What is cloud computing?
A simple definition of Cloud computing is delivering different types of services over the internet such Compute, storage, network, databases etc..
For example, you have an health care organization that would require an infrastructure to run computer systems, databases and front-end application to enter patient details. To maintain all these, one should plan budget for deployment, once deployed look for maintenance cost etc. this is for On-premises. Whereas is cloud computing, you just need to deploy the services as you need from cloud provider, rest all will be taken care automatically and pay only for what you use.
There are many cloud providers in the market such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud computing, IBM Cloud services, VMWare, Alibaba cloud etc.. Today, we are going to talk about Microsoft Azure.
What is Microsoft Azure:
Microsoft Azure, commonly referred to as Azure, is a cloud computing service created by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centers. It was launched on February 2021 as Windows Azure, later in 2014 it is renamed as Microsoft Azure.
Deployment models in Azure:
There are 4 types of deployment models as below:
Private cloud:
Private cloud is also known as internal or corporate cloud. Computer services are connected via internal network within the organization, selected users are granted access to connect those services. It provides high level security and privacy to data through firewalls and internal hosting.
Public cloud:
In public cloud, the service provide makes the resources available to the public via. It is operated on the Pay-as-per-use-model and administered by Cloud provider.
Hybrid cloud:
Hybrid cloud is a solution that combines a private cloud with one or more public cloud services. Using a combination of public clouds, on-premises computing, and private clouds in your data center means that you have a hybrid cloud infrastructure.
Community cloud:
A community cloud in computing is a collaborative effort in which infrastructure is shared between several organizations from a specific community with common concerns, whether managed internally or by a third-party and hosted internally or externally.
Cloud Service models:
There are three types of service models in Azure.
IAAS (Infrastructure as a Service):
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is an instant computing infrastructure, provisioned and managed over the internet. … A cloud computing service provider, such as Azure, manages the infrastructure, while you purchase, install, configure and manage your own software—operating systems, middleware and applications.
PAAS (Platform as a Service):
If IaaS is at the bottom of the cloud computing pyramid, covering the fundamental infrastructure on which all other computing factors are built, then PaaS sits in the middle. Customers can use PaaS to bolt cloud capabilities onto their own existing network. The PaaS model provides businesses with cloud components for certain software, offering a cloud-based framework on which developers can build and deploy custom applications.
SAAS (Software as a Service):
Software as a service (SaaS) allows users to connect to and use cloud-based apps over the Internet. Common examples are email, calendaring, and office tools (such as Microsoft Office 365). SaaS provides a complete software solution which you purchase on a pay-as-you-go basis from a cloud service provider.
Conclusion:
In this article, we have looked at Microsoft Azure and its deployment models and service models. Based on the available options, you can choose the best deployment model along with service models that fits your orgnaization.
