What is Azure: Know All About One of the Best Cloud Computing Platform!

Introduction

Exploring cloud world and wondering-

What is Azure? What does Azure actually do and how does it work? What are their components and how to define Azure?

And many more relevant questions striking again and again… don’t worry!!

In this comprehensive guide on “what is Azure ”, we are going to empower your knowledge with what all you need to know about Microsoft Azure.

Well, nothing to wonder about, the way cloud technology has brought evolution to almost every industry and special IT is just remarkable and it's not only you, even everybody in this tech-savvy world willing to explore what is cloud services? What is Azure? MS Azure Wikipedia is on a great rise day-by-day. And why shouldn't?

Cloud computing has not only lowered the IT costs for many organizations but also made it easier to use enterprise applications in minutes. With the cloud you don’t have to wait for weeks or months for IT to respond to a request, purchase and configure supporting hardware, and install software, you can just access it via the internet. There are many Cloud platforms such as AWS, Microsoft, Google, IBM, Oracle, Salesforce.com, among others. But there is one cloud platform that has been ruling the cloud market and that is Microsoft Azure.

Launched in 2010, Microsoft Azure with a 19% market share has been one of the popular and emerging cloud infrastructures market players in the cloud platform market. Companies in a variety of different industries, from BMW to Coca-Cola, have migrated to the cloud using Microsoft's Azure service.

So, if you have got your interest in Azure and you want to know what is Azure, including how it works and what its benefits are, then you’re in the right place. In this blog, we will cover everything about Azure from “What is Azure?” to a complete Microsoft Azure tutorial on how to use it, some quick Azure trivia, and —and much more.

What is Azure?

Microsoft or Microsoft Azure platform is used to build and host Web applications. These applications can be managed through Microsoft data centers and are scalable. Initially, it was called Windows Cloud and codenamed “Red Dog”. A number of frameworks, programming languages, devices, databases, and operating systems are supported by Azure.

What Is Microsoft Azure: It’s Trivia Time!

• Azure was announced in October 2008 and released on 1 February 2010 as Windows Azure, before being renamed to Microsoft Azure on 25 March 2014
• It’s free to start and follows a pay-per-use model, which means you pay only for the services you opt for
• Azure currently is in 54 regions worldwide with 140 data centers in 140 countries (and counting)
• Azure is used by 85% of Fortune 500 companies
• 40% of Azure revenue comes from start-ups and ISVs
• Azure supports multiple programming languages, including Java, Node Js, and C#

 

What Is Microsoft Azure: Microsoft Azure Has Following Qualities:

• It can deliver and innovate high-quality apps.
• It can support all major mobile platforms and can provide a cross-device experience as well.
• The user can use and run any stack on either Windows or Linux based and can even use advanced capabilities such as Azure Container Service or Kubernetes cluster.

Microsoft Azure	IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS
Flexible	Move to compute resources up and down as needed
Open	Supports almost any OS, language, tool, or framework
Reliable	99.95% availability SLA and 24×7 tech support
Global	Data housed in geosynchronous data centers
Economical	Only pay for what you use

What Is Microsoft Azure: Define Azure Capabilities

Microsoft Azure can provide a number of services for web and mobile apps like file storing, virtual machines, backups, and databases. Initially, it was launched with the name Microsoft Azure but today it can handle many services so it is known as Microsoft Azure. It can host Linux or Windows machines which may again host much software.

The user can host Linux or Windows-based desktop remotely on a virtual machine and connect to it as well. Google and Amazon are also competing for Azure-like services. Among all of these providers of cloud services, Azure is ahead of all. Azure Active Directory or AD is also being used by the organizations through which they can manage their central directories.

What Is Microsoft Azure: How to Use Azure?

• Anyone Who Will Sign Up Can Use Microsoft Azure

Each new registration or account comes with a credit of $200, which can be used for 30 days. Through this account, you can learn Azure and see its capabilities or services.

• For The First Year, Certain Services Are Offered At No Costs By Microsoft

They may include free access to Windows virtual machines, free access to Linux Virtual Machines and free databases, file storage, and bandwidth. These free services of Microsoft Azure are useful for organizations and people especially those who want to develop applications or want to host services. 

• Prerequisites to Use Azure

To learn Microsoft Azure and eventually to use it, you need to be familiar with the Windows environment and have a basic knowledge of cloud computing. Another route is to obtain Azure certifications.

What Is Microsoft Azure Used For: Define Azure’s Purpose

• Microsoft Azure was designed and developed to make IT management easier and the main purpose is to minimize overhead and personnel expenses done in creation, distribution, and updating web applications. It is basically a PaaS (Platform as a Service) framework and an imperative component of the cloud computing platform.
• The applications and services which are developed through the Azure platform can run on the Windows operating system, where they can get the runtime environment and extensive set of services to build, host, and manage the applications which require maintenance for onsite resources.
• Microsoft Azure can support both Microsoft and non-Microsoft-based applications. It has basically three layers or components for this: Storage Layer, Compute Layer, and the Fabric Layer.

Through service management features, Azure can automate application updates. A number of features and languages like Ruby, Python, SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), REST and PHP.

What Is Microsoft Azure: How Does Microsoft Azure work?

The operating system which is behind this technology is called Microsoft Azure, which helps in running its fabric layer (a cluster hosted in Microsoft data centers and it is responsible to manage storage and computing processes of various applications). Here, the Microsoft Fabric controller controls the scalability and reliability features and helps in avoiding service crashes and managing web apps.

We know Azure has charmed you by now and you are wondering can I start a career with Azure? Well, of course, you can! Head on to this insightful Azure Career Path blog and get answers to your every doubt about Azure job outlook, salary, and career growth opportunity!

What Is Microsoft Azure: Define Azure’s Components

Microsoft Azure has the following three main components: Microsoft Azure, SQL Database, and the Microsoft Azure AppFabric.

These components of Azure are present at the data center of Microsoft, situated in Europe, Asia, and the USA. Technically, the Microsoft Azure platform and Microsoft Azure are different. Microsoft Azure basically offers a number of services like SQL Azure, Microsoft Azure, and AppFabric while Microsoft Azure is the cloud OS of Microsoft and is a part of the Azure platform.

The Microsoft Azure Component is Responsible for Running Applications and Storing Data. It Contains the Following Listed five Services:

1. Processor Compute
2. Storage
3. Virtual Network
4. CDN
5. Fabric Controller

SQL database is the relational storage service that is offered to store data in the cloud. SQL database is available as a service, it contains all SQL features like tables, stored procedures, primary keys, and functions and can manage transactions and concurrency control like issues. Various data access technologies like ADO.NET, EF, and WCF Data Services are also available in the SQL database. Microsoft Azure AppFabric also has two services and it resides on top of the OS. The services offered by AppFabric are Service Bus and Access Control.

What Is Microsoft Azure: Define Azure Services?

However, Microsoft Azure offers more than 600 services but a few of the commonly used and major services are listed below:

1. Computational Services
2. Storage Services
3. Mobile Services
4. Data Management
5. Media Services
6. Management Service
7. Developer Services

Apart from the above services, there are many other beneficial services offered by Azure. Azure service also provides reliability, security, and performance optimization facility to the applications hosted on the Azure platform.

What Is Microsoft Azure: Benefits of Azure

Microsoft Azure has provided a platform to the developers through which they can create and deploy an application compatible with many platforms. It lets the organizations perform large-scale computing and perform predictive analysis.

Users can Also Leverage IoT Services Through the Azure Platform. Azure Applications can be Operated in the Global Network. It provides the following Benefits:

• Free start and scale as per your need
• Infrastructure as per need
• Cloud platform of enterprise-level
• Valuable data insights
• Encode, Protect, Stream, and Ingesting facility for applications

Above listed benefits are not limited even though there are many organizational benefits offered by Azure. Organizations can leverage the benefits and optimize their performance.

What Is Microsoft Azure: Technical Details of Azure Platform

Technically, any User of Azure can Leverage the following Technical Abilities of this Platform: Supported Operating System

• Windows
• Linux

Supported Languages

• English
• India
• Japan
• China
• Germany

Pricing Model

• Free
• Quote Based

Organization Sizes

• Small Organizations
• Medium Organizations
• Large Organizations

Technically Azure can support almost every platform and can provide technical support to all applications which are meant for various platforms. Including Linux and Microsoft Azure-based applications can support these operating systems and can enhance their capabilities. The applications can be easily accessed from any location on any platform and the user can leverage it.

Short on time but intrigued to know what is Azure and how it works? We have prepared a short Azure tutorial video for you! Binge On!

What is Azure: FAQs

Q1. Can I Get  Azure Services For Free?

Ans:-Yes, you can get Azure services for free but for a 30 tail period only. For that, create an Azure free account, where you will get access to free Azure products and services, plus a ₹14,409.052 credit to experience Azure cloud services.

Q2.How is Microsoft Azure Better Than Other Cloud Service Providers?

Ans:-Azure is the only consistent hybrid cloud Services that delivers unparalleled developer productivity with multilayered security, including the largest compliance coverage of any cloud provider. Moreover, you will have to pay less for Azure services as AWS is five times more expensive than Azure services for Windows Server as well as SQL Server.

Q3.What Is Azure Suitable Industry?

Ans:-Microsoft Azure provides solutions for almost all industries. It successfully addresses industry-specific business challenges today and gets prepared for meeting future business needs with amazing cloud products and services.

Q4. What Is Windows Azure?

Ans:-Microsoft Azure, formerly known as Windows Azure, is Microsoft's public cloud computing platform for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications. It provides a range of more than 200 cloud products and services designed to help you with complete organizational solutions. 

Final Words on What is Azure?

Microsoft Azure can increase the productivity and efficiency of the applications and IT professionals or developers. Due to a massive set of features and functionalities. Azure has made the Microsoft platform easier to build or manage enterprise, web, mobile, and IoT apps without putting any extra effort. The most important features of Azure are its compatibility with Windows and Linux. 

In this MS Azure tutorial, we shed light on Azure, its benefits, and its purpose and also shared some insights on how to use Azure and how it works. So, to conclude our blog on what is Azure, we can say that Microsoft Azure is an ideal app that is standardized for all platforms. There are many benefits of this platform and the user can easily develop the Azure applications and access them from anywhere due to cloud presence… So go ahead, try this amazing cloud platform and see the magic yourself!

Hope we helped you in understanding What is Azure, is it? Please let us know in the comments below!

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