What is azure microsoft?
Azure was announced in autumn of 2008 and was published in 2010 under the name of Windows Azure, so it is called Microsoft Azure in 2014. The concept of Azure emerged as a cloud computing platform to create, develop and manage applications, software and services through a global network of data centers managed by Microsoft. These data centers are scattered around the world, which also drives the creation of international networks for companies with countries in several countries.
Initially, it encompassed far fewer services than it now offers and supported a small number of programming languages, tools and software, both from Microsoft itself and from third parties. This has progressively changed, to include integrations of Microsoft’s own products (Office 365, SharePoint, etc.) as well as software from other companies (Oracle, SAP, etc.). However, Microsoft’s cloud started offering platform-only services, so its infrastructure services are not as well defined, especially compared to other providers with more experience such as Amazon Web Services. For a comparison of the functions, tools and services highlighted by different platforms and cloud infrastructures that can help you choose the most suitable for your company, you can consult the Cloud Computing Guide.
Microsoft Azure tools and services
The vision of the Microsoft Azure cloud seems to be oriented to the business world, both those larger corporations and small and medium enterprises. Therefore, most services are scalable and are able to respond to general needs in the same way as to more specific needs. Azure has a wide range of tools and services that it can offer users and that can be summarized in the following categories:
Mobile services: creation, development and management of applications for different mobile operating systems, with different programming languages available
Storage: different types of storage (SQL, BLOBs, tables, etc.) for different file formats or storage structures. Also as storage of the data of applications and business programs.
Security tools: protocols, tools and complementary options to increase the security of your data and local applications or in the cloud. Creation of authentication systems in several steps, disaster recovery through backup copies, etc.
Workflows: processes of automation and optimization of workflows, tasks and internal processes of the company. Automated tasks through Azure and complementary services.
Virtual machines: creation, administration and management of virtual machines, with a large number of images to choose from in Azure Marketplace.
Business Intelligence: collection and management of large amounts of data for internal analysis and reports. Business analysis and forecasting tools.
Multimedia services and retransmission: sending and receiving audio and video, large-scale retransmission both live and with pre-recorded programming.
Hybrid networks and private networks: management and creation of hybrid and private networks, connection of business applications between different networks, expansion or modification of the company’s internal infrastructure.
Who uses Microsoft Azure?
The profile of the companies that use Microsoft Azure is very varied, since the services that are included are directed to very different types of companies. Some practical cases that have been made public include companies that use relay and multimedia services such as the American television network NBC; others have used Microsoft Azure web hosting in conjunction with security elements to boost their sales as Iberia, while EasyJet has created a scalable hybrid cloud to improve internal service. Pearson Education uses Azure to develop mobile applications and analyze the data collected through them and social network channels, getting to interpret this data to better understand what their customers want.
This is a small sample, but note that Microsoft Azure offers solid options for working in the cloud, whatever your company may be. However, alternatives such as Amazon Web Services also have tools and services used by companies such as Nokia, Adobe or NASA, so the decision on which is the best infrastructure service and platform in the cloud is not so clear.
Azure service costs
The price of each of the Microsoft Azure services depends on the type of service and the factors associated with each one. While some of the services are calculated by use of the platform in minutes, hours or days, others are based on the amount of data, the number of computers to be used or whether to migrate information between teams. The process to calculate the amount of a service in Microsoft Azure is complex, that’s why in the Cloud Computing Guide you can find a Budget Calculator as an orientation of the Microsoft Azure service costs.
Implementation and migration of service
As with the price of Microsoft Azure services, the implementation of a service in the Microsoft cloud will depend on several factors, such as the service itself that you want to acquire and the previous structure of the company that acquires it. In many cases, the advice of a certified Microsoft partner is essential to implement or migrate a service, system or application to the cloud.
Carrying out a complicated migration or implementation process can lead to problems if the right partner is not chosen. These problems may not matter, but in other cases they can mean large losses and a return on investment much farther, or even impossible, from the loss of critical data or large delays that hinder the company’s key work projects. To avoid these problems, in the Cloud Computing Guide you can find a series of recommendations to take into account when choosing a partner to carry out a project in a cloud such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services.
Introduction to azure function
Azure Functions is a solution to easily run small pieces of code, or “functions”, in the cloud. You can simply write the code you need for the problem in question, without worrying about the entire application or the infrastructure to run it. Functions can make the development even more productive and, in addition, allows you to use the development language of your choice, such as C #, F #, Node.js, Java or PHP. Only pay for the time during which the code is executed and trust Azure to scale as necessary. Azure Functions allows you to develop applications without a server in Microsoft Azure.
What can I do with the functions?
Functions is an excellent solution to process data and integrate systems, work with Internet of Things (IoT) and generate simple APIs and microservices. You can use Functions for tasks such as image processing or ordering, file maintenance or for tasks that you want to run according to a schedule. Azure features offers templates to start with key situations, including the following:
HTTPTrigger: trigger the execution of the code through an HTTP request
TimerTrigger: perform cleaning or other batch tasks within a predefined schedule.
CosmosDBTrigger: Process Azure Cosmos DB documents when they are added or updated in collections in a NoSQL database.
BlobTrigger: Process Azure Storage blobs when they are added to containers. This function can be used to change the size of the images.
QueueTrigger: respond to messages as they arrive in an Azure Storage queue.
EventGridTrigger: respond to events delivered to a subscription in Azure Event Grid. Supports a subscription-based model to receive events, which includes filtering. A good solution for the creation of event-based architectures.
EventHubTrigger: respond to events provided to an Azure Event Center. Especially useful in Internet scenarios of things, workflow processing or user experience and in application instrumentation.
ServiceBusQueueTrigger: allows you to connect the code to other Azure services or local services, by listening to the message queues.
ServiceBusTopicTrigger: allows you to connect the code to other Azure services or to local services by subscribing to themes.
Integrations
Azure Functions integrates with various Azure and third-party services. These services can trigger a function and start its execution, or serve as input and output of the code. The following service integrations are compatible with Azure Functions:
Azure Cosmos DB
Azure Event Hubs
Azure Event Grid
Azure Notification Hubs
Azure Service Bus
Azure Storage
Local
Twilio
