tech

Azure

Microsoft's enterprise cloud - seamless integration with Office 365, Active Directory, and hybrid infrastructure

TL;DR

One-liner: Azure is Microsoft’s cloud platform with 200+ services - best for enterprise, hybrid cloud, and .NET workloads.

Core Capabilities:

Enterprise integration - Active Directory, Office 365, hybrid cloud
Compute - VMs, App Service, Functions, AKS
Data - SQL Database, Cosmos DB, Synapse Analytics
AI/ML - Azure OpenAI, Cognitive Services, ML Studio

Architecture

Service Categories

Compute: Virtual Machines, App Service, Functions, AKS (Kubernetes)
Storage: Blob Storage, File Storage, Disk Storage, Archive
Database: SQL Database, Cosmos DB, Cache for Redis, PostgreSQL
Networking: Virtual Network, Load Balancer, CDN, Front Door
Identity: Entra ID (Azure AD), Key Vault, Managed Identities

Core Concepts

Subscription: Billing container for Azure resources
Resource Group: Logical container grouping related resources
Region: Geographic location for resources
Tenant: Organization’s instance of Entra ID

Quick Start

Create Account

Go to azure.microsoft.com
Click “Start free” ($200 credit for 30 days)
Sign in with Microsoft account
Create a resource group in Azure Portal

Install CLI

# macOS
brew install azure-cli

# Linux
curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash

# Windows
winget install Microsoft.AzureCLI

# Verify
az --version

# Login (opens browser)
az login

# Set subscription
az account set --subscription "My Subscription"

# Verify
az account show

First Commands

# Create resource group
az group create --name myResourceGroup --location eastus

# List resource groups
az group list --output table

Core Services

Compute

Service	Use Case	Pricing Model
Virtual Machines	IaaS VMs	Per hour
App Service	PaaS web hosting	Per plan
Functions	Serverless	Per execution
AKS	Managed Kubernetes	Control plane free

Storage & Database

Service	Use Case	Pricing Model
Blob Storage	Object storage	Per GB + transactions
SQL Database	Managed SQL Server	DTU or vCore
Cosmos DB	Global NoSQL	RU/s + storage
Cache for Redis	In-memory cache	Per instance

Gotchas

Cost Traps

Stopped VMs still charge for disks: Deallocate instead of just stopping
Public IP addresses: Static IPs charge when not attached
Cosmos DB RU/s: Start low, scale as needed
Premium storage: Regular storage is much cheaper for dev

Permission Issues

Insufficient privileges: Check role assignments in IAM
Resource provider not registered: az provider register --namespace Microsoft.Compute

Common Errors

# "The subscription is not registered to use namespace"
az provider register --namespace Microsoft.Web

# "AuthorizationFailed"
# → Check role assignment in resource group IAM

# "Resource group not found"
az group list --output table  # Verify group name