Signalr on Azure [Part 1] - Intro

In the last month I've been involved in creating a new environment on Azure for a .Net web application which uses signalR.

Azure is used as infrastructure as a service.

Top requirements for the new environment:

a) Start using Azure Resource Manager deployment model . Old environment was build using the classic deployment model.

b)  Start using a load balancer in front of 2 virtual machines , for building a web farm which can scale out when needed.
The two machines needs to be build so that all the time at least one should be up and running no matter what.
 
c) Find the best approach to scale out signalR in azure.

d) All of the above are budget constrained.

In the  next posts I will try to cover the investigation made and decisions taken to get to the end result :
a new Azure environment which meets the above expectations.