Azure Services and Core Components

In this section, we will dive deeper into Azure services and core components. Microsoft Azure provides a wide range of services and resources to help organizations build, deploy, and manage applications and infrastructure in the cloud. Let's explore some of the key Azure services and components:

1. Azure Virtual Machines (VMs): Azure Virtual Machines enable users to create and manage virtual machines in the cloud. Users can choose from a variety of virtual machine configurations, including operating systems, processing power, memory, and storage options. Azure VMs offer flexibility, scalability, and the ability to run a wide range of applications and workloads.
2. Azure Storage: Azure Storage provides scalable and highly available cloud storage solutions. It includes several storage options to meet different needs, such as Blob Storage for unstructured object storage, File Storage for fully managed file shares, Queue Storage for reliable messaging, and Disk Storage for virtual machine disks. Azure Storage ensures the durability, availability, and security of data stored in the cloud.
3. Azure Networking: Azure Networking offers various services for building secure and scalable network architectures. Key components include:

• Azure Virtual Network (VNET): VNET allows users to create isolated network environments in Azure. It enables secure communication between Azure resources and on-premises networks, providing network segmentation and control.
• Load Balancer: Azure Load Balancer distributes incoming network traffic across multiple resources, such as virtual machines or virtual machine scale sets, ensuring high availability and scalability for applications.
• Traffic Manager: Traffic Manager enables global load balancing and optimal routing of traffic across different Azure regions, providing high performance and fault tolerance.
• Application Gateway: Application Gateway is a web traffic load balancer that provides advanced application delivery features, including SSL termination, URL-based routing, and web application firewall (WAF) capabilities.

These are just a few examples of the many services and components available within Azure. Other notable Azure services include Azure Functions for serverless computing, Azure Container Instances (ACI) and Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for container-based deployments, and Azure Batch for high-performance computing workloads.

Understanding these Azure services and core components is crucial for designing and implementing robust cloud solutions. In Module 1.4, we will explore Azure identity and security, covering topics such as Azure Active Directory, access control, and security services provided by Azure.