Did You Forget Your Windows Azure Demo Deployment Running? Graybox can help you!

Windows Azure as any other cloud platform is very convenient for doing demos or quick tests without the hassle of procuring hardware and installing bunch of software. However what happens quite often is that people forget their Windows Azure demo deployments running, and this can cost them money (a lot sometimes).

Recently I bumped into a handy tool called Graybox. What it does it to regularly check your Windows Azure subscription, and notify you about your deployments.

Installing Graybox

You can download Graybox from here. Just unzip it in a local folder and that is it. The tool has no installer and application icon.

Configuring Graybox

To use Graybox you need two things:

• Windows Azure Subscription ID
• and Windows Azure Management API Certificate Thumbprint – keep in mind that you need to have the certificate imported on the machine where Graybox will be running as well as uploaded it into Windows Azure through the Windows Azure Developer Portal

The configuration is quite simple – you need to edit the Graybox.exe.config file, which is simple XML file, and add your subscription ID and management API thumbprint as follows:

<add key="SubscriptionId" value="[SUBSCRIPTION_ID]"/>

<add key="CertificateThumbprint" value="[API_THUMBPRINT]"/>

Optionally you can change the refresh rate using RefreshTimerIntervalInMinutes configuration setting:

<add key="RefreshTimerIntervalInMinutes" value="10"/>

Using Graybox to Receive Notifications About Forgotten Windows Azure Deployments

Once you have Graybox configured you can start it by double-clicking on Graybox.exe. I will suggest you add the Graybox executable to All Programs –> Startup menu in order to have it started every time you start Windows. Once started it reminds resident in memory, and you can access its functionality through the tray icon:

Right-clicking on Graybox’ tray icon shows you the actions menu:

As you can see on the picture above deployments are shown in the following format:

 

[hosted_service_name], [deployment_label] ([status] on [environment])

For example: toddysm-playground, test (Suspended on Production)

Thus it is easy to differentiate between the different deployments. You have the option to “kill” particular deployment (this means to suspend it if it is running AND delete it or just delete it if the deployment is suspended) or to “kill” all deployments.

If you have forgotten that you have deployments Graybox will pop a message above the system tray every couple of minutes to remind you that you have something running:

The refresh rate is the one you configured in Graybox.exe.config configuration file.

Graybox Limitations

There are two things you should keep in mind when planning to use Graybox:

• Graybox can track deployments in only one subscription; if you own more than one Windows Azure subscription you will not be able to see all your deployments
• In addition Graybox requires .NET 4.0, and will not work with earlier versions of .NET framework

More Information About Graybox

Using Graybox is free because you don’t pay for accessing the Windows Azure Management APIs.

You can get additional information on their Codeplex page.