My two past articles on Azure was My New Love, Windows Azure and Cloud Computing, What is Windows Azure.
I am writing this next article using the “Introducing Windows Azure” book.
Always write to express, not to impress.
I hope both were helpful for starters, now let's talk about Windows Azure services. The following are the four basic cloud-based services that Azure provides:
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The number of various Windows Azure services available is expanding, with new services continually being added and existing services enhanced as the Windows Azure platform continues to evolve. For some fascinating insights into how these services have evolved over time.
Now let's learn more about above the four services.
Compute Services
Windows Azure compute services provide the processing power required for cloud applications to run in.
Currently Windows Azure has the following four compute services:
- Virtual Machines
- Websites
- Cloud Services
- Mobile Services
The Virtual Machines service provides you with a general-purpose computing environment that lets you create, deploy and manage virtual machines running in the Windows Azure cloud.
The Websites service provides you with a managed web environment to use to create new websites or migrate your existing business website into the cloud.
The Cloud service allows you to build and deploy highly available and almost infinitely scalable applications with low administration costs using almost any programming language.
The Mobile service provides a turnkey solution for building and deploying apps and storing data for mobile devices.
Network Services
Windows Azure network services provide you with various options for how Windows Azure applications can be delivered to users and data centers.
Currently Windows Azure has the following two network services:
- Virtual Network
- Traffic Manager
The Virtual Network service allows you to treat the Windows Azure public cloud as if it is an extension of your on-premises datacenter.
The Traffic Manager service allows you to route application traffic for the user using the application to Windows Azure datacenters in three ways: for best performance, in a round-robin fashion, or using an Active/Passive failover configuration.
Data Services
Windows Azure data services provide you with various ways of storing, managing safeguarding, analyzing and reporting business data.
Currently Windows Azure has the following five data services:
- Data Management
- Business Analytics
- HD Insights
- Cache, Backup
- Recovery Manager
The Data Management service lets you store your business data in SQL databases, either with dedicated Microsoft SQL Server virtual machines, using Windows Azure SQL Database, using NoSQL Tables via REST, or using BLOB storage.
The Business Analytics service enables ease of discovery and data enrichment using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting and Analysis Services or a Microsoft SharePoint Server running in a virtual machine, Windows Azure SQL Reporting, the Windows Azure Marketplace, or HDInsight, a Hadoop implementation for Big Data.
HDInsight is Microsoft's Hadoop-based service that brings a 100 percent Apache Hadoop solution to the cloud.
The Cache service provides a distributed caching solution that can help speed up your cloud-based applications and reduce the database.
The Backup service helps you protect your server data offsite using automated and manual backups to Windows Azure.
The Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager helps you protect business-critical services by coordinating the replication and recovery of System Center 2012 private clouds at a secondary location.
App Services
Windows Azure App services provide you with ways to enhance the performance, security, discoverability and integration of your cloud apps that are running.
Currently Windows Azure has the following six app services:
- Media Services
- Messaging
- Notification Hubs
- BizTalks Servicers
- Active Directory
- Multifactor Authentication
The Media service allows you to build workflows for the creation, management and distribution of media using the Windows Azure public cloud.
Messaging consists of two services (Windows Azure Service Bus and Windows Azure Queue) that allow you to keep your apps connected across your private cloud environment and the Windows Azure public cloud.
The Notification Hubs service provides a highly scalable, cross-platform push notification infrastructure for applications running on mobile devices.
BizTalks services provide Business-to-Business (B2B) and Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) capabilities for delivering cloud and hybrid integration solutions.
The Active Directory service provides you with identity management and access control capabilities for your cloud applications.
The Multifactor Authentication service provides an extra layer of authentication, in addition to the user's account credentials, to better secure access for both on-premises and cloud applications.
I am sorry that this article is highly theoretical, but there are important points here.
Do more exercises, read more and ping back with your problems.