Microsoft Azure Overview
Microsoft Azure is a comprehensive cloud computing service created by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centers.
Key Characteristics
- Hybrid Capability: Strong focus on hybrid cloud environments (Azure Arc, Azure Stack).
- Enterprise Integration: Seamless integration with Microsoft products (Office 365, Active Directory, Windows Server).
- Developer Friendly: Excellent tooling support (VS Code, Visual Studio, GitHub Actions).
Core Services Categories
- Compute: Virtual Machines, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Functions, App Service.
- Storage: Azure Blob Storage, Azure Files, Disk Storage.
- Database: Azure SQL Database, Cosmos DB, Azure Database for PostgreSQL.
- Networking: Virtual Network (VNet), Azure Load Balancer, Application Gateway, ExpressRoute.
- Identity: Azure Active Directory (Entra ID).
- AI & ML: Azure AI Services, Azure OpenAI Service.