Which Azure services would I need for a readily developed application?

Question

Hello...
Sorry if there's already an somewhere on here for this... I found similar questions but all seem to be related to "building" apps on Azure. In my case, we have an already built application. So here's the deal:
We are considering hosting our application on the cloud, so I would like some clarifications/suggestions on what the suitable option is for us on Azure. I'm not very versed on computing/network infrastructure;
I'm just doing a preliminary research to see what is out there for us.
Here's an overview of our application and needs:
Our software, among other uses, is mainly a tools & asset management system used for tracking tool history, i.e. maintenance and field use. Our clients are service provider companies of a
niche in O&G exploration. The application is...
Developed on Windows OS for Windows users.
Built using LabVIEW, and requires a run-time engine installed on the client machine.
Powered by Microsoft SQL Database (2005)
Our Primary Needs:
Various users in a client company should be able to use the software and access data simultaneously.
Client companies should be able to access only their own data.
User-size is an upward of 6 per company (and 10 companies in the first year). Most clients are in North America, but a couple are overseas.
We (our company) should be able to update the software and database structure at will.
Development and compilation will done on a local machine.
So will the Virtual Machine suffice, or do we need other service(s) like the SQL Database?
Sorry for the lengthy message, but I hope it helps someone offer a proper option for us.  I can't find a Microsoft email anywhere, and I rather type this stuff out.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi Immanuel,
Thanks for reaching out.
here is my understanding of your solution and later in the email i have put couple of possibilities to use cloud
Understanding:
At present desktop App (written in dotnet), is available to local user, App connects to some SQL database (app connects to one / more than one db, not local to user), users have some kind of authentication mechanism that authenticates
and authorize them to use only their data from the database (not sure if its one single db with multi-tenancy or separated db for each user).
To be: This is my understanding where you want to be
1. you want app to be deployed in cloud
Question: what is the primary reason of app to be deployed on cloud if this is a windows application, if this is security, then we can explore alternatives to deploy on cloud.
2. You want app to connect to the SQL db deployed on SQL Azure (guessing it would be multi-tenancy), in that case you would need SQL Azure, depending on your db size and scalability
needs on db you can choose from different SQL Azure dbs (at end it comes down to cost)
Options:
1. Not sure if you really need the desktop app on cloud, assuming you have to have it on cloud, you would need at very basic A VM role, where you would deploy and setup the app
as a base VM, that you may replicate for different clients / users of yours. keep in mind that with VM role you are paying for uptime, even if your user is not using your app.
if you choose to use a vm from the azure provided vms then you are covered for licensing, else you would need to figure out licensing cost for OS that you put on the VM, and also
the number of VM will influence the cost of your OS licensing.
2. Alternatively you can also explore a hybrid option where you can keep desktop app on local desktop of users but it connects to the sql azure db (this can further be put in hybrid
mode depending on your data, frequency of update to data etc.. for now it can be a pure sql azure db) 
in this case you would not have to maintain much in terms of Cloud service maintenance, all you will have to keep up with is SQL Azure, backups of SQL as you would have been doing
for regular db
3. option 3 is to convert windows app to a web app and then put the entire solution on cloud.. that is kinda larger effort and may not be most appropriate
at this point for you.
Vishal Narayan Saxena http://twitter.com/vishalishere http://www.ogleogle.com/vishal/