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Azure Fundamentals

Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing platform offering a wide range of services for computing, storage, networking, databases, analytics, AI, IoT, and more. This guide covers the foundational concepts you need to understand Azure architecture and core services.

What is Azure?​

Azure (Microsoft Azure) is a public cloud platform providing on-demand computing resources, storage, and services. Key characteristics include:

  • Global Scale: Available in 60+ regions worldwide
  • Services: 200+ services spanning compute, storage, networking, databases, analytics, and AI
  • Hybrid Capability: Seamless integration with on-premises infrastructure
  • Enterprise Trust: Backed by Microsoft's security and compliance expertise
  • Pay-as-you-go: Flexible pricing aligned with consumption

Global Infrastructure​

Azure Regions and Availability Zones​

Azure's infrastructure is organized into regions and availability zones:

Regions: Geographic areas containing one or more data centers. Examples include East US, West Europe, Southeast Asia. Each region is paired with another region for disaster recovery.

Availability Zones: Physically separate data centers within a region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking. Zones protect against data center-level failures.

Geography: Collection of regions in the same geopolitical area (e.g., North America, Europe, Asia).

Deployment decisions should consider:

  • Data residency and compliance requirements
  • Latency and performance for users
  • Cost differences between regions
  • Service availability in specific regions

Azure Resource Hierarchy​

Resource Organization​

Azure uses a hierarchical organizational model:

  1. Management Group: Top level for managing policies across multiple subscriptions
  2. Subscription: Billing boundary and container for resources; enables role-based access control
  3. Resource Group: Logical container for related resources within a subscription
  4. Resources: Individual services (VMs, databases, storage accounts, etc.)

All resources must belong to a resource group in a subscription.

Azure Resource Manager (ARM)​

Azure Resource Manager is the deployment and management service for Azure. Key concepts:

  • Declarative: You describe what you want, not how to deploy it
  • Consistent: Works across all Azure services
  • Template-based: Supports Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
  • Role-based Access Control (RBAC): Integrates security into resource management

ARM templates (JSON) and Bicep (more concise language) enable repeatable, version-controlled infrastructure deployments.

Core Services Overview​

Compute Services​

Virtual Machines (VMs)

  • Full control over OS and software
  • Scalable from single instance to thousands
  • Pay for compute time per hour
  • Use cases: Legacy app migration, custom configurations, development/testing

App Service

  • Managed web and mobile app hosting
  • Built-in autoscaling and load balancing
  • Support for .NET, Java, Node.js, Python, PHP, Ruby
  • Use cases: Web apps, REST APIs, mobile backends

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

  • Managed Kubernetes container orchestration
  • Simplified cluster management and operations
  • Integration with Azure DevOps and container registry
  • Use cases: Microservices, containerized workloads, high-scale applications

Azure Functions

  • Serverless compute for event-driven workloads
  • Pay only for execution time (billed per millisecond)
  • Triggers: HTTP, timers, message queues, database changes
  • Use cases: Automation, data processing, real-time analytics

Azure Container Instances (ACI)

  • Run containers without managing servers
  • Simple and fast deployment
  • Useful for batch jobs and CI/CD scenarios
  • Use cases: Quick container deployments, development/testing

Storage Services​

Blob Storage

  • Object storage for unstructured data
  • Tiers: Hot (frequent access), Cool (infrequent, 30+ days), Archive (rare, 90+ days)
  • Use cases: Documents, images, videos, backups, big data analytics

Azure Files

  • Managed file shares accessible via SMB or NFS
  • Mount from on-premises and cloud VMs
  • Use cases: Shared file storage, legacy application migration

Table Storage

  • NoSQL key-value store for semi-structured data
  • High scalability, partition-based design
  • Use cases: Session state, user profiles, sensor data

Queue Storage

  • Message queue for asynchronous communication
  • Decouples applications for scalability
  • Use cases: Task scheduling, inter-service messaging

Data Lake Storage

  • Petabyte-scale data repository
  • Built on Blob Storage with optimizations for analytics
  • Use cases: Big data analytics, data warehousing

Networking Services​

Virtual Network (VNet)

  • Isolated network environment in Azure
  • Custom IP address space, subnets, route tables
  • Connects to on-premises via VPN or ExpressRoute
  • Use cases: Multi-tier application architecture, hybrid connectivity

Load Balancer

  • Distributes incoming traffic across multiple servers
  • Operates at Layer 4 (transport layer)
  • Internal and public load balancing
  • Use cases: High availability, load distribution

Application Gateway

  • Layer 7 (application layer) load balancing
  • Supports URL-based routing, hostname-based routing, SSL termination
  • Web application firewall (WAF) capabilities
  • Use cases: Web application load balancing, API gateway

Network Security Group (NSG)

  • Firewall rules for controlling inbound and outbound traffic
  • Applied at subnet or network interface level
  • Stateful filtering
  • Use cases: Segment network, restrict traffic

Azure Firewall

  • Managed, cloud-native firewall service
  • Centralized protection across VNets
  • Application and network level filtering
  • Use cases: Hub-and-spoke network security

Azure DNS

  • Host DNS domains and manage DNS records
  • High availability, global scale
  • Integrates with Azure RBAC
  • Use cases: Domain hosting, DNS resolution

Database Services​

Azure SQL Database

  • Managed relational database (SQL Server engine)
  • Automatic backups, patching, and high availability
  • Single database or elastic pools
  • Use cases: Transactional systems, relational data

Azure Cosmos DB

  • Globally distributed NoSQL database
  • Multiple APIs: SQL, MongoDB, Cassandra, Gremlin, Table
  • 99.99% availability SLA with multi-region replication
  • Use cases: Real-time applications, IoT, content management

Azure PostgreSQL / MySQL

  • Managed open-source relational databases
  • Flexible Server (latest, recommended) or Single Server
  • Automatic backups and high availability
  • Use cases: Open-source relational workloads

Azure Database for MariaDB

  • Managed MariaDB database service
  • High availability and automatic backups
  • Use cases: MariaDB migrations

Azure Active Directory (Entra ID)​

Azure Active Directory (now Azure Entra ID) is Microsoft's cloud identity and access management service:

  • User Management: Create and manage user accounts and groups
  • MFA: Multi-factor authentication for enhanced security
  • Conditional Access: Grant or deny access based on conditions
  • RBAC: Role-based access control for Azure resources
  • SSO: Single sign-on integration with applications

Entra ID is the foundation for identity and security in Azure.

Pricing Models​

Consumption-Based​

Pay for resources you use:

  • Compute: Billed per hour (or per second for some services)
  • Storage: Billed per GB stored and per transaction
  • Data Transfer: Billed per GB transferred out of Azure
  • Best for: Variable workloads, development/testing

Reserved Instances (RIs)​

Commit to 1-year or 3-year terms for discounts (up to 72% off):

  • Predictable workloads with consistent usage
  • Significant cost savings
  • Limited flexibility

Spot VMs​

Up to 90% discount on compute for interruptible workloads:

  • Batch jobs, non-critical workloads
  • Risk of eviction
  • Use with caution for critical applications

Free Tier​

Azure free account includes:

  • 12 months of free services (VMs, storage, databases)
  • 200 USD credit for 30 days
  • Always-free services (Functions, App Service, SQL Database in specific tiers)

Management Tools​

Azure Portal​

Web-based console for managing Azure resources:

  • Intuitive GUI for resource creation and configuration
  • Resource groups, cost analysis, monitoring dashboards
  • Access control and compliance management
  • Best for: GUI-based administration, exploration

Azure CLI (az)​

Command-line interface for Azure management:

az login
az group create --name myResourceGroup --location eastus
az vm create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM --image UbuntuLTS

Benefits:

  • Scriptable and automatable
  • Works across platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux)
  • Ideal for CI/CD pipelines

Azure PowerShell​

PowerShell module for Azure management:

Connect-AzAccount
New-AzResourceGroup -Name myResourceGroup -Location EastUS
New-AzVM -ResourceGroupName myResourceGroup -Name myVM -Image UbuntuLTS

Benefits:

  • Native Windows integration
  • Advanced scripting capabilities
  • Useful for systems administrators

Azure Resource Manager Templates (ARM) / Bicep​

Infrastructure as Code:

  • Define infrastructure in declarative templates
  • Version control and reproducibility
  • Bicep offers cleaner syntax compared to ARM JSON
  • Integration with CI/CD pipelines

Five Essential Exercises​

Exercise 1: Create a Resource Group and Explore the Portal​

  1. Log into Azure Portal
  2. Create a new resource group named learning-rg in East US
  3. Navigate to the resource group and note the subscription ID, resource group ID, and location
  4. Explore the Access Control (IAM) tab and note current role assignments

Expected Outcome: Understand resource group creation and portal navigation.

Exercise 2: Deploy a Virtual Machine​

  1. In the resource group learning-rg, create a Linux VM (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS)
  2. Configure basic settings: VM name, size (Standard_B1s), authentication (SSH key)
  3. Create a new virtual network and subnet
  4. Create a Network Security Group allowing SSH (port 22) only from your IP
  5. Review the total estimated cost before deployment

Expected Outcome: Understand VM deployment, networking, and cost considerations.

Exercise 3: Create a Storage Account and Upload Blob​

  1. In resource group learning-rg, create a Storage Account (Standard, Hot tier)
  2. Create a container named myfiles
  3. Upload a sample text file to the container
  4. Generate a shared access signature (SAS) URL to access the file
  5. Access the file using the SAS URL from a browser

Expected Outcome: Understand blob storage, access control, and SAS tokens.

Exercise 4: Deploy an App Service Web App​

  1. In resource group learning-rg, create an App Service Plan (Free tier)
  2. Create a Web App (.NET or Node.js)
  3. Deploy sample code (use quickstart template)
  4. Configure custom domain settings and SSL (optional)
  5. View application logs and metrics in the Monitoring section

Expected Outcome: Understand App Service deployment and monitoring.

Exercise 5: Use Azure CLI to List Resources​

  1. Install Azure CLI locally
  2. Authenticate: az login
  3. List all resource groups: az group list
  4. List all resources in learning-rg: az resource list --resource-group learning-rg
  5. Get details of a specific VM using: az vm show --resource-group learning-rg --name <vmname>
  6. Clean up by deleting the resource group: az group delete --name learning-rg --yes

Expected Outcome: Understand Azure CLI usage and resource management via command line.

Key Takeaways​

  • Azure provides a comprehensive cloud platform with global infrastructure
  • Subscriptions, resource groups, and resources form the organizational hierarchy
  • Compute services range from full control (VMs) to fully managed (Functions)
  • Storage and database services support diverse data patterns
  • Azure Resource Manager enables consistent, templated infrastructure management
  • Management tools include Portal, CLI, PowerShell, and Infrastructure as Code
  • Understanding pricing models helps optimize cloud costs