How to Use Azure? A Quick Guide to Azure Services
Azure, a cloud computing platform and an online portal, gives access and managing opportunities to Microsoft cloud services and resources. The services and resources mentioned provide data storage and its transformation according to your needs. What do you need to do to get all that? Simply, have a working internet connection and a connection to Azure. You must admit, it sounds like an incredibly good price for having access to such an incredible platform. Today, we will give you a comprehensive guide on the Azure services and use, as well as an extra tip on how to make your Azure even more effective than it already is.
The knowledge about the Azure software is quite extensive. For starters, we selected a few basic pieces of information to get you familiar with the software.
The beginning of Azure dates back to the year 2010 when in February, it had its launch as a competitor to already existing Amazon Web Services. Over the years, Azure has become one of the most popular cloud computing services, used by more than three-quarters of the Fortune companies.
One of the most important things to know about Azure is you can sign up and start using it for free. Then, you do not have to pay the full price for all the services it offers but choose only the ones you need and want to use. Using Azure is so popular partly because the system supports many programming languages, such as C#, Node, Js, or Java.
At the moment of writing this article, Azure has one the biggest number of data centers in the world among all existing cloud platforms (42 centers). It also does not show any signs of stopping, as another 12 centers are being planned, which will increase the total number to an astounding 54 centers.
As already mentioned, Azure is one extensive platform consisting of many services with various features. How many are there? It has more than 200 services falling into 18 categories, such as computing, networking, storage, DevOps, mobile, containers, analytics, artificial intelligence, and other tools, and services used by developers and not only. It is nearly impossible to comprehensively explain what exactly goes in all the services, however, we would like to cover some major categories and list what Azure offers within them.
Under computing, the Azure portal offers several services, such as:
Functions allow you to create applications using the chosen programming language. The biggest benefit of this service is not having to align with hardware requirements for app development, as it is Azure that is in charge of that. You must only provide the code;
Cloud helps you develop scalable applications. Upon the application deployment, Azure takes over the responsibilities of provisioning, load balancing, and health monitoring;
Service Fabric simplifies the process of microservice development (an application that consists of other smaller applications);
Virtual Machine allows for the quick creation of a virtual machine in Windows, Linux, or any other configuration.
Virtual network causes chosen Azure services to communicate with each other privately and securely;
Azure CDN (Content Delivery Network) delivers content to users with the use of high bandwidth. Thanks to CDN, you can transfer the content to anyone all over the world. The quick transfer is possible thanks to a special network of servers placed in strategic positions around the globe.
Azure DNS enables hosting the DNS domains or system domains on Azure.
Express Route allows for the connection of on-premise networks to the Microsoft cloud or other chosen services thanks to a private connection. This allows for communication to happen between the enterprise network and the chosen service.
File Storage service you can access through industry server message block protocol;
Queue Storage allows for providing stable message queuing in case of a huge workload. You can access Queue Storage from anywhere in the world;
Disk Storage comes down to choosing between a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and a Solid State Drive (SSD);
Blob Storage uses specific optimization for the storage of a large amount of unstructured data.
One of the most popular among all the Azure services is DevOps. What exactly is it? It is a methodology that connects development (Dev) and operations (Ops). Thanks to such a connection developers can deploy efficient applications in a shorter development life cycle.
Adding DevOps to the cloud in the form of Azure DevOps is a revolutionary step. That is why we need a bit of background to understand it better.
Recently, software development has slowly transformed from being concentrated on the product to being oriented on the service. Cloud Computing offers both, Software as a Service, and it aids in shifting the software development process to being service-oriented. Most businesses now use the cloud, and implementing DevOps within it will significantly help these companies. It not only makes it easier by being less technical and minimizing bureaucracy but also speeds up the whole process of software deployment.
The cloud helps companies by providing them with the infrastructure needed to develop apps. Additionally, the companies can only pay for the services they need and actually use. No wonder Azure DevOps makes development easier and more secure.
DevOps processes are linked in Microsoft Azure thanks to the various tools. Azure DevOps provides all necessary tools within one platform. Software development and IT operations for developing apps are finally connected.
You can choose between two versions of Azure DevOps such as Azure DevOps Services or Azure DevOps Server.
The services are referred to as Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) and the server is called a Team Foundation Server (TFS). The above platforms provide environments for many integrations, such as Git and Agile tools.
These are cloud offering, which allows for two scaling and scoping data options (projects, and organizations). Azure DevOps Services can be connected to public networks. Every user must get the access level assigned.
This on-premise offering gives the user three scaling and scoping data options, which are deployment, collections, and projects. Azure DevOps Server can be connected to the intranet server. Access levels are set based on the license.
Let us take a closer look at the services provided by Azure DevOps.
If you want to easily track tasks, features, or bugs, implement Azure boards. You can find there three types of work items, called Epics, Issues, and Tasks.
Epics help to track requirements and features, issues are aimed at bugs and smaller changes, and the tiniest works can be tracked with the use of tasks. Azure Boards and their features make it effortless to keep track of work status updates, and a drag-and-drop feature makes it simple to prioritize.
Azure Repos are directly connected to version control systems. They are the type of software that tracks changes that were implemented within your code. They do it using the snapshots of your files.
A popular example of such software is Git. Subsequently, Azure Repos is a collection of these version control systems that help you in managing the code. The two types of version control are:
Git- a distributed version control system; the work offline is possible thanks to the local copy being a complete repository
Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC)- it is a centralized version control system, therefore the historical data is stored only on the server
Through combining continuous integration and delivery, Azure Pipeline helps to:
create code
test code
automatically grant access to users.
Continuous integration and continuous delivery help you produce consistent and quality code in programming languages such as Java, Ruby, Python, PHP, Go, and C#. Using Pipelines requires your source code to be stored in a version control system, such as Git.
Testing improves the quality of your code. Azure Test Plans allow testing the code in two ways, manually and exploratorily. You can also request feedback, provide it, and track it too. You can run unit testing, functional testing as well as continuous testing.
Artifacts are executable files that you produce during the development and deployment phase. Azure Artifacts is a store with all of them. Azure Artifacts ensures an easy, secure, and fast feed of binary packages. (feed helps in consuming and publishing). The organization and access control to the packages can be done through many feeds.
Whilst we are on the topic of Azure DevOps, we also want to mention the tools you can utilize within Azure DevOps.
Pipelines help to implement continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD), thanks to which you can easily build, test, and deploy applications within various platforms and cloud environments.
Boards are a great help in organizing, planning, and tracking work items as well as collaborating. You can use such enhancements as Kanban boards, backlogs, and dashboards, and generate tailored reports, which help in boosting productivity and enhancing transparency.
If you want to have an in-depth insight into your app's performance, network, and infrastructure, Azure Monitor is the tool you should use. This tool guarantees efficient operations by ensuring the ability to monitor, run diagnostics, and troubleshoot.
Visual Studio has many features that help in development and deployment. Thanks to this tool, you can create large and scalable Azure applications.
Deployment, scalability, and management of containerized applications are effortless thanks to the Kubernetes environment in Azure. Managing and orchestration of containers allows for successful resource utilization and scaling of your applications.
Knowing the features and tools Azure offers, you might have already wondered where and how you can use them in your everyday work life. No need to strain your mind, we have prepared an extensive list. You can use Azure to:
develop applications- you can create any web app in Azure;
test applications;
host applications - after the testing phase, Azure offers help with the application hosting;
collect and store metrics;
create virtual machines and configure them as you please;
integrate and sync features of any virtual devices and directories;
have virtual hard drives, which significantly extend your storage space.
The time has come, to sum up all the good points about the use of the Azure portal. Let us analyze below how the services can help you.
Enhanced business continuity ensured by the Azure infrastructure;
Gaining access to the application with no need to purchase a license for the single machine;
easier consistency maintenance in clouds guaranteed by many tools and resources;
cost-effective solutions that can be scalable, and flexible;
running cloud computing web apps without the need to acquire high-powered and pricey computers;
deployment of high-quality virtual machines in no time (also within the Windows and Linx servers);
IT resources scaling adjusted to your requirements;
no need for processing power or hard disk space;
unlimited storage offered by the Cloud computing;
data accessible at all times, despite possible equipment malfunction;
enhanced collaboration thanks to improved file-sharing opportunities;
data accessible from anywhere at any time, regardless of the type of device used.
As with every type of software, apart from advantages, Asure also has some flaws. It is only fair to present them too to stay objective:
Cloud computing is only available to those who have an Internet connection
web-based apps like Azure require a lot of bandwidth
web-based apps may be slower at times as they are not installed on your PC.
Another feature of Azure DevOps that is worth mentioning is the possibility of integrating it with many tools and making the development process even greater. Such integrations can be customized to your individual requirements and your organization's needs. What tools can Azure integrate with? There are many of them and they fall into various categories such as project management, collaborating, human resources, and many more. One of the most noteworthy integrations is time integration. What can a time-tracking software give you? Below you can find a few benefits of a third-party time tracking integration:
Tracking project profitability- recording of billable hours worked on the projects (including the distinction between employee pay rates); expenses such as bills, or mileage; costs of buying resources to manufacture the product or fulfill projects;
Increasing business revenue- Automatic time tracking indicates the time spent on tasks and how much that time costs in proportion to what income it generated. This allows for making necessary changes needed to improve revenue;
Saving time on reporting- Professional time-tracking software ensures real-time tracking of data regarding tasks, projects, or billing. No need to schedule time-consuming progress update meetings;
Saving time and resources on attendance measurement- time-tracking software is a time-saving solution to attendance tracking. Automatic tracking records all hours worked without the need to do it in person;
More accurate budget estimations- thanks to the past project data (employee rates, time spent on projects, pricing, expenses, etc.) stored in your time tracker you can give your clients reliable and accurate budgets;
Simplified employee and contractor payments- time tracking software provides full automation of payment calculations allowing to creation of a timesheet with hours worked and the total payment due.
There is a variety of Azure time-tracking integrations on the market. Not all of them can provide such an extensive array of features described above. However, one does. It is TimeCamp. Moreover, you can also count on many more features to enhance your business endeavors. Choose a free forever plan or opt for one of the premium plans with a 14-day free trial.
Time management
