Microsoft Azure

 

Microsoft Azure is a rapidly increasing set of cloud-based computing services available to corporations, developers, government organisations, and anybody else who wants to build an app or operate a business without having to maintain hardware.

What is Microsoft Azure, and how does it work?

Microsoft Azure is a growing set of cloud-based computing services offered to companies, developers, government organisations, and anybody else who wants to build an app or run a business on the internet without having to instal and manage hardware or server software. In recent years, it has been Microsoft's fastest-growing business division, and it is expected to exceed Windows in terms of revenue within two or three years.

"The cloud is just someone else's PC," cynics sneer, dismissing the entire notion of cloud computing. But that oversimplification only applies to one aspect of Azure's business: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), in which cloud-based services take the place of physical hardware.

Microsoft Azure services go well beyond just moving on-premises computers to the cloud. You have a comprehensive variety of Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) choices in addition to IaaS resources, allowing your company to use cloud-based services without having to manage a server. Without needing to setup (or modify) the underlying Windows or Linux server, you may set up a WordPress website or construct a basic Node JS site, for example.

What are Microsoft Azure's advantages?

The most apparent advantage of Azure's IaaS solutions is that you won't have to acquire, setup, manage, or repair hardware in order to execute cloud-based applications. Savings begin with the hardware but extend to a far larger number of indirect expenditures, such as the physical space needed to house the servers and the power needed to keep them operating. Because Azure resources are virtual, they can't fail at any moment, causing downtime as you wait for repairs or a replacement.

What does Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) mean in Azure?

One of the most simple Azure IaaS use cases is replacing a physical server with a virtual server hosted in Azure's datacenter, which eliminates the requirement for hardware maintenance. Up to and including Server 2019, such server may run any supported desktop or server version of Windows. You may also pick from a broad array of Linux distributions, including Ubuntu Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, FreeBSD, and even Oracle Linux, all of which are available in a variety of supported versions.

What services are there that compete with Azure?

Azure comes in second place among cloud providers, trailing only Amazon Web Services but far ahead of the competition. Google Cloud Platform, for example, uses the search giant's worldwide infrastructure to provide a similar combination of cloud-based infrastructure and app services. Other organisations, like as Salesforce and Oracle, provide a subset of cloud-based services geared exclusively at their existing clients.

What more is there to do with Azure?

We could certainly write a whole book about the full spectrum of Azure services, but it would be outdated the following day because the world is always evolving. Here's a quick rundown of the additional services on offer, sorted by category.

Databases and storage

Azure was created to store massive volumes of data, both structured and unstructured. Azure Blobs (for unstructured data, such as serving images, documents, and video streams directly to a browser); Azure Files (cloud-based file shares accessible via SMB protocols); Azure Queues (for messaging between application components); and Azure Tables (a NoSQL store for structured data) are among the native Azure Storage services.

Tools and services for app development

Beginning with the Visual Studio development environment, which is available in many editions (including preview releases) on Windows Server and Windows 10 Enterprise N virtual machines, developers of desktop and mobile apps have a complete set of tools for creating and delivering their apps.

Azure provides a wide range of third-party devops solutions for sharing code, managing processes, deploying applications, and monitoring performance and use, in addition to Visual Studio Team Services and Azure DevOps. Jenkins, for example, may be used to develop apps in the cloud and publish them directly to Azure.

What methods do you use to manage Azure services?

The Microsoft Azure Portal is the primary interface for managing Azure subscriptions and resources. A configurable dashboard with real-time information about operating services, as well as a point-and-click interface for adding, configuring, and deploying new Azure resources, are available at that location.

Using the Azure Resource Manager, you can deploy, manage, and monitor resources in groups via the Azure Portal. You may use Azure PowerShell and the Azure Command Line Interface for repeated operations (Azure CLI).

What is Azure Active Directory, and how does it work?

Even if you've never used the Microsoft Azure Portal or interacted with any Azure services directly, there's a good chance your company already has an Azure Active Directory account (Azure AD).

Microsoft's cloud services are fundamentally linked, which makes administration and licencing management easier. For example, if you have a Microsoft 365 (previously Office 365) Business or Enterprise subscription, Azure AD handles all user management, as does Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Intune. The Azure AD site allows you to manage people and their related devices.

How much does it cost to use Microsoft Azure?

The majority of Azure services are invoiced on a pay-as-you-go basis, which means there are no upfront charges.

You may use the Azure Pricing Calculator to rapidly estimate charges for a new resource on a pay-as-you-go or reserved-instance basis when you add a new resource to the Azure Portal. The amount of free monthly Azure credit provided by most Visual Studio subscriptions varies depending on the membership level. A monthly allotment of Azure credits is also given to BizSpark or Microsoft Partner Network members.