Azure (Microsoft Azure)

Comprehensive guide to Microsoft Azure cloud services, documentation, and best practices.

Overview

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform with an ever-expanding set of services to help you build solutions to meet your business goals. Azure supports a broad range of operating systems, programming languages, frameworks, databases, and devices.

Getting Started with Azure

Prerequisites

• Microsoft Account or Azure Account
• Azure CLI or PowerShell installed
• Basic understanding of cloud concepts
• Credit card for account verification

Azure Account Setup

1. Create Azure Account

1. Visit azure.microsoft.com
2. Click "Start free"
3. Sign in with Microsoft account
4. Complete profile information
5. Add payment method
6. Get $200 free credit

2. Install Azure CLI

# Windows (using winget)
winget install Microsoft.AzureCLI

# macOS (using Homebrew)
brew install azure-cli

# Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)
curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash

3. Login to Azure

# Login interactively
az login

# Login with service principal
az login --service-principal \
  --username <app-id> \
  --password <password> \
  --tenant <tenant-id>

4. Set Subscription

# List subscriptions
az account list --output table

# Set default subscription
az account set --subscription "subscription-name-or-id"

Core Azure Services

Compute Services

Virtual Machines

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) for running applications.

Create VM

# Create resource group
az group create --name myResourceGroup --location eastus

# Create VM
az vm create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myVM \
  --image Ubuntu2204 \
  --size Standard_B2s \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --generate-ssh-keys

VM Sizes:

Series	Use Case	Example
B-Series	Burstable workloads	B1s, B2s
D-Series	General purpose	D2s_v3, D4s_v3
F-Series	Compute optimized	F2s_v2, F4s_v2
E-Series	Memory optimized	E2s_v3, E4s_v3

Azure App Service

Platform as a Service (PaaS) for web applications.

Create Web App

# Create App Service plan
az appservice plan create \
  --name myAppServicePlan \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --sku B1

# Create web app
az webapp create \
  --name myWebApp \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --plan myAppServicePlan \
  --runtime "NODE|18-lts"

Deploy Code

# Deploy from local Git
az webapp deployment source config-local-git \
  --name myWebApp \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup

# Deploy from GitHub
az webapp deployment source config \
  --name myWebApp \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --repo-url https://github.com/user/repo \
  --branch main

Azure Functions

Serverless compute platform for event-driven applications.

Create Function App

# Create storage account
az storage account create \
  --name mystorageaccount \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --location eastus

# Create function app
az functionapp create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myFunctionApp \
  --storage-account mystorageaccount \
  --runtime node \
  --runtime-version 18 \
  --functions-version 4

Function Code Example

// index.js
module.exports = async function (context, req) {
    context.log('JavaScript HTTP trigger function processed a request.');
    
    const name = req.query.name || (req.body && req.body.name);
    const responseMessage = name
        ? "Hello, " + name
        : "Hello, World!";

    context.res = {
        status: 200,
        body: responseMessage
    };
};

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Managed Kubernetes container orchestration.

Create AKS Cluster

# Create AKS cluster
az aks create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myAKSCluster \
  --node-count 3 \
  --node-vm-size Standard_DS2_v2 \
  --enable-managed-identity \
  --generate-ssh-keys

# Get credentials
az aks get-credentials \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myAKSCluster

# Verify connection
kubectl get nodes

Storage Services

Azure Blob Storage

Object storage for unstructured data.

Create Storage Account

# Create storage account
az storage account create \
  --name mystorageaccount \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --location eastus \
  --sku Standard_LRS

# Create container
az storage container create \
  --name mycontainer \
  --account-name mystorageaccount

# Upload blob
az storage blob upload \
  --account-name mystorageaccount \
  --container-name mycontainer \
  --name myblob.txt \
  --file ./local-file.txt

Storage Tiers:

• Hot - Frequently accessed data
• Cool - Infrequently accessed (stored 30+ days)
• Archive - Rarely accessed (stored 180+ days)

Azure Files

Fully managed file shares in the cloud.

Create File Share

# Create file share
az storage share create \
  --name myfileshare \
  --account-name mystorageaccount \
  --quota 5

# Upload file
az storage file upload \
  --share-name myfileshare \
  --source ./local-file.txt \
  --account-name mystorageaccount

Database Services

Azure SQL Database

Fully managed relational database.

Create SQL Database

# Create SQL server
az sql server create \
  --name myserver \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --location eastus \
  --admin-user myadmin \
  --admin-password MyPassword123!

# Create database
az sql db create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --server myserver \
  --name mydb \
  --service-objective S0

Connection String

Server=tcp:myserver.database.windows.net,1433;
Database=mydb;
User ID=myadmin;
Password=MyPassword123!;
Encrypt=true;
TrustServerCertificate=false;

Azure Cosmos DB

Globally distributed NoSQL database.

Create Cosmos DB Account

# Create Cosmos DB account
az cosmosdb create \
  --name mycosmosdb \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --locations regionName=eastus

# Create database
az cosmosdb sql database create \
  --account-name mycosmosdb \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myDatabase

# Create container
az cosmosdb sql container create \
  --account-name mycosmosdb \
  --database-name myDatabase \
  --name myContainer \
  --partition-key-path "/userId" \
  --throughput 400

Networking Services

Virtual Network (VNet)

Isolated network in Azure.

Create VNet

# Create virtual network
az network vnet create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myVNet \
  --address-prefix 10.0.0.0/16 \
  --subnet-name mySubnet \
  --subnet-prefix 10.0.1.0/24

Network Security Group

# Create NSG
az network nsg create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myNSG

# Add rule
az network nsg rule create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --nsg-name myNSG \
  --name allow-http \
  --priority 100 \
  --destination-port-ranges 80 \
  --access Allow \
  --protocol Tcp

Azure Load Balancer

Distribute network traffic across multiple servers.

Create Load Balancer

az network lb create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --name myLoadBalancer \
  --sku Standard \
  --public-ip-address myPublicIP \
  --frontend-ip-name myFrontEnd \
  --backend-pool-name myBackEndPool

Application Gateway

Web traffic load balancer with WAF.

Azure CDN

Content delivery network for global distribution.

Security & Identity

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)

Identity and access management service.

Create User

# Create user
az ad user create \
  --display-name "John Doe" \
  --user-principal-name john@contoso.com \
  --password MyPassword123!

Key Vault

Secure secrets management.

Create Key Vault

# Create key vault
az keyvault create \
  --name myKeyVault \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --location eastus

# Add secret
az keyvault secret set \
  --vault-name myKeyVault \
  --name mySecret \
  --value "SuperSecretPassword"

# Get secret
az keyvault secret show \
  --vault-name myKeyVault \
  --name mySecret

Azure Security Center

Unified security management system.

DevOps Services

Azure DevOps

Complete DevOps toolchain.

Services:

• Azure Boards - Work tracking
• Azure Repos - Git repositories
• Azure Pipelines - CI/CD
• Azure Test Plans - Testing tools
• Azure Artifacts - Package management

Azure Pipelines

CI/CD service for any language, platform, and cloud.

azure-pipelines.yml

trigger:
  - main

pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

steps:
- task: NodeTool@0
  inputs:
    versionSpec: '18.x'
  displayName: 'Install Node.js'

- script: |
    npm install
    npm run build
  displayName: 'Build application'

- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  inputs:
    PathtoPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
    ArtifactName: 'drop'

Azure Resource Manager (ARM)

Infrastructure as Code for Azure.

ARM Template Example

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "resources": [
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
      "apiVersion": "2021-04-01",
      "name": "mystorageaccount",
      "location": "eastus",
      "sku": {
        "name": "Standard_LRS"
      },
      "kind": "StorageV2"
    }
  ]
}

Deploy Template

az deployment group create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --template-file template.json

Azure Best Practices

Cost Management

• Use Azure Cost Management + Billing
• Implement resource tagging
• Use reserved instances
• Auto-shutdown dev/test resources
• Monitor with Azure Advisor

Security Best Practices

• Enable Azure AD authentication
• Use managed identities
• Implement network security groups
• Encrypt data at rest and in transit
• Regular security assessments
• Enable Azure Security Center

High Availability

• Deploy across availability zones
• Use load balancers
• Implement auto-scaling
• Regular backups
• Disaster recovery planning

Performance Optimization

• Use Azure CDN
• Implement caching
• Choose appropriate VM sizes
• Use Premium storage for critical workloads
• Monitor with Azure Monitor

Azure CLI Cheat Sheet

# Resource Groups
az group create --name myRG --location eastus
az group list
az group delete --name myRG

# Virtual Machines
az vm list
az vm start --name myVM --resource-group myRG
az vm stop --name myVM --resource-group myRG

# Storage
az storage account list
az storage blob list --account-name mystorage --container-name mycontainer

# Web Apps
az webapp list
az webapp restart --name myWebApp --resource-group myRG

# AKS
az aks list
az aks scale --name myAKS --resource-group myRG --node-count 5

Monitoring & Logging

Azure Monitor

Comprehensive monitoring solution.

Create Alert Rule

az monitor metrics alert create \
  --name high-cpu-alert \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --scopes /subscriptions/{subscription-id}/resourceGroups/myResourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/myVM \
  --condition "avg Percentage CPU > 80" \
  --description "Alert when CPU exceeds 80%"

Log Analytics

Collect and analyze log data.

Query Example

AzureActivity
| where TimeGenerated > ago(24h)
| summarize count() by OperationName
| order by count_ desc

Cost Management

Pricing Models

• Pay-As-You-Go - Pay for what you use
• Reserved Instances - 1 or 3-year commitment (up to 72% savings)
• Spot VMs - Use excess capacity (up to 90% savings)
• Dev/Test Pricing - Discounted rates for development

Cost Estimation

Use Azure Pricing Calculator to estimate costs.

Certifications

Fundamentals

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)

Associate

• Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)
• Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204)
• Azure Security Engineer Associate (AZ-500)

Expert

• Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305)
• Azure DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400)

Resources

Official Documentation

• Azure Documentation
• Azure Architecture Center
• Azure Updates

Learning Resources

• Microsoft Learn
• Azure Quickstart Templates
• Azure Code Samples

Support

• Azure Support Plans
• Azure Community Support
• Stack Overflow

Next Steps

• AWS Documentation
• GCP Documentation
• DevOps Best Practices