Update (Dec 1, 2011): The final version of the Autoscaling Application Block has been released. http://bit.ly/v6A1aU

This is a dupe for another story (http://www.mygreatwindowsazureidea.com/forums/34192-windows-azure-feature-voting/suggestions/392894-make-it-easier-for-me-to-scale-up-or-down-my-windo).

FYI, Microsoft patterns & practices team is developing a new application block that will address various autoscaling scenarios. See http://blogs.msdn.com/agile/archive/2011/08/23/autoscaling-windows-azure-applications.aspx

Update (Dec 1, 2011): The Autoscaling Application Block final release is now available: http://bit.ly/v6A1aU
Among supported scenarios:
1.Autoscaling both web and worker roles in Windows Azure by dynamically changing instance counts or performing application throttling.
2.Autoscaling Windows Azure roles based on timetables.
3.Autoscaling Windows Azure roles based on metrics collected from the application and/or Windows Azure but constrained by upper and lower bounds on the instance count per role.
4.Preventing fast oscillations in the number of role instances with the stabilizer. The stabilizer can also help to optimize costs by limiting scaling up operations to the beginning of the hour and scaling down operations to the end of the hour.
5.Monitoring and logging autoscaling activity.
6.Sending notifications to preview any scaling operations before they take place.
7.Encrypting the rules and other configuration in Windows Azure blob storage or in local file storage.
8.Managing the autoscaler configuration by using Windows PowerShell.

Microsoft patterns & practices team is developing a new application block that will address various auto-scaling scenarios. See http://blogs.msdn.com/agile/archive/2011/08/23/autoscaling-windows-azure-applications.aspx