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Microsoft Azure: What Is It, How Is It Used, and What Does It Offer?

What Is Microsoft Azure and How Does It Work?
Cloud computing applications and platforms have recorded massive growth across all industries. They provide the IT backbone that powers and enables new digital businesses. These platforms have revolutionized how businesses function and have made operational functions easier. Today, more than 75% of businesses in the digital era have at least some aspects of their computing infrastructure in the Cloud. In this article, Chiron IT provides an overview of Microsoft Azure Cloud Services (and Cloud concepts in general) and answers the question: What is Microsoft Azure, and what can you do with it? Furthermore, we will explore the range of AI-powered Azure services available, including tools for machine learning, natural language processing, and predictive analytics.

What is Microsoft Windows Azure?

Azure is a comprehensive suite of cloud computing services that supports application development, data analytics, AI, and more. It facilitates the development of modern applications and allows organizations to manage themselves efficiently. It gives you dependable backup recovery options in the event of a disaster and more than 200 services for computing, networking, and storage guaranteed to optimize your business in the digital age of work. Migrating to a cloud platform can cut operational costs for organizations and individuals who often deal with buying and running resources on-premise. Originally announced in 2008 and officially launched in 2010, Microsoft Azure has grown to be the world's No. 2 public cloud provider, taking up 21% of the market. According to Microsoft, 95% of Fortune 500 companies deploy the platform. Its unique value proposition originates from its position as the best choice for hybrid deployments. It is widely extolled for its ability to sync seamlessly with legacy solutions that many companies have relied on for decades. Cloud engineers are displaying increasing interest in MSFT Azure training at a greater rate than Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud. According to a report, the time spent on learning the platform's cloud computing spiked nearly 800% over three months, compared to between 60 - 100% for AWS and Google Cloud.  

Microsoft Azure Cloud Infrastructure and Regions

Their infrastructure is available in 67 official regions worldwide, with over 160 physical data centers. This strategic placement ensures that millions of users are satisfied all across the globe. The regions include Brazil South, South Africa North, Australia East, Central US, West India, and every place in between. Each region is fitted with one or more data centers and availability hubs, comprising one or more data centers fitted with standalone power cooling systems and networking. With this network of data hubs in place, a Service would still be functional if parts of the zone have a downtime.  

What Does Microsoft Azure Do?

MSFT Azure is a cloud computing platform that improves the way individuals and businesses maintain and manage hardware and software resources by offering easily accessible services across the public internet. For those wondering what does Azure do, it provides a broad set of solutions designed to handle computing, storage, and networking needs efficiently. The platform contains 200 services organized into 18 categories, including computing, networking, storage, analytics, and migration, among others. At its core, it's a large collection of network hardware and servers that operate a complex set of applications distributed across organizations.  

Public Cloud Platform

A Cloud Platform allows organizations to use computing resources over the web without obtaining on-premise servers. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a cloud computing model that provides essential compute, storage, and networking resources on demand. With IaaS, you can scale your IT resources up or down as needed, bypassing the cost and complexity of managing physical servers and data centers. It"s one of the four main types of cloud services, alongside Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and serverless computing.

IaaS

With IaaS, virtual machines (VMs) that are housed in the Azure Cloud network can be maintained by your company IT personnel. The servers are maintained by the Azure Cloud IT team for underlying infrastructure management, reducing your need for expensive in-house IT resources. These Azure virtual machines run on Microsoft data centers located globally. Azure can be used for various functions, including web hosting, running applications, and supporting complex enterprise workloads.

PaaS

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a cloud computing model that provides a flexible, scalable platform for developing, deploying, running, and managing applications. With PaaS, you can build cloud-based apps, from simple ones to sophisticated enterprise applications. Here"s what PaaS includes:
  • Infrastructure: Servers, storage, and networking.
  • Middleware: Tools for development, business intelligence, and database management.
  • Development tools: Streamlining app creation.
  • Business analytics: Insights from data analysis.
PaaS supports the entire web application lifecycle, including building, testing, deploying, managing, and updating. It lets you avoid the complexity of managing software licenses and underlying infrastructure. It offers users Managed Services such as Azure App Service, Azure SQL Database, and Azure Functions. With PaaS, developers can focus on writing code without worrying about infrastructural management. What Is Microsoft Azure and How Does It Work - pic 2

Virtualization Technology

Virtualization is a process that allows for more efficient use of physical computer hardware. It serves as the foundation of cloud computing. Here"s how it works:
  • Abstraction Layer: Virtualization uses software to create an abstraction layer over computer hardware. This enables the division of a single computer's components (such as processors, memory, and storage) into multiple virtual machines (VMs).
  • Independent VMs: Each VM runs its own operating system (OS) and behaves like an independent computer, even though it shares the underlying hardware with other VMs.
  Benefits of Virtualization:
  • Resource Efficiency: Instead of dedicating a separate physical server to each application, server virtualization allows multiple applications to run on a single physical computer without sacrificing reliability. 
  • Easier Management: Software-defined VMs simplify management, allowing for automated deployment, consistent setup, and security policies. 
  • Minimal Downtime: Redundant VMs can fail over seamlessly, reducing downtime caused by OS or application crashes It depends heavily on virtualization technology to create and manage web resources.

Virtual Machines (VMs)

Azure VMs bring the user into the world of virtualized hardware, enabling them to choose from those of various sizes and operating systems.

Hypervisor

It mimics hardware in a software environment using a hypervisor, allowing different VMs to run on a single physical server. It is so powerful - it distributes the bandwidth, disc storage space, as well as memory.

Data Center Architecture

Data centers are the heart and soul of the platform. Let's examine the architecture more closely:

Physical servers

These are physical servers located in data centers, compartmentalized into racks and clusters. The physical servers host one or more of the platform's virtual machines. Each server is designed to prioritize your organization's workloads, but depending on the configuration, some resources may be shared or dedicated.

Fabric Controller

These are a group of machines in the data center that are aggregated by a switch, each serving to manage resources in the data center. The array of these machines is called a cluster. The fabrics controller apportions VMs, tracks health, and fosters efficient utilization.

Resource Management

The platform allows you to create and manage resources via Azure Command-Line Interface, Azure Portal, or Azure Resource Manager (ARM). The latter is a veritable tool for the consistent deployment of resources.

Subscribe to Microsoft Azure

  • To start using Microsoft Azure, you’ll first need to create an account that provides access to the Azure Portal. This portal serves as the centralized interface where you can manage all Azure services, deploy resources, monitor cloud applications, and access analytics.
  • Select a subscription model. The pay-as-you-go model (PAYG) means you only pay for what you have used. There are no upfront fees. Alternatively, there is a recommitment model where you can pre-commit to a fixed amount of spending at a discount.
  • Create a billing account to handle your subscription and payment information.
OR you can contact Chiron IT, and we can assist you with all the details for subscribing to Microsoft Azure Cloud.
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