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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-30T11:15:04+00:00

I already know that it is possible to use other technologies than .NET, e.g.

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I already know that it is possible to use other technologies than .NET, e.g. Java, PHP or node.js on the Windows Azure platform but I’m a bit confused about the usage:

  1. Microsoft provides SDKs for Java, node.js and PHP. But you still have to deploy the runtimes manually, right? There is no pre-installed PHP runtime or Java vm in a web- or worker role?
  2. What is the content of those SDKs? I assume some cli code scaffolding tools in order to create a project structure, but what else? I read that you can node.js, Java and PHP with the Azure Emulator…
  3. All the other technologies apart from .NET, Java, PHP, node.js that aren’t supported with a SDK: is it still possible to run them in a web/worker role or do I have to run them in a vm role? If the former is correct, how is the project packed into a cspkg, do I have to do it manually?

Tanks!

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Windows Azure simply runs Windows Server 2008 VM’s. If you can run your software on Windows, you can likely run it in Windows Azure.

    Per your questions specifically:

    1. If you want to run Java, node, etc., you do have to provide the runtime. However, you can place these in blob storage and grab them on startup, rather than bundling them with your deployment. With Java, this shrinks your deployment considerably, especially if you combine that with the space needed for, say, Tomcat.
    2. The SDKs wrap the REST APIs. You technically don’t need language-specific SDKs if you know how to program directly to REST. However, these SDKs greatly simplify interacting with Windows Azure. The SDKs don’t help create a new project. That’s part of the development environment and related project scaffolding. Visual Studio provides this for WCF, ASP.NET, etc. In Eclipse, you can easily build php and Java apps.
    3. Web and Worker roles are just Windows Server 2008 with and without IIS running. You only need a VM Role when a) your app or 3rd party apps can’t be installed automatically; b) your installation process is unreliable; or c) the install process takes too long (like more than 5 minutes). See my SO answer here for more about this.
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