Azure is Microsoft services-based operating environment (also called a cloud computing platform) that lets developers build and host services on Microsoft’s infrastructure. The public cloud computing platform offers different kinds of cloud computing services that include software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and serverless.
Although Azure is not an open-source platform, it supports open source technologies that most people trust.
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How does Azure work?
Azure relies on virtualization in the form of a hypervisor, to emulate software instructions to hardware. This process is performed by data centers, which each consist of a set of servers. These servers then use hypervisors to create and run virtual machines (VMs) that host Azure instances.
Why do businesses use Azure?
Azure aims to support all kinds of industries including, finance, e-commerce, and companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500s by moving workloads of data storage, application development and testing, computing, networking, and resource management to the cloud.
Business benefits of using Azure
- Flexibility: Businesses can create a virtual environment by using Azure cloud computing and scale the data storage capabilities. It makes Azure a tempting business solution for organizations of all kinds.
- Cost-effectiveness: In addition to infrastructure and business benefits, the Azure platform can significantly reduce a business’s annual IT budget.
- Advanced cybersecurity: Microsoft Azure offers built-in security measures and advanced encryption methods against data breaches, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and other security threats. The security measures include 2-factor authentication, biometric scanners, multi-layered security measures, and more.
- Applications and development tools: Azure allows companies to develop, test, deploy, and manage their applications by using popular development tools and programming languages.
Services and features of Azure
- Compute: Enables organizations to create and run multiple VMs and scalable applications. Users can also create microservices by using service fabrics.
- Storage: Assures organizations with encrypted data storage that is accessible from anywhere over HTTP or HTTPS.
- Analytics: Real-time insights with Azure’s advanced analytics services, which of Azure useing fully managed analytic tools such as Hadoop or Spark, the organizations can get real-time insights.
- Networking: Azure’s content delivery network (CDN) and virtual network let users securely transfer data across the globe \.
- Disaster recovery: The built-in disaster recovery tools of Azure help organizations to replicate and recover applications running on VMs.
- Backup: Azure enables users to back up VMs, VMware, and SQL workloads with a single click that makes the restoration process of data simple, using VSS snapshot and fsfreeze.
