What is Microsoft Azure And How Does it Work

Created by Microsoft, Azure is a public cloud computing and online platform that provides a large array of services to its users, including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and managed database service capabilities. As a Microsoft Azure cloud user – individual and businesses alike – you can access and manage cloud services and resources provided by Microsoft. From analytics to data storage, the services and resources provided by Azure have helped many businesses scale and develop new applications. 

With over 80% of Fortune 500 companies using Microsoft Azure solutions to fulfill their cloud computing needs, it is not a secret that Microsoft Azure cloud has been successfully helping businesses manage challenges and reach their organizational goals. Since Azure is compatible with many open source technologies, users have the upper hand in integrating their preferred tools and technologies into the Azure framework. 

What are the various types of Azure services that a Microsoft Azure cloud service provider offers

A typical Microsoft Azure cloud service provider can provide up to 200 services divided into 18 distinct categories. Depending on your business, you can use Microsoft Azure’ solution for networking, computing, storage, mobile, integration, management tools, security, databases, etc., these services. Microsoft Azure’s solution is prevalent in all sectors, whether the software development industry, retail, healthcare, construction, or real estate. 

Suppose you are willing to leverage the ever-expanding network of data centers and bring new solutions to life to help better your business operations. In that case, you can hire a Microsoft Azure cloud service provider to migrate all your business data into Microsoft Azure’s storage. 

Why use Microsoft Azure solution for your business

Even though it was launched only 11 years ago, in 2010, Microsoft Azure cloud has instantly become a hit among businesses of all sizes. Companies have started realizing that the on-premise data center cannot provide the security and flexibility they would like. With the launch of Azure’ and its Microsoft Azure storage solutions, they have started shifting their business operations to increasingly available and affordable cloud solutions. 

Many Microsoft Azure cloud service providers also advise that the businesses use their Microsoft Azure storage to store data and as the primary data backup and disaster recovery platform. Here are a few reasons why so many businesses migrated their services and operations to the Microsoft Azure cloud: 

1. Flexibility: In the Microsoft Azure’s cloud platform, you scale your data storage capabilities as per your requirement. Unlike on-premise data storage facilities, the Microsoft Azure solution does not require new hardware and OS purchasing, provisioning, or deployment. The cloud system can scale the system to find you resources whenever you need them, making it a favorite solution for organizations of any size. Adding and scaling infrastructure with Microsoft Azure storage is faster and easier. 
2. Cost: The cost of integrating Microsoft Azure storage into your business operations is much cheaper than using a traditional storage system. Since cloud computing system does not require physical infrastructure devices like routers, load balancers, etc., it cuts down thousands of dollars from your business operation budget. In cloud computing, you only need to pay for the resources that you use, and there is no monthly fee payment structure. 
3. Disaster recovery: When you migrate your business operations to cloud computing services, your Microsoft Azure cloud service provider will tell you how, even when your system’s hardware fails, you lose data from the hardware, everything you have stored in Microsoft Azure storage remains safe and intact. With Azure, there are unlimited disaster recovery plans that you can implement to guarantee continuous service delivery, no matter the condition of your computer system. 

How Does Microsoft Azure Work

Just like any other cloud service, Microsoft Azure’s primary functions rely on virtualization technology. Virtualization makes it easier to create an abstraction layer between your computer’s hardware and its operating system. Once a business subscribes to the Azure services, they get access to all the services and resources provided by Microsoft Azure cloud. Microsoft Azure’s can run multiple virtual machines simultaneously while optimizing the capacity of the hardware of your computer. Here are some of the features of how Microsoft Azure’s works: 

1. Compute: The compute services of Azure allow the subscribers to create Virtual Machines, containers, and batch jobs, as well as manage and deploy them. Compute services also lets you build scalable applications within the Cloud, and once it is deployed, Azure takes care of the health monitoring, load balancing, etc.
2. Mobile: The products within Azure cloud help developers create mobile applications and provides a multitude of support and services like notification services, back-end tasks, tools to build APIs, etc.
3. Websites: Microsft Azure supports popular applications like WordPress, Drupal, and popular software platforms such as Php, Java, .Net, etc., and manages cloud-related websites. Azure allows migration of existing websites into the Azure cloud platform or creating new websites from scratch. 
4. Cloud Services: Cloud Services help businesses store their data on the Azure Cloud or build an application on the Cloud that is available to use by many people. Storing valuable data in the Azure Cloud allows you to go on about your business without the fear of losing it, even if there is a system breakdown on your end. 
5. File Sharing and Networking: When you share your files on the Azure Cloud, other people can access them, collaborate with you on them, and when it is required, testing, debugging, developing can be done from any corner of the world, without having to physically present in one place. 

The architecture of the Microsoft Azure cloud service hardware is fascinating too. The data center hardware is a collection of servers arranged in racks to run virtualized instances for the customers. The fabric controller, which runs the cloud management software, is a part of these servers. The fabric controller is responsible for allocating and monitoring the server’s health and ‘healing’ it when it fails. Every instance fabric controller is connected to another set of servers, managing the software responsible for the front end. 

It is needless to say that Microsoft Azure is probably one of the fastest-growing Cloud computing services current scenarios because of the time-efficient and cost-efficient services it provides. Similar to other cloud computing systems, you only need to pay for the resources you use, and cloud service is highly scalable with Azure. 

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