Companies everywhere seek simplified IT management for the robust IT infrastructures they rely on to remain competitive and efficient. Key components of this infrastructure often include Microsoft Azure, Entra ID (Formerly known as Azure Active Directory), Office 365 (O365), and Exchange.
While these tools provide tremendous benefits, managing them in-ho
use requires a significant investment in resources and expertise.
Here, we’ll walk you through how these tools integrate w
the benefits of partnering with experts to save time and optimize your ROI.
ith one another and simpler ways to manage them -- including
Azure, Entra ID (formerly known as Azure Active Directory), Office 365, and Exchange work together in a cohesive business environment to provide a comprehensive suite of services for productivity, collaboration, and identity management.
Efficient workflows and robust security are crucial for modern business success. Here’s a detailed look at how Azure, Entra ID, Office 365, and Exchange integrate to create a seamless and secure working environment:
Employees log in to their devices and applications using their Entra ID credentials, which provides secure access to Azure services, Office 365 applications, and Exchange Online.
Employees use Office 365 applications like Teams for communication, OneDrive for file storage, and SharePoint for document management, all of which are seamlessly integrated with Entra ID for identity management and Azure for backend services.
Exchange Online manages email communication and calendar scheduling, accessible through Outlook. Entra ID ensures that only authenticated and authorized users have access to their mailboxes and schedules.
Entra ID enforces security policies such as MFA and Conditional Access, ensuring that all interactions with Azure, Office 365, and Exchange are secure. Azure Information Protection adds an additional layer of data security and compliance.
By working together, Azure, Entra ID, Office 365, and Exchange create a powerful and integrated ecosystem that enhances productivity, collaboration, and security within a business environment.
Managing Azure, Entra ID, O365, and Exchange in-house presents several challenges:
Given these reasons, many businesses are turning to modern managed services providers (MSPs) to handle their IT management needs.
Outsourcing the management of Azure, Entra ID, Exchange, and Office 365 offers substantial advantages, enabling businesses to optimize their IT infrastructure while focusing on core operations. Here are the specific benefits:
Bolster your team with certified professionals with extensive experience. Working with the right MSP means working with a team that stays up-to-date with the latest advancements and best practices.
This is because modern MSPs invest in ongoing training and certification for their teams, ensuring they have the knowledge to handle the latest updates and security features.
Outsourcing eliminates the need for recruiting, training, and maintaining a large in-house IT team, significantly reducing overhead costs.
Instead of wasting time & cost, you can leverage a top-tier provider to access scalable services that can be adjusted based on your organization’s needs, allowing for more efficient budget allocation.
MSPs implement advanced security protocols and continuously monitor systems to detect and mitigate threats, ensuring your data remains secure.
With deep knowledge of industry regulations, MSPs help ensure your IT infrastructure complies with all relevant standards and requirements, reducing the risk of non-compliance penalties.
If your team has a limited bandwidth, it can be challenging to ensure your systems are operating correctly.
With regular maintenance and performance tuning, MSPs ensure your systems run efficiently and reliably with 24/7 monitoring and support. Ensuring that any issues are promptly addressed to minimize downtime.
We provide businesses with access to a breadth of knowledge and cutting-edge tools -- without the high costs of in-house management. For a comprehensive approach to IT management, tailored to your needs, here’s how we can help:
Our team comprises certified professionals who specialize in Microsoft technology. We stay updated with the latest advancements and best practices, ensuring your systems are always optimized and secure.
By outsourcing your IT management to Managed Solution, you can significantly reduce the costs associated with hiring and training an in-house team.
Not only do we provide scalable solutions at incredible rates, but we tailor them to your specific needs. Allowing you to allocate resources more effectively, thereby increasing your organization’s overall revenue.
With our proactive approach to IT management, your systems are monitored 24/7 to identify and resolve issues before they impact your business. Our preventive maintenance and timely updates keep your infrastructure running smoothly.
Protecting your data is our top priority. We implement robust security measures and compliance protocols to safeguard your information against threats and breaches.
With Managed Solution handling your IT infrastructure, your internal teams can focus on core business activities and strategic initiatives, driving your business’s expansion and innovation.
Managing Azure, Entra ID, O365, and Exchange in-house is resource-intensive and requires significant expertise.
By leveraging the capabilities of an experienced, modernized MSP, your organization can optimize its IT infrastructure, ensuring it is secure, efficient, and scalable. Embrace the future of simplified IT management and experience the benefits of specialized support without the burdensome costs.
Companies are constantly on the lookout for creative solutions to optimize their processes, enhance productivity, and foster expansion.
One such transformative avenue is through a Microsoft Azure migration. Azure is a leading cloud computing platform that offers an abundance of tools and benefits for businesses of all sizes.
In today’s blog, we'll explore the myriad of ways in which migrating to Azure empowers businesses to streamline their existing operations and what a successful migration strategy looks like.
While application and data modernization offer numerous advantages, organizations are predominantly driven by the following objectives:
Embracing cloud-native technologies enables organizations to redirect their focus from maintaining legacy infrastructure to fostering innovation. By leveraging the cloud, businesses can streamline operations and dedicate more resources to creative and strategic endeavors.
Implementing a microservices architecture empowers organizations to construct applications that are not only resilient and highly scalable, but also independently deployable and adaptable.
This approach ensures that applications can swiftly evolve to meet changing demands, providing businesses with the agility needed to thrive in dynamic market landscapes.
Azure offers an extensive suite of tools and services. From artificial intelligence and machine learning to data analytics, Azure provides businesses with the necessary resources to stay competitive.
With a Microsoft Azure migration, businesses can harness the power of tools like:
These are just a few of the tools that allow businesses to gain valuable insights from their data, enabling smarter decision-making and strategic planning.
Azure's pay-as-you-go model ensures that businesses pay only for the services they use, making it a cost-effective solution, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. Additionally, Azure's scalability allows businesses to adapt to changing demands seamlessly.
Whether your business experiences sudden growth or requires additional resources for a specific project, Azure scales up or down according to your needs, ensuring optimal resource utilization and cost efficiency.
Security is paramount in the digital age, and Azure takes this concern seriously. It is estimated by most top cybersecurity firms that a breach will occur as frequently as every 7 seconds by 2024, and the overall cost impact of cybersecurity breaches have exceeded $20 billion (about $62 per person in the US) this year alone and is expected to be much higher in 2024.
Microsoft invests heavily in ensuring the security and compliance of its cloud services. That is why Azure offers robust security features, including:
These critical security features empower organizations to protect their sensitive data and digital assets effectively. By migrating to Azure, businesses can enhance their security posture, build customer trust, and comply with industry regulations effortlessly.
Azure's Lift-and-Shift strategy is a migration approach that involves transferring existing applications, data, and workloads from on-premises or other cloud environments to Microsoft Azure without making significant changes to the underlying code or architecture.
This method enables businesses to quickly transition to Azure's cloud platform, minimizing downtime and disruptions. The benefits of Lift-and-Shift include rapid migration, reduced costs associated with redevelopment, and streamlined deployment.
This strategy is ideal for businesses with tight migration timelines, or those looking for a straightforward, cost-effective way to move their existing infrastructure to the cloud. It suits organizations seeking a quick and efficient migration solution without the complexities of re-engineering their applications, making it a popular choice for various industries and enterprises of different sizes.
With tools like Azure Migrate, businesses can assess their on-premises infrastructure, identify dependencies, and migrate applications and data to Azure with minimal disruption. However, due to the sophisticated nature of Azure and its migration process, many companies benefit from employing a managed IT service provider to ensure a secure, seamless, expert led migration.
credit: Microsoft
Key Benefits:
Azure's Move-and-Improve strategy represents a comprehensive approach to cloud migration, enabling businesses to not only transfer their existing applications and data to Microsoft Azure but also enhance and optimize them for maximum efficiency.
This innovative strategy involves leveraging Azure's vast array of services and tools to modernize applications, making them more agile, scalable, and resilient in the cloud environment.
The key benefits of this strategy include increased operational efficiency, enhanced security, and the ability to innovate rapidly. Businesses with legacy systems, outdated applications, or those seeking to adapt to changing market demands can significantly benefit from Azure's Move-and-Improve strategy.
By combining migration with optimization, businesses can ensure a seamless transition to the cloud while positioning themselves for sustained growth and innovation.
Whether it's building innovative applications, implementing DevOps practices, or adopting serverless computing, Azure provides the foundation for businesses to explore new horizons, drive digital transformation, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
Microsoft Azure opens the door to a world of possibilities for businesses. The abundance of tools and benefits, coupled with the flexibility to lift-and-shift existing operations and move-and-improve strategies, positions Azure as a game-changer in the business realm.
By embracing Azure, businesses can enhance their efficiency, boost innovation, and pave the way for sustainable growth in the digital age.
If you’re ready to take the next step and learn more about Azure migration, you can chat with one of our experts, you can also save your seat for our upcoming webinar that dives deep into Azure migration to help you learn more about strategies, benefits, and the platform as a whole.
Check out our previous Azure webinars:
Cloud computing has become the backbone of modern businesses. Among the leading cloud service providers, Microsoft Azure stands out as a versatile and powerful platform, offering a wide array of services to meet various business needs.
However, managing an Azure infrastructure is no simple task, and one critical aspect that should never be overlooked is monitoring. In this blog, we'll delve into why monitoring your Azure infrastructure is paramount for ensuring optimal performance, robust security, and overall business success.
Before we dive into the significance of monitoring, it's essential to understand the complexity of Azure infrastructure. Azure's ecosystem comprises various interconnected components, including virtual machines, databases, storage accounts, networking resources, and more.
These components work together to deliver a seamless cloud experience. However, as the infrastructure grows, so do the chances of encountering issues, making monitoring a vital practice to keep everything in check.
One of the most significant advantages of monitoring your Azure infrastructure is the ability to detect and address potential issues before they escalate into critical problems.
Real-time monitoring allows you to set up alerts and notifications for abnormal behaviors, sudden resource spikes, or system errors. By identifying and resolving these issues proactively, you can significantly reduce downtime and ensure high availability for your services.
Security is a top concern for any cloud deployment, and Azure is no exception. Monitoring plays a crucial role in identifying security threats and ensuring compliance with industry standards. By closely monitoring access patterns, failed login attempts, and potential breaches, you can swiftly take action to protect sensitive data and secure your infrastructure from unauthorized access.
Efficiently utilizing resources is essential for both cost-effectiveness and optimal performance. Monitoring your Azure infrastructure provides valuable insights into resource utilization, helping you identify underused or overburdened resources.
By optimizing your resource allocation, you can reduce operational costs and ensure optimal performance for your applications and services.
Keep an eye on CPU, memory, storage, and network usage metrics to understand how efficiently your resources are being utilized. Monitoring these metrics enables you to identify bottlenecks and allocate resources appropriately to avoid performance degradation.
To make better-informed decisions, prevent budget overruns, and ensure you get the most value from your cloud investments; ensure your Azure Monitoring platform enables real-time visibility into cloud resource usage, performance, and overall spend for things like average compute and storage cost.
The performance of your applications directly impacts user experience and business productivity. Monitoring application response times and latency allows you to identify performance bottlenecks, improve responsiveness, and deliver an exceptional user experience.
In distributed cloud environments, monitor the percentage of servers or nodes up and available compared to the total deployed. While automation tools can redistribute workloads, a decrease below 90 percent of available servers might signal serious issues with your cloud server instances.
In a cloud environment, network traffic and latency can significantly affect data transfer and application performance. Monitoring network traffic helps you ensure smooth data flow and identify any network-related issues that may impact your services.
Reveal load balancer or under provisioning issues. Monitor metrics for each cloud region to pinpoint specific latency problems. Compare acknowledgement time with and without a CDN for better performance optimization.
These metrics provide visibility into your application's health and the hosting cloud environment. Errors may stem from application issues or cloud environment problems, such as unavailability of cloud services or misconfigured access credentials for services within your cloud setup.
Regularly monitor security-related metrics such as failed login attempts, firewall logs, and access permissions to maintain a secure and compliant Azure infrastructure. These elements are crucial for protecting sensitive data and adhering to regulatory requirements.
Patched/unpatched known vulnerabilities will indicate how timely and adequately patch cloud security risks in your system -- or if you leave them open for too long.
predict peak demand times, enabling efficient scaling of cloud resources. It also aids in identifying and mitigating issues like DDoS attacks, enhancing application security and performance.
Monitoring peer-to-peer file-sharing metrics enables the tracking of changes in authorized file downloads or sharing. An unexpected increase in these activities could be indicative of a compromised cloud security posture.
As Microsoft's native monitoring service for Azure, Azure Monitor provides a comprehensive solution for monitoring your infrastructure. With custom metrics, log analytics, and application insights, Azure Monitor offers powerful capabilities to help you gain valuable insights into your Azure environment.
While Azure Monitor is robust, it can be expensive and time-consuming to implement, which can be a huge factor for hesitancy in business leaders.
Thankfully, through managed service partners (MSPs), one can set up the integral monitoring solutions with equally powerful monitoring features and integrations with hands-on expert support – all at an affordable rate.
At Managed Solution, we offer Azure Assure managed services to help you monitor and better manage your Azure environment.
Azure Assure, at a Glance:Azure Assure Managed Services offers companies, like yours, strategic cloud adoption and optimized support for their Azure infrastructure. Managed Solution handles day-to-day administration, providing 24/7 security and performance monitoring, advanced security and compliance services, cloud migration, and on-demand professional services.
To businesses' cloud journeys, chat with one of our cloud experts today.
Before setting up your monitoring strategy, define specific monitoring objectives based on your business needs. Clear goals will guide you in choosing the right metrics to monitor and setting up meaningful alerts.
Avoid alert fatigue by configuring alerts and notifications judiciously. Set appropriate thresholds and escalation policies to ensure you receive alerts for critical issues while avoiding unnecessary noise.
Azure infrastructure is dynamic and constantly changing. Periodically review your monitoring configurations, analyze historical data, and fine-tune your monitoring setup to adapt to evolving requirements.
The 2023 State of the Cloud Report by Flexera reveals that an overwhelming 92% of enterprises have embraced a multi-cloud strategy. Despite this growing trend, a significant challenge lies in the networking teams' ability to cope with the rapid changes in the cloud environment.
According to Cisco's findings, a staggering 73% of networking teams find themselves dedicating more time to maintaining the existing status quo rather than efficiently managing multi-cloud deployments.
Furthermore, in a survey by Sciencedirect.com, experts highlighted the following conclusions:
“Monitoring of Cloud is a task of paramount importance for both Providers and Consumers. On the one side, it is a key tool for controlling and managing hardware and software infrastructures; on the other side, it provides information and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for both platforms and applications. The continuous monitoring of the Cloud and of its SLAs (for example, in terms of availability, delay, etc.) supplies both the Providers and the Consumers with information such as the workload…” (Sciencedirect.com).
“As introduced in Section 3, Cloud monitoring is needed to continuously measure and assess infrastructure or application behaviors in terms of performance, reliability, power usage, ability to meet SLAs, security, etc. [44], to perform business analytics, for improving the operation of systems and applications [45], and for several other activities (see Section 3). In this section we introduce a number of concepts at the base of Cloud monitoring that are used to set the context for the following…” (Sciencedirect.com).
These findings make it clear that managing cloud platforms is growing increasingly difficult for businesses, and only further highlight the growing need for cloud monitoring as well as expert-supported management of these incredible systems.
Monitoring your Azure infrastructure is essential for modern businesses. More than having your cake and eating it too, you will secure, optimize, and save on costs to make every bite all the more worthwhile.
From proactive issue detection, to enhanced security, to in-depth visibility enabled performance & cost optimization – the benefits of Azure monitoring enable you to leverage the power of one of the best cloud computing platforms on the market and advance it to the benefit of your business.
Embrace monitoring as an integral part of your Azure strategy and pave the way for a successful and resilient cloud journey. Chat with one of our cloud experts today about Azure Monitoring and get any questions you have, answered.
If you're ready to talk more about Microsoft Azure with a qualified expert, send us a contact request here and we'll set up a time to chat with you. For a deeper dive into the platform, join us on October 25th for part two of our free Azure Webinar series.
This featured blog from Microsoft proudly announces Microsoft's continued recognition as a leader in Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Integration Tools.
In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, data has emerged as essential fuel for the organization, driving decision-making processes and powering innovation. However, the real challenge lies not just in collecting vast amounts of data, but in making sense of it.
Enter data integration—the unsung hero that weaves disparate data sources into a harmonious tapestry that, empowers businesses to gather meaningful insights. In this dynamic realm, Microsoft has emerged as a data integration trailblazer, offering a suite of powerful tools and solutions designed to seamlessly connect, transform, and leverage data for organizations worldwide.
We are thrilled to share that, for the third year in a row, Gartner has positioned Microsoft as a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Data Integration Tools. At the heart of Microsoft’s data integration arsenal lies Azure Data Factory, and this same essential technology is available in the new Microsoft Fabric.
Unify your on prem and multi-cloud data estate to unlock value from all your data with the data integration experience in Fabric, which combines the ease of use of Power Query with the scale and power of Azure Data Factory. Recently reaching general availability (GA), Microsoft Fabric shows our commitment to our customers to deliver cutting-edge data and analytics technologies in the era of AI.
Gartner, a company that delivers actionable, objective insights to executives and their teams, evaluates data integration solutions based on a set of criteria that measure the features and performance of various tools and platforms, ranging from data integration capabilities; connectivity; security and compliance; monitoring and management; support and community; cost, innovation, and roadmap; customer satisfaction; and more. Organizations can use these evaluations to make informed decisions when selecting a data integration solution that aligns with their business needs and objectives.
Data integration is of paramount importance in today’s data-driven world, influencing the efficiency, accuracy, and strategic decision-making capabilities of organizations across various industries. Microsoft continues to empower our customers with powerful data integration tools, including:
Azure Data Factory is a part of Microsoft’s broader ecosystem of data and analytics services within Azure, providing organizations with a scalable and flexible solution for their data integration needs in the cloud. It enables organizations to create, schedule, and manage data pipelines that can move data between supported on-premises and cloud-based data stores. Azure Data Factory plays a critical role in modern data architectures, facilitating the seamless flow of data for analytics, reporting, and business intelligence purposes.
Key components of Azure Data Factory include data integration pipelines and data flows for code-free transformations at scale. The experience provides users with sophisticated control flow and orchestration capability to author robust data integration tasks that operate over large amounts of data. Hundreds of connectors enable data-source-specific integration with Azure Data Factory and Power Query.
Power Query is a data transformation and data preparation engine that delivers an approachable user experience with self-service and enterprise-ready connectors to hundreds of data sources, from cloud to on-premises. Power Query enables business analysts to handle data preparation tasks on their own for workloads across Power Platform, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft Excel.
In this ever-accelerating age of AI, data integration plays a crucial role in facilitating the seamless flow of information and ensuring that the data required for AI applications is accessible, accurate, and relevant. The integration of AI technologies introduces new considerations and opportunities for optimizing data integration processes. Microsoft proved to be adaptive to market needs and pioneered a new vision to unify data and enable AI scenarios with Microsoft Fabric.
Reaching GA at Ignite in November, Fabric takes data integration forward into the era of AI with capabilities like Azure Data Factory and Power Query fused into a single experience along with AI-enhanced productivity through Copilots. Data Factory in Fabric empowers you with a modern data integration experience to ingest, prepare, and transform data from a rich set of data sources (for example, databases, data warehouses, lakehouses, real-time data, and more). Whether you are a citizen or professional developer, you’ll be able to integrate data with intelligent transformations and leverage a rich set of capabilities.
As an all-in-one analytics solution for enterprises, Fabric covers everything from data movement to data science, real-time analytics to business intelligence. It offers a comprehensive suite of services, including data lake, data engineering, and data integration, all in one place. With Fabric, you don’t need to piece together different services from multiple vendors. Instead, you can enjoy a highly integrated, end-to-end, and easy-to-use product, designed to meet all your analytics needs.
Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Integration Tools, Ehtisham Zaidi, Robert Thanaraj, Sharat Menon, Thornton Craig, Roxane Edjlali, Michele Launi, 4 December 2023.
Gartner is a registered trademark and service mark and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. Available here.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product, or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Azure App Service, Cloud Services, Virtual Machines, and Service Fabric Comparison
Azure offers several ways to host web sites: Azure App Service, Cloud Services, Virtual Machines, and Service Fabric. This article helps you understand the options and make the right choice for your web application.
Azure App Service is the best choice for most web apps. Deployment and management are integrated into the platform, sites can scale quickly to handle high traffic loads, and the built-in load balancing and traffic manager provide high availability. You can move existing sites to Azure App Service easily with an online migration tool, use an open-source app from the Web Application Gallery, or create a new site using the framework and tools of your choice. The WebJobs feature makes it easy to add background job processing to your App Service web app.
If you need more control over the web server environment, such as the ability to remote into your server or configure server startup tasks, Azure Cloud Services is typically the best option.
If you have an existing application that would require substantial modifications to run in Azure App Service or Azure Cloud Services, you could choose Azure Virtual Machines in order to simplify migrating to the cloud. However, correctly configuring, securing, and maintaining VMs requires much more time and IT expertise compared to Azure App Service and Cloud Services. If you are considering Azure Virtual Machines, make sure you take into account the ongoing maintenance effort required to patch, update, and manage your VM environment.
The following diagram illustrates the relative degree of control versus ease of use for each of these web hosting options on Azure.
Scenarios and Recommendations
Here are some common application scenarios with recommendations as to which Azure web hosting option might be most appropriate for each:
I need a web front end with background processing and database backend to run business applications integrated with on premise assets.
Azure App Service is a great solution for complex business applications. It lets you develop apps that scale automatically on a load balanced platform, are secured with Active Directory, and connect to your on-premises resources. It makes managing those apps easy through a world-class portal and APIs, and allows you to gain insight into how customers are using them with app insight tools. The Webjobs feature lets you run background processes and tasks as part of your web tier, while hybrid connectivity and VNET features make it easy to connect back to on-premises resources. Azure App Service provides three 9's SLA for web apps and enables you to:
•Run your applications reliably on a self-healing, auto-patching cloud platform.
•Scale automatically across a global network of datacenters.
•Back up and restore for disaster recovery.
•Be ISO, SOC2, and PCI compliant.
•Integrate with Active Directory
I need a reliable way to host my corporate website that scales well and offers global reach.
Azure App Service is a great solution for hosting corporate websites. It enables web apps to scale quickly and easily to meet demand across a global network of datacenters. It offers local reach, fault tolerance, and intelligent traffic management. All on a platform that provides world-class management tools, allowing you to gain insight into site health and site traffic quickly and easily. Azure App Service provides three 9's SLA for web apps and enables you to:
•Run your websites reliably on a self-healing, auto-patching cloud platform.
•Scale automatically across a global network of datacenters.
•Back up and restore for disaster recovery.
•Manage logs and traffic with integrated tools.
•Be ISO, SOC2, and PCI compliant.
•Integrate with Active Directory
I have an IIS6 application running on Windows Server 2003.
Azure App Service makes it easy to avoid the infrastructure costs associated with migrating older IIS6 applications. Microsoft has created easy to use migration tools and detailed migration guidance that enable you to check compatibility and identify any changes that need to be made. Integration with Visual Studio, TFS, and common CMS tools makes it easy to deploy IIS6 applications directly to the cloud. Once deployed, the Azur Portal provides robust management tools that enable you to scale down to manage costs and up to meet demand as necessary. With the migration tool you can:
•Quickly and easily migrate your legacy Windows Server 2003 web application to the cloud.
•Opt to leave your attached SQL database on-premise to create a hybrid application.
•Automatically move your SQL database along with your legacy application.
I'm a small business owner, and I need an inexpensive way to host my site but with future growth in mind.
Azure App Service is a great solution for this scenario, because you can start using it for free and then add more capabilities when you need them. Each free web app comes with a domain provided by Azure (your_company.azurewebsites.net), and the platform includes integrated deployment and management tools as well as an application gallery that make it easy to get started. There are many other services and scaling options that allow the site to evolve with increased user demand. With Azure App Service, you can:
•Begin with the free tier and then scale up as needed.
•Use the Application Gallery to quickly set up popular web applications, such as WordPress.
•Add additional Azure services and features to your application as needed.
•Secure your web app with HTTPS.
I'm a web or graphic designer, and I want to design and build websites for my customers.
For web developers and designers, Azure App Service integrates easily with a variety of frameworks and tools, includes deployment support for Git and FTP, and offers tight integration with tools and services such as Visual Studio and SQL Database. With App Service, you can:
•Use command-line tools for automated tasks.
•Work with popular languages such as .Net, PHP, Node.js, and Python.
•Select three different scaling levels for scaling up to very high capacities.
•Integrate with other Azure services, such as SQL Database, Service Bus and Storage, or partner offerings from the Azure Store, such as MySQL and MongoDB.
•Integrate with tools such as Visual Studio, Git, WebMatrix, WebDeploy, TFS, and FTP.
I'm migrating my multi-tier application with a web front-end to the Cloud.
If you’re running a multi-tier application, such as a web server that connects to a database, Azure App Service is a good option that offers tight integration with Azure SQL Database. And you can use the WebJobs feature for running backend processes.
Choose Cloud Service for one or more of your tiers if you need more control over the server environment, such as the ability to remote into your server or configure server startup tasks.
Choose Virtual Machines for one or more of your tiers if you want to use your own machine image or run server software or services that you can't configure on Cloud Services.
My application depends on highly customized Windows or Linux environments and I want to move it to the cloud.
If your application requires complex installation or configuration of software and the operating system, Virtual Machines is probably the best solution. With Virtual Machines, you can:
•Use the Virtual Machine gallery to start with an operating system, such as Windows or Linux, and then customize it for your application requirements.
•Create and upload a custom image of an existing on-premises server to run on a virtual machine in Azure.
My site uses open source software, and I want to host it in Azure.
If your open source framework is supported on App Service, the languages and frameworks needed by your application are configured for you automatically. App Service enables you to:
•Use many popular open source languages, such as .NET, PHP, Node.js, and Python.
•Set up WordPress, Drupal, Umbraco, DNN, and many other third-party web applications.
•Migrate an existing application or create a new one from the Application Gallery.
If your open source framework is not supported on App Service, you can run it on either of the other two Azure web hosting options. With Cloud Services, you use startup tasks to install and configure any required open source software that runs on Windows. With Virtual Machines, you install and configure the software on the machine image, which can be Windows or Linux-based.
I have a line-of-business application that needs to connect to the corporate network.
If you want to create a line-of-business application, your website might require direct access to services or data on the corporate network. This is possible on App Service, Cloud Services, and Virtual Machines using the Azure Virtual Network service. On App Service you can use the VNET integration feature, which allows your Azure applications to run as if they were on your corporate network.
I want to host a REST API or web service for mobile clients.
HTTP-based web services enable you to support a wide variety of clients, including mobile clients. Frameworks like ASP.NET Web API integrate with Visual Studio to make it easier to create and consume REST services. These services are exposed from a web endpoint, so it is possible to use any web hosting technique on Azure to support this scenario. However, App Service is a great choice for hosting REST APIs. With App Service, you can:
•Quickly create a web app to host the HTTP web service in one of Azure’s globally distributed datacenters.
•Migrate existing services or create new ones.
•Achieve SLA for availability with a single instance, or scale out to multiple dedicated machines.
•Use the published site to provide REST APIs to any HTTP clients, including mobile clients.
Source: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/choose-web-site-cloud-service-vm/
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About Managed Solution
We're technology enthusiasts with a people-first approach. For over two decades, we've witnessed the profound impact that the right technology and support can have on businesses and individuals. Success, to us, is seeing our clients, partners, and team conquer challenges to achieve their greatest goals and build lasting connections. This relentless pursuit of inspiration drives us forward, pushing us to deliver innovative solutions that empower growth and lasting success.
In today’s digital landscape, government agencies face the dual challenge of meeting the growing demands of citizens while ensuring the highest levels of security and compliance. Enter Microsoft Azure for Government—a dedicated cloud service tailored specifically for the public sector, offering unmatched capabilities to drive innovation, efficiency, and security.
Azure for government is a cloud platform designed exclusively for U.S. government agencies and their partners. Built on the foundation of Microsoft's Azure public cloud, Azure for Government offers a unique environment with additional security, compliance, and certification measures. This specialized cloud service is hosted in separate data centers in the United States, operated by screened U.S. citizens, and adheres to strict government regulations, including FedRAMP, DoD, and CJIS requirements.
As technology continues to evolve, so too will the needs of government agencies. Microsoft is committed to ensuring that Azure for Government remains at the forefront of innovation, providing the tools and services necessary to address the challenges of tomorrow. From AI-driven insights to quantum computing, Azure for Government is poised to empower agencies to serve their communities more effectively and securely.
Azure for Government is more than just a cloud platform—it’s a catalyst for transformation within the public sector. By providing government agencies with secure, compliant, and innovative solutions, Azure enables the public sector to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world while safeguarding the privacy and security of citizens.
Whether you’re a federal agency, a state government, or a local municipality, Azure for Government offers the tools you need to drive efficiency, enhance security, and deliver better services to the public.
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