscription to your Live Id.
I have billing issue, who do I contact and what information do I need while contacting?
The easiest way is to start a ticket online, and then call in. It saves having to relay all of the technical information over the phone. When you do open a ticket, you will need your basic contact information.
You will be asked several questions to rank the severity of the issue so that we respond with the proper amount of hair on fire.
You may be asked for your subscription id. This is a GUID, and can be found on your management portal. Log in to the portal at windows.azure.com with your Live Id used for the subscription. When the subscription in question. You will find your subscription id in the right hand portal is loaded, click on the “Hosted Services, Storage Accounts & CDN” tab. Then click on subscriptions. Choose the properties panel.
If your issue is causing a critical business impact, please dial 1-866-MSONLINE ([866] 676-6546) for support in English, or click here for a local number within your region. Currently, there is no charge for Windows Azure platform and service support.
You can verify the health of the Windows Azure Platform on the Service Dashboard.
Resources: