Unlock the full potential of cloud computing with Azure Cloud Services, a platform that’s not just about storage or computing power, but a holistic ecosystem designed to accelerate your business transformation.
From robust DevOps solutions to cutting-edge analytics and secure data storage, discover how Azure can be the game-changer your business has been waiting for.
Read further to learn more about Microsoft Azure, in our review we will detail its features, pros and cons with our rating, and a conclusion about why you should use it.
Click on “open” if you want to see exactly what we will talk about in the rest of this article.
Overview
What is Microsoft Azure?
Microsoft Azure is a public cloud computing platform developed by Microsoft. It offers a wide array of cloud services, including computing power, storage, and networking capabilities.
Azure is designed to help businesses manage challenges and achieve organizational goals by providing tools that cater to various industries such as e-commerce and finance. The platform supports open-source technologies, giving users the flexibility to employ their preferred tools.
Azure’s cloud computing offerings are categorized into four types: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and serverless functions.
The platform operates on a pay-as-you-go pricing model, allowing users to be billed only for the specific resources and services they utilize.
![Microsoft azure dashboard](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-dashboard.png)
Microsoft Azure specifications
Features | AI Assistant / API Access / Analytics / Cloud Backup / Cloud Compute / Cloud Firewalls / Clouds Storage Backups / Containers / Content Delivery Network (CDN) / Cross-Platform / DDoS Protection / Database Backups / Developer Friendly / High-Quality Content / High-Speed Networking / Hybrid and Multicloud / Integrations / Internet of Things / Machine Learning / Migration And Restoration / Mobile app / Project Management / Team Management |
Website URL | Visit official website |
Support link | Support page |
Company address | Redmond, Washington |
Year founded | 2010 |
Pricing
Microsoft Azure pricing: How much does Microsoft Azure cost?
Explore Microsoft Azure‘s flexible pricing to fit any project size or budget. With plans starting as low as $0.0846/hour for VMs and $0.0184 per GB-month for storage, Microsoft Azure offers cost-effective solutions that scale with your needs.
Pricing range | From $1 per month |
Pricing types | Hourly / Pay-per-use |
Free plan | No |
Free trial | Yes, 30 days |
Money back guarantee | No |
Pricing page link | See plans |
Microsoft Azure pricing plans
![%%tb-image-alt-text%%](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-pricing.jpg)
- Pay-as-You-Go: Charges based on actual usage, billed per second. Suitable for volatile or short-term workloads.
- Reserved Instances: Pre-purchased VMs for one or three years, offering up to 72% discount. Suitable for stable, ongoing usage.
- Spot Pricing: Unused computing power at up to 90% discount but can be interrupted. Suitable for fault-tolerant applications.
- Azure Free Tier: Free use of certain services for the first 12 months and a $200 credit for the first 30 days.
- Azure Hybrid Benefit: Discounts for organizations that own Microsoft licenses.
- Dev/Test Pricing: Substantial discounts for development and testing environments.
- Azure Price Matching: Matches the cost of equivalent services on AWS.
Virtual Machine Pricing
- General Purpose VMs: Starting from $0.096/hour
- Compute Optimized: Starting from $0.0846/hour
- Memory Optimized: Starting from $0.126/hour
Storage Pricing
- Azure Blob Storage: Starts from $0.0184 per GB-month for hot tier.
- Azure Files: $0.06 per GB-month for transaction optimized tier.
Networking Pricing
- Azure Virtual Network: First 50 virtual networks free of charge.
- Azure VPN Gateway: Starts from $0.04/hour for 100 Mbps.
Additional Costs
- Data Transfer: Free for the first 5 GB/month, then starts from $0.087 per GB.
Features
Microsoft Azure features: What can you do with it?
Microsoft Azure offers a comprehensive suite of cloud services designed to meet various needs across storage, computing, networking, AI, and more.
Whether you’re looking to migrate your business to the cloud, build a robust data analytics platform, or develop next-generation AI models, Azure has a feature set that can be tailored to your specific requirements.
AI + Machine Learning
Microsoft Azure provides a robust set of AI and machine learning services that cater to a wide range of development needs. These services are designed to seamlessly integrate into your applications, providing intelligent features that can adapt to various scenarios.
![Microsoft azure machine learning](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-machine-learning.jpg)
AI Anomaly Detector
This feature uses machine learning algorithms to identify anomalies in your data. It can be integrated into applications to monitor real-time data streams or analyze historical data, thereby providing valuable insights into potentially problematic areas.
Azure AI Bot Service
This service allows developers to create intelligent bots that can interact with users across multiple platforms. These bots can handle tasks ranging from customer service inquiries to more complex operations like data retrieval and processing.
Azure Cognitive Search
An enterprise-level search service that uses AI to improve search results and relevancy. It can index a wide range of data sources and is highly customizable, allowing developers to create a tailored search experience.
Azure Databricks
This is an Apache Spark-based analytics platform optimized for Microsoft Azure. It allows data scientists and engineers to collaborate on machine learning projects, offering features like collaborative notebooks and integrated workflows.
Azure Machine Learning
This comprehensive service covers the entire machine learning lifecycle. It includes tools for data preparation, model training, and deployment, and it supports both code-first and drag-and-drop interfaces.
Azure Open Datasets
This service provides a repository of curated open datasets that can be used to train machine learning models. It aims to accelerate the development process by offering high-quality data that is ready for use in machine learning algorithms.
Azure AI Services
This is a suite of cognitive services that can add features like vision, speech, and language understanding to your apps. These services are accessible via API calls, making it easy to integrate them into existing systems.
Azure AI Video Indexer
This service uses AI to analyze video and audio data. It can identify speakers, transcribe speech, and even detect emotions, providing a rich set of metadata that can be used for content discovery and accessibility features.
Azure AI Custom Vision
This service allows you to train custom vision models for specific tasks. Whether you need to identify defective products on a production line or classify images in a specialized field, this service has you covered.
Data Science Virtual Machines
These are specialized virtual machines pre-configured with data science tools. They offer a ready-to-use development environment, saving time and effort in setting up software and configurations.
Azure AI Immersive Reader
This tool is designed to improve reading comprehension. It uses features like text decoding and focus mode to help users of all ages and abilities understand and engage with text content.
Kinect DK
This development kit includes advanced AI sensors designed for building mixed reality applications. It offers features like skeletal tracking and object recognition, making it ideal for interactive experiences.
Language Understanding (LUIS)
This service enables your applications to understand natural language commands. It uses machine learning to interpret and act on spoken or typed phrases, making your apps more intuitive.
Microsoft Genomics
This service offers cloud-based genomic processing capabilities. It’s designed to handle the computational challenges of genome sequencing, providing researchers with the tools they need for groundbreaking work in genomics.
QnA Maker
This tool allows you to create a question and answer layer for your data. It uses natural language processing to provide accurate and contextually relevant answers, improving user engagement.
Speaker Recognition
Part of Microsoft Azure’s Speech service, this feature can identify and verify speakers based on their unique voice characteristics. It can be used in security applications or to personalize user experiences.
Speech to Text
This feature converts spoken language into written text. It can be used in a variety of applications, from transcription services to voice-controlled systems.
Speech Translation
This service provides real-time translation of spoken language. It’s ideal for multilingual environments and can be used in customer service, international conferences, and more.
AI Language
This API adds natural language capabilities to your apps. It can understand context, sentiment, and intent, making interactions with your application more natural and engaging.
Text to Speech
This feature converts written text into spoken words. It uses advanced neural text-to-speech technology to produce lifelike speech, enhancing the user experience.
Azure AI Translator
This service provides machine translation capabilities via a simple REST API. It supports multiple languages and can be used to automatically translate text within an application.
Azure AI Metrics Advisor
This service uses AI to monitor performance metrics and diagnose issues. It can provide real-time alerts and insights, helping you to optimize your operations.
Azure OpenAI Service
This service allows you to integrate OpenAI’s advanced language models into your applications. It can be used for tasks like content generation, code completion, and data analysis.
Azure AI Personalizer
This service uses reinforcement learning to deliver personalized experiences to users. It learns from user behavior to make real-time recommendations, improving engagement and satisfaction.
Azure AI Content Safety
This service automates the moderation of user-generated content. It can detect and filter out inappropriate images, text, and videos, ensuring a safe and welcoming environment for users.
Health Bot
Designed specifically for healthcare applications, this managed service enables the development of virtual healthcare assistants. These bots can handle tasks like symptom checking, appointment scheduling, and patient engagement.
Azure AI Document Intelligence
Similar to the Health Bot, this service is also aimed at healthcare but focuses on the intelligent processing of medical documents. It can extract and interpret information from a variety of document types, aiding in healthcare management and decision-making.
Analytics
Microsoft Azure’s analytics services offer a comprehensive set of tools that can handle data of any type, size, or speed. These services are designed to provide end-to-end solutions for data gathering, storage, processing, analysis, and visualization.
![Microsoft azure analytics](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-analytics.jpg)
Azure Analysis Services
Azure Analysis Services is an enterprise-grade analytics engine that provides advanced data modeling and visualization capabilities.
It allows businesses to perform complex data analysis tasks, including trend analysis, forecasting, and real-time business intelligence. The service integrates seamlessly with popular BI tools and offers a range of connectivity options.
Azure Data Explorer
This is a high-speed and highly scalable data exploration service that is optimized for real-time analytical queries over large datasets. Microsoft Azure Data Explorer is particularly useful for analyzing streaming data, such as IoT telemetry or application logs, and can handle billions of records in real-time.
Azure Data Factory
Microsoft Azure Data Factory is designed for hybrid data integration at an enterprise scale. It provides a visual interface for building, scheduling, and orchestrating data workflows.
The service supports a wide range of data sources, including on-premises SQL Server, cloud-based Microsoft Azure SQL Database, and NoSQL databases like Azure Cosmos DB.
Azure Data Lake Storage
This service offers a scalable and secure data lake that enables high-performance analytics. Azure Data Lake Storage is optimized for big data analytics and can handle petabytes of data.
It supports both batch and real-time analytics and integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Azure HDInsight and Azure Synapse Analytics.
Azure Data Lake Storage Gen1
A specialized version of Microsoft Azure Data Lake Storage, Gen1 is designed for big data analytics workloads that require a hyperscale repository. It offers low-latency data access and high-speed data transfer, making it ideal for running large-scale analytics jobs.
Azure Data Share provides a secure and straightforward way to share large datasets with external organizations.
It offers built-in governance features, ensuring that data is shared in a compliant manner. The service is useful for scenarios like data monetization, data collaboration, and data syndication.
Azure Databricks
Built on Apache Spark, Microsoft Azure Databricks is designed for big data analytics and machine learning. It offers a collaborative workspace where data scientists, data engineers, and business analysts can work together.
The service provides a range of machine learning libraries and integrates with Microsoft Azure Machine Learning for advanced model training and deployment.
Azure Stream Analytics
This service enables real-time analytics on fast-moving streams of data. Microsoft Azure Stream Analytics can ingest data from various sources like IoT devices, social media feeds, and logs.
It can process and analyze the data in real-time, providing insights that can be acted upon immediately.
Azure Synapse Analytics
Azure Synapse Analytics is a limitless analytics service that brings together big data and data warehousing into a unified platform.
It offers both on-demand and provisioned resources, and its serverless data exploration capabilities allow you to analyze data without the need for pre-defined schemas or configurations.
Data Catalog
Azure Data Catalog is a fully-managed service that serves as a system of registration and system of discovery for enterprise data sources. It allows data producers to register, enrich, discover, understand, and consume data sources.
Data Lake Analytics
This service is a distributed analytics service that simplifies big data analytics. It allows you to develop and run parallel data transformation and processing programs in U-SQL, R, Python, and .NET over petabytes of data.
Event Hubs
Microsoft Azure Event Hubs is a real-time data ingestion service that is capable of receiving and processing millions of events per second. It can capture, process, and analyze data from various sources like websites, applications, and IoT devices.
HDInsight
Azure HDInsight is a cloud service that makes it easy to process massive amounts of data using popular open-source frameworks like Apache Hadoop, Spark, and Hive. It provides a range of tools for ETL, machine learning, and data analytics.
Power BI Embedded
This service allows you to embed fully interactive Power BI reports and dashboards into custom applications. Power BI Embedded is intended for ISVs and developers who want to provide their customers with powerful analytics capabilities without having to build them from scratch.
R Server for HDInsight
This service offers scalable and extensible analytics on Microsoft Azure. It provides a range of statistical computing and machine learning capabilities and supports R-based analytics solutions that can handle large datasets.
Microsoft Purview
Microsoft Purview is a unified data governance service that helps you manage and govern your on-premises, multi-cloud, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) data. It provides capabilities like automated data discovery, sensitivity classification, and end-to-end data lineage.
Microsoft Graph Data Connect
Currently in preview, this service is a secure, high-throughput data connector that enables you to move Microsoft 365 productivity datasets into your Microsoft Azure environment for analytics.
Azure Chaos Studio
Also in preview, Microsoft Azure Chaos Studio aims to improve the resilience of cloud applications by introducing faults and simulating outages. This helps in identifying weaknesses in your applications and infrastructure.
Microsoft Fabric
Microsoft Fabric is an AI-powered platform that aims to reshape how data and insights are accessed, managed, and acted upon. It offers a unified platform that connects every data source and analytics service, providing a holistic view of your data landscape.
Compute
Microsoft Azure’s compute services offer a comprehensive suite of cloud computing solutions that cater to a wide array of needs, from web and mobile applications to high-performance computing and big data analytics. The pay-as-you-go model ensures cost-effective scalability.
![Microsoft azure kubernetes](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-kubernetes.jpg)
App Service
Azure App Service is a fully managed platform for building, deploying, and scaling web apps. It supports various programming languages like .NET, Java, Node.js, Python, and PHP.
The service provides auto-scaling, custom domains, SSL support, and integration with popular IDEs, making it a go-to solution for web and mobile application development.
Azure CycleCloud
Azure CycleCloud is specifically designed for High-Performance Computing (HPC) workloads. It offers features like cluster auto-scaling, advanced job scheduling, and monitoring capabilities.
The service is optimized for compute-intensive tasks such as simulations, data analysis, and machine learning, providing a robust environment for these workloads.
Azure Quantum
Azure Quantum is a pioneering service that provides access to quantum hardware and software solutions from multiple vendors. It serves as a platform for quantum research and application development, offering tools for writing, testing, and running quantum algorithms.
Azure Spot Virtual Machines
Azure Spot Virtual Machines allow you to utilize Microsoft Azure’s unused compute capacity at significant discounts. These VMs are ideal for workloads that can tolerate interruptions, such as batch processing and stateless applications.
Azure Spring Apps
Developed in partnership with VMware, Microsoft Azure Spring Apps is a fully managed service for Spring Boot applications. It simplifies the entire application lifecycle, from build to deploy, and offers features like automated scaling, updates, and high availability.
Azure VMware Solution
Azure VMware Solution enables you to run VMware-based workloads natively on Microsoft Azure. It provides a consistent and seamless hybrid cloud experience, allowing you to migrate VMware applications to Azure without any code changes.
Batch
Azure Batch is a cloud-based job scheduling service that enables the running of large-scale parallel and high-performance computing applications. It automates tasks like resource allocation, job scheduling, and failure recovery, making it easier to manage complex workloads.
Cloud Services
Azure Cloud Services is designed to build highly scalable and available applications. It provides automatic OS updates, built-in network load balancing, and scalability options to handle increased workloads, making it ideal for creating resilient cloud applications and APIs.
Linux Virtual Machines
Azure supports a variety of Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Red Hat, and CentOS. These Linux Virtual Machines offer a secure and scalable environment for running Linux-based applications and services, complete with support for custom scripts and automation tools.
SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines
This service enables the migration of SQL Server workloads to Microsoft Azure, offering a lower total cost of ownership. It provides built-in high availability, automated backups, and scaling options, making it a robust solution for SQL Server applications.
Static Web Apps
Azure Static Web Apps is designed to automate the entire development workflow for static sites. It offers features like automated build and deployment, serverless APIs, and global distribution, making it a comprehensive solution for modern web development.
Virtual Machine Scale Sets
Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets provide high availability to your applications and offer the ability to centrally manage, configure, and update a large number of VMs. These sets can automatically increase or decrease the number of VM instances as demand changes.
Virtual Machines
Azure Virtual Machines offer on-demand scalable computing resources. They support both Windows and Linux operating systems and come in various machine sizes to suit different needs, from small dev-test instances to large compute workloads.
Azure Virtual Desktop
Azure Virtual Desktop provides a secure and scalable remote desktop experience. It supports multi-session Windows 10 and offers a variety of virtualization use-cases, including remote work, software development, and testing environments.
Windows Virtual Machines
These VMs are optimized for Windows-based applications and services like SQL Server and SharePoint. They offer automated backups, patching, and scaling, making them a reliable choice for Windows-specific workloads.
Azure Dedicated Host
Azure Dedicated Host provides a dedicated physical server to host your Microsoft Azure VMs. This service is ideal for workloads that require a high level of isolation, control, and compliance.
Azure VM Image Builder
Azure VM Image Builder simplifies the process of creating and customizing VM images. It offers a user-friendly interface and a range of customization options, including the ability to add applications, data, and configurations.
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
Azure Kubernetes Service is a managed Kubernetes service that simplifies the deployment and management of containerized applications. It offers integrated CI/CD, security, and monitoring solutions, making it easier to run Kubernetes at scale.
Azure Functions
Azure Functions is a serverless compute service that allows you to run small pieces of code without the need to explicitly provision or manage infrastructure. It supports a variety of programming languages and integrates with Microsoft Azure and third-party services.
Azure Container Instances
Azure Container Instances offer the fastest and simplest way to run containers in Microsoft Azure. They provide hypervisor-level isolation, making them a secure option for running containerized applications without the need to manage VMs.
Azure Service Fabric
Azure Service Fabric is a distributed systems platform for deploying and managing microservices and containers. It offers features like stateful and stateless services, rolling upgrades, and health monitoring, making it a comprehensive solution for building and operating always-on services.
Databases
Azure offers a range of database services designed to support rapid growth and innovation. These services are secure, enterprise-grade, and fully managed, catering to various data storage and processing needs.
![Microsoft azure database](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-database.jpg)
Azure Cache for Redis
Azure Cache for Redis is a fully managed caching service that enhances application performance by storing frequently accessed data in-memory.
It offers high-throughput and low-latency operations, making it ideal for applications that require real-time analytics, geospatial, and machine learning capabilities.
Azure Cosmos DB
This globally distributed, multi-model database service is designed for building high-performance, scalable applications.
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB offers features like automatic and instant scalability, multiple consistency models, and guaranteed low-latency data access, making it suitable for a wide range of modern applications.
Azure Data Factory
Already discussed under the Analytics section, Microsoft Azure Data Factory is a cloud-based data integration service that allows you to create, schedule, and orchestrate data workflows. It supports a wide range of data sources and provides capabilities for hybrid data integration.
Azure Database for MariaDB
This is a fully managed relational database service based on the community MariaDB server. It offers built-in high availability, automated backups, and scaling options, making it a robust solution for deploying applications to the cloud.
Azure Database for MySQL
Azure Database for MySQL is a fully managed, scalable MySQL database service. It offers built-in high availability, automated backups, and scaling options, making it suitable for a wide range of applications, from personal projects to large-scale enterprise systems.
Azure Database for PostgreSQL
This service provides a fully managed, intelligent, and scalable PostgreSQL database. It offers features like automated backups, high availability, and AI-powered performance optimization, making it ideal for running mission-critical applications.
Azure Database Migration Service
This service simplifies the process of migrating databases to Microsoft Azure. It supports a wide range of source and target databases and offers features like data validation, migration monitoring, and an intuitive dashboard for managing migration tasks.
Azure SQL
Azure SQL is a family of managed, secure, and intelligent SQL cloud databases that allow you to migrate, modernize, and innovate. It offers a range of deployment options and service tiers to fit different needs and budgets.
Azure SQL Database
This is a fully managed relational database service based on the latest stable version of SQL Server. It offers features like automated tuning, global scaling, and AI-powered optimization, making it a go-to solution for a wide range of cloud-based applications.
Azure SQL Edge
Azure SQL Edge is designed for edge computing scenarios. It allows you to run data analytics and workloads closer to the IoT devices, reducing latency and improving performance.
Azure SQL Managed Instance
This service provides a fully managed SQL Server instance that is always up-to-date. It offers near 100% compatibility with on-premises SQL Server and provides features like automated backups, high availability, and built-in intelligence.
SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines
Already discussed under the Compute section, this service allows you to migrate SQL Server workloads to Microsoft Azure, offering a lower total cost of ownership.
Table Storage
Azure Table Storage is a NoSQL data store for semi-structured data. It offers a key/attribute store with a schema-less design, making it ideal for storing large amounts of unstructured data.
Azure Managed Instance for Apache Cassandra
This service provides a fully managed instance of Apache Cassandra, allowing you to modernize your Cassandra data clusters with ease. It offers features like automated scaling, backups, and high availability.
Azure Confidential Ledger
Azure Confidential Ledger is a tamper-proof, unstructured data store that is hosted in trusted execution environments (TEEs). It provides cryptographically verifiable evidence to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the stored data.
Developer Tools
Azure offers a suite of developer tools designed to facilitate the building, managing, and continuous delivery of cloud applications.
![Microsoft azure developer](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-developer.jpg)
App Configuration
Already discussed under the Containers section, App Configuration provides fast, scalable parameter storage for application configuration.
Azure DevOps
Azure DevOps provides a set of cloud services for sharing code, tracking work, and shipping software. It offers features like version control, agile planning, and continuous integration and delivery.
Azure DevTest Labs
This service allows you to quickly create test environments using reusable templates and artifacts. It offers features like cost control, custom configurations, and automated shutdowns.
Azure Pipelines
Azure Pipelines is a cloud service that allows you to automatically build, test, and deploy applications to any platform and cloud. It offers features like parallel jobs, live logs, and multi-stage pipelines.
SDKs
Azure provides various Software Development Kits (SDKs) and command-line tools to facilitate application development and management.
Visual Studio
Azure integrates with Visual Studio to provide a powerful and flexible environment for developing cloud applications. It offers features like debugging, profiling, and application monitoring.
Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code is a lightweight code editor designed for cloud development. It offers features like IntelliSense, debugging, and Git integration.
Azure Load Testing
This service allows you to optimize application performance by simulating high-scale load tests. It offers features like real-time analytics, geodistributed load generation, and integration with Microsoft Azure Pipelines.
Microsoft Dev Box
Microsoft Dev Box provides secure, ready-to-code workstations in the cloud. It offers features like automated setup, version control, and integration with Microsoft Azure services.
Azure Deployment Environments
This service allows you to quickly spin up application infrastructure environments using project-based templates. It offers features like environment isolation, custom domains, and SSL certificates.
Microsoft Playwright Testing
This is a scalable end-to-end testing service for modern web applications. It offers features like browser automation, parallel test execution, and integration with Microsoft Azure Pipelines.
DevOps
Microsoft Azure DevOps services aim to streamline the software development lifecycle, from planning and development to delivery and monitoring. These services offer robust capabilities for continuous integration, continuous delivery, and rapid application deployment.
![Microsoft azure devops](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-devops.jpg)
Azure Artifacts
Azure Artifacts allows you to create, host, and share packages within your team. It supports various package formats like NuGet, npm, and Maven, making it easier to manage dependencies and streamline the development process.
Azure Boards
This service provides a comprehensive solution for planning, tracking, and discussing work across your teams. It offers features like Kanban boards, backlogs, and dashboards, enabling agile project management.
Azure DevOps
Already discussed under the Developer Tools and Hybrid + multicloud sections, Microsoft Azure DevOps is a suite of services designed to help teams share code, track work, and ship software. It integrates with popular IDEs and offers features like version control, build automation, and release management.
Azure DevTest Labs
Already discussed under the Developer Tools section, Microsoft Azure DevTest Labs enables quick environment setup using reusable templates and artifacts. It offers cost management features and integrates with Azure DevOps for end-to-end DevOps toolchain orchestration.
Azure Monitor
Azure Monitor provides full-stack monitoring, advanced analytics, and intelligent insights to ensure the availability and performance of your applications. It offers observability into your applications, infrastructure, and network.
Azure Pipelines
Already discussed under the Developer Tools section, Microsoft Azure Pipelines is a CI/CD service that automates the build, test, and deployment phases of your release process. It supports multiple languages and integrates with various tools and services.
Azure Repos
Azure Repos offers unlimited, cloud-hosted private Git repositories for your project. It provides features like pull requests, branching policies, and in-line commenting to streamline code review and collaboration.
Azure Test Plans
This service provides a toolkit for exploratory, planned, and user-acceptance testing. Microsoft AzureTest Plans offer features like test tracking, reporting, and integration with Azure Pipelines for automated testing.
DevOps Tool Integrations
Azure allows you to integrate with a wide range of DevOps tools, enhancing your existing workflows. This includes tools for monitoring, code review, and project management.
Azure Load Testing
Already discussed under the Developer Tools section, Microsoft Azure Load Testing helps you optimize application performance by simulating user load. It provides real-time analytics and integrates with Azure Pipelines for automated testing.
Azure Managed Grafana
This service allows you to deploy Grafana dashboards as a fully managed Microsoft Azure service. It offers features like automated scaling, high availability, and Azure Monitor integration.
Microsoft Dev Box
Already discussed under the Developer Tools section, Microsoft Dev Box provides secure, cloud-hosted development environments, streamlining the setup and coding process.
Azure Deployment Environments
Already discussed under the Developer Tools section, this service enables quick infrastructure setup using project-based templates. It offers features like environment isolation and custom domains.
GitHub Advanced Security for Azure DevOps
This feature enhances security throughout the development lifecycle. It offers capabilities like code scanning, secret scanning, and dependency review, ensuring secure code from inception to deployment.
Microsoft Playwright Testing
Already discussed under the Developer Tools section, this is a scalable end-to-end testing service for modern web applications. It offers features like browser automation and parallel test execution.
Hybrid + multicloud
Microsoft Azure’s hybrid and multicloud solutions bring the agility and innovation of cloud computing to your on-premises workloads. These services offer a unified approach to building and managing applications across various cloud environments.
![Microsoft azure hybrid](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-hybrid.jpg)
Microsoft Sentinel
This is a cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) service that offers intelligent security analytics. It helps you detect, investigate, and respond to security threats in real-time.
Azure Arc
Azure Arc enables you to manage infrastructure, applications, and Microsoft Azure services from a single pane of glass. It extends Azure management capabilities to any infrastructure, offering a truly hybrid cloud experience.
Azure Database for PostgreSQL
Already discussed under the Databases section, this is a fully managed, intelligent, and scalable PostgreSQL database service.
Azure DevOps
Already discussed under the DevOps and Developer Tools sections, Microsoft Azure DevOps is a suite of services designed to help teams share code, track work, and ship software.
Azure ExpressRoute
This service offers a fast, reliable, and private connection to Microsoft Azure and other Microsoft services. It’s ideal for data migration, high availability, and disaster recovery scenarios.
Azure IoT Edge
Azure IoT Edge extends cloud intelligence and analytics to edge devices. It allows you to run AI models and perform data processing closer to the data source, reducing latency and bandwidth usage.
Azure SQL Database
Already discussed under the Databases section, Azure SQL Database is a fully managed, intelligent SQL database service.
Azure SQL Edge
Already discussed under the Databases section, Azure SQL Edge allows you to run data services closer to IoT devices.
Azure Stack
Azure Stack enables you to build and run hybrid applications across cloud boundaries. It offers a range of services that extend Microsoft Azure functionalities to your on-premises environment.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
This service extends threat protection to any infrastructure, offering capabilities like vulnerability assessment, threat detection, and security posture management.
Azure Stack HCI
Azure Stack HCI allows you to run your production workloads and cloud-native applications anywhere. It offers features like hyper-converged infrastructure, high availability, and disaster recovery.
Azure Stack Hub
This is an integrated hardware system sold with Microsoft Azure software pre-installed. It enables you to run Azure services in your datacenter, offering a consistent hybrid cloud experience.
Azure Stack Edge
Azure Stack Edge is a managed device that extends Microsoft Azure’s compute and storage capabilities to the edge. It’s ideal for scenarios like data streaming, AI inference, and cloud bursting.
Azure Modular Datacenter
This is a rugged, fully integrated datacenter solution designed for remote or challenging environments. It offers a range of compute, storage, and networking capabilities.
Azure Kubernetes Service Edge Essentials
This is an on-premises Kubernetes implementation that automates running containerized applications at scale. It offers features like automated scaling, high availability, and Microsoft Azure Monitor integration.
Azure Operator Insights
This service removes data silos and delivers business insights from massive datasets. It offers features like data integration, analytics, and real-time reporting.
Azure Operator Service Manager
This service simplifies the deployment, upgrade, and management of complex operator services. It offers features like automated scaling, high availability, and monitoring.
Azure Operator Nexus
This is a hybrid platform built for mission-critical mobile network applications. It supports the deployment of both containerized and virtualized network functions, offering a flexible solution for network management.
Identity
![Microsoft azure identity](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-identity.jpg)
Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD)
This service synchronizes on-premises directories and enables single sign-on capabilities. It offers features like multi-factor authentication, identity governance, and self-service password reset to enhance security.
Azure Active Directory Domain Services
Manage your domain controllers directly in the cloud. This service provides scalable, high-availability domain services like domain join, LDAP, and Kerberos/NTLM authentication.
Azure Active Directory External Identities
This service focuses on consumer identity and access management in the cloud. It allows businesses to offer custom login and registration experiences for external users and integrates with social identity providers.
Integration
![Microsoft azure api](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-api.jpg)
API Management
This service allows you to publish APIs securely and at scale. It offers capabilities like API analytics, developer portal, and API gateway to manage the full API lifecycle.
Microsoft Azure Health Data Services
Unify and manage health data and protected health information (PHI) in the cloud. This service is designed to meet regulatory compliance standards and offers features like data encryption and audit trails.
Event Grid
Event Grid ensures reliable event delivery at massive scale. It’s designed for building event-driven architectures and offers features like filtering and routing.
Logic Apps
Automate workflows and integrate data across different clouds. Logic Apps offers a visual designer and pre-built templates to automate tasks and processes.
Service Bus
This service connects applications across private and public cloud environments. It offers reliable message queuing and publish-subscribe capabilities.
Azure Web PubSub
Build real-time messaging web applications using WebSockets and the publish-subscribe pattern. This service offers low-latency communication and supports large numbers of simultaneous connections.
Microsoft Energy Data Services
This service accelerates the journey to energy data modernization and digital transformation. It offers features like data ingestion, analytics, and visualization.
Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Agriculture
This service extends Microsoft’s Intelligent Data Platform with industry-specific data connectors. It aims to accelerate the development of digital agriculture solutions by unifying farm data from various sources.
Management and Governance
![Microsoft azure management](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-management.jpg)
Automation
This feature is designed to automate cloud management tasks like OS patching, updating applications, and even more complex workflows. Automation helps in reducing operational expenses, human errors, and the time required to deliver services.
Azure Advisor
Azure Advisor acts as a personalized cloud consultant, providing tailored recommendations for best practices in five key areas: high availability, security, performance, operational governance, and cost. It scans your deployed services and offers actionable guidelines to optimize your Microsoft Azure environment.
Defender External Attack Surface Management
This is a security feature that helps organizations discover and secure internet-exposed resources. It identifies exposed ports, hardware, and software that could be potential targets for attackers, thereby helping you to proactively secure your environment.
Azure Backup
Azure Backup is more than just a data backup solution. It offers centralized management for backing up Microsoft Azure services and on-premises data. It supports Azure Virtual Machines, SQL workloads, and SAP HANA workloads. The backups are stored in a Recovery Services vault, providing secure and scalable storage.
Azure Blueprints
Azure Blueprints is like a template for setting up Microsoft Azure environments. It allows organizations to define a repeatable set of Azure resources that adhere to organizational standards and requirements. This is particularly useful for setting up multiple environments that require compliance with external regulations.
Azure Lighthouse
This feature is aimed at service providers who manage Microsoft Azure resources across multiple customer environments. Azure Lighthouse provides a single control plane to view and manage Azure across all customer tenants.
Azure Managed Applications
Azure Managed Applications allow you to offer cloud solutions as managed applications. These applications are fully managed by third-party service providers, partners, or even internal IT teams, but are hosted and maintained in the customer’s environment.
Azure Migrate
This is a comprehensive service that helps in the assessment and migration of on-premises virtual machines, databases, web apps, and data to Microsoft Azure. It provides tools for assessment of compatibility and optimization of costs.
Azure Mobile App
The Azure Mobile App keeps you connected to your Azure resources on the go. It offers features like monitoring the health and status of your Microsoft Azure resources, executing common operations, and receiving critical notifications.
Azure Monitor
Azure Monitor provides full-stack monitoring, advanced analytics, and intelligent insights to ensure the availability and performance of your applications. It collects data from multiple sources like application logs, operating system logs, and performance metrics.
Azure Policy
Azure Policy helps you enforce organization-specific requirements and to assess compliance at-scale. It allows you to create, assign, and manage policies that enforce rules on your resources, thus ensuring compliance with corporate standards and service level agreements.
Azure Resource Manager
This service simplifies the management of resources in your application. It allows you to manage and visualize all the resources in your application as a single managed group. You can deploy, update, or delete all the resources for your solution in a single, coordinated operation.
Azure Service Health
Azure Service Health provides real-time alerts and detailed guidance when Microsoft Azure service issues affect your resources. It offers a personalized dashboard that can help you understand the impact of outages and maintenance on your resources.
Azure Site Recovery
This is a disaster recovery service that contributes to your business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) strategy. It replicates workloads running on physical and virtual machines from a primary site to a secondary location.
Cloud Shell
Azure Cloud Shell is an interactive, browser-based shell for managing Microsoft Azure resources. It provides the flexibility of choosing the shell experience that best suits the way you work, either Bash or PowerShell.
Microsoft Cost Management
This feature provides a set of cloud cost management capabilities that help you monitor, allocate, and optimize your Microsoft Azure costs. It offers cost analysis, budgets, and cost allocation features, among others.
Network Watcher
Network Watcher is a network performance monitoring and diagnostic service which enables you to monitor your network performance and health. It provides tools like packet capture, next hop, IP flow verify, and security group view.
Traffic Manager
Azure Traffic Manager allows you to control the distribution of user traffic for service endpoints in different datacenters. It uses DNS to direct client requests to the most appropriate service endpoint based on a traffic-routing method and the health of the endpoints.
Azure Automanage
This feature aims to reduce day-to-day management tasks by automating best practices as defined by Microsoft Azure. It includes services like backup, patching, and monitoring, and applies them in a coordinated manner.
Azure Resource Mover
Azure Resource Mover allows you to easily move multiple resources like virtual machines, SQL databases, and more, from one Microsoft Azure region to another. This is useful for scenarios like datacenter migration, disaster recovery, and geographic expansion.
Microsoft Purview
Microsoft Purview is a unified data governance service that helps you manage and govern your on-premises, multi-cloud, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) data. It provides capabilities like automated data discovery, sensitive data classification, and end-to-end data lineage.
Azure Chaos Studio
This feature is designed to help you test how your Microsoft Azure applications handle failures in a controlled environment. It allows you to introduce faults and outages in your applications to improve their resilience.
Mobile
![Microsoft azure api 1](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-api-1.jpg)
API Management
- Purpose: Securely publish, manage, and analyze APIs at scale.
- Key Features: Rate limiting, API analytics, developer portal, and API gateway.
- Use Cases: Mobile backend services, microservices architecture, and legacy system integration.
App Configuration
- Purpose: Centralized management of application settings and feature flags.
- Key Features: High availability, key-value storage, and versioning.
- Use Cases: Dynamic feature toggling, A/B testing, and application scaling.
App Service
- Purpose: Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for hosting web and mobile apps.
- Key Features: Auto-scaling, custom domains, and multiple language/framework support.
- Use Cases: Web apps, RESTful APIs, and mobile backends.
Azure Cognitive Search
- Purpose: Add search capabilities to mobile apps.
- Key Features: Full-text search, AI-powered indexing, and real-time search analytics.
- Use Cases: E-commerce apps, content discovery platforms, and enterprise search.
Azure Maps
- Purpose: Integrate maps, geolocation, and spatial intelligence.
- Key Features: Geofencing, route calculation, and map visualization.
- Use Cases: Location-based services, asset tracking, and route optimization.
Azure AI Services
- Purpose: Integrate AI capabilities into mobile apps.
- Key Features: Vision, speech, and language APIs.
- Use Cases: Chatbots, image recognition, and voice-activated services.
Notification Hubs
- Purpose: Send push notifications at scale.
- Key Features: Multi-platform support, templated messages, and scheduled notifications.
- Use Cases: User engagement, real-time updates, and event-driven notifications.
Spatial Anchors
- Purpose: Create spatially aware mixed reality experiences.
- Key Features: Multi-user support, cross-platform compatibility, and spatial mapping.
- Use Cases: Virtual tours, augmented reality games, and collaborative design.
App Center
- Purpose: Centralized lifecycle management for mobile apps.
- Key Features: Build automation, testing, distribution, and monitoring.
- Use Cases: CI/CD pipelines, beta testing, and performance monitoring.
Azure Communication Services
- Purpose: Add communication features to apps.
- Key Features: Voice, video, chat, and SMS.
- Use Cases: Customer support apps, social networking, and team collaboration.
Networking
![Microsoft azure network](https://ciroapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Microsoft-azure-network.jpg)
Application Gateway
- Purpose: Load balancing of web traffic.
- Key Features: SSL termination, URL-based routing, and Web Application Firewall.
- Use Cases: E-commerce sites, content delivery networks, and enterprise web apps.
Azure Bastion
- Purpose: Secure and seamless RDP/SSH connectivity.
- Key Features: Integrated with Microsoft Azure portal, multi-factor authentication, and session recording.
- Use Cases: Remote administration, secure data access, and system diagnostics.
Azure DDoS Protection
- Purpose: Protect against DDoS attacks.
- Key Features: Traffic monitoring, real-time analytics, and adaptive tuning.
- Use Cases: Public-facing web apps, online marketplaces, and data APIs.
Azure DNS
- Purpose: Domain name system hosting.
- Key Features: Global distribution, fast DNS queries, and custom domain names.
- Use Cases: Web apps, microservices, and global content delivery.
Azure ExpressRoute
- Purpose: Private connection to Microsoft Azure.
- Key Features: High throughput, low latency, and data residency compliance.
- Use Cases: Hybrid cloud, data migration, and high-performance computing.
Azure Firewall
- Purpose: Cloud-native network security.
- Key Features: Stateful firewall, threat intelligence, and network traffic filtering.
- Use Cases: Virtual network protection, data center security, and application isolation.
Load Balancer
- Purpose: Distribute incoming traffic.
- Key Features: Health probes, session persistence, and NAT rules.
- Use Cases: High availability, application scaling, and traffic management.
Azure Firewall Manager
- Purpose: Centralized network security management.
- Key Features: Policy enforcement, threat protection, and multi-region support.
- Use Cases: Secure hybrid networks, multi-tenant environments, and large-scale cloud deployments.
Azure Front Door
- Purpose: Global content delivery and acceleration.
- Key Features: SSL offloading, URL rewriting, and mobile redirection.
- Use Cases: Global websites, streaming media, and API acceleration.
Azure Internet Analyzer
- Purpose: Measure the impact of network changes.
- Key Features: Performance testing, A/B experiments, and real-user monitoring.
- Use Cases: Network optimization, content delivery tuning, and user experience improvement.
Azure Private Link
- Purpose: Private access to Microsoft Azure services.
- Key Features: Data exfiltration protection, private IP addressing, and service chaining.
- Use Cases: Secure data transfer, internal APIs, and isolated service access.
Content Delivery Network
- Purpose: Fast and reliable content delivery.
- Key Features: Global reach, caching, and DDoS protection.
- Use Cases: Media streaming, software distribution, and web acceleration.
Network Watcher
- Purpose: Network performance monitoring.
- Key Features: Traffic analytics, diagnostic logs, and topology visualization.
- Use Cases: Network troubleshooting, performance optimization, and security auditing.
Traffic Manager
- Purpose: DNS-based traffic load balancing.
- Key Features: Geo-routing, endpoint health checks, and traffic prioritization.
- Use Cases: Global application deployment, failover scenarios, and latency reduction.
Virtual Network
- Purpose: Create isolated networks in Microsoft Azure.
- Key Features: Subnetting, VPN support, and private IP addressing.
- Use Cases: Secure data transfer, hybrid cloud, and microservices architecture.
Storage
Archive Storage
- Purpose: Cost-effective storage for rarely accessed data.
- Key Features: Long-term retention, secure encryption, and low-cost storage.
- Use Cases: Compliance archiving, backup, and historical data storage.
Avere vFXT for Azure
- Purpose: Optimize file-based workloads in the cloud.
- Key Features: High throughput, low latency, and caching.
- Use Cases: Media rendering, financial simulations, and scientific research.
Azure Backup
- Purpose: Centralized backup management.
- Key Features: Automated backups, multi-platform support, and geo-redundancy.
- Use Cases: Disaster recovery, data protection, and compliance.
Azure Data Lake Storage
- Purpose: Data lake for analytics workloads.
- Key Features: Scalability, security, and Hadoop compatibility.
- Use Cases: Big data analytics, machine learning, and data warehousing.
Azure Data Lake Storage Gen1
- Purpose: First-generation data lake storage.
- Key Features: Hyperscale capacity, data analytics, and native Hadoop support.
- Use Cases: Legacy big data applications, batch processing, and data exploration.
- Purpose: Secure data sharing with external organizations.
- Key Features: Data encryption, real-time sharing, and compliance features.
- Use Cases: B2B data exchange, data monetization, and collaborative analytics.
Azure Files
- Purpose: Cloud-based file shares.
- Key Features: SMB/NFS support, secure access, and snapshot capabilities.
- Use Cases: File server migration, hybrid storage, and application data storage.
Azure HPC Cache
- Purpose: Caching for high-performance computing.
- Key Features: Low-latency data access, scalability, and performance optimization.
- Use Cases: Computational simulations, data analysis, and scientific research.
Azure NetApp Files
- Purpose: Enterprise-grade file shares.
- Key Features: High availability, NetApp technology, and multi-protocol support.
- Use Cases: Database storage, SAP workloads, and enterprise applications.
Azure Blob Storage
- Purpose: Object storage solution.
- Key Features: Scalability, data tiering, and secure access.
- Use Cases: Unstructured data storage, content delivery, and backup.
Azure Data Box
- Purpose: Data transfer appliances.
- Key Features: Secure data transfer, offline data migration, and edge computing.
- Use Cases: Large-scale data migration, IoT edge processing, and remote data collection.
Azure Disk Storage
- Purpose: Block storage for VMs.
- Key Features: High IOPS, data durability, and various disk types.
- Use Cases: Database storage, application hosting, and VM-based solutions.
Azure confidential ledger
- Purpose: Secure, tamper-proof data storage.
- Key Features: Trusted execution environments, cryptographic verification.
- Use Cases: Sensitive data storage, compliance requirements, and secure transactions.
Azure Elastic SAN
- Purpose: Cloud-native Storage Area Network.
- Key Features: Scalability, high performance, and end-to-end experience.
- Use Cases: Enterprise storage, data center migration, and high-performance workloads.
Queue Storage
- Purpose: Message queuing for application scaling.
- Key Features: Message sequencing, time-to-live settings, and large message sizes.
- Use Cases: Decoupling application components, background processing, and asynchronous tasks.
Storage Accounts
- Purpose: General-purpose cloud storage accounts.
- Key Features: Multi-service support, data redundancy, and secure access.
- Use Cases: Application data, file storage, and backup solutions.
Storage Explorer
- Purpose: Management interface for Microsoft Azure Storage.
- Key Features: Data visualization, bulk operations, and account management.
- Use Cases: Data management, auditing, and storage configuration.
Azure Managed Lustre
- Purpose: Managed parallel file system.
- Key Features: High throughput, low latency, and cloud-based management.
- Use Cases: High-performance computing, data analytics, and scientific simulations.
Conclusion
Microsoft Azure review: Why you should use it?
Microsoft Azure’s cloud services offer a comprehensive suite of features that cater to various business needs, including computing, databases, web app hosting, API management, analytics, and DevOps.
The platform is renowned for its flexibility, allowing for easy scalability and secure storage solutions. It also excels in providing an integrated delivery pipeline, making it easier for businesses to go from development to deployment.
Microsoft Azure’s agility enables faster development cycles and quick response times, and it offers robust disaster recovery options.
However, it’s not without its downsides; the platform requires expert management, may offer varied performance based on geographic location, and migration can be complex.
Pros
- Enhanced Flexibility: Easily scalable and secure cloud storage.
- Integrated Delivery Pipeline: End-to-end solutions from development to deployment.
- Agility: Allows for faster development cycles and quick response times.
- Disaster Recovery: Offers unique options for global fail-over and quick reboot capacity.
- Cost-Effective: Increases revenue and business unit efficiency once deployed.
Cons
- Requires Administration: Needs to be managed and maintained by experts.
- Varied Performance: Speed can be affected by the location of the business.
- Difficult Migration: Moving to Microsoft Azure may require professional assistance.
FAQ