Fundamentals of Azure

Fundamentals

Cloud concepts 

Azure core services 

Compute

Networking 

Data & Storage Services 

Other Services 

Identity

Compliance 

Security 

Cost 

Core Cloud Services 

Compute

Storage 

Networking 

Application Services 

Analytics 

Scalability 

Increase or decrease resource based on workload demand 

Vertical Scaling : also known as scaling up

Add additional resources to increase the power of the workload 

Eg: Add additional CPUs to a virtual machine

Horizontal Scaling : Also known as scaling out.

Elastic 

Major pattern which benefits from cloud computing 

As your workload changes, resources can be changed to compensate ( Up or down ) 

Example : Seasonal demand for retail web site.

1. Static Scaling  2. Elastic Scaling 

What is an SLA ?

A service level agreement ( SLA ) is an agreement with the business and application teams on the expected performance and availability of a specific service.

1. Define SLA’s for each workload 
2. Dependency mapping : Make sure to include internal/external dependencies Identify single points if failure.

Example : workload requires 99.9% but depends on a service that is only 99.9%

Key terms : 

Mean Time to Recovery ( MTTR ) : Average time to recover service from an outage.

Mean Time Between Failures ( MTBF ) : Average time b/w outages 

Recovery Point Objective ( RPO ) : Interval of time in which data could be lost during a recovery. 

Eg: 5 Minute RPO means up to 5 minutes of data could be lost.

Recovery Time Objective ( RTO ) : Time requirement for recovery to be completed in before there is business unit.

Disaster recovery 

1. Planning for catastrophic failure of workload 
2. Region to region failover 
3. On-premises to cloud failover 
4. Automation and orchestration 

Fault Tolerance 

1. Redundancy is built into services so that if one component fails, another takes its place.
2. Reduces impact when disasters occur.

HA Examples 

Host Outage 

1. When  an underlying host has a catastrophic failure, the virtual machine will automatically be restarted on another host.
2. Availability sets and zones further increase the availability.

Cross region deployment 

1. An application is deployed in a configuration to be highly available across regions.
2. When a service in one region has an outage, traffic can continue to run in the second region.

Cloud Service Models 

1. Traditional 
2. Infrastructure ( as a service )
3. Platform ( as a service )
4. Software ( as a service )

Cloud Economics 

Cloud benefits 

1. Cloud providers can pass on economies of scale to consumers 
2. Acquire hardware at Lower costs 
3. Local government deals 
4. Datacenter efficiencies 

Capex ( Capital Expenditure )

1. Spending on infrastructure is completed upfront 
2. Cost written off over period of time

Operational Expenditure ( OpEx )

No Up-front cost 

Pay for service as you consume it

Deduct from tax bill in same year as expense occurs 

Capex costs 

1. Server costs 
2. Storage costs 
3. Network costs 
4. Backup and archive costs 
5. Datacenter costs ( including DR ).

Opex costs 

Server lease costs 

Software and feature leases 

Usage/demand cost scaling 

Azure Resource Manager ( ARM )

Resource : Individual manageable item available to you in azure 

Resource group : container where you can house your resource for management

Resource provider : provider of services you can deploy in azure ( Microsoft compute ).

ARM templates : files used to define resource you wish to deploy to a resource group.

ARM Templates overview 

1. Apply infrastructure as a code 
2. Download templates from azure portal 
3. Author new templates 
4. Use Quickstart templates , provided by Microsoft 

ARM File Types 

1. ARM Template File : Describe the configuration of your infrastructure via a JSON file 
2. ARM Template Parameter File : Separate your parameter ( optional )
3. Deployment scripts : E.g : Powershell for deployment

ARM Template Constructs 

1. Parameters 
2. Variables 
3. Resources 
4. Outputs 

Azure virtual machine 

VMTYPES 

A - Basic : Basic version of the A series for testing and development

A - Standard : General-purpose VMs.

B - Burstable : Burstable instances that can burst to the full capacity of the CPU when needed.

D - General purpose : Built for enterprise applications. DS instances offer premium storage.

E - Memory optimized : High memory-to-cpu core ratio. ES instances offer premium storage.

F - CPU optimized : High CPU core-to-memory ratio. FS instances offer premium storage.

G - Godzilla : very large instances ideal for large databases and big data use cases

H - High performance compute : high performance compute instances aimed at very high-end computational needs such as  molecular modeling and other scientific applications.

L - Storage optimize  : storage optimized instances which offer a higher disk throughput an IO

M - lARGE memory : another large scale memory option that allows for up to 3.5 TB of RAM 

N - gpu ENABLED : cpu-enabled instances 

SAP HANA on azure certified instances : Specialized instances purposely built and certified for running SAP HANA.

VM Specializations 

S : premium storage options available  ( Eg: DSv2 )

M : larger memory configuration of instance type ( Example : Standard A2m_v2 )

R : Supports remote direct memory ( RDMA ) Eg: H16 mr

Module VM Availability :

Potential for VM impact : 

1. Planned maintenance 
2. Unplanned hardware maintainence 
3. Unexpected downtime 

Availability Sets 

1. Group two or more machines in a set 
2. Separated based in Fault Domains and Update Domains 

Fault Domains and Update Domains 

Planning for availability 

1. Web tier availability set 

2. App tier availability set 

3. Data tier availability set 

App Services 

Introduction to WebApps 

1. Web Apps 
2. Mobile Apps 
3. Logic Apps 
4. API Apps 

App Service Environments ( ASEs )

1. Fully isolated environment
2. For high-performing apps - high CPU and/or memory 
3. Individual or multiple service plans 
4. 2 ways to deploy : internal or external 
5. Created in a subnet via a Vnet which achieves a isolation 
6. Note : May take a few hours to spin up

Compute services - containers 

Containers : 

Standadized packaging for software and dependencies 

A way to isolate apps from each other 

Works with linux and windows servers 

Allows separate apps to share the same OS kernel 

Application Modernization 

Monolithic App Issues 

1. Minor code changes required full recompile and testing 
2. Application becomes a single point of failure 
3. Application is difficult and often expensive to scale 

Microservices:

Break application out into separate services 

12-factor apps 

1. Make the app independently scalable , stateless, highly availably be design

Comparing Monolithic and Microservices 

Monolithic : Simple deployments inter-module refactoring,  vertical scaling , technology monoculture 

Microservices : partial deployments strong module boundaries horizontal scaling technology diversity 

Serverless Computing 

What is serverless computing ?

Fully managed services 

Only pay for what you use 

Flexibility to scale, as needed 

Stitch together applications and services seamlessly 

Azure serverless computing services 

Azure functions 

Logic Apps 

Event Grid 

Azure functions key features 

1. Program languages  C#, F#, JavaScript, Java ( Preview )
2. Pay-per-use pricing  A. Consumption Plan  B. App Service Plan ( Run on the same plan as other services ).
3. Integrated security with OAUTH providers ( Azure AD , Facebook etc ).
4. Code in the portal or deploy via DevOps tools.

Logic Apps Key Features 

1. Workflow Engine 
2. Used to orchestrate and stitch together functions and services ( Just like regular orchestration tools ).
3. Visualize , Design , Build , Automate 

Logic Apps - Key Constructs 

Triggers             ——————————>         Action

VNET

Core VNET Capabilities 

1. Isolation  
2. Internet Access 
3. Azure resources ( VMs and Cloud Services ) 
4. VNet Connectivity 
5. Onpremises Connectivity 
6. Traffic Filter 
7. Routing 
8. Primary building block for Azure Networking 
9. Private Network in Azure based on an address space prefix 
10. Create subnets in your VNet with your own IP ranges 
11. Bring your own DNS or Use azure provided DNS 
12. Choose to connect the network to on-premises or the internet 

Hybrid Connectivity 

Hybrid Connectivity Options 

Site-to-Site ( S2S )

ExpressRoute 

Point-to-Site ( P2S )

S2SVPN gateway connection is a connection over IPsec/IKE ( IKEv1 or IKEv2 ) VPN tunnel.

Requires a VPN device in enterprise datacenter that has a public IP address assigned to it.

Must not be located behind a NAT 

S2S connections can be used for cross-premises and hybrid configurations 

P2S 

Secure Connection from an individual computer. Great for remote worker situations.

No need for a VPN device or public IP. Connect wherever user has internet connection.

OS support: Windows 7,8,8.1 ( 32 and 64 bit ), Windows s10, Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2 64-bit

Throughput up to 100 Mbps ( unpredictable due to internet ).

Doesn’t’t scale easily, so only useful for a few workstations.

VPN Gateway SKUs