What is Microsoft Azure?
Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform and infrastructure created by Microsoft. It provides both PaaS and IaaS services, as well as support for many different programming languages, toolsets, frameworks, and applications.
As of December 2017, there were over 140 offerings in the Azure Marketplace.
What are some reasons to use it?
Some common reasons to use it include:
- Scalability and flexibility
- Mobility (ease of deployment)
- Cost-effectiveness (pay only for what you need when you need it with pay-as-you-go pricing)
- Efficiency (it uses state of the art data centers)
- Integration with onsite IT systems through hybrid connectivity or Azure Active Directory Sync
- Disaster recovery and business continuity through geo-redundancy of data centers
- Integration with onsite IT systems.
How does it work?
Microsoft Azure offers a dashboard where users can manage their cloud resources.
The platform also includes an App Gallery for finding apps that suit your needs as well as the Cortana Intelligence Suite to help you get insights from your data.
Microsoft’s decision to offer both IaaS and PaaS means developers don’t have to buy expensive infrastructure or worry about managing it; they just write software without worrying about what hardware is running under the hood.
This makes Azure flexible and efficient because customers only pay for what they use when they need it (pay per usage pricing).
As mentioned earlier, Microsoft has invested in state-of-the-art data centers to provide high availability and geo-redundancy of customer’s data.
What is the main purpose of Microsoft Azure?
The main purpose of Microsoft Azure is to offer cloud computing and storage. This includes the following:
-Offering a range of IaaS services, including virtual machines (VMs), Web apps, Mobile backends, Database instances, and more;
-Providing PaaS Services such as websites with SQL databases for storing your data in the cloud or using popular software development languages without installing anything on your computer by simply clicking “Deploy”;
-Integrating seamlessly with other technologies like Office 365 that comes bundled with all Azure products you purchase so it’s possible to keep everything up to date simultaneously. Also offers integration through their Active Directory Sync tool which means users can use an existing domain name from their current IT system with Azure.
-Integrating with onsite IT systems through hybrid connectivity means that users can keep using their current network infrastructure, while also connecting to the cloud for additional services and resources;
-Offering a range of disaster recovery and business continuity features including geo-redundancy of data centers so your customer’s data stays safe even if one location goes down.
It offers backup tools like Site Recovery which takes snapshots of VMs running in Microsoft IaaS before they’re deployed as well as providing high availability (HA) by having two datacentres per region or three regions per region for increased reliability.
These, by the way, comprise the best Microsoft Azure features.
Is Azure the same as AWS?
No, Microsoft Azure is not the same as AWS. While it does offer IaaS and PaaS services like Amazon Web Services (AWS), its main focus is cloud computing while AWS’s main business model focuses more on web hosting with a range of other products that call themselves “cloud.”
For example;
Azure doesn’t have any storage features or VPS options for users who need to host their own websites.
However, Microsoft offers Office 365 which does provide an array of document editing and sharing tools in addition to email accounts so users can share documents easily without having to worry about sending attachments–saving time when collaborating with colleagues.
Do I need programming skills to use Azure?
No, you don’t need programming skills to use Microsoft Azure. Even if you are not a programmer and are looking for web hosting or software development in the cloud, all of these can be done without having to install anything on your computer by simply clicking “Deploy” through PaaS services like Web Apps or Mobile Backend Services which integrate seamlessly with other technologies such as Office 365 that comes bundled with all Azure products.
What is an example of when Microsoft Azure would be best used?
Microsoft Azure could be used anytime where there’s high demand for computing power (e.g., during peak hours).
With pay per usage pricing rather than paying upfront costs each month, it means users only have to spend money on what they need–whether it’s a small script they want to run one time or a server that needs high-powered resources.