Background
Curious why StratusOn is so bold with our claims of time savings? Why we are so confident we can reduce the time it takes you to publish your application to the Azure Marketplace by weeks or, much more likely, months? Two simple reasons:
- We have lived the publishing nightmare
- We eat our own cooking (use our products!)
Maestro Studio ENSEMBLE (SmsE) dramatically simplifies and streamlines the grueling development effort needed just to prepare your software solution for submission to the Partner Center for publishing. Truly, using ENSEMBLE, you can complete the development work in minutes or hours, instead of days, weeks, or (more likely) months.
ENSEMBLE delivers immediate and significant returns in time savings to any Azure Marketplace publishing project, regardless of skill level or where one may be in the development/publishing cycle.
Our flagship product eliminates the excessive time, anxiety, and frustration baked into the non-trivial JSON coding required to get your offer to the Azure Marketplace. ENSEMBLE is perfect for developers, Cloud Solution Architects (CSA), and DevOps Engineers of every skill level.
No more...
- Holding your breath: hoping for no errors after submitting your publishing requests
- Procrastinating: dreading to modify or fix your existing offers
- Guesswork: preview, validate, and publish your offers
Using ENSEMBLE, with its real-time interaction with the Azure Marketplace, ensures your software solutions will publish error-free.
The Nitty-Gritty
(a.k.a. INSANE Time Savings)
ENSEMBLE's proven ability to provide insane time savings is directly attributable to these core features:
- Drag-and-drop, no/low code, visual designer
- Real-time, on-demand validation and previewing
- Automatic error detection and locating for remediation
The no-code visual designer lets you make changes, test, preview, and publish to production iteratively, on-demand, and drama-free. The robust validation engine identifies any errors immediately (JSON syntax, regex, etc.), provides direct navigation to errors, and even fixes many issues automatically. ENSEMBLE is the only product on the market that integrates everything needed to service the entire publishing cycle, end-to-end; no longer do you need to be constantly switching between programs and utilities.
Following the process suggested by Microsoft, you make your best effort to build your Azure application deployment package, submit it for publishing to the Marketplace, and…then…you wait. If any errors or rejected by the certification team...sigh...then the cumbersome cycle begins again (definition of insanity, anyone?...).
Compare and contrast the timings for coding your JSON manually as outlined by Microsoft versus using Maestro Studio ENSEMBLE. We think you will be impressed:
| Development Step |
Coding Manually |
Using ENSEMBLE |
| 1. Build UI Definition |
3 to 6 months 1 |
minutes/hours/days |
| a. create UiDefinition.json file |
days/weeks/months 2 |
minutes 3 |
| b. add additional parameters |
hours/days 2 |
no time; auto created! |
| c. override core app creation |
hours/days 2 |
seconds (if needed) |
| d. test JSON in sandbox |
hours/days/weeks 2 |
minutes; all tools integrated! |
| 2. Build ARM Template |
hours/days/weeks |
no time; built-in ARM template used |
| a. create ARM template |
hours/days/weeks 2 |
no time |
| b. review ARM template |
hours/days/weeks 2 |
no time |
| c. test ARM template |
hours/days/weeks 2 |
no time |
| 3. Validate ARM Template |
hours/days/weeks |
no time; auto validated! |
| a. install ARM test toolkit |
minutes/hour |
n/a; all tools integrated! |
| b. run tests via PowerShell |
hours/days/weeks 2 |
no time; auto validated! |
| 4. Package Assets |
hours |
seconds |
| a. create deployment zip file |
< 1 hour |
seconds; 1-click! |
| b. submit to Partner Center |
hours |
seconds; drag-and-drop! |
| 5. Partner Center Processing 4 |
MS dependent |
MS dependent |
Table 1. Development Step Timings: Manual vs. ENSEMBLE
1 Skill Level Dependent
2 Each Iteration
3 Using Templates
4 See Figure 2
ENSEMBLE's Simplified Development Process
ENSEMBLE greatly simplifies the development process detailed in Table 1 and is the one tool you need to get your software offers to the Azure Marketplace. Simply install and follow these steps:
- Choose a QuickStart Template
- Customize and Preview
- Export Deployment Package (.zip file)
- Connect to Partner Center
- Drag-and-Drop the Deployment Package to Submit
Take a moment to plug ENSEMBLE's timings into any current or upcoming project plans to determine your labor savings and to see the positive impact on your resources and budget. If you still wish to continue building your applications manually, you can access Microsoft's documentation:
Figure 1. CUiD Learning Center
Partner Center Publishing's Role?
A quick look at the Azure Marketplace publishing cycle reveals it is a bit deceptive in the relative simplicity of its steps. While the publishing cycle on Azure’s end can be completed in a week (fingers crossed, hoping your offer is not rejected), it is just the final phase to undertake after having completed your JSON development and creating your Azure application technical assets package (.zip file).
Figure 2. Partner Center Publishing Steps
Maestro Studio ENSEMBLE couples seamlessly to the Partner Center publishing interface by creating your deployment package and submitting your offer, each with just a single click.
Take Advantage of ENSEMBLE!
How can ENSEMBLE be of immediate benefit to you, right now? You should:
- Install ENSEMBLE, follow the tutorials, and jump right in if you are:
- Just starting out or new to publishing offers
- Skeptical of our product claims and its abilities
- Intrigued by using a more efficient method
- Import your offer using your .zip file or directly from the Marketplace if you are:
- Stuck, frustrated, or overwhelmed
- Need to update or repair an existing offer posthaste
- Import any offer directly from the Marketplace if you are:
- Looking for inspiration
- Wanting more examples to review and use
- Interested in emulating an offer you see in the Marketplace
Experience Maestro Studio ENSEMBLE Today
Learn more about StratusOn.