Azure Compute and Networking Services

Azure Compute

Azure offers the following compute services

• Virtual Machines
• VM Scale Sets (VMSS)
• App Services(Web Apps)
• Azure Container Instance(ACI)
• Azure Kubernetes Service(AKS)
• Windows Virtual Desktop

Virtual Machines

• These are IaaS - Infrastructure as a Service
• Clone on-prem machine to the cloud
• offers various OS of choice
• It’s a slice of the actual physical machine that is shared with other customers
• We have full control/root access to the machine as if it were ours.
• there are over 200 configurations varied by CPU, RAM

VM Scale Sets

• It offers elasticity
• Two or more virtual machines running the same code with a load balancer to direct traffic randomly to the VM.
• Able to add or remove VM as per demand(auto-scaling)
• It can handle up to 100VMs in a single set and can be configured to run over 1000VMs in a set
• scale sets can be created as per requirement.

App Services

• This is a PaaS (Platform as a Service).
• A new paradigm for running code in the cloud.
• We give our code and config to Azure, which they will run.
• We have 0 access to hardware, but performance is assured.

Azure Container Instance (ACI) && Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

• The new paradigm for running the code in the cloud.
• Containers contain everything the app needs to run in a “container image”
• Fastest and easiest to deploy
• ACI - ACI single instance quickest way to deploy a container
• ACK - runs a cluster of servers, enterprise-grade

Azure Virtual Desktop

• The desktop version of windows runs in the cloud provided by Azure.
• Installed software and files are available from anywhere.
• Desktop accessible from any mobile device or laptop.

Azure Networking

The Azure Networking Services offered are

• Virtual Networks
• VPN Gateway
• VNet Peering
• ExpressRoute

Virtual Network

It is an emulation of a physical network. Microsoft Global Network already exists, a virtual network is just a software configuration, A subnet is a division of a Virtual Network, that you control, and that has its own security rules.

VPN Gateway

A VPN connects two networks as if they were on the same network, and uses a network gateway.

Express Route

It’s a high-speed private connection to Azure

VNet Peering

• By default, VN1 cannot contact VN2 but by using VNet Peering we can establish links between two Vnets
• VNet Peering can be One or Bi-Directional by disabling or enabling reverse-peering.
• Global peering is also an option but is an expensive affair.

Private or Public Endpoints

This enables us to have granular access over our network of who and what can access our services and resources.

• Public endpoint - Accessible to All
• Private Endpoint - Accessible to services and resources in the virtual network