Microsoft Cloud-Azure SQL Database Tutorial-1

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Hi Guys, welcome to series of tutorial on Microsoft Cloud-Azure SQL database. In this sequence we will walk through the basic concepts and intermediate level of Azure SQL database understanding.

So, lets first understand what is Cloud Computing:-

Simply putting, cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. You typically pay only for cloud services you use, helping lower your operating costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently and scale as your business needs change.

Diagrammatic representation of Cloud Computing

benefits of cloud computing

Cloud computing is a big shift from the traditional way businesses think about IT resources. Here are some of common reasons organisations are turning to cloud computing services:

1. ALWAYS-ON AVAILABLE STORAGE

Once again, the cloud provides an easy way to hold all your necessary data. You can rent cloud storage at a low price and scale it according to your demands. You no longer have to use an external hard drive or build an in-house data center.

2. DISASTER RECOVERY SOLUTIONS

You need data protection when catastrophe strikes. Preventing as much data loss as possible is critical regarding time, money, and efficiency. Cloud provides a much faster, and cost-effective disaster recovery than traditional solutions could ever offer.

Sometimes, the best way to deal with a tragedy is to prepare for it beforehand. You should always consider any worst-case scenarios since most catastrophic events are unplanned. Before cloud computing, you would have to distribute and collect various tapes and drives and then transfer the data to a central location. Now, you can just click a few buttons and have it done for you.

3. COST SAVINGS

You no longer need to buy a ton of external hard drives to keep your critical information.In addition to that, the cloud gives you access to professional staff, advanced security systems, and cutting-edge hardware and software, which adds up to the projected savings.

Cloud service providers that utilize a pay-as-you-go model are especially useful since you will never have to spend money on services that you are not using.

Compare this to a monthly subscription service where you must pay to apply for the entire month regardless of how often you use it. If you use a monthly subscription service for only two weeks, you will get half of your money’s worth.

4. CONSISTENT UPDATES

The software is continuously being improved to increase security, efficiency, speed, capability, and reliability. On the other hand, updated hardware would require you purchasing a new device to enjoy the recent improvements. Software updates are consistent and usually don’t need any extra costs.

5. BUSINESS CONTINUITY

Ensuring business operability in case of a disaster is a significant challenge for most organizations. However, when a single minute of downtime can cost you more than implementing a backup and disaster recovery solution, business continuity management becomes a priority.

The cloud offers disaster recovery and business continuity solutions. You can rely on it to keep your data and applications active even if a disaster physically strikes your business. With a solid business continuity plan and right cloud solutions, you can minimize the effects of potential disruptions.

6. IMPROVED COLLABORATION

People can work together more efficiently and efficiently than ever before. Who needs to book a conference room or take an international flight when large groups of people from all over the world can merely meet over a Skype call? Nobody needs to print out copies of the latest report since they can all access it from the cloud.

7. INCREASED CAPACITY

You no longer need to guess if you will have enough ability to build or destroy an application. Clouds can adjust upwards and downwards depending on what your business needs. The flexibility ensures that you will always be able to utilize cloud services regardless of what your business is doing.

8. PERFORMANCE AND SPEED

The cloud commoditizes enterprise-grade technology, making it available to smaller companies as well. This form of utility computing makes emerging technologies available to businesses at an affordable price point.

You can access high-performance hardware and software to improve your operations. The opex-based delivery model makes cloud resources accessible to businesses of any sizes. You just need to pick the solution that meets your needs best.

9. DATA SECURITY

Keep your data secure and make sure that it does not fall into the wrong hands.

Cloud backups are an ideal solution to ensure business continuity and always-on availability of your files. All clouds offer some degree of encryption, deterrent, and compliance, but private clouds remain the most secure from outsiders. Even so, you must beware of internal attacks.

Types of cloud computing

Not all clouds are the same and not one type of cloud computing is right for everyone. Several different models, types and services have evolved to help offer the right solution for your needs.

First, you need to determine the type of cloud deployment or cloud computing architecture, that your cloud services will be implemented on. There are three different ways to deploy cloud services: on a public cloud, private cloud or hybrid cloud.

Public cloud

Public clouds are owned and operated by a third-party cloud service providers, which deliver their computing resources like servers and storage over the Internet. Microsoft Azure is an example of a public cloud. With a public cloud, all hardware, software and other supporting infrastructure is owned and managed by the cloud provider. You access these services and manage your account using a web browser.

Private cloud

A private cloud refers to cloud computing resources used exclusively by a single business or organisation. A private cloud can be physically located on the company’s on-site datacenter. Some companies also pay third-party service providers to host their private cloud. A private cloud is one in which the services and infrastructure are maintained on a private network.

Hybrid cloud

Hybrid clouds combine public and private clouds, bound together by technology that allows data and applications to be shared between them. By allowing data and applications to move between private and public clouds, a hybrid cloud gives your business greater flexibility, more deployment options and helps optimize your existing infrastructure, security and compliance.

Types of cloud services: IaaS, PaaS, serverless and SaaS

Most cloud computing services fall into four broad categories: infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), serverless and software as a service (SaaS). These are sometimes called the cloud computing stack because they build on top of one another. Knowing what they are and how they are different makes it easier to accomplish your business goals.

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

The most basic category of cloud computing services. With IaaS, you rent IT infrastructure—servers and virtual machines (VMs), storage, networks, operating systems—from a cloud provider on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Platform as a service (PaaS)

Platform as a service refers to cloud computing services that supply an on-demand environment for developing, testing, delivering and managing software applications. PaaS is designed to make it easier for developers to quickly create web or mobile apps, without worrying about setting up or managing the underlying infrastructure of servers, storage, network and databases needed for development.

Serverless computing

Overlapping with PaaS, serverless computing focuses on building app functionality without spending time continually managing the servers and infrastructure required to do so. The cloud provider handles the setup, capacity planning and server management for you. Serverless architectures are highly scalable and event-driven, only using resources when a specific function or trigger occurs.

Software as a service (SaaS)

Software as a service is a method for delivering software applications over the Internet, on demand and typically on a subscription basis. With SaaS, cloud providers host and manage the software application and underlying infrastructure and handle any maintenance, like software upgrades and security patching. Users connect to the application over the Internet, usually with a web browser on their phone, tablet or PC.