When discussing digital transformation, we cannot overlook cloud computing. It has helped companies expand their capabilities and scale to perfection like never before. Nowadays, enterprises are rapidly adopting cloud technologies to scale according to the latest paradigms. More than a trend, cloud computing has become a necessity for businesses.
Among all cutting-edge cloud vendors, Azure is a hot-shot in the industry. Backed by the tech behemoth, Microsoft Azure is one of the leading choices for enterprises worldwide. Millions of organizations become Azure customers almost every day. And, so, the demand for Azure professionals is ever-growing.
Presently, the knowledge of Microsoft Azure can fetch you an average salary of $97,000 per year. These professionals can enjoy a healthy trajectory in their professional lives and gain additional incentives like bonuses and traveling. Besides, the companies offer more to certified cloud professionals.
So, it’s an excellent idea to join a company as a well-paid cloud professional. But, how do you begin? You can aim at cracking an Azure certification by learning the fundamentals and bagging a lucrative job.
Sounds overwhelming? Don’t worry. We’ll discuss all Azure aspects by keeping absolute beginners in mind right below.
Stay tuned!
What Exactly is Cloud Computing?
As you are new in the domain, you might not have much understanding of cloud computing. It’s best to begin the journey by learning the meaning of cloud computing before going anywhere else.
So, what exactly is cloud computing, after all?
Cloud computing can be defined as the availability of various IT resources like compute, storage, database, and networking through an on-demand basis over the Internet with a pay-as-you-go pricing model.
What do the technical statements mean? It implies that you can request several IT services whenever you require without paying upfront costs and other commitments. So, it’s the most convenient and affordable option for businesses to access additional IT resources without many operational burdens.
Are you wondering about the benefits of cloud computing? Here are the essential ones mentioned below.
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No Infrastructure Management
Housing massive infrastructure and data centers can be the biggest challenge for enterprises. However, through cloud computing, they can overcome such a burden as the vendors manage the infrastructure.
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No Massive Investment
Unlike on-premise data centers, migrating to cloud services requires a minor investment. So, it’s even ideal for startups and small businesses who struggle with budget constraints almost every day.
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Security is Not Your Headache
Another notable reason for choosing cloud services is that you can overcome attending to infrastructure security round-the-clock. The cloud vendors appoint specialists to ensure high-standard safety to their infrastructure at all times.
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Unlimited Storage
All of us would have once thought of facilities that could offer unlimited storage to us. With the arrival of cloud computing, such a dream has become a reality. The cloud platforms have no restrictions on storage capacities, and you can upload volumes of data via the Internet.
Similarly, more benefits make cloud computing a popular choice among companies of all dimensions.
Moving on, let’s get introduced to Microsoft Azure.
What Do You Mean by Microsoft Azure?
By now, you have some understanding of cloud computing. So, let’s get more specific to Microsoft Azure and understand its meaning.
So, what is Microsoft Azure, though?
Microsoft announced Azure, a cloud computing platform, in February 2010. It’s a free and open cloud platform that you can use for development, data storage, service hosting, and management. The Azure technology uses Microsoft data centers to host web applications over the Internet.
It has become one of the prevalent cloud platforms worldwide and a classic benchmark for emerging vendors.
Why is Microsoft Azure So Popular?
Around 715 million users and 85% of Fortune 500 enterprises are proud Azure customers. It’s been quite a while that we emphasized the popularity of Microsoft Azure.
What makes it so popular? Essentially, the advantages offered by Microsoft Azure make everyone go crazy behind the technology.
Let’s have a look at the best-in-class benefits of using Microsoft Azure.
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Enhanced Speed
Microsoft Azure has several data centers and availability zones scattered around the world. Such an architecture offers the highest accessing speed to all applications from anywhere and at any time. So, companies can efficiently conduct high-performance tasks on Microsoft Azure.
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More Flexibility
Microsoft Azure offers the highest flexibility to its users. They can build all types of applications on the cloud and access them from anywhere and at any time.
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Highly Scalable
When it comes to scalability, nothing can overtake Microsoft Azure. You can allocate as many resources as you need and de-provision them whenever required. With autoscaling capacities, you can achieve heavy savings and affordability on Azure.
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Disaster Recovery
Microsoft Azure ensures that your data on the cloud remains safe, accessible, and highly available even after a disastrous incident. They allow the option of making multiple copies across various availability zones to ensure that you have enough backups even after losing the primary data.
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Security
With Microsoft Azure, you don’t have to worry about the cloud infrastructure. All you would require is to maintain data security in the cloud with stringent frameworks and mechanisms that Azure offers.
So, these were the most compelling reasons behind the massive popularity of Microsoft Azure. Let’s move further.
What are Azure Components?
Azure has more than 600 services. These offerings can be categorized based on the Azure components mentioned below.
- Compute
- Identity Management and Security
- Storage
- Database
- Content Delivery Network
- Networking
- Integration Services
- Monitoring
- Workflows
- Web Services
- Mobile Services
Some Popular Microsoft Azure Offerings
Now that you have some familiarity with Azure components let’s look at the general services offered by the leading cloud vendor.
- Virtual Machines
- Azure Cosmos DB
- Azure DevOps
- API Management
- Azure Active Directory
- Azure Content Delivery Network
- Azure Backup
- Azure Bots
- Logic Apps
- Azure Site Recovery
Besides, more services are rapidly taking over the industry and attracting millions of customers almost daily. Also, Microsoft is adding more services to their platform and simplifying the lives of companies and employees.
With that, we finish Azure for Beginners. Good luck with your future!
