The rise of cloud computing provides businesses the ability to quickly provision computing resources without the costly and laborious task of building data centers, and without the costs of running servers with unutilized capacity due to variable workloads.

Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, launched in February 2010. In addition to traditional cloud offerings such as virtual machines, object storage, and content delivery networks, Azure offers services that leverage proprietary Microsoft technologies.

For example, Remote Desktop allows for the deployment of Windows programs using a virtual machine, with clients on Windows, Mac OS, Android, or iOS using the program through a remote desktop connection. Azure also offers cloud-hosted versions of common enterprise Microsoft solutions, such as Entra ID and SQL Server.

This introduction to Microsoft’s cloud platform will be updated periodically to keep IT leaders in the loop on new Azure services and ways in which they can be leveraged.

SEE: Managing the multicloud

Executive summary

• What is Microsoft Azure? Microsoft Azure is a collection of various cloud computing services, including remotely hosted and managed versions of proprietary Microsoft technologies, and open technologies, such as various Linux distributions deployable inside a virtual machine.
• Why does Microsoft Azure matter? Azure lacks upfront costs or an appreciable time delay in resource provisioning–capacity is available on demand. With a usage-based billing formula, Azure is a compelling option for enterprises transitioning from on-premise Windows servers to the cloud.
• Who does Microsoft Azure affect? Azure can be utilized at any scale, from a garage startup to a Fortune 500 company. Because of the ease of transition, organizations with an existing Windows Server deployment may find Azure to be best suited to their needs.
• When was Microsoft Azure released? Azure reached general availability in February 2010, with additional services and regional data centers being added continually since launch.
• How do I get Microsoft Azure? New users receive a $200 service credit good for 30 days when signing up for Microsoft Azure; the credit can be applied toward any Microsoft-provided service. Additional discounts and credits are available for startups, nonprofits, and universities.

SEE: Putting Azure to work: Tips for IT pros (TechRepublic Premium)

Image: Microsoft

What is Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft Azure is a platform of interoperable cloud computing services, including open-source, standards-based technologies and proprietary solutions from Microsoft and other companies. Instead of building an on-premise server installation, or leasing physical servers from traditional data centers, Azure’s billing structure is based on resource consumption, not reserved capacity. Pricing varies between different types of services, storage types, and the physical location from which your Azure instances are hosted.

SEE: Microsoft Azure … in less than two minutes

Key Microsoft Azure Services

In addition to storage, Azure virtual machines, content delivery networks, and Windows-related features, Azure also offers a variety of other services.

• Azure Kubernetes Services allows business enterprises to create and manage Kubernetes clusters, including creating, scaling, and upgrading, freeing up developers to focus on their application.
• Azure Web3 Services allows businesses to build, govern, and expand blockchain networks at scale. The Preview feature simplifies the formation, management, and governance of consortium blockchain networks so you can focus on business logic and app development.
• Azure Digital Twins is a service, currently in preview, that provides the tools necessary to model the relationships between people, places, and devices using virtual representation of a physical environment, known as the spatial intelligence graph.
• Azure IoT Central offers various options for connecting and monitoring devices, as well as providing telemetry and analytics services.
• HDInsight is a customized Hadoop deployment.
• Azure Redis Cache is a managed version of the popular open-source Redis data structure server; Azure Cosmos DB is a hosted NoSQL database for specific use cases; and Azure Search is an OData-based managed search service.
• Azure Media Services offers cloud-based video playing, indexing, transcoding, and content protection services.
• Azure Arc allows organizations to extend Azure infrastructure across multiple environments, as well as in hybrid or on-premise formats.
• Azure Stack Hub is a completely on-premise way to run Azure services and applications in an on-premise data center to ensure sensitive data and bandwidth-intense applications continue to work well and securely.
• Azure Orbital, a ground-station-as-a-service product that allows organizations with satellites and spacecraft to communicate with, and process data from, those crafts without having to own a satellite ground station.
• Azure AI Services allow you to create AI apps with pre-built and customizable APIs and models. These include Azure OpenAI for use of the GPT model series, AI Speech for transcribing, and AI Vision for analyzing content in images and videos.

Microsoft, in coordination with hardware vendors such as Lenovo, Dell EMC, HP Enterprise, Cisco, and Huawei, offers the Azure Stack appliance for use in hybrid cloud deployments. The Azure Stack certified hardware allows organizations to run Azure applications from the public Azure cloud while leveraging data hosted on-premise, as well as running the same services from the public Azure cloud on the Azure Stack platform.

SEE: 5G: What it means for IoT

Common Azure Commands

Command Line Interface

Azure’s command line interface lets users perform tasks across different platforms by typing commands. Here are some examples of some common Azure commands:

• Login: Log into Azure.
  az login
• Create a Resource Group: Set up a new group to organize Azure resources.
  az group create name MyResourceGroup --location eastus
• Create a Storage Account: Set up a storage account for data storage.
  az storage account create --name mystorageaccount --resource-group MyResourceGroup --location eastus --sku Standard_LRS
• Start a Virtual Machine: Start a specified VM.
  az vm start --name MyVM --resource-group MyResourceGroup
• Upload a Blob: Upload a file to Azure Blob Storage.
  az storage blob upload --container-name mycontainer --file /path/to/file --name myfile --account-name mystorageaccount
• Create Kubernetes Cluster: Set up a basic Kubernetes cluster.
  az aks create --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyAKSCluster --node-count 1 --generate-ssh-keys
• Get Activity Logs: Retrieve logs of activities within a resource group.
  az monitor activity-log list --resource-group MyResourceGroup

PowerShell

PowerShell is a command-line shell with unique syntax that is primarily used for scripting and automation. Here are the CLI command examples translated for PowerShell:

• Login: Log into Azure.
  Connect-AzAccount
• Create a Resource Group: Set up a new group to organize Azure resources.
  New-AzResourceGroup --Name “MyResourceGroup” --Location “EastUS”
• Create a Storage Account: Set up a storage account for data storage.
  New-AzStorageAccount --ResourceGroupName “MyResourceGroup” --Location “EastUS” --SkuName “Standard_LRS”
• Start a Virtual Machine: Start a specified VM.
  StartAzVM --ResourceGroupName “MyResourceGroup” --Name “MyVM”
• Upload a Blob: Upload a file to Azure Blob Storage.
  Set-AzStorageBlobContent → Container “mycontainer” --File “C:/path/to/file” --Blob “myfile” --Context $storageContext
• Create Kubernetes Cluster: Set up a basic Kubernetes cluster.
  New-AzAksCluster --ResourceGroupName “MyResourceGroup” --Name “MyAKSCluster” --NodeCount 1
• Get Activity Logs: Retrieve logs of activities within a resource group.
  Get-AzActivityLog --ResourceGroupName “MyResourceGroup”

Pricing

Azure offers a broad range of services, each with its own pricing structure based on usage volume and configurations. You can find specific pricing information on individual product pages, or use Microsoft’s pricing calculator to estimate hourly or monthly costs. You can also set spending limits and employ cost management tools to prevent overspending.

Why does Microsoft Azure matter?

Azure, like other cloud service providers, offers the ability to instantly provision computing resources on demand. Compared to the onerous task of planning and building an on-site data center, along with the requisite hardware upgrades, maintenance costs, server cooling requirements, electricity costs, and use of floor space — particularly for offices with associated real estate costs — the savings can add up very quickly.

The benefits of Azure extend beyond cost control, however. The task of administering certain technologies, such as Windows Server, Active Directory, and SharePoint can be greatly eased with the combination of Azure and Office 365. This frees up IT staff to work on new projects, rather than spending time on general system upkeep.

Who does Microsoft Azure affect?

Organizations with an existing deployment of Microsoft technologies, particularly Windows Server and Active Directory, will find Azure to be a compelling upgrade. As Windows Server 2008 has reached the end of mainstream support, planning for a migration to cloud-hosted Azure services may be preferable to investments in new server hardware and Windows Server licenses.

As with any cloud service, the cost benefit is more real for cash-strapped startup organizations that lack the capital for provisioning hardware and associated costs of a traditional on-premise deployment or leasing dedicated servers in a traditional data center. Because the billing structure of Azure is based on resources used, turning to the cloud allows a company’s IT backbone to scale with corporate growth.

SEE: Job description: Cloud Engineer (TechRepublic Premium)

Presently, over 60 regions are available for use in Azure. Compared to AWS and Google Cloud Services, Azure has a wider reach in developing markets, with more regions across Asia Pacific, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.

These regions allow Azure services to operate close to customers. Microsoft’s use of geo-redundant storage and independent availability zones also reduces the risk of downtime and data loss. The regions are grouped into larger geographies to comply with various legal and regulatory data residency requirements.

The model also helps support high-demand applications such as AI by allowing the distribution of compute resources as close as possible to where the data is generated and processed. Businesses may want to choose where their workloads and data are located to reduce latency, minimize costs, or ensure they meet specific compliance standards.

Additional resources:

• Azure Maps Creator: Turn your building’s floor plans into a smart canvas (TechRepublic)
• Microsoft Azure Stack HCI: How to make the hybrid cloud part of your network (TechRepublic)
• Learn Microsoft Azure Online for $32 (TechRepublic)

When was Microsoft Azure released?

The Azure platform was announced in October 2008, and reached general commercial availability in February 2010. Originally called Windows Azure, it was renamed to Microsoft Azure in July 2014. Additional service regions have been added continuously since the service was announced.

Azure Stack, the turnkey hybrid cloud solution offered by Microsoft and a number of hardware vendors, was first announced in May 2015. With the first technical preview in January 2016, organizations could use their own hardware as part of an Azure Stack deployment. This plan was subsequently walked back, with Microsoft requiring users to buy a prequalified Azure Stack system, under the belief that such offerings would perform better. Participating hardware vendors have continuously released new prequalified systems for use with Azure Stack.

SEE: Cloud computing: More must-read coverage (TechRepublic on Flipboard)

Under Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Azure has expanded to include support for a variety of Linux distributions available in virtual machines on the Azure platform. Presently, CentOS, Clear Linux, CoreOS, Debian, Oracle Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise, openSUSE, and Ubuntu are supported in the Azure platform, as well as FreeBSD. Additionally, Azure supports Docker images.

Microsoft and SAP have collaborated to make SAP’s business software and services run on Azure. At the Sapphire Now conference in 2018, Microsoft announced general availability of SAP HANA, noting that Azure offers “26 distinct SAP HANA offerings from 192 GB to 24 TB.” In 2019, this was extended further, adding Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and global strategic service partners (GSSPs) for cloud-based delivery of S/4HANA.

In June 2020, Microsoft and analytics firm SAS announced a partnership that moved the entire company to Azure services. In addition, SAS services will now be available through the Azure Marketplace as well.

At Microsoft Ignite in September 2020, Microsoft addressed stability criticisms by expanding its Azure Availability Zones program to two other areas: Canada Central and Australia East, bringing the number of availability zones to 14.

Also at Ignite, Microsoft revealed three new edge computing devices for Azure Stack Edge: Azure Stack Edge Pro with GPU (an 11U rack-mountable device), Azure Stack Edge Pro R (a ruggedized version of the Stack Edge Pro), and Azure Stack Edge Mini R, a battery-operated, portable Azure Edge server that can fit in a backpack.

In 2021, Microsoft launched Azure Purview; a unified data governance service that lets businesses securely catalog their data across multiple sources. The Azure OpenAI service was also launched that year, allowing developers to access powerful AI models like GPT-3 and Codex.

To further support AI and machine learning workloads, Azure introduced the NDm A100 v4 VM series in 2022, which featured NVIDIA A100 GPUs for high-performance computing. Microsoft also continues to build new data centers worldwide, including in developing markets, to expand its reach.

What services compete with Microsoft Azure?

One of the core strengths of Microsoft Azure is the ease of transition for organizations looking to migrate from other Microsoft products, such as SharePoint, or integrate tightly with an existing Windows deployment. For those organizations, Azure is likely the best option for a seamless transition to the cloud. Additionally, Microsoft heavily touts compliance certifications for government users, noting that Azure was the first public cloud platform with a FedRAMP P-ATO. It also has data centers in more global regions than any other cloud provider.

SEE: Top cloud providers in 2020: AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, hybrid, SaaS players (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

In terms of scale, Google, Amazon, and IBM are certainly capable of handling any amount of data or compute tasks you can generate. Amazon Web Services, much like Amazon itself, aims to be everything to everyone; as such, AWS has the most extensive portfolio of cloud services of any public cloud provider and the largest market share. Google Cloud Platform‘s core strengths are in machine learning, big data tools, and extensive container support. For IoT, the cloud provider market is still wide open, with tailored solutions available from GE Predix, Samsung’s ARTIK Cloud, and ThingWorx.

Additional resources:

• Multicloud: A cheat sheet (TechRepublic)
• Cloud data warehouse guide and checklist (TechRepublic Premium)

How do I get Microsoft Azure?

The Microsoft for Startups program offers up to $150,000 worth of free Azure credits, along with access to Microsoft tools, technical support, and go-to-market resources. It aims to accelerate startup growth by providing cloud resources and guidance.

Microsoft’s Azure for Students program grants a credit of $100 to be used within 12 months, as well as access to a number of free products, including Virtual Machines, Blob Storage, and SQL Databases for the first 12 months, while other products are always free. This offer is available to students and faculty 18 or older at a STEM-related field in a four-year educational institution.

For individual developers, new registrants to Azure’s free tier receive a $200 platform credit applicable toward any Azure service (excluding third-party offerings in the Azure Marketplace), 12 months free use of over 20 of Azure’s services including AI Custom Vision and AI Document Intelligence, and permanent free use of more than 65 other services.

SEE: All of TechRepublic’s cheat sheets and smart person’s guides

Editor’s note: This article was written by James Sanders. It has been updated by Mark Kaelin, Brandon Vigliarolo, and Fiona Jackson.