Azure Compute Resource & Types of compute resources

Azure Compute is a cloud-based computing service that provides scalable and flexible compute resources for running applications and workloads. Azure Compute offers several types of compute resources, including virtual machines, containers, and serverless computing. Here is a detailed overview of each type of Azure Compute resource:

1. Virtual Machines:

Azure Virtual Machines allow you to deploy and run Windows or Linux virtual machines in the cloud. With Virtual Machines, you can choose from a wide range of pre-configured virtual machine images, or you can create your own custom image. You can also choose from a variety of virtual machine sizes and configurations to meet your specific workload requirements. Azure Virtual Machines are ideal for running enterprise applications, web applications, and databases.

2. Containers:

Azure Containers provide a lightweight and portable way to package and deploy applications. With Azure Containers, you can run Docker containers in the cloud, allowing you to easily move your applications between development, testing, and production environments. Azure Containers provide a flexible and scalable way to run microservices-based applications, and they integrate seamlessly with other Azure services such as Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).

3. Serverless Computing:

Azure Serverless computing allows you to run applications without having to manage infrastructure. With Azure Functions and Azure Logic Apps, you can run small code snippets or workflows in the cloud, triggered by events or schedules. Serverless computing is ideal for running small, stateless, and event-driven workloads, such as event processing, data processing, and webhooks.

In addition to these compute resources, Azure Compute also offers several other services and features, including:

1. Azure Batch:

A service that allows you to run large-scale parallel and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads in the cloud.

2. Azure App Service:

A fully managed platform for building, deploying, and scaling web and mobile applications.

3. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS):

A fully managed Kubernetes service that makes it easy to deploy and manage containerized applications.

4. Azure Virtual Desktop:

A virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) service that provides virtualized desktops and applications to users.

5. Azure Durable Functions:

A serverless extension for Azure Functions that allows you to write stateful workflows in a serverless environment.

Azure Compute provides a wide range of compute resources and services to meet the needs of different types of applications and workloads. By leveraging Azure Compute, you can build and deploy applications quickly, easily, and at scale.

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Types of resources azure cloud offers

Azure is a cloud computing platform that provides a wide range of services and resources to help businesses and organizations build, deploy, and manage applications and infrastructure in the cloud. Here are some of the types of resources that Azure offers:

1. Compute:

Azure provides a variety of compute resources, including virtual machines, container instances, and Azure Functions. These resources allow you to run applications and services in the cloud without having to manage physical hardware.

2. Storage:

Azure provides different types of storage resources, including blob storage, file storage, and table storage. These resources allow you to store and manage data in the cloud.

3. Networking:

Azure provides a range of networking resources, including virtual networks, load balancers, and virtual private networks (VPNs). These resources allow you to connect and manage your applications and services in the cloud.

4. Databases:

Azure provides several database services, including Azure SQL Database, Azure Cosmos DB, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL. These resources allow you to store and manage your data in a secure and scalable way.

5. Analytics:

Azure provides several analytics resources, including Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Data Factory, and Azure HDInsight. These resources allow you to process and analyze your data in the cloud.

6. Identity and access management:

Azure provides several identity and access management resources, including Azure Active Directory, Azure AD B2C, and Azure AD Domain Services. These resources allow you to manage user access and authentication to your applications and services.

7. Internet of Things (IoT):

Azure provides several IoT resources, including Azure IoT Hub, Azure IoT Central, and Azure IoT Edge. These resources allow you to connect, manage, and monitor your IoT devices in the cloud.

8. DevOps:

Azure provides several DevOps resources, including Azure DevOps, Azure Artifacts, and Azure Test Plans. These resources allow you to build, deploy, and manage your applications in a continuous and automated way.

These are just a few examples of the types of resources that Azure offers. There are many more resources available, and new ones are being added all the time to support different types of workloads and scenarios.

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How to create an account on Azure

How to create an account on Azure a step-by-step guide:

1. Go to the Azure website (https://azure.microsoft.com/) and click on the "Start free" button on the top right corner of the page. This will take you to the Azure sign-up page.

2. On the sign-up page, you'll need to select the type of subscription you want to use. Azure offers two types of subscriptions: a free trial and a pay-as-you-go subscription. If you're new to Azure, it's recommended to start with the free trial subscription, as it provides a limited amount of free services for the first 12 months.

3. Once you've selected your subscription type, you'll need to sign in with a Microsoft account. If you don't have a Microsoft account, you can create one by clicking the "Create one!" link. You can use any email address to create a Microsoft account.

4. After signing in or creating your Microsoft account, you'll need to provide some personal information and billing details. This includes your name, address, and credit card information. If you're signing up for a free trial subscription, you won't be charged unless you upgrade to a paid subscription.

5. You'll also need to agree to the terms and conditions and privacy statement before you can create your Azure account. Be sure to read these carefully before agreeing to them.

6. After completing the form, click the "Sign up" button to create your account. This will take you to the Azure dashboard, where you can start creating resources like virtual machines, storage accounts, and databases.

7. However, before you can start using Azure, you need to verify your account. You should receive an email from Microsoft Azure with a verification link. Click on the link to verify your account.

8. Once your account is verified, you can log in to the Azure portal (https://portal.azure.com) and start creating resources.

In summary, to create an account on Azure, you need to select a subscription type, sign in or create a Microsoft account, provide personal information and billing details, agree to the terms and conditions and privacy statement, verify your account, and then log in to the Azure portal.

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An internal error occurs when you try to connect to an Azure VM through Remote Desktop

When you try to connect Remote Desktop to Azure Virtual Machine VM and unable to connect RDP and get an error message "An Internal Error has occurred". 

This error can be caused by different reasons. But the main reason which I found is an unsecured port 3389. To check for your Azure VM this port is secured or not please check Network Security Group (NSG) settings. 

In NSG check port 3389, if it shows * as the source IP address for inbound, restrict the RDP port to a specific user's IP address, and then test RDP access. You can specify comma-separated multiple IP addresses. Try to connect Remote Desktop (RDP). Try to connect Remote Desktop (RDP). Please make sure you specify WAN (External IP Address) in NSG. To find out WAN IP address you use a website like myip.com.

Steps to change source IP Address in Azure Virtual Machine (VM) network security

1. Go To Azure Portal

2. Select and open Virtual Machine Resource in the portal

3. In left side blade press Networking

4. In right side blade you will get a list of all inbound and outbound port rules

5. In Inbound Rule, press Port 3389 rule

6. A new blade will open

7. Check for "Source IP addresses/CIDR ranges" if  it is mentioned as * then please replace * with your IP address (WAN IP Address)

8. Press Save

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Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)

Azure Active Directory is a Microsoft cloud-based identity and access management service. Azure AD helps employees of an organization sign in and access resources.

External resources might include Microsoft Office 365, the Azure portal, and thousands of other software as a service (SaaS) applications.

Internal resources might include apps on your corporate network and intranet, along with any cloud apps developed by your own organization.

Azure AD (Azure Active Directory) provides services such as:

Authentication - This includes verifying identity to access applications and resources, and providing functionality such as self-service password reset, multi-factor authentication (MFA), a custom banned password list, and smart lockout services.

Single-Sign-On (SSO) - SSO enables users to remember only one ID and one password to access multiple applications. A single identity is tied to a user, simplifying the security model. As users change roles or leave an organization, access modifications are tied to that identity, greatly reducing the effort needed to change or disable accounts.

Application Management - You can manage your cloud and on-premises apps using Azure AD Application Proxy, SSO, the My apps portal (also referred to as Access panel), and SaaS apps.

Business to business (B2B) identity services - Manage your guest users and external partners while maintaining control over your own corporate data

Business-to-Customer (B2C) identity services - Customize and control how users sign up, sign in, and manage their profiles when using your apps with services.

Device Management - Manage how your cloud or on-premises devices access your corporate data.

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Network Security Group (NSG)

Network Security Group's allow you to filter network traffic to and from Azure resources in an Azure virtual network. An NSG can contain multiple inbound and outbound security rules that enable you to filter traffic to and from resources by source and destination IP address, port, and protocol.

Network Security rule properties

A network security group can contain as many rules as you need, within Azure subscription limits. Each rule specifies the following properties:

Name - Unique name of the NSG.

Priority - A number between 100 and 4096. Rules are processed in priority order, with lower numbers processed before higher numbers.

Source or Destination - Individual IP address or IP address range, service tag, or application security group.

Protocol - TCP, UDP, or Any.

Direction - Whether the rule applies to inbound or outbound traffic.

Port Range - An individual port or range of ports.

Action - Allow or Deny.

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Key Cloud Concepts And Benefits

Cloud services is a big shift from the traditional way businesses think about IT resources. Cloud services have characteristics and considerations, some of which are outlined and explained below:

High Availability - The ability to keep services up and running for long periods of time, with very little downtime, depending on the service in question.

Scalability - The ability to increase or decrease resources for any given workload. You can add additional resources to service a workload (known as scaling out) or add additional capabilities to manage an increase in demand to the existing resource (known as scaling up). Scalability doesn't have to be done automatically

Elasticity - The ability to automatically or dynamically increase or decrease resources as needed. Elastic resources match the current needs, and resources are added or removed automatically to meet future needs when it’s needed, and from the most advantageous geographic location. A distinction between scalability and elasticity is that elasticity is done automatically

Agility - The ability to react quickly. Cloud services can allocate and deallocate resources quickly. They are provided on-demand via self-service, so vast amounts of computing resources can be provisioned in minutes. There is no manual intervention in provisioning or de-provisioning services.

Fault Tolerance - The ability to remain up and running even in the event of a component or service no longer functioning. Typically, redundancy is built into cloud services architecture so if one component fails, a backup component takes its place. The type of service is said to be tolerant of faults.

Disaster Recovery - The ability to recover from an event which has taken down a cloud service. Cloud services disaster recovery can happen very quickly with automation and services being readily available to use.

Global Reach - The ability to reach audiences around the globe. Cloud services can have a presence in various regions across the globe which you can access, giving you a presence in those regions even though you may not have any infrastructure in that region.

Customer Latency Capabilities - If customers are experiencing slowness with a particular cloud service, they are said to be experiencing some latency. Even though modern fibre optics are fast, it can still take time for services to react to customer actions if the service is not local to the customer. Cloud services have the ability to deploy resources in data centres around the globe, thus addressing customer latency issues.

Predictive Cost Considerations - The ability for users to predict what costs they will incur for a particular cloud service. Costs for individual services are made available, and tools are provided to allow you to predict what costs service will incur. You can also perform analysis based on future growth.

Technical Skill Requirements And Considerations - Cloud services can provide and manage hardware and software for workloads. Therefore, getting a workload up and running with cloud services demands less technical resources than having IT teams build and maintain physical infrastructure for handling the same workload. A user can be an expert in the application they want to run without having to need skills to build and maintain the underlying hardware and software infrastructure.

Increased Productivity - On-site datacenters typically require a lot of hardware setup (otherwise known as racking and stacking), software patching, and other time-consuming IT management chores. Cloud computing eliminates the need for many of these tasks, so IT teams can spend time on achieving more important business goals.

Security - Cloud providers offer a broad set of policies, technologies, controls, and expert technical skills that can provide better security than most organizations can otherwise achieve. The result is strengthened security, which helps to protect data, apps, and infrastructure from potential threats.

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Economies Of Scale

The concept of Economies Of Scale is the ability to reduce costs and gain efficiency when operating at a larger scale in comparison to operating at a smaller scale.

Cloud providers such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are large businesses and can leverage the benefits of Economies Of Scale, and then pass those benefits on to their customers.

This is apparent to end-users in several ways, one of which is the ability to acquire hardware at a lower cost than if a single user or smaller business were purchasing it.

Storage costs, for example, have decreased significantly over the last decade due in part to cloud providers' ability to purchase larger amounts of storage at significant discounts. They are then able to use that storage more efficiently and pass on those benefits to end-users in the form of lower prices.

There are limits to the benefits large organizations can realize through Economies Of Scale. A product will inevitably have an underlying core cost, as it becomes more of a commodity, based on what it costs to produce. Competition is also another factor which has an effect on the costs of cloud services.

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Cloud Storage Services

Cloud Storage is a model of computer data storage in which the digital data is stored in logical pools. The physical storage spans multiple servers at different locations, and the physical environment is typically owned and managed by a cloud provider. These cloud storage providers are responsible for keeping the data available and accessible, and the physical environment protected and running. People and organizations buy or lease storage capacity from the providers to store user, organization, or application data.

Most devices and applications read and/or write data. Here are some examples:

• Buying a movie ticket online
• Looking up the price of an online item
• Taking a picture
• Sending an email
• Leaving a voicemail

In all of these cases, data is either read or written. The type of data and how it's stored can be different in each of these cases.

Cloud providers typically offer services that can handle all of these types of data. For example, if you wanted to store text or a movie clip, you could use a file on disk. If you had a set of relationships such as an address book, you could take a more structured approach like using a database.

The advantage of using cloud-based data storage is you can scale to meet your needs. If you find that you need more space to store your movie clips, you can pay a little more and add to your available space. In some cases, the storage can even expand and contract automatically - so you pay for exactly what you need at any given point in time.

Microsoft Azure provides following types of storage services,

• File Storage
• Queue Storage
• Table Storage
• Cosmos DB
• SQL Database

Azure Storage Services

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Capital Expenditure (CapEx)

Capital Expenditure (CapEx) is the spending of money on physical infrastructure upfront and then deducting that expense from your tax bill over time. Capital Expenditure (CapEx) is an upfront cost, which has a value that reduces over time.

A typical on-premises data centre includes costs such as:

Server costs

This area includes all hardware components and the cost of supporting them. When purchasing servers, make sure to design fault tolerance and redundancy, such as server clustering, redundant power supplies, and uninterruptible power supplies. When a server needs to be replaced or added to a data centre, you need to pay for the computer. This can affect your immediate cash flow because you must pay for the server upfront.

Storage costs

This area includes all storage hardware components and the cost of supporting it. Based on the application and level of fault tolerance, centralized storage can be expensive. For larger organizations, you can create tiers of storage where more expensive fault‐tolerant storage is used for critical applications and lower expense storage is used for lower priority data.

Network costs

Networking costs include all on-premises hardware components, including cabling, switches, access points, and routers. This also includes a wide area network (WAN) and Internet connections.

Backup and archive costs

This is the cost to back up, copy, or archive data. Options might include setting up a backup to or from the cloud. There's an upfront cost for the hardware and additional costs for backup maintenance and consumables like tapes.

Organization continuity and disaster recovery costs

Along with server fault tolerance and redundancy, you need to plan for how to recover from a disaster and continue operating. Your plan should consist of creating a data recovery site. It could also include backup generators. Most of these are upfront costs, especially if you build a data recovery the site, but there's an additional ongoing cost for the infrastructure and its maintenance.

Datacenter infrastructure costs

These are costs for construction and building equipment, as well as future renovation and remodelling costs that may arise as demands grow. Additionally, this infrastructure incurs operational expenses for electricity, floor space, cooling, and building maintenance.

Technical personnel

While not a capital expenditure, the personnel required to work on your infrastructure are specific to on-premises data centres. You will need the technical expertise and workforce to install, deploy, and manage the systems in the data centre and at the data recovery site.

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Operational Expenditure (OpEx)

Operational Expenditure (OpEx) is spending money on services or products now and being billed for them now. You can deduct this expense from your tax bill in the same year. There's no upfront cost. You pay for a service or product as you use it.

With Cloud Computing, many of the costs associated with an on-premises data centre are shifted to the service provider. Instead of thinking about physical hardware and data centre costs, cloud computing has a different set of costs. For accounting purposes, all these costs are operational expenses:

Leasing software and customized features

Using a pay-per-use model requires actively managing your subscriptions to ensure users do not misuse the services, and that provisioned accounts are being utilized and not wasted. As soon as the provider provisions resources, billing starts. It is your responsibility to de-provision the resources when they aren't in use so that you can minimize costs.

Scaling charges based on usage/demand instead of fixed hardware or capacity

Cloud computing can bill in various ways, such as the number of users or CPU usage time. However, billing categories can also include allocated RAM, I/O operations per second (IOPS), and storage space. Plan for backup traffic and data recovery traffic to determine the bandwidth needed.

Billing at the user or organisation level

The subscription (pay-per-use) model is a computing billing method that is designed for both organisations and users. The organisation or user is billed for the services used, typically on a recurring basis. You can scale, customize, and provision computing resources, including software, storage, and development platforms. For example, when using a dedicated cloud service, you could pay based on server hardware and usage.

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Capital Expenditure (CapEx) versus Operational Expenditure (OpEx)

Previously companies needed to acquire physical premises and infrastructure to start their business. There was a substantial up-front cost in hardware and infrastructure to start or grow a business. Cloud computing provides services to customers without significant upfront costs or equipment setup time.

These two approaches to investment are referred to as:

Capital Expenditure (CapEx): CapEx is the spending of money on physical infrastructure upfront, and then deducting that expense from your tax bill over time. CapEx is an upfront cost, which has a value that reduces over time.

Operational Expenditure (OpEx): OpEx is spending money on services or products now and being billed for them now. You can deduct this expense from your tax bill in the same year. There's no upfront cost. You pay for a service or product as you use it.

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What is Serverless Computing?

Serverless Computing is a cloud computing execution model in which the cloud provider runs the server, and dynamically manages the allocation of machine resources. Serverless Computing lets you run application code without creating, configuring, or maintaining a server. The core idea is that your application is broken into separate functions that run when triggered by some action. This is ideal for automated tasks - for example, you can build a serverless process that automatically sends an email confirmation after a customer makes an online purchase.

The serverless model differs from VMs and containers in that you only pay for the processing time used by each function as it executes. VMs and containers are charged while they're running - even if the applications on them are idle. This architecture doesn't work for every app - but when the app logic can be separated to independent units, you can test them separately, update them separately, and launch them in microseconds, making this approach the fastest option for deployment. Pricing is based on the actual amount of resources consumed by an application, rather than on pre-purchased units of capacity.

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What are Containers?

Containers provide a consistent, isolated execution environment for applications. They're similar to VM's except they don't require a guest operating system. Instead, the application and all its dependencies are packaged into a "Container" and then a standard runtime environment is used to execute the app. This allows the Container to start up in just a few seconds because there's no OS to boot and initialize. You only need the app to launch.

The open-source project, Docker, is one of the leading platforms for managing Containers. Docker Containers provide an efficient, lightweight approach to application deployment because they allow different components of the application to be deployed independently into different Containers. Multiple Containers can be run on a single machine, and Containers can be moved between machines. The portability of the Container makes it easy for applications to be deployed in multiple environments, either on-premises or in the cloud, often with no changes to the application.

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What is Virtual Machine (VM)?

A Virtual Machine (VM) is an emulation of a computer - just like your desktop or laptop, you're using now. Each Virtual Machine (VM) includes an operating system and hardware that appears to the user like a physical computer running Windows or Linux. You can then install whatever software you need to do the tasks you want to perform.

Virtual Machine (VM)s are created to perform specific tasks that are risky to perform in a host environment, such as accessing virus-infected data and testing operating systems. Since the virtual machine is sandboxed from the rest of the system, the software inside the virtual machine cannot tamper with the host computer. A hypervisor is computer software, firmware, or hardware that is used to create and run virtual machines.

Advantages of Virtual Machines:

• Provides disaster recovery and application provisioning options
• Virtual Machine (VM)s are simply managed, maintained, and are widely available
• Multiple operating system environments can be run on a single physical computer

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Benefits of Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing is renting resources, like storage space or CPU cycles, on another company's computers. You only pay for what you use. The company providing these services is referred to as a cloud provider. Some example providers are Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.

Cloud Computing is a big shift from the traditional way businesses think about IT resources. Here are some important reasons organisations are turning to Cloud Computing services.

Cost

Cloud Computing eliminates the capital expense of buying hardware and software and setting up and running on-site data centers—the racks of servers, the round-the-clock electricity for power and cooling, and the IT experts for managing the infrastructure. It adds up fast.

Global Scale

The benefits of Cloud Computing services include the ability to scale elastically. In cloud speak, that means delivering the right amount of IT resources—for example, more or less computing power, storage, bandwidth—right when they’re needed, and from the right geographic location.

Performance

The biggest Cloud Computing services run on a worldwide network of secure data centers, which are regularly upgraded to the latest generation of fast and efficient computing hardware. This offers several benefits over a single corporate data center, including reduced network latency for applications and greater economies of scale.

Security

Many cloud providers offer a broad set of policies, technologies, and controls that strengthen your security posture overall, helping protect your data, apps, and infrastructure from potential threats.

Productivity

On-site data centers typically require a lot of “racking and stacking”—hardware setup, software patching, and other time-consuming IT management chores. Cloud Computing removes the need for many of these tasks, so IT teams can spend time on achieving more important business goals.

Reliability

Cloud Computing makes data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity easier and less expensive because data can be mirrored at multiple redundant sites on the cloud provider’s network.

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What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing is renting resources, like storage space or CPU cycles, on another company's computers. You only pay for what you use. The company providing these services is referred to as a cloud provider. Some example providers are Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.

The cloud provider is responsible for the physical hardware required to execute your work, and for keeping it up-to-date. The computing services offered tend to vary by the cloud provider. However, typically they include:

• Compute Power - such as Linux servers or web applications

• Storage - such as files and databases

• Networking - such as secure connections between the cloud provider and your company

• Analytics - such as visualizing telemetry and performance data

The goal of Cloud Computing is to make running a business easier and more efficient, whether it's a small start-up or a large enterprise. Every business is unique and has different needs. To meet those needs, Cloud Computing providers offer a wide range of services.

Every business has different needs and requirements. Cloud Computing is flexible and cost-efficient, which can be beneficial to every business, whether it's a small start-up or a large enterprise.

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What is Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service created by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters.

Instead of buying new servers or add more servers for your application/service and set up an infrastructure on-premise, you can simply deploy your whole infrastructure directly on the cloud, so that you don’t have to worry about scaling in or scaling out servers for your application, Microsoft Azure does it for you. In the long runs, it’ll be cost-effective for the customers than buying all those hardware, maintaining the hardware, replacing them during failures etc.

They provide a wide range of services which comes under domains such as Storage, compute, networking, security, monitoring, developer tools, etc. 

It is a similar service to (Amazon Web Services) AWS and Google Cloud.

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