With the help of its continually growing global network of data centres, Microsoft has developed Azure, a cloud platform for developing, deploying, and managing services and applications from any location. Azure is available now. Azure’s platform as a service (PaaS) approach allows you to add cloud capabilities to your current network, while its infrastructure as a service (IaaS) model allows you to entrust Microsoft with all of your computing and network requirements (IaaS).
Any of the two options gives safe, dependable access to your cloud-hosted data, and all are based on Microsoft’s tried-and-true infrastructure. Azure offers an ever-expanding range of goods and services that are intended to fulfil all of your requirements via a single, simple, and easy-to-manage interface.
What are the benefits of Microsoft Azure?
Microsoft maintains an ever-expanding catalogue of Azure services, with new ones being added on a regular basis. It is possible to establish a virtual network and provide services or applications to a worldwide audience since all of the required components are accessible. So, let’s have a look at some of the benefits of Microsoft Azure portal-
1. Virtual machines
Virtual machines are computer programmes that run on a computer’s virtual memory.
Create Microsoft or Linux virtual machines (VMs) in minutes from a large range of marketplace templates or from your own custom machine images with the Virtual Machine Creator. These cloud-based virtual machines (VMs) will host your applications and services as if they were physically located in your data centre.
2. SQL databases
Azure provides managed SQL relational databases as a service, with the ability to host from one to an infinite number of databases. This saves you money on overhead and expenditures like hardware and software, as well as the necessity for in-house knowledge.
3. Azure Active Directory Domain Services
This solution for Azure, which is based on the same tried-and-true technology as Windows Active Directory, allows you to administer group policy, authentication, and everything else from a distant location. It is as simple as a few clicks to migrate an existing security structure, either partly or completely, to the cloud in this manner.
4. Application-specific services
Create and deploy apps that are interoperable with all common web-based and portable platforms has never been simpler than it is now, thanks to Microsoft Azure portal. Cloud access that is reliable and scalable allows you to adapt swiftly to the ebb and flow of your company, saving you both time and money.
Now that Azure WebApps have been made available on the Azure Marketplace, it’s simpler than ever to manage the development and deployment of web apps that grow with your company’s needs and expand as rapidly as possible. APIs for major cloud services such as Office 365, Salesforce, and others are already created, which substantially speeds up development.
5. Visual Studio team services
Visual Studio team services, which are accessible as an add-on service under Azure, provide a comprehensive application lifecycle management (ALM) solution in the Microsoft cloud environment.
Developers may collaborate on Azure portal from anywhere in the globe, and they can share and track code changes, run load testing, and deploy apps to production all while sharing and tracking code changes. Visual Studio team services make development and delivery easier for big organisations or new businesses starting out with a service portfolio.
6. Storage
You can rely on Microsoft’s worldwide infrastructure to deliver data storage that is both secure and highly accessible. When you use Microsoft Azure, it’s easy to create a secure and cost-effective storage plan because of its large scalability and clever pricing structure, which allows you to store data that’s only sometimes accessed at significant savings.
7. Flexibility
Using Microsoft Azure, you can quickly and easily create new services and geometrically grow your data storage capacity on-demand. When compared to a static data centre, which would need the purchase, installation, and deployment of new hardware and operating systems before more power could be applied to your IT difficulties. As a result of its contemporary adaptability, Azure portal is a compelling choice for enterprises of all sizes.
8. Cost
Azure solutions not only make it quicker and simpler to add and grow infrastructure, but they also make it more cost-effective to do so. Actual physical services and infrastructure components, such as routers and load balancers (among other things), may rapidly accumulate into the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost.
Then there’s the IT knowledge necessary to keep this equipment running, which adds significantly to the company’s personnel costs. Azure, by using Microsoft’s huge infrastructure and knowledge, has the potential to significantly reduce our yearly information technology spend.
9. Applications
When it comes to designing and testing mission-critical applications, Micosoft’s a la carte service options like as Visual Studio Team Services, Visual Studio Application Insights, and Azure’s scalable, on-demand storage for both frequently used and ‘cold’ data make it simple and painless. On-the-fly conversion of an application from test to production mode over a globally dispersed network is possible. As an added bonus, Microsoft provides large licence reductions to customers that migrate their current applications to Azure, providing even more opportunities for cost savings.
10. Disaster recovery
Occasionally, the unimaginable becomes a very real and immediate reality. Microsoft Azure also has the benefit of having a high-speed and geographically diversified infrastructure, which allows for almost endless possibilities in terms of disaster recovery planning. Establish a recovery strategy to ensure that your mission-critical applications and data can continue to operate from redundant locations during recovery times that take just minutes or hours rather than days. Lost time equals lost revenue, and with Azure portal, you can ensure that your services continue to operate even when calamity hits.
Conclusion
The combination of Microsoft’s vast infrastructure, constant application and services development, and strong presence in the global information technology marketplace has resulted in Microsoft Azure solutions being selected by two-thirds companies around the world. However, because of Azure’s endless scalability, it may be just as appropriate for your tiny personal company.
It’s possible that the on-premise data centre, together with its pricey hardware and armies of local professionals on the payroll, may be sent to the technological cemetery in the near future. However, sensible, well-researched investments in cloud capabilities, such as those given by Microsoft Azure, will make confronting tomorrow’s ambitious technological challenges and opportunities very simple and straightforward.