Microsoft Azure for Dummies

Your roadmap to Microsoft Azure 

Azure is Microsoft’s flagship cloud computing platform. With over 600 services available to over 44 geographic regions, it would take a library of books to cover the entire Azure ecosystem.  Microsoft Azure For Dummies offers a shortcut to getting familiar with Azure’s core product offerings used by the majority of its subscribers. It’s a perfect choice for those looking to gain a quick, basic understanding of this ever-evolving public cloud platform.

Written by a Microsoft MVP and Microsoft Certified Azure Solutions Architect, Microsoft Azure For Dummies covers building virtual networks, configuring cloud-based virtual machines, launching and scaling web applications, migrating on-premises services to Azure, and keeping your Azure resources secure and compliant. 

• Migrate your applications and services to Azure with confidence
• Manage virtual machines smarter than you've done on premises
• Deploy web applications that scale dynamically to save you money and effort
• Apply Microsoft's latest security technologies to ensure compliance to maintain data privacy

With more and more businesses making the leap to run their applications and services on Microsoft Azure, basic understanding of the technology is becoming essential. Microsoft Azure For Dummies offers a fast and easy first step into the Microsoft public cloud.

Timothy Warner is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in Cloud and Datacenter Management. As a trainer and cloud solution consultant, he specializes in Microsoft Azure, cross-platform PowerShell, and all things related to Windows Server. Tim is also co- author of CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One For Dummies.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started with Microsoft Azure 5

Chapter 1: Introducing Microsoft Azure 7

What Is Cloud Computing? 7

NIST definition 9

Cloud computing benefits 10

Economies of scale 11

Understanding Cloud Computing Models 11

Deployment models 12

Service delivery models 14

Introducing Microsoft Azure Services 17

Azure history 17

PaaS products 19

Starting Your First Azure Subscription 20

Understanding subscription types 20

Creating a free Azure account 22

Viewing subscription details 24

Chapter 2: Exploring Azure Resource Manager 27

Introducing Azure Resource Manager 27

REST APIs 28

Resource providers 28

JSON 30

ARM management scopes 31

Getting Familiar with Azure Regions 33

Availability zones 33

Geographies 34

Special regions 34

Paired regions 35

Feature availability 36

Introducing the Azure Management Tools 36

Azure portal 36

Azure PowerShell 38

Azure CLI/Azure Cloud Shell 39

Azure SDKs 41

ARM REST API 42

Part 2: Deploying Compute Resources to Microsoft Azure 45

Chapter 3: Managing Storage in Azure 47

Understanding Azure Storage Data Types 47

Unstructured data 48

Semistructured data 48

Structured data 48

Working with a Storage Account 49

Creating a storage account 49

Using the blob service 54

Understanding the file, table, and queue services 59

Introducing Azure Disk Storage 61

Chapter 4: Planning Your Virtual Network Topology 65

Understanding Virtual Network Components 66

Address space 66

Subnets 66

Creating a Virtual Network 68

Deploying with the Azure portal 68

Deploying with PowerShell 71

Configuring Virtual Networks 73

Deciding on a name resolution strategy 73

Configuring network security groups 74

Understanding service endpoints 78

Connecting Virtual Networks 81

Configuring VNet peering 81

Understanding service chaining 82

Chapter 5: Deploying and Configuring Azure Virtual Machines 87

Planning Your VM Deployment 88

Understanding VMs 88

Starting your VM deployment from the Azure Marketplace 89

Starting your VM deployment from your on-premises environment 89

Recognizing Azure VM Components 91

Compute 92

Storage 93

Network 93

Architectural Considerations 94

High availability 94

Scalability 95

Deploying Azure VMs from the Azure Marketplace 96

Deploying a Linux VM 96

Deploying a Windows Server VM 99

Configuring Your VMs 106

Starting, Stopping, and Resizing VMs 108

Extending your VM’s capabilities 111

Chapter 6: Shipping Docker Containers in Azure 115

Understanding Docker 116

Using Docker containers 117

Setting up Docker on your workstation 117

Running containers in Azure 120

Implementing Azure Container Instances 122

Deploying an Azure container instance 123

Verifying and disposing of the container instance 124

Storing Images in Azure Container Registry 126

Deploying a container registry 126

Pushing an image to a new container registry 127

Pulling the repository image via ACI 128

Introducing Azure Kubernetes Service 131

AKS architecture 131

AKS administration notes 132

Using Containers with Azure App Service 133

Part 3: Deploying Platform Resources to Microsoft Azure 137

Chapter 7: Deploying and Configuring Azure App Service Apps 139

Introducing Azure App Service 140

Web apps 141

API apps 141

Mobile apps 141

Logic apps 141

Function apps 141

App Service logical components 142

Deploying Your First Web App 144

Deploying from the Azure portal 144

Configuring Git 145

Connecting to a web app from Visual Studio 147

Deploying from Visual Studio 153

Understanding deployment slots 155

Configuring a Web App 157

Customizing app settings 158

Adding a custom domain 158

Binding a TLS/SSL certificate 160

Configuring autoscaling 161

Monitoring a Web App 163

Adding the Application Insights resource 164

Enabling instrumentation in a web app 165

Viewing Application Insights telemetry data 165

Chapter 8: Running Serverless Apps in Azure 167

Defining Serverless 167

Getting to know Azure Functions apps 168

Getting to know Azure Logic Apps 168

Understanding triggers, events, and actions 170

Working with Azure Functions 171

Creating an Azure Function 171

Configuring Function App settings 177

Building Workflows with Azure Logic Apps 179

Creating an Azure Logic App 179

Deploying the resource in the Azure portal 180

Defining the workflow 180

Testing the trigger and action 183

Chapter 9: Managing Databases in Microsoft Azure 185

Revisiting the IaaS versus PaaS Question 185

Controlling the environment 186

Running any version of any database 186

Using preinstalled VMs from Azure Marketplace 186

Comparing Relational and Nonrelational Databases in Azure 187

SQL Database 188

SQL Database for MySQL Servers 189

Azure Database for MariaDB Servers 189

Azure Database for PostgreSQL Servers 189

Implementing SQL Database 190

Understanding service tiers 190

Deploying an SQL Database virtual server 191

Deploying SQL Database 192

Table of Contents ix

Configuring the database 194

Inspecting the virtual server 198

Connecting to the database 199

Implementing Azure Cosmos DB 200

Understanding Cosmos DB 201

Creating a Cosmos DB account 202

Running and debugging a sample Cosmos DB application 203

Interacting with Cosmos DB 204

Part 4: Providing High Availability, Scalability, and Security for Your Azure Resources 209

Chapter 10: Backing Up and Restoring Your Azure Data 211

Protecting Your Storage Account’s Blob Data 212

Backing up and restoring individual storage blobs 212

Backing up storage blobs in bulk 216

Protecting Your Virtual Machines 217

Getting to know the Recovery Services vault 217

Backing up VMs 219

Restoring VMs 221

Protecting Your App Services 223

Backing up App Service apps 223

Restoring App Service apps 224

Protecting Your Databases 225

Backing up and restoring SQL Database 225

Backing up and restoring Cosmos DB 227

Chapter 11: Managing Identity and Access with Azure Active Directory 229

Understanding Active Directory 230

AD versus AD DS 231

Relationship between subscriptions and AD tenants 231

Creating Users and Groups 234

Adding a domain to your directory 234

Understanding AD user and group types 235

Creating an AD group 237

Creating an Azure AD user 238

Working with Azure AD user accounts 238

Configuring Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) 242

Implementing built-in RBAC roles 243

Adding an account to an Azure AD role 245

Touring Azure Advisor 247

Chapter 12: Implementing Azure Governance 251

Implementing Taxonomic Tags 251

Applying tags to resource groups and resources 252

Reporting via tags 257

Implementing Azure Policy 259

Policy definition structure 259

Policy life cycle 261

Part 5: Migrating to Microsoft Azure and Monitoring Your Infrastructure 267

Chapter 13: Extending Your On-Premises Environment to Azure 269

Data Migration Options 269

Blob copy 270

Azure Data Box 271

Azure Migrate: Database Assessment 272

Server Migration Options 277

VHD upload 277

Azure Migrate: Server Assessment 279

Azure Migrate: Server Migration 281

Hybrid Cloud Options 281

S2S VPN 282

ExpressRoute 286

Introducing Azure Arc 288

The Arc use case 288

Arc family members 289

Preparing your environment 289

Adding a Windows Server system to Arc 290

Adding a Linux system to Arc 294

Managing local systems with Arc 295

Chapter 14: Monitoring Your Azure Environment 301

Azure Monitor 302

Enabling diagnostic logging 302

Plotting resource metrics and raising alerts 310

Azure Log Analytics 316

Creating a Log Analytics workspace 316

Connecting data sources to the workspace 317

Writing KQL queries 319

Part 6: The Part Of Tens 323

Chapter 15: Top Ten Azure News Resources 325

Azure Status 325

Azure Blog 326

Azure Updates 326

Azure.Source 327

Build5Nines Weekly 327

Azure Weekly (Endjin) 327

Azure Official YouTube Channel 328

Channel 9: Azure Friday 328

Azure Feedback 328

Tim’s Twitter Feed 329

Chapter 16: Top Ten Azure Educational Resources 331

Azure Documentation 331

Azure Architecture Center 332

Azure REST API Browser 333

Microsoft @ edX 333

Microsoft Learn 334

Azure Certification 334

MeasureUp 335

Meetup 336

CloudSkills 337

Pluralsight 337

Index 339

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