Page 28 - MSDN Magazine, June 2018

BLOCKCHAIN
Introducing Azure
Blockchain Workbench
Stefano Tempesta
Azure Blockchain Workbench (aka.ms/abcworkbench) is the latest step in Microsoft’s journey to enable customers to adopt block- chain technologies and get started with Azure Blockchain. To provide context, Azure Blockchain is a collection of Azure services and capa- bilitiesdesignedtohelpenterprisescreateanddeployanewclassof applications for sharing business processes and data with multiple, semi-trusted organizations. Currently customers can deploy these services into their Azure subscriptions and integrate them with blockchains available on the Azure Marketplace. Now, with Azure Blockchain Workbench, the heavy lifting is done for them, so they can focus less on scaffolding and more on logic and smart contracts.
AzureBlockchainWorkbenchorchestratesseveralAzureservices around popular blockchain digital ledgers and into a reference archi- tecture that can be used to build blockchain-based applications. It’s a free, easy-to-use tool with a simplified interface that enables users to create end-to-end decentralized applications leveraging all of Azure Blockchain’s capabilities. It comes equipped with sam- ple cross-organizational workflows and smart contracts, as well as an out-of-the-box UI that customers can use to drastically reduce development costs and accelerate proofs of concept.
If you’re new to blockchain, I recommend you read Jonathan Waldman’s outstanding article, “Blockchain Fundamentals” (msdn.com/ magazine/mt845650), in the March 2018 issue of MSDN Magazine. Also, make a point to watch the Microsoft Mechanics video, “Intro to BlockchainandAzureBlockchainWorkbench,”ataka.ms/workbenchintro.
Introducing Azure Blockchain Workbench
In much the same way that applications today interact with databases, decentralized applications running on a blockchain communicate and execute logic against a specific digital ledger, such as Ethereum or Hyperledger. A digital ledger network consists of a peer-to-peer decentralizednetworkofnodes.Thesenodesmaintainacopyof the data store and run a virtual machine to support arbitrary com- putation against the ledger, while maintaining consensus. Smart contracts are the mechanism that allows for this complicated computation on the network, similar to stored procedures on a traditional relational database.
Despite the potential to leverage blockchain in a growing vari- ety of business processes, there are obstacles to overcome before enterprises can adopt blockchain technologies. Lack of governance, network performance and scalability are often cited as challenges that impact the adoption of blockchain in the enterprise space.
Building a complete solution running on blockchain typically requires provisioning infrastructure and developing a client appli- cation, writing and deploying a gateway API, implementing support for off-chain storage, writing logs and reports, and integrating identity and key vault services into the solution. There's a common set of challenges related to blockchain app development that are addressed by Azure Blockchain Workbench, which dramatically reduces the amount of time needed to build a blockchain solution.
This article discusses:
• Deploying and configuring Azure Blockchain Workbench • Creating and deploying business logic in the form of smart
contracts to drive scenario flows
• Using Azure Service Bus to extend Azure Blockchain Workbench Technologies discussed:
Azure Blockchain, Azure Service Bus
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