Microsoft Azure overview

In this section, you will be introduced to cloud computing and Microsoft Azure.

Evolution of cloud computing

Modern computing technology has been around since the 1950s. We have witnessed many changes so far.

The journey started when we had physical servers that we used to operate our enterprise applications on, but companies were getting bigger and the requirements of the applications were getting greater. That meant buying more and more physical servers to keep up with technology changes and company expansion. As a result, we started to face the following problems:

• More space was needed for physical servers.
• The cost of power usage for the physical servers and air conditioning.
• You were not fully utilizing your environment, because every server was acting with one or two server roles, which meant some of each server's resources were wasted.
• The IT operations were not as efficient as they should have been. As a result, you had to hire more system engineers to manage the infrastructure.

These major problems have been targeted by another technology called virtualization. This technology has totally changed the game and let us enter a new era of computing. It technology allowed us to run different operating servers on the same server simultaneously and with total isolation.

In a nutshell, this technology made our world better and provided the following advantages:

• Utilizing hardware resources: Instead of installing a server that is acting with one role only (that is, a domain controller), you can create another server to act with another role (a SQL server) on the same physical server, until you fully utilize your hardware resources.
• Saving cost: You no longer have to buy many new physical servers, since you can use the same physical server for many different purposes. As a result, you will pay less for power, and air-conditioning.
• Saving space: You will be able to save space in your company for other purposes, such as using a floor that you used in the past for your physical servers to take on board a new team.
• Hardware failure resiliency: If you faced a major issue with the hardware of the physical servers, it would take a long time to get the solution up and running again, but with virtualization, you can have your applications on another server. They are stored in files on the physical servers and can be reused on another physical server to continue operating normally. If you used high availability for your virtualization platform, you will see almost no downtime.

The next step was based on virtualization technology and it was the move to the cloud.

You do not have to care about the hardware, system infrastructure, middleware, and so on, only the stuff you want to use.

Cloud computing offers solutions that will fit every role in an organization. Here are some of its features:

• Hardware: Hardware installation and maintenance was a big problem, because even after embracing virtualization technology, we still had our own hardware that we needed to take care of. But with cloud computing, this provide a low-latency is the responsibility of the cloud service provider.
• Global presence: Microsoft has many data centers across the globe, which means it can provide low-latency services.
• On-demand service: You no longer have to wait for the hardware purchase, the infrastructure preparation, and the application installation, which would take a long time. With cloud computing, you can request the service you wish and it should be up and running in a matter of minutes.
• Scalability: When you have load on your cloud services, you can scale them in and out according to your usage.
• Broad network access: You can connect to your cloud resources from anywhere in the world using any device with an internet connection and any operating system.
• Pay as you go: You only pay for the services that you use.
• Hybrid compatibility: Using Azure does not mean you need to give up your on-premises solutions. You can have a hybrid solution that spans on-premises and Azure.

Azure as a cloud platform

Microsoft Azure was announced in October 2008 with the code name Red Dog and was officially released in February 2010 with the name Windows Azure. It offered web roles and SQL databases. In March 2014, Microsoft rebranded its cloud platform from Windows Azure to Microsoft Azure.

The general availability of Azure and Microsoft has added many services to its platform to fit most customers' needs. It has expanded its data centers to the continents across the globe. The services that Azure supports at the moment include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Mobile services
• Web services
• Compute services
• Storage services
• Messaging
• Network services
• Media services
• Machine learning
• Internet of Things

Cloud deployment models

The cloud is available in different types. The following types are the most common.

Private cloud

In this model, the cloud is exclusively used by a single organization, using its own computing resources. It manages and maintains every piece of the cloud in its own data centers.

Advantages

This model has the following advantages:

• Customizability: You can do whatever you want with the services offered via this model, as long as it is technically feasible because you own and manage everything yourself.
• Not shared: Sharing the same host that serves your applications and VMs might be a concern for many companies. Some of them may consider it as a security threat. Since you are following the private cloud deployment model, it means you are not sharing anything with anyone.

Disadvantages

This model also has some disadvantages:

• High costs: Buying your own hardware/software, managing it, and hiring engineers to take care of that comes with a high price
• Under-utilization: Running your own private cloud in a highly available environment means that your environment will be fully utilized and you are paying for more than you actually use

Public cloud

In this model, you are using your services from a cloud service provider that handles the underlying infrastructure of the service you are using. These services are provided via the internet.

Advantages

This model has the following advantages:

• Unburdening you from most of the operational headache: You no longer have to operate everything by yourself, because most of the operations are handled by the cloud service provider
• Scalability: You can scale your services whenever you wish within a short time with no downtime
• Lower cost: You are only paying for what you are using

Disadvantages

This model also has some disadvantages:

• Security: Some financial and governmental organizations do not like to host their data in the cloud for security reasons
• Unpredictable cost: If you do not have a well-designed cloud solution, you might end up paying too much

Hybrid cloud

As the name of this deployment model indicates, it is a combination of the private cloud and public cloud. In this model, you can span your solutions across your data centers and Azure and get the best of both.

It's quite clear that it has the best of both previous models, but note that the complexity of your solutions will be greater.

Azure regions

As mentioned earlier, Azure has a global presence covering every continent with its data centers. At the time of writing, Azure data centers are available in 54 regions worldwide.

The regions are classified as follows:

• Public regions: Available for use by everyone around the globe
• Azure Government: Available only for the US government
• Azure Germany: Trusted regions by Germany, as it follows the data privacy regulations of Germany
• Azure China: Trusted regions by China, as it adheres to Chinese policies and data handling regulations

Public regions

The following table shows all the Azure public regions that Microsoft covers:

Region	Location
East US	Virginia
East US 2	Virginia
Central US	Iowa
North Central US	Illinois
South Central US	Texas
West Central US	Wyoming
West US	California
West US 2	Washington
Canada East	Quebec
Canada Central	Toronto
Brazil South	Sao Paulo
North Europe	Ireland
West Europe	Netherlands
France Central	Paris
France South	Marseille
UK West	Cardiff
UK South	London
Southeast Asia	Singapore
East Asia	Hong Kong
Australia East	New South Wales
Australia Southeast	Victoria
Australia Central	Canberra
Australia Central 2	Canberra
Central India	Pune
West India	Mumbai
South India	Chennai
Japan East	Tokyo, Saitama
Japan West	Osaka
Korea Central	Seoul
Korea South	Busan

Microsoft Azure is expanding its data centers year on year. The following table includes new public regions that are expected to be generally available in the next 1-2 years:

Region	Location
Germany North	Germany North
Germany West Central	Germany West Central
Switzerland North	Zurich
Switzerland West	Geneva
Norway East	Norway
Norway West	Norway
South Africa West	Cape Town
South Africa North	Johannesburg
UAE Central	Abu Dhabi
UAE North	Dubai

Azure Government

The following table shows all the Azure Government regions that Microsoft covers:

Region	Location
US Gov Virginia	Virginia
US Gov Iowa	Iowa
US Gov Arizona	Arizona
US Gov Texas	Texas
US DoD East	Virginia
US DoD Central	Iowa

Microsoft Azure is expanding its data centers year after year. The following table includes new government regions that are expected to be generally available in the next 1-2 years:

Region	Location
US Sec East	Undisclosed
US Sec West	Undisclosed

Azure Germany

The following table shows all the Azure Germany regions that Microsoft covers:

Region	Location
Germany Central	Frankfurt
Germany Northeast	Magdeburg

Azure China

The following table shows all the Azure China regions that Microsoft covers:

Region	Location
China East	Shanghai
China East 2	Shanghai
China North	Beijing
China North 2	Beijing

You can find out the nearest region to you with the lowest latency via the following website: http://www.azurespeed.com/.

Azure services are available in 140 countries around the globe and support 17 languages, and 24 currencies.

For a proper depiction of the previously mentioned Azure regions all around the globe, visit the following link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/global-infrastructure/regions/

Azure subscriptions

Microsoft Azure offers different types of subscriptions that you can use to access Azure services and start playing with them:

• Free account: This account offers 200 USD credits that you can use for Azure services within the first 30 days after signing up. If you want to upgrade this subscription after it expires, note that you can keep all of your services up and running.

After the 30 days pass, it does not mean you can no longer use the same subscription. Actually, you can use it for 12 months from the first day you signed up, but only for the services, at the following URL: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/.

But the other paid services will be decommissioned after the first 30-days or the consumption of 200 USD credits.

• MSDN subscriptions: If you have an MSDN subscription, you will get a specific amount of Azure credits per month, depending on the subscription type. Note that you can add a credit card to avoid stopping your Azure services if you exceeded the credits you have. The following are the different types of MSDN subscriptions and how much credits per month they have to offer:
  • Visual Studio Professional (standard subscription and annual cloud subscription): $50
  • Visual Studio Test Professional: $50
  • MSDN Platforms: $100
  • Visual Studio Enterprise (standard subscription and annual cloud subscription): $150
  • Visual Studio Enterprise (MPN): $150
  • Visual Studio Enterprise (BizSpark): $150
• Enterprise agreements: This type of subscription is meant for enterprises, where you can pay an amount of money upfront for using Azure services throughout the year. This type of subscription gives you great discounts. So, it will be the best solution if you are going to use what you have signed up for, as it will save you a lot of money.
• Pay as you go: It's quite clear that with this type of subscription, you are only paying for what you are using via your credit card. You are not committed to using it for a specific period, as you can start it whenever you want and stop it whenever you want.