azure.pdf

Microsoft Azure Global Infrastructure and Services

1. Global Infrastructure

• Extensive Global Reach:
  • 27 Regions Worldwide: Azure operates in 27 regions globally, with 22 of these regions currently online, making it one of the most expansive cloud infrastructures available.
  • Massive Scale: Azure is backed by over 100 datacenters and ranks among the top 3 global networks. This extensive network offers significant capacity and ensures widespread availability with low latency.
  • Continual Expansion: Microsoft Azure is consistently expanding its infrastructure by adding new regions and enhancing existing capacities to meet the growing demands of global users.
  • Top-tier Competition:
    • Azure operates 2.5 times more data center regions than Amazon Web Services (AWS) and 7 times more than Google Cloud.

2. Flexible Cost Model

• Pay-as-you-go Model:
  • Azure operates on a pay-as-you-go model, allowing users to pay only for the resources they consume.
  • Usage-Based Billing: Virtual Machine (VM) usage is billed by the minute, providing cost-effective resource utilization.
  • Stopped VM Billing: When VMs (IaaS only) are stopped, they only incur storage charges, optimizing costs for intermittent workloads.
  • Enterprise Agreements: Azure offers flexible billing options like the Microsoft Azure Enterprise Agreement (EA), which is tailored for larger organizations and can differ from standard billing processes.

3. Diverse Service Offerings

• Compute Services:

  • Virtual Machines (IaaS): Azure offers Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) through Virtual Machines, providing users with granular control over their computing environments.

  • VM Extensions: These add-ons enhance VM functionality by integrating security and management tools.

  • Cloud Services:

    Role – a configuration passed to Azure to tell Azure how many machines of which size and configuration to build for you

    • Web Role: A virtual machine with Internet Information Services (IIS) pre-installed to host web applications.
    • Worker Role: A virtual machine without IIS, used for executing background processes and tasks.

    Ability to mix together multiple role configurations within a single Cloud Service

    

  • App Services (PaaS)

    { fully managed platform in Azure for web, mobile and integration scenarios. This includes**}**:

    • Web Apps: Enterprise grade web applications.
    • API Apps: Provides tools to develop, manage, and monetize APIs.
    • Mobile Apps: Supports the development of native and cross-platform mobile applications and cross-platform Xamarin or Cordova.
    • Logic Apps: Allows for the creation of automated workflows through a visual designer.
• Storage Solutions:
  • Blobs, Tables, Queues, Files: Azure offers a variety of storage options catering to unstructured data, structured data, asynchronous messaging, and file shares.
  • Storage Accounts:
    • Standard and Premium Tiers: Different tiers are available to meet specific performance and availability requirements.
• Networking:
  • Virtual Networks: These enable the creation of isolated network environments within Azure.
  • Network Interface Cards (NICs): Used to connect VMs to virtual networks and the internet.
  • Load Balancers, IP Addresses, Network Security: Azure offers robust tools to manage traffic distribution, IP management, and network security.

4. Management and Deployment

• Azure Resource Manager (ARM):
  • Provides a consistent management layer for deploying and managing resources.
  • ARM enables infrastructure-as-code capabilities, allowing for automated and consistent resource management across different environments.

Quotes

• "Pay only for what you use"
• "VM usage is by the minute"
• "VMs (IaaS only) that are stopped in Microsoft Azure, only storage charges apply"

Conclusion