Getting Started with Windows Azure Series 1. Overview

Article
03/10/2017

One of the most popular questions I get asked is how can I get started with Windows Azure?

The following is a short overview of what Azure is.

In this series I will talk about the overall platform and then focus on the creation of VMs.

How to Get Started on Azure on Demand Webinar - https://info.microsoft.com/UK-MSFT-WBNR-FY17-11Nov-24-HowtoGetStartedonAzure-269444_Registration.html

We have also built the following presentations and Hands on Labs for getting your students familiar with Azure Cloud

https://github.com/MSFTImagine/computerscience/tree/master/Workshop/1.%20Introduction

In this hands-on lab, you will:

Connect to the lab VM
Log in to the Azure Portal
View the Azure subscription associated with your account

So Azure is a huge product which is having feature and services added approx every 3 weeks

Here is a quick overview of the available services

So Azure is principally made up of SaaS Software as a Service, IaaS Infrastructure as Services and PaaS Platform as a Service

So what is SaaS

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) or Data Science tools such as Azure Jupyter Notebooks and Azure Machine Learning Studio.

SaaS provides a complete software solution, users simply connect to it over the Internet, usually with a web browser. All of the underlying infrastructure, middleware, app software, and app data are located in the service provider’s data center. The service provider manages the hardware and software, and with the appropriate service agreement, will ensure the availability and the security of the app and your data as well. SaaS allows your organization to get quickly up and running with an app at minimal upfront cost.