Understanding Azure

Azure provides all the benefits of the cloud, while being open and flexible. Azure supports a variety of operating systems, languages, tools, platforms, utilities, and frameworks. It supports both Linux and Windows, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL and more, as well as C#, Python, Java, Node.js, Bash, and other languages; MongoDB and DocumentDB NoSQL databases, and Jenkins to VSTS as continuous integration tools. The whole idea behind this ecosystem is to enable users to have their choice and freedom of language, their choice of platform and operating system, their choice of database, their choice of storage, and their choice of tools and utilities. Users should not be constrained from the technology perspective; instead, they should be able to build and focus on their business solution, and Azure provides them with a world-class technology stack. Azure is compatible with the user's choice of technology stack.

For example, Azure supports all popular (open source or commercial) database environments. Azure provides Azure SQL, MySQL, and Postgres PaaS services. It provides a Hadoop ecosystem and offers HDInsight, a 100% Apache Hadoop-based PaaS. It also provides a Hadoop on Linux virtual machine implementation for customers who prefer the IaaS approach. Azure also provides a Redis cache service and supports other popular database environments, such as MongoDB, Couchbase, Oracle, and many others as an IaaS implementation.

The number of services is increasing by the day, and the following diagram displays the rich set of services provided by Azure. Not all services are shown here, and the list keeps on growing. The most updated list of services can be found at https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/services/.

Azure also provides a unique cloud computing paradigm—the hybrid cloud. The hybrid cloud refers to a deployment strategy in which a subset of services are deployed on a public cloud, while other services are deployed in an on-premise private cloud or data center. There is a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection between both the public and private cloud. Azure provides users the flexibility to divide and deploy their workload on both the public cloud and an on-premise data center. 

Azure has data centers across the globe. Azure combines these data centers into regions. Each region has multiple data centers to ensure that recovery from disasters is quick and efficient. At the time of writing, there are 38 regions across the globe. This provides users the flexibility to deploy their services at their choice of location and region. They can also combine these regions to deploy a solution that is disaster-resistant and deployed near their customer base.