So how do you migrate your applications to the cloud? Well you have to start with security. Your app has to work with a Secure Token Service (STS). The user enters authentication as a claim. The STS gives the user a token which is presented to the application. The token is in the Security Assertions Markup Language (SAML). Your app has to trust the STS. Then you are ready for business.Next up you need to move your database to the cloud. Microsoft has SQL Azure. This is a scaled down version of SQL Server 2008. Make sure you app works with SQL Server 2008 first. Then review whether all the features you use are supported by SQL Azure. Beware that your connections to the database will be throttled. You got to dump the designs which connect to the database and hold the connection for the life of your app.
These are a few tips to get you started. Personally I have stayed away from cloud computing. The system I work on is complex enough with having to add another layer of trouble to it.
