Introduction
Azure is a cloud computing platform and service created by Microsoft, providing a wide range of cloud services, including computing, storage, analytics, and networking. These services allow organizations to build, manage, and deploy applications on a massive, global network using various tools and frameworks.
CORE ARCHITECTURAL COMPONENTS
Azure's architecture is built on a foundation of several core components that work together to provide a robust and scalable cloud environment. Here’s an overview of the core architectural components of Azure:
Regions and Availability Zones
Regions: Azure data centres are grouped into geographic regions around the world. Each region contains at least one data centre and provides full-fledged Azure services, allowing users to deploy resources as close to their users as possible for reduced latency.
Availability Zones (AZs): A region may have multiple availability zones, which are physically separate locations within a region. Each zone is equipped with independent power, networking, and cooling, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance. Workloads can be spread across multiple AZs to prevent downtime during hardware failures or outages.
Resource Groups
- Resource Groups: A logical container for grouping related Azure resources (such as VMs, storage accounts, databases, etc.). Resource groups simplify the management, monitoring, and provisioning of resources as a unit. You can apply policies, manage costs, and deploy updates to all resources within a group.
Azure Resource Manager (ARM)
Azure Resource Manager (ARM): The central management layer for all Azure resources. It provides a consistent management interface for provisioning, managing, and organizing resources across subscriptions. ARM ensures that all resources are managed as part of a deployment model using templates, which provide declarative infrastructure as code.
ARM Templates: JSON files that define the infrastructure and configuration for your Azure solutions. They allow you to automate deployment and ensure the consistent environment across different stages.
Azure Virtual Machines (VMs)
Azure Virtual Machines (VMs): are one of the core services provided by Microsoft Azure, offering scalable, on-demand computing resources.
They allow users to deploy and manage virtualized computing environments in the cloud, similar to physical computers, but with the flexibility and scalability of cloud infrastructure.