Introduction to Microsoft Azure | A Cloud

Computing Service
Last Updated : 22 Apr, 2025

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Designed by Microsoft in 2010, Microsoft Azure is one of the widely used

cloud computing platforms. Azure provides a wide variety of services such
as cloud storage, compute services, network services, cognitive services,
databases, analytics, and IoT. It makes building, deploying, and managing
applications very easy. All the Microsoft Azure fundamentals are also
described for a better understanding of the readers.
What is Azure?
Azure is Microsoft's cloud platform, just like Google has its Google
Cloud and Amazon has its Amazon Web Services, or AWS. Generally, it is
a platform through which we can use Microsoft's resources. For example,
to set up a huge server, we will require a huge investment, effort,
physical space, and so on. In such situations, Microsoft Azure comes to
our rescue. It will provide us with virtual machines, fast processing of
data, analytical and monitoring tools, and so on, to make our work
simpler. The pricing of Azure is also simpler and more cost-effective.
Popularly termed as "Pay As You Go", which means how much you use,
pay only for that.
How does Microsoft Azure Work?
It is a private and public cloud platform that helps developers and IT
professionals build, deploy, and manage applications. It uses the
technology known as virtualization. Virtualization separates the tight
coupling between the hardware and the operating system using an
abstraction layer called a hypervisor. Hypervisor emulates all the
functions of a computer in a virtual machine; it can run multiple virtual
machines at the same time, and each virtual machine can run any
operating system, such as Windows or Linux.
Azure takes this virtualization technique and repeats it on a massive scale
in the data center owned by Microsoft. Each data center has many racks
filled with servers and each server includes a hypervisor to run multiple
virtual machines. The network switch provides connectivity to all those
servers.
Microsoft Azure Architecture
Microsoft Azure, a well-known cloud computing platform, provides users
with the tools to design, deploy and manage numerous applications and
services. Various products include machine learning, mobile application
development, and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, making it venerable
for almost all application or service types. The Azure platform can work
from PCs, laptops, smartphones, and tablets, and supports many
programming languages, including HTML5, JavaScript, PHP, Python, and
C#.
Along with application hosting, Microsoft Azure is also a safe place to
store information where users can store files online and access them from
anywhere. Commonly used to host applications including email and social
media, it can store any kind of data from documents to images to videos.
Microsoft also operates many physical data centers globally. IT
infrastructure, such as server racks and network connectivity, is
necessary for enterprises and organizations to run their IT requirements.
The key technique in this infrastructure is virtualization, which reduces
excess physical hardware by dynamically scaling resources required,
depending on the demand. This is key to cloud computing because it
allows the software to run on any server within a data center.
Azure's foundation is envisioned by SDN principles. Due to the demand
from the users, Microsoft has been continually enhancing Azure's network
by installing several new servers, hardware virtualization technologies,
and new applications. Continuous evolvement of such services calls for a
constant enhancement in the already deployed network hardware and
software, thereby affecting the configuration and performance of the
overall system. This implies that the management of such complex
network topology is increasingly important for effectual scaling and
resource management.
After establishing the emphasis on technology and architecture, the
application’s technical design is a natural progression. Each application is
self-standing, but the following resources can help in the process of
construction:
 Reference Architectures: All reference architectures are designed
for growth and changes which every vendor must have these days. You
can easily find one reference architecture that accommodates the
number of people in your team and the requirements that your project
entails. One if the remarkable goads of these architectures is that they
enable the user to start building from where they are comfortable,
given the type of client they are dealing with. Each reference
architecture also includes implementation details that are necessary
for leveraging the architecture. Recommended architectures undergo
the sponsorship from the vendors in order to actualize their usage.
 Design Principles: It is important to appreciate the principles of
design that are inherent in the various perspectives. For example, in
the context of the high level design processes, there are principles to
policy development that may be valuable, such as, constraints based
 design principles. In contrast, alignment-based design principles may
be appropriate in low-level design processes. These principles should
always be used as a source of information in the course of carrying out
the design phase of the system.
 Design Patterns: Cloud design patterns represent solutions that
cloud providers use to enhance the reliability and scalability of their
services. These patterns consist of best practices, guidelines, and rules
that encapsulate effective strategies for cloud system design. By
leveraging these patterns, you can create a more robust and efficient
cloud architecture.

What Are the 3 Service Categories Provided by

Microsoft Azure?
Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform that offers the following
three categories of services:
 Infrastructure as a service ( IaaS )
 Platform as a service (PaaS)
 Software as a service (SaaS)
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
Virtual machines, storage, and networking will come under the category
of infrastructure as a service but the users have to do manually the build
and deploy of the applications. Azure will support a wide range of
operating systems because of its Hyper-hypervisor.
To know more about IaaS you can refer to this link What is IaaS?
Platform as a service (PaaS)
Azure app service, Azure functions, and logic apps are some services that
are offered by Azure under the platform as a service. This service will
provide autoscaling and load balancing and also there will be a pre-
configured environment for the application.
To know more about PaaS you can refer to this link What is PaaS?
Software as a service (SaaS)
Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Azure Active Directory are some of the
services provided by Microsoft Azure under Software as a Service
(SaaS) the complete application will be managed by the Microsoft azure
including deploying, scaling and load balancing.
What is Microsoft Azure Used For?
Following are the some the use cases that Microsoft Azure Used.
 Deployment Of applications: You can develop and deploy the
application in the azure cloud by using the service called Azure App
Service and Azure Functions after deploying the applications end users
can access it.
 Identity and Access Management: The application and data which
is deployed and stored in the Microsoft Azure can be secured with the
help of Identity and Access Management. It's commonly used for single
sign-on, multi-factor authentication, and identity governance.
 Data Storage and Databases: You can store the data in Microsoft
azure in service like blob storage for unstructured data, table storage
for NoSQL data, file storage, and Azure SQL Database for relational
databases. The service can be scaled depending on the amount of data
we are getting.
 DevOps and Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment
(CI/CD): Azure DevOps will provide some tools like including version
control, build automation, release management, and application
monitoring.
What are the various Azure Services and How
does Azure Work?
Following are some of the services Microsoft Azure offers:
 Compute: Includes Virtual Machines, Virtual Machine Scale Sets,
Functions for serverless computing, Batch for containerized batch
workloads, Service Fabric for microservices and container
orchestration, and Cloud Services for building cloud-based apps and
APIs.
 Networking: With Azure, you can use a variety of networking tools,
like the Virtual Network, which can connect to on-premise data centers;
Load Balancer; Application Gateway; VPN Gateway; Azure DNS for
domain hosting, Content Delivery Network, Traffic Manager,
ExpressRoute dedicated private network fiber connections; and
Network Watcher monitoring and diagnostics
 Storage: Includes Blob, Queue, File, and Disk Storage, as well as a
Data Lake Store, Backup, and Site Recovery, among others.
 Web + Mobile: Creating Web + Mobile applications is very easy as it
includes several services for building and deploying applications.
 Containers: Azure has a property that includes Container Service,
which supports Kubernetes, DC/OS or Docker Swarm, and Container
Registry, as well as tools for microservices.
 Databases: Azure also included several SQL-based databases and
related tools.
 Data + Analytics: Azure has some big data tools like HDInsight
for Hadoop Spark, R Server, HBase, and Storm clusters
 AI + Cognitive Services: With Azure developing applications with
artificial intelligence capabilities, like the Computer Vision API, Face
API, Bing Web Search, Video Indexer, and Language Understanding
Intelligent.
 Internet of Things: Includes IoT Hub and IoT Edge services that can
be combined with a variety of machine learning, analytics, and
communications services.
 Security + Identity: Includes Security Center, Azure Active
Directory, Key Vault, and Multi-Factor Authentication Services.
 Developer Tools: Includes cloud development services like Visual
Studio Team Services, Azure DevTest Labs, HockeyApp mobile app
deployment and monitoring, Xamarin cross-platform mobile
development, and more.
Azure for Disaster Recovery and Backup
A full range of disaster recovery (DR) and backup services are available
from Microsoft Azure to help shield your vital data and apps from
interruptions. With the help of these services, you may quickly restore
your data and applications in the event of a disaster by replicating them
to a secondary cloud site. Azure backup services also protect your data
from ransomware attacks, unintentional deletion, and corruption.
Key Azure DR and Backup Services
 Azure Site Recovery: Your on-premises virtual machines (VMs) can
be replicated to Azure more easily with the help of this solution. You
may easily failover your virtual machines (VMs) to Azure in the event of
a disaster and keep your business running. Azure VM replication to an
alternative Azure region is also supported by Azure Site Recovery.
 Azure Backup: If you want to protect the data which is present in the
cloud then you need to use the Azure Backup service. It offers a single
area to monitor backup jobs, manage backup policies, and recover
data. Azure pricing and costs.
Azure Competition
Following are the some of the competitors of Microsoft Azure:
 Amazon Web Services (AWS): Market leader offering a wide range
of cloud services with extensive global infrastructure.
 Google Cloud Platform (GCP): It known for its innovative services like
Big Query and TensorFlow, with a strong focus on data analytics and
machine learning.
 IBM Cloud: It offers a comprehensive suite of cloud services,
including AI, blockchain, and IoT solutions, with a focus on enterprise
clients.
 Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI): IT focuses on enterprise-grade
cloud solutions, including databases, applications, and infrastructure
services, leveraging Oracle's expertise in enterprise software.
How Azure can help in Business?
Azure can help our business in the following ways:
 Capital less: We don’t have to worry about the capital as Azure cuts
out the high cost of hardware. You simply pay as you go and enjoy a
 subscription-based model that’s kind to your cash flow. Also, setting up
an Azure account is very easy. You simply register in Azure Portal and
select your required subscription and get going.
 Less Operational Cost: Azure has a low operational cost because it
runs on its servers whose only job is to make the cloud functional and
bug-free, it’s usually a whole lot more reliable than your own, on-
location server.
 Cost Effective: If we set up a server on our own, we need to hire a
tech support team to monitor them and make sure things are working
fine. Also, there might be a situation where the tech support team is
taking too much time to solve the issue incurred in the server. So, in
this regard is way too pocket-friendly.
 Easy Back-Up and Recovery options: Azure keeps backups of all
your valuable data. In disaster situations, you can recover all your data
in a single click without your business getting affected. Cloud-based
backup and recovery solutions save time, avoid large up-front
investments and roll up third-party expertise as part of the deal.
 Easy to implement: It is very easy to implement your business
models in Azure. With a couple of on-click activities, you are good to
go. Even there are several tutorials to make you learn and deploy
faster.
 Better Security: Azure provides more security than local servers. Be
carefree about your critical data and business applications. As it stays
safe in the Azure Cloud. Even, in natural disasters, where the resources
can be harmed, Azure is a rescue. The cloud is always on.
 Work from anywhere: Azure gives you the freedom to work from
anywhere and everywhere. It just requires a network connection and
credentials. And with most serious Azure cloud services offering mobile
apps, you’re not restricted to which device you’ve got to hand.
 Increased collaboration: With Azure, teams can access, edit and
share documents anytime, from anywhere. They can work and achieve
future goals hand in hand. Another advantage of Azure is that it
preserves records of activity and data. Timestamps are one example of
Azure’s record-keeping. Timestamps improve team collaboration by
establishing transparency and increasing accountability.
What is Azure Cloud Shell?
Azure PowerShell is an extension of Windows PowerShell that allows users
to manage Azure’s vast features through the PowerShell interface.
Developers use cmdlets—pre-written scripts—to perform complex tasks
like deploying virtual machines (VMs) or creating cloud services from the
command line. Azure PowerShell (APS) can also automate processes
through scripting. While some users have noted that the interface feels
somewhat incomplete and support could be improved, advocates
highlight the platform’s simplicity in handling typically challenging
operations.
With Azure Cloud Shell, you can:
 Execute commands and scripts on your Azure resources using a unified
command-line interface that offers features like tab completion and
command history.
 Manage your Azure subscription with a comprehensive set of
commands that allow you to create, list, and delete subscriptions, as
well as control user access keys.
 Begin interactive tutorials to learn how to use common features, such
as creating virtual machines or virtual networks.
How to Access Azure Shell?
Azure Cloud Shell provides a convenient way to manage and develop
Azure resources directly from your browser. You can easily access it via
the Azure Web Portal or by navigating to https://shell.azure.com, where
you can choose between Bash and PowerShell environments for your
command-line tasks.
To know about How to access Azure Shell you can refer to this link How to
access Azure Shell?
What is Azure Security?
Azure Security encompasses the various tools and features provided by
Microsoft on its Azure cloud platform to ensure security. According to
Microsoft, these tools include a comprehensive range of physical,
infrastructure, and operational controls designed to protect its cloud
services.
As a public cloud computing platform, Azure supports a diverse array of
programming languages, operating systems, frameworks, and devices.
Users can access Azure’s services and resources from anywhere as long
as they have an internet connection.
What is Azure Security Center?
Azure Security Center is a comprehensive security management platform
provided by Microsoft for Azure users. It offers several key benefits,
including:
 Visibility and Control: It enables users to gain insight and manage
the security of various Azure resources, such as Virtual Machines,
Cloud Services, Azure Virtual Networks, and Blob Storage.
 Protection for Hybrid Workloads: It secures workloads that are
deployed both within Azure and in non-Azure environments, including
on-premises systems.
 Enhanced Security Posture: The Azure Security Center continuously
monitors the cloud environment, helping users understand the security
status of their resources and improve their security posture.
 Threat Detection and Mitigation: With a centralized dashboard, the
Azure Security Center provides alerts and recommendations, assisting
organizations in detecting and preventing cybersecurity threats. This
also aids in regulatory compliance by streamlining security policies
across the platform.
Additionally, Azure Security Center tackles several security challenges:
 Dynamic Workloads: As customers utilize a variety of cloud services
that frequently change, the Azure Security Center simplifies the
implementation of security standards and best practices.
 Evolving Threats: With more organizations shifting to the public
cloud, cyber threats have become increasingly sophisticated. Azure
Security Center helps customers secure their workloads and minimizes
vulnerabilities by promoting adherence to security best practices.
 Lack of Security Expertise: The high volume of security alerts can
overwhelm administrators, especially those with limited experience.
Azure Security Center equips administrators with tools to effectively
respond to and manage these threats.
How Azure Security Works?
According to Azure Security documentation, Microsoft Azure employs a
shared security responsibility model, indicating that security is a
collaborative effort between Azure and its customers. In on-premises
environments, the entire security burden lies with the customer.
However, as customers transition to the cloud, certain security
responsibilities shift to Azure.
Here's how the responsibilities vary across different cloud service models:
 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Azure assumes responsibility for
physical security, including hosts, networks, and data centers.
 Platform as a Service (PaaS): Azure manages physical security and
the operating system, while responsibilities for identity and directory
infrastructure, network controls, and applications are shared with
customers.
 Software as a Service (SaaS): Azure takes on even more
responsibilities, including physical security, operating systems, network
controls, and applications, while still sharing identity and directory
infrastructure with the customer.
In summary, Azure secures the physical infrastructure, but the
distribution of responsibilities varies based on the cloud service model.
Customers retain more responsibilities in IaaS compared to PaaS or SaaS.
Regardless of the environment—on-premises, IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS—
customers are consistently accountable for data governance and rights
management, account and access management, and endpoint protection.
Azure Security Best Practices
The Azure Security documentation serves as a valuable resource for
security recommendations and best practices. Here are some key tips to
help you enhance your security posture:
 Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Use Azure Security
Center’s RBAC to manage permissions effectively. Familiarize yourself
with the five built-in roles (Subscription Owner, Resource Group Owner,
Subscription Contributor, Resource Group Contributor, and Reader) and
two specific security roles (Security Administrator and Security
Reader), each with different levels of access.
 Regularly Monitor the Azure Security Center Dashboard: Keep
an eye on the dashboard for a centralized view of your Azure
resources, which also provides actionable recommendations.
 Establish Security Policies: Implement security policies to prevent
misuse of resources. Azure can automatically generate a security
policy tailored to your subscription.
 Upgrade to Azure Security Center Standard: By upgrading your
subscription, you can access advanced features such as identifying and
resolving security vulnerabilities, leveraging analytics for threat
detection, and enabling quick responses to security incidents.
 Utilize Azure Key Vault: Store your keys securely in Azure Key Vault,
which is specifically designed to manage secrets like passwords and
database credentials.
 Implement a Web Application Firewall: Protect your applications
from common threats and vulnerabilities by installing a web application
firewall.
 Enable Azure Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Use MFA,
particularly for administrative accounts, to add an extra layer of
security.
 Encrypt Virtual Hard Disks: Ensure the confidentiality of your data
by encrypting virtual hard disk files.
 Connect Azure Virtual Machines via Virtual Networks: Enhance
security by placing Azure VMs on virtual networks when connecting to
other networked devices.
 Leverage Azure DDoS Protection: Utilize Azure’s Distributed Denial
of Service (DDoS) services to safeguard against and mitigate DDoS
attacks.
Features of Azure
Azure offers a comprehensive array of features designed to enhance data
protection and application management:
 Data Protection: Azure ensures the security of your data through
various methods, including replication, snapshots, and encryption.
These options allow for data protection across multiple regions
globally, providing an added layer of security against natural disasters,
cyberattacks, or hardware failures. By storing data in various data
 centers worldwide, Azure guarantees that your information remains
safe, even if one location experiences an incident.
 Azure Site Recovery: This feature gives you full control over data
replication processes, allowing you to define the level of detail and
metrics to monitor. You can customize the replication schedule based
on your business requirements, ensuring your data remains secure and
accessible.
 Development Flexibility: Azure supports a wide range of capabilities
for building, deploying, and managing applications that can run on any
device at any time. Users can choose their preferred programming
languages and frameworks, enabling horizontal scaling by adding
servers or distributing the load across multiple servers.
 Open-Source Tools: Azure provides numerous tools and services
rooted in open-source technology, facilitating monitoring, logging, and
troubleshooting. These resources enable you to keep track of your
application’s health and address any issues that may arise.
 App Services and Mobile Management: Azure offers hosting
through App Services, allowing you to quickly deploy updates and new
features to your applications without downtime. It also supports mobile
device management (MDM) for apps tailored to mobile users.
 Active Directory Integration: Azure Active Directory (AAD)
enhances security by connecting user profiles with applications,
enabling seamless sign-in experiences. Through Active Directory
synchronization, user accounts, groups, and permissions are
automatically managed between on-premises Active Directory and
Azure Active Directory, streamlining user management and policy
enforcement within your organization.
By leveraging these features, Azure enables businesses to build resilient,
scalable, and secure applications tailored to their needs.
Difference between AWS, Google Cloud, and
Azure
The following are the differences among AWS, Google Cloud and Azure:
Feature AWS Google Cloud Azure

EC2 (Elastic Compute Google Compute Engine VHD (Virtual Hard

Technology Cloud) (GCE) Disk)

Fully supports Fully supports Supports relational and

relational and NoSQL technologies like Big NoSQL through
Databases databases and Big Query, Big Table, Windows Azure Table
Supported Data Hadoop and HDInsight
 Feature AWS Google Cloud Azure

Per hour — rounded Per minute — rounded Per minute — rounded

Pricing up up up

Per minute rounded up

On-demand, reserved
On-demand sustained use commitments (Pre-paid
spot
Models or monthly)

Many enterprises find

it difficult to Fewer features and
Less "Enterprise-ready"
understand the cost services
Difficulties structure

Simple Storage Blob Storage, Queue

Cloud Storage,
Service (S3), Elastic Storage, File Storage,
Persistent Disk, Transfer
Storage Block Storage, Elastic Disk Storage, Data Lake
Appliance
Services File Storage Store

Cloud Speech AI, Cloud

SageMaker, Lex, Azure Bot Service,
Machine Video Intelligence,
Polly, and many more Cognitive Service
Learning Cloud ML Engine

Scaling and Management of Azure

The following services are used in scaling and in management in Azure
Cloud:
 Auto-scaling: Azure provides auto-scaling capabilities, allowing
resources to automatically scale up or down based on demand,
ensuring optimal performance and cost-efficiency.
 Resource Groups: Resources in Azure can be organized into resource
groups, simplifying management and enabling centralized monitoring
and control.
 Azure Resource Manager: It facilitates resource deployment,
management, and monitoring through templates, providing a unified
management interface.
Azure Monitoring Services
The following are the some of the Azure Monitoring Services:
 Azure Monitor: Centralized monitoring service for Azure resources,
offering insights into performance, availability, and usage metrics.
 Application Insights: Provides real-time insights into application
performance and usage, enabling proactive troubleshooting and
optimization.
 Log Analytics: Collects and analyzes log data from various sources,
offering valuable insights for troubleshooting, security monitoring, and
compliance.
 Azure Advisor: Offers personalized recommendations for optimizing
Azure resources, enhancing performance, and reducing costs.
Pricing in Microsoft Azure
Pricing
Option Description Billing Ideal For Savings/Notes

Pay only for

Per minute or Startups, small
what you use,
Pay-As- per second businesses, Flexible, easy to
with no long-
You-Go (depending on unpredictable scale up/down.
term
service). workloads.
commitment.

Commit to 1- or
3-year terms for Upfront or Predictable Save up to 72%
Reserved
specific monthly workloads, long- compared to Pay-
Instances
resources to get payments. term projects. As-You-Go.
discounts.

Batch jobs,
Up to 90%
Buy unused dev/test
savings, but
Spot Azure capacity Per second environments,
instances can be
Instances at a deep billing. workloads
evicted when
discount. tolerant to
capacity is needed.
interruptions.

Use existing Businesses Significant savings

Azure Windows Server Discounted already using on
Hybrid or SQL Server rates applied Windows Server Windows/Linux
Benefit licenses to save automatically. and SQL Server VMs and SQL
costs. on-premises. Server workloads.

Discounted rates Developers and Available through

Discounted
Dev/Test for development testers in non- Dev/Test
Pay-As-You-
Pricing and testing production subscriptions in
Go billing.
environments. environments. Azure.

Cost Management Tools in Azure

 Tool Purpose

Azure Cost
Helps monitor, analyze, and control Azure spending with
Management and
detailed reports and budget alerts.
Billing

Azure Pricing Estimates the cost of Azure services based on your configuration
Calculator and usage assumptions.

Provides personalized best-practice recommendations for cost

Azure Advisor optimization, security, reliability, and performance
improvements.