Azure (Microsoft Azure)
This guide outlines an Azure-first operating model for teams running secure, scalable cloud workloads.
Foundation setup
Establish these controls before project rollout:
- management groups and subscription strategy,
- Microsoft Entra ID role model,
- policy and compliance guardrails,
- centralized logging and cost governance.
Core service map
Compute
- Virtual Machines for infrastructure-level control.
- App Service for managed web app hosting.
- AKS for Kubernetes orchestration.
- Functions for event-driven serverless flows.
Storage and data
- Blob Storage for object data.
- Azure SQL for relational workloads.
- Cosmos DB for distributed NoSQL use cases.
Networking and security
- Virtual Network for segmentation and routing.
- Application Gateway/Load Balancer for traffic control.
- Key Vault for secrets and key management.
Delivery and operations model
- Provision resources through IaC templates.
- Use environment-scoped pipelines for release control.
- Monitor service health with Azure Monitor and alerts.
- Maintain recovery procedures and tested failover paths.
Security checklist
- Use managed identities where possible.
- Store secrets only in Key Vault.
- Apply network security groups and private endpoints.
- Enforce policy compliance via Azure Policy.
Cost controls
- Use resource tagging for ownership and billing.
- Review reservations and autoscale settings.
- Track cost anomalies and idle resources.