Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond E-Book

Steve Miles

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 316

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond, Second Edition, combines the comprehensive cloud fundamentals book with Packt’s powerful exam training platform, offering a holistic learning experience designed to help you not just ace the AZ-900 exam but also apply that knowledge to excel in your career.
Covering essential topics such as cloud computing principles, Azure architecture, services, management, and governance, this guide offers clear explanations and real-world insights to help you build confidence in working with Microsoft Azure. It also includes access to an interactive online training platform, which features practice exams, exam-like timers, interactive flashcards, and detailed explanations to reinforce learning and assess exam readiness.
By engaging with the concepts in this book and the accompanying online resources, you will gain a solid foundation in Azure fundamentals, enabling you to approach the AZ-900 certification exam with confidence and take the next step in your cloud computing journey.

Leseprobe

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond

Second Edition

A complete AZ-900 exam guide with online mock exams, flashcards, and hands-on activities

Steve Miles

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond Second Edition

Copyright © 2024 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Author: Steve Miles

Technical Reviewer: Peter De Tender

Publishing Product Manager: Anindya Sil

Development Editor: M Keerthi Nair

Senior-Development Editor: Ketan Giri

Production Editor: Shantanu Zagade

Editorial Board: Vijin Boricha, Megan Carlisle, Ketan Giri, Saurabh Kadave, Alex Mazonowicz, Aaron Nash, Abhishek Rane, Gandhali Raut, and Ankita Thakur

First Published: January 2022

Second Edition: January 2024

Production Reference: 2060624

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Grosvenor House

11 St Paul’s Square

Birmingham

B3 1RB

ISBN: 978-1-83763-059-2

www.packtpub.com

Foreword

Welcome to this Second Edition of Steve Miles’ Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond. Today is the first day of a life-changing event, where you will become certified in Azure.

My own career started in 1996 as a physical data center technician, messing around with power, cooling, network cables, and deploying server, storage, and network appliances for customers. The Internet was unknown, email was in its infancy, and most businesses were still using Mainframes and terminals (black screens with green- or orange-colored fonts). I had the opportunity to learn about Microsoft Windows NT4 Server in its early days and became quite proficient in deploying, managing, and troubleshooting Microsoft Server products (Exchange Server, SQL Server, Internet Information Server, and alike). I’ve seen the shift from physical servers to virtualization with VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V. I migrated all sorts of customer environments to Office 365 when it was a hard sell to even convince customers to move their corporate data to a cloud environment. I tasted the early bits of Project Red Dog in 2009, what eventually would become Windows Azure, and later/now Microsoft Azure.

I’m no longer touching physical components, but I am still helping customers migrate and deploy their business-critical workloads to the cloud. Because even in the cloud, a lot of the traditional IT concepts are still valid. When deploying Azure Virtual Machines, you need to integrate storage and network. When deploying Web Apps, Identity, and Databases, while no longer managing the actual Virtual Machines, your organization still needs your knowledge and expertise on how to monitor your environment, how to troubleshoot, how to make it more reliable and highly available, etc.

All of that – and much more actually – is what you will learn from going through this book. Starting from cloud fundamental concepts, Steve takes you on a journey to learn a lot about different common Azure services. You will learn how to set up your Azure environments with governance and security in mind, how to keep costs in control, as well as how to optimize your deployments using Infrastructure as code. While the book title says it’s Azure Fundamentals, allow me to say it covers substantially more than that. The good thing is, and I’m talking about my own experience, once you start understanding Azure better, you won’t let go. This book will help you along the way, not only by reading through the chapters but validating your knowledge with actual exercises and skills validation questions as bonus material.

So get on that bandwagon of studying for the AZ-900 exam, but be aware, it won’t be your last Azure exam to take. You will get excited, you will discover new services and capabilities while traveling to the amazing new world called Azure, and you will become a trusted cloud advisor to your organization and your customers.

Getting certified truly can be a life-changer (hey, it landed me a job at Microsoft in Redmond!). You put time and effort into learning, deploying, building, and working toward understanding more about technology. It makes you proud to be part of a worldwide club of Microsoft technology adepts like yourself. It can be a ticket for a pay rise, for a promotion, for moving to a new role… but, most of all, it’s a statement to yourself that “I know this stuff…!!”

If, after reading this book, you have an appetite for more Azure learning content and are thinking of taking more Microsoft exams, make sure you bookmark the Microsoft Learn website (https://aka.ms/learn), with more than 3,000 modules for you to read, watch, or follow along. Azure is a dynamic platform, and so is the certification path. You will love it.

Good luck with your studying journey, and welcome to the club of Microsoft Certified Professionals and Azure enthusiast. Let me know when you have passed that exam!

Peter De Tender

Microsoft Azure Technical Trainer

Enterprise Skills Initiative (ESI) – Microsoft World Wide Learning (WWL)

Contributors

About the Author

Steve Miles, aka smiles or Mr. Analogy, is a Microsoft Azure MVP, Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), multi-cloud, and hybrid technologies author, and technical reviewer with over 25 years of experience in data center infrastructure, managed hosting, and cloud solutions. His experience comes from working in end user, reseller channel, and vendor spaces, with global networks, data and app security vendors, global telco hosters, and colocation and data center services providers, as well as in managed hosting and hardware, software, and services distribution. His roles have been varied and have included many engineering and architecture roles, as well as technical project management and most recently as Azure practice technical lead and senior technology leadership function for a multi-billion cloud distributor based in the UK and Dublin.

Most happy in front of a whiteboard, he prefers to speak using illustrations. He is renowned for his analogies for breaking down complex technologies and concepts into everyday, real-world scenarios.

His first Microsoft certifications were MCSE on Windows NT and CCNA. He has over 20 Microsoft certifications—14 of those being Azure, including Microsoft Certified Azure Expert—in addition to many other vendor certifications. He also holds PRINCE2 and ITIL. Finally, as part of the multi-cloud aspect, he has experience with GCP and AWS, is Alibaba-Cloud-certified, and is an Alibaba Cloud MVP.

I want to thank the people who have been close to me and supported me, professionally and at home; especially my wife, Pippa, aka Mrs. Smiles, and my family.

About the Reviewer

Peter De Tender has an extensive background in architecting, deploying, managing, and training Microsoft technologies, dating back to Windows NT4 Server in 1996, all the way to the latest and modern cloud solutions available in Azure today. With a passion for cloud Architecture, Devops and App Migration, Peter always has a story to share on how to optimize your Enterprise-ready cloud workloads. When he’s not providing a technical Azure workshop out of his role as Azure Technical Trainer at Microsoft Corp, for which he relocated from Belgium to Seattle early 2022, he’s developing web apps on .NET Blazor as a new hobby. Peter was an Azure MVP for 5 years, is a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) for over 13 years, and still actively involved in the community as public speaker, technical writer, book author and publisher.

You can follow Peter on X (formerly Twitter) @pdtit and read his technical blog adventures on http://www.007ffflearning.com.

Table of Contents

Preface

1

Introduction to Cloud Computing

Making the Most Out of this Book – Your Certification and Beyond

What is Cloud Computing?

The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing

Evolution of the Cloud Computing Model

Evolution of Cloud Computing Architectures

Why Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing’s Target Audience

Cloud Computing’s Hierarchy of Needs

What Is the Shared Responsibility Model?

What Are the Cloud Computing Delivery Models?

Comparing the Cloud Computing Delivery Models

Characteristics of Public Cloud Computing Resources

Characteristics of Private Cloud Computing Resources

Characteristics of Hybrid Cloud Computing Resources

What Are Cloud Computing Service Models?

A Closer Look at the Cloud Computing Service Models

What Is Serverless Computing?

Comparing the Cloud Computing Service Models

Characteristics of IaaS

Characteristics of PaaS

Characteristics of FaaS (Serverless)

Characteristics of SaaS

Summary

Exam Readiness Drill – Chapter Review Questions

Additional Information and Study References

2

Benefits of Using Cloud Services

Cloud Computing as a Digital Transformation Enabler

Digital Transformation Triggers

Migration Approach

Cloud Computing Mindset

What Is a Traditional Computing Model Mindset?

What Is a Cloud Computing Mindset?

Cloud Computing Operations Model

Operational Benefits of Cloud Computing

Comparing Disaster Recovery, High Availability, and Backup

Challenges of Implementing Business Continuity

Economics of Cloud Computing

Consumption Model

Defining the Expenditure Models

Applying Cost Expenditure Models to Cloud Computing

Summary

Exam Readiness Drill – Chapter Review Questions

Additional Information and Study References

3

Azure Core Architectural Components

Azure Global Infrastructure

Azure Regions and Geographies

Availability Components

Azure Resource Management

Azure Management Scopes

Azure Management Groups

Azure Subscriptions

Azure Resource Manager (ARM)

Summary

Exam Readiness Drill – Chapter Review Questions

Online Hands-On Activities

Additional Information and Study References

4

Azure Core Resources

Azure Resources

Azure Compute Resources

Virtual Machines

Container Services

Azure App Service

Azure Functions

Azure Virtual Desktop Service

Azure Network Services

Azure Virtual Networks

Azure DNS

Windows Server DNS on Azure VMs

Hybrid Name Resolution

Azure Storage Services

Storage Types

File Storage

Container (Blob) Storage

Queue Storage

Disk Storage

Storage Accounts

Storage Tiers

Storage Replication

Storage Copying

Data Stores

Summary

Exam Readiness Drill – Chapter Review Questions

Online Hands-On Activities

Additional Information and Study References

5

Azure Identity and Access

Authentication and Authorization

Microsoft Entra ID

Comparing Active Directory (AD) and Microsoft Entra ID

Microsoft Entra Domain Services

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Conditional Access

Passwordless Authentication

Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Azure Subscription Access Control

Azure Roles

External Identity Access

Summary

Exam Readiness Drill – Chapter Review Questions

Online Hands-On Activities

Additional Information and Study References

6

Azure Security

Threat Landscape

Common Threats

What Can Be Done to Prevent Threats?

Security Posture

Zero Trust

Defense-in-Depth (DiD)

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Microsoft Sentinel

Summary

Exam Readiness Drill – Chapter Review Questions

Online Hands-On Activities

Additional Information and Study References

7

Azure Cost Management

Factors Influencing Costs in Azure

Reducing and Controlling Costs

Azure Cost Management

The Azure Pricing Calculator

The Azure TCO Calculator

Summary

Exam Readiness Drill – Chapter Review Questions

Additional Information and Study References

8

Azure Governance and Compliance

Microsoft Purview in Azure

Azure Policy

Resource Locks

Tags

Azure Service Lifecycle

Core Security, Privacy, and Security Tenets

Trust Center

Summary

Exam Readiness Drill – Chapter Review Questions

Online Hands-On Activities

Additional Information and Study References

9

Azure Resource Deployment and Management

Azure Portal

Azure PowerShell

Azure CLI

Azure Cloud Shell

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) Templates

Azure Arc

Summary

Exam Readiness Drill – Chapter Review Questions

Additional Information and Study References

10

Azure Monitoring and Tools

Azure Advisor

Azure Monitor

Azure Service Health

Summary

Exam Readiness Drill – Chapter Review Questions

Additional Information and Study References

11

Accessing the Online Practice Resources

Appendix

Assessing AZ-900 Exam Skills

Other Books You May Enjoy

Preface

The biggest change to the technology landscape in recent times has been triggered by the COVID-19 global pandemic; it has changed so much of what you do and how you do it forever. This has led to redefining the attitudes and approaches to hybrid working and the technology systems you use to adopt and embrace it. Azure is Microsoft’s cloud computing platform and provides organizations with on-demand access to computing, storage, networking, and many other resources to meet their needs. The content of this book, Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond, Second Edition, is intended to provide complete coverage of the skills measured in the exam to prepare you for the Microsoft certification Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals.

This book will focus on the following key areas for the exam:

Describing cloud conceptsDescribing Azure architecture and servicesDescribing Azure management and governance

This book also aims to go beyond exam objectives. By the end of the book, you will have gained an extra depth of knowledge that will be of value in a day-to-day Azure-focused role.

Second Edition

More than two years have passed since the first edition of this book. There have been a lot of changes to Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and the Microsoft cloud ecosystem in that time. The second edition offers updated exam “skills measured” materials to you and provides additional notes, hints, tips, and tricks to help you navigate the exam and certification process, as well as the ever-evolving world of cloud computing. The new edition now gives you unlimited access to our online practice resources platform, letting you practice what you learned in the book from any device. There, you can get access to flashcards and exam tips specially designed to help you memorize key topics and be fully prepared to ace the exam. Furthermore, in the new edition, information is organized in a way that makes it easier to test your knowledge. Some topics have also been updated to align with the revised “skills measured” for the exam and incorporate the latest innovations and advancements in the Microsoft cloud ecosystem.

Online Practice Resources

With this book, you will unlock unlimited access to our online exam-prep platform (Figure 0.1). This is your place to practice everything you learn in the book.

How to access the resources

To learn how to access the online resources, refer to Chapter 11, Accessing the Online Resources at the end of this book.

Figure 0.1 – Online exam-prep platform on a desktop device

Sharpen your knowledge of AZ-900 concepts with multiple sets of mock exams, interactive flashcards, and hands-on activities accessible from all modern web browsers. If you get stuck, you can raise your concerns with the author directly through the website. Before doing that, go through the list of resolved questions as well. These are based on questions asked by other users. Finally, review the exam tips on the website to ensure you are well prepared.

Who Is This Book For

This book is for those in commercial, operational, or technical roles looking to pass the Microsoft certification Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals. The exam is intended for candidates who are just beginning to work with cloud-based solutions and services or are new to Azure. You can learn more about the certification and exam at https://packt.link/arKva.

What This Book Covers

This book is aligned with the revised syllabus of Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals and comprises the following chapters.

Chapter 1, Introduction to Cloud Computing, introduces cloud computing, where it has evolved from, why cloud computing is used, and the target audience. It also takes a look at the delivery and service models of cloud computing, how they compare, and the shared responsibility model.

Chapter 2, Benefits of Using Cloud Services, discusses cloud computing as a digital transformation enabler and the cloud computing mindset, as well as the cloud computing operations model and the economics of cloud computing.

Chapter 3, Azure Core Architectural Components, outlines the Azure global infrastructure that comprises the Azure regions, geographies, and availability components. In addition, this chapter explores Azure resource management topics.

Chapter 4, Azure Core Resources, focuses on the Azure platform’s core building block resources of compute, network, and storage.

Chapter 5, Azure Identity and Access, explains the concepts of authentication and authorization and Identity and Access Management (IAM) and explores Microsoft Entra ID.

Chapter 6, Azure Security, discusses the threat landscape and explains the principles of security posture, zero trust, and Defense-in-Depth (DiD). In addition, the chapter explores cloud posture management and workload protection with Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Microsoft Sentinel security tooling.

Chapter 7, Azure Cost Management, explores cost management and the factors that influence costs, and it also explains the Azure pricing calculator and the Azure TCO calculator.

Chapter 8, Azure Governance and Compliance, explores Microsoft’s Purview in Azure, Azure Policy, resources locks, and tags, as well as the Azure service lifecycle, core security, privacy and security tenets, and the Microsoft Trust Center.

Chapter 9, Azure Resource Deployment and Management, introduces the Azure portal, as well as Azure PowerShell, the Azure CLI, and Azure Cloud Shell. The chapter also explains Azure Resource Manager templates and Azure Arc.

Chapter 10, Azure Monitoring and Tools, explores actionable insights into Azure environments, using tooling such as Azure Advisor, Azure Monitor, and Azure Service Health.

Appendix, Assessing AZ-900 Exam Skills, focuses on the skills measured by the certification and the potential topics the exam may cover. As you become competent in each skill area, this can help in tracking progress.

Requirements for Online Content

The online content includes interactive elements such as flashcards and exam tips. For an optimal experience, it is recommended that you use the latest version of a modern desktop (or mobile) web browser, such as Edge, Chrome, Safari, or Firefox.

How to Get the Most Out of This Book

This book’s content is intended for candidates who are just beginning to work with cloud-based solutions and services or are new to Azure; no specific knowledge is assumed or required.

To carry out any tasks to further your learning using the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, you will require the following:

Access to an internet browserA Microsoft account; if you do not have one, you can create a free account at this URL: https://packt.link/sRKgoAn Azure subscription that has access to create and delete resources in it; if you do not have an Azure subscription, you can create a free Azure account at this URL: https://packt.link/hMtqw

Download the Color Images

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots and diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: https://packt.link/AZ900graphics.

Conventions Used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book:

Code in text: This indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and X (formerly Twitter) handles. Here is an example: “This is done within the shell of the OS you have installed the Azure CLI on – for example, cmd.exe for Windows or Bash for Linux and Mac.”

Bold: This indicates a definition or an important word or words that you see on screen. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in bold. Here is an example: “You can also use Cloud Shell from a browser to have a shell environment anywhere, anytime.”

Important or additional information is provided as Note or Further knowledge. They appear as follows:

Note

You can find the detailed AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam skills area in the Appendix, Assessing AZ-900 Exam Skills of this book.

Further knowledge

VMs also support nested virtualization, which allows you to run Hyper-V inside a VM. Not all VM sizes support nested virtualization; however, this is liable to change. You can find the latest information at https://packt.link/Zkejf.

Get in Touch

Feedback from our readers is always welcome.

General feedback: If you have questions about any aspect of this book, email us at [email protected] and mention the book title in the subject of your message.

Errata: Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you have found a mistake in this book, we would be grateful if you would report this to us. Please visit https://packt.link/vFgzz and fill in the form. We ensure that all valid errata are promptly updated in the GitHub repository, with the relevant information available in the Readme.md file. You can access the GitHub repository at https://packt.link/YnLgV.

Piracy: If you come across any illegal copies of our works in any form on the internet, we would be grateful if you would provide us with the location address or website name. Please contact us at [email protected] with a link to the material.

If you are interested in becoming an author: If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, please visit authors.packtpub.com.

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1

Introduction to Cloud Computing

This is the digital and cloud era, with one of the leading cloud computing platforms being Microsoft Azure. Now, more than ever, it is important to know how cloud computing platforms function and how the different services and resources they provide can be utilized by an organization to meet their needs.

This book provides a solid grip on the cloud concepts and the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. By the end of this book, you will have a thorough and complete knowledge of cloud concepts and Azure fundamentals, enabling you to pass the AZ-900 certification exam confidently and easily.

This chapter primarily focuses on the Describe cloud concepts module from the Skills Measured section of the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam.

Note

You can find a detailed AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam skills area in the Appendix, Assessing AZ-900 Exam Skills of this book.

Making the Most Out of this Book – Your Certification and Beyond

This book and its accompanying online resources are designed to be a complete preparation tool for your AZ-900 exam.

The book is written in a way that you can apply everything you’ve learned here even after your certification. The online practice resources that come with this book (Figure 1.1) are designed to improve your test-taking skills. They are loaded with timed mock exams, hands-on activities, interactive flashcards, and exam tips to help you work on your exam readiness from now till your test day.

Before You Proceed

To learn how to access these resources, head over to Chapter 11, Accessing the Online Practice Resources, at the end of the book.

Figure 1.1: Dashboard interface of the online practice resources

Here are some tips on how to make the most out of this book so that you can clear your certification and retain your knowledge beyond your exam:

Read each section thoroughly.Make ample notes: You can use your favorite online note-taking tool or use a physical notebook. The free online resources also give you access to an online version of this book. Click the BACK TO THE BOOK link from the Dashboard to access the book in Packt Reader. You can highlight specific sections of the book there.Chapter Review Questions: At the end of this chapter, you’ll find a link to review questions for this chapter. These are designed to test your knowledge of the chapter. Aim to score at least 75% before moving on to the next chapter. You’ll find detailed instructions on how to make the most of these questions at the end of this chapter in the Exam Readiness Drill - Chapter Review Questions section. That way, you’re improving your exam-taking skills after each chapter, rather than at the end.Flashcards: After you’ve gone through the book and scored 75% more in each of the chapter review questions, start reviewing the online flashcards. They will help you memorize key concepts.Mock Exams: Solve the mock exams that come with the book till your exam day. If you get some answers wrong, go back to the book and revisit the concepts you’re weak in.Hands-On Activities: After completing this book, complete the hands-on activities online to improve your practical experience.Exam Tips: Review these from time to time to improve your exam readiness even further.

The main emphasis of this chapter is on the module that delves into cloud concepts described in the Skills Measured section of the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam.

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to confidently answer questions on the following topics:

Cloud computingThe shared responsibility modelCloud models, including public, private, and hybridInfrastructure as a Service (IaaS)Platform as a Service (PaaS)Software as a Service (SaaS)Appropriate use cases for each cloud service model (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS)Appropriate use cases for each cloud delivery model (public, private, and hybrid)

This chapter will outline what cloud computing is, where the cloud computing model evolved from, and the evolution of cloud computing architectures, as well as look at adopting cloud computing and knowing its target audience. You will learn about the shared responsibility model, the cloud computing delivery and service models, and the characteristics and a comparison of each model.

In addition, this chapter’s goal is to take your knowledge beyond the exam’s content to prepare you for a real-world, day-to-day Azure-focused role.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is something of a misnomer; it is a marketing term for a technology model that may be adopted to consume computing resources and services.

As a technology platform, the cloud can benefit many audiences, addressing a need to access self-service, on-demand computing resources and services that are secure, governed, automated, elastic, and scalable, allowing the platform to cater to demand.

The value of a cloud provider platform is as an enabler of digital transformation and innovation. It provides quicker time to market and value and economies of scale, with an operating model that is governed, elastic, agile, and combined with a flexible cost model.

These abilities provide choices in how computing resources and services can be provided and consumed to suit an organization’s needs and operating model most appropriately.

Microsoft, Amazon, Alibaba, and Google are the largest cloud platform providers. The public cloud operating model implements hardware and software at the cloud platform provider’s facilities, from which they create compute, storage, network, and other resources and services. These are made available to all tenants on the platform, who use their portion of the shared resources and services and are billed only for what they use (or consume). The users of these multi-tenant (shared) computing platforms benefit through economies of scale, that is, cost reductions that can be passed on due to efficiencies in the scale of operation.

Many of these providers now offer hybrid cloud solutions, meaning the hardware, software, services, and resources can also now sit in the customer’s locations, or even a third-party provider’s locations, with a control plane that operates over a network from the cloud provider’s platform locations. Microsoft’s examples of this are Azure Stack and Azure Arc.

The following section will further help in learning more about Cloud Computing.

The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing

The US government agency National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines “cloud computing” as the following:

Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.

The following are the essential characteristics of cloud model:

On-demand self-serviceBroad network accessResource poolingRapid elasticityMeasured service

The service models are listed as follows:

SaaSPaaSIaaS

The deployment models include the following:

Private CloudPublic CloudHybrid Cloud

Note

You can find more information about NIST at https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/145/final, and https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/SP/nistspecialpublication800-145.pdf.

Building upon this knowledge of cloud computing, the following section will delve into its evolution.

Evolution of the Cloud Computing Model

Cloud computing is the evolution of the traditional computing platform and a significant shift in the IT industry; it is another model for delivering computing resources and services to an organization. Figure 1.2 illustrates this evolution:

Figure 1.2 – Evolution of cloud computing

You may have evolved from physical hardware to virtualization that is run from your facilities or somebody else’s to virtual machines to containers. The next stage in this evolution is the leap to serverless, where the business logic layer is the new scale unit.

Now, when dealing with various types of computing, you need to know the key difference between public cloud computing and edge computing.

The key difference between public cloud computing and edge computing is where the data processing happens. The public cloud is based on a “centralized” data collection, processing, and analysis approach. In contrast, edge computing uses a “distributed” computing model approach, where the data is collected, processed, and analyzed locally.

This model has benefits in terms of latency, but also for those organizations concerned with or mandated on data locality, where compliance may place strict controls on where data is stored and processed.

Hybrid computing aims to provide a balance of computing resources and services available anywhere, anytime. It gives businesses options and the power of choice as to the most suitable technology platform and data location for any given workload, business initiative, or scenario that needs to be supported.

Cloud computing is not only a “technical evolution” but also a “financial evolution.” The expenditure model shifts from that of Capital Expenditure (CapEx) of hardware (buying upfront before you can use resources) to Operating Expenditure (OpEx) and paying as you use (consume) resources.

It should be noted that the private cloud model can contain an element of CapEx and OpEx; typically (and for the exam objectives), the primary cost expenditure model is CapEx. However, leased hardware and software are financially also considered OpEx, but that would mean building an on-premises infrastructure.

As computing platform environments have changed over time, so have the architectures.

The following section will look at the evolution of cloud computing architectures.

Evolution of Cloud Computing Architectures

In this section, you will be introduced to the term cloud-native and the shift in mindset from the monolith stacks of virtual machines to microservices and containers and now to serverless functions.

This is a fundamental shift from compute stack-centric to business logic-centric, where the focus is only on the outcomes and not the inputs. Therefore, you no longer have to concern yourself with the lower layers, such as the languages, runtimes, and compute, as they are now provided as a service to consume. You provide the code, and the provider will decide how they will handle the execution of it.

The serverless computing model comes from another architectural shift in the compute layer and is an extension and evolution of Platform as a Service (PaaS). When you use PaaS resources to host a website or application or execute code, you still use servers, specify a set of underlying compute resources, and pay for them. In traditional hosting, this would be the server farm.

As the name suggests, you are not responsible for creating any compute resources (servers) in “serverless.” Of course, there are servers involved, but the platform provider provides this compute layer; it is abstracted (removed) from your control or responsibility. Essentially, you provide your business logic layer, and they run it for you on their compute layer.

As discussed before, serverless is about abstracting the language runtime, PaaS is about abstracting the compute, and IaaS is about abstracting the hardware.

The term abstract means to remove; that is, you remove the requirement to provide the layer. You ascertain that layer as the cloud provider’s responsibility to provide, scale, keep available, maintain, and so on. So, it is a layer you no longer need to know or care about.

Figure 1.3 aims to illustrate this model of cloud computing architectures:

Figure 1.3 – Cloud computing architectures

Figure 1.3 outlines where the architectures differ in their characteristics. It also outlines decision criteria to consider so that each architecture can be positioned to allow you to make the most appropriate choice for any given scenario.

This section looked at the evolution of computing platform environments and cloud computing architectures.

In the Comparing the Cloud Computing Service Models section, you will learn about the degrees of control each model offers.

Next you will learn why you need to adopt cloud computing.

Why Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing adoption is often driven more by its business and operationalmodel’s advantages and benefits than its “technology” or “location” factors.

The benefit of the cloud computing model is that it gives another option and more choice in how computing resources can be provided and consumed by a business to suit its operating model most appropriately.

Cloud computing-based resources can be hybrid, so they can be located in the cloud platform provider’s or customer’s facilities. In the case of the Azure Stack portfolio (HCI, Edge, and Hub), the cloud provider platform can offer the control plane and operations platform elements.

Adopting cloud computing also does not have to be a binary decision between a fully public cloud or a more traditional on-premises computing model. Your compute resources and data may remain on-premises, and you may use the “cloud” for the control and operations plane. You may consider “Manage from” the cloud instead of “Move to” the cloud.

Adopting the hybrid model means having a mix of traditional on-premises and cloud computing resources; “cloud” does not always have to mean public compute resources in a provider’s facility that are shared with others and accessible over a network.

The core benefits of the cloud computing model over the traditional computing model are outlined in Figure 1.4:

Figure 1.4 – Benefits of cloud computing

Other operational advantages include no compulsion to replace failed hardware or address physical security for the public cloud, as the cloud provider manages the underlying hardware that hosts the resources. This means no CapEx to purchase hardware, although CapEx is still applicable in private cloud scenarios where hardware and facilities may be under your control. The hardware may be at a third-party hosting provider’s facility that provides the hosting for your private cloud.

There is a requirement in public cloud computing environments to provide control, security, and protection for customer systems and data. You must ensure it is redundant and available, protect the identities that access the systems and data, govern access permissions, and manage updates.

This section outlined why you may consider adopting the cloud computing model. Cloud computing’s target audience is looked at in the next section.

Cloud Computing’s Target Audience

Cloud computing can mean different things to different people depending on their perspective and their role or function. A business leader will have one idea of what cloud computing needs to deliver, which may be very different from a technology leader and may be very different from a developer, a database admin, or a data scientist. They all have specific wants and needs, so cloud computing as a model must almost be all things to everyone.

Azure typically provides the following high-level categorization of services to a business:

Hosted infrastructure platformApplication development platformData, AI, and analytics platformMonitoring and management platformHybrid and multi-cloud control plane platformSecurity operations platformIdentity and compliance platform

In the context of Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, these different functions are well catered for, making it relevant from all perspectives.

Azure is the only hybrid-consistent platform, combining Azure as the public cloud platform with Azure Stack as the private cloud platform while operating with other cloud platform providers and on-premises resources through Azure Arc.

You have now learned about the audience of cloud computing, and why it is important to consider not only the technology and process elements of adopting cloud computing but also the people element in terms of whose buy-in and sponsorship are required. You need to know who is being addressed as stakeholders of this technology model adoption, as well as learn the categorization of services available to a business, which outlines what capabilities and resources are in it for them.

The next section will discuss cloud computing’s hierarchy of needs.

Cloud Computing’s Hierarchy of Needs

The IT services delivery model can draw parallels to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This comes from a psychology theory, often represented in a hierarchical pyramid.

In this model, the “lower-level needs” add no value or benefit, but each lower-level need must be met before the “next-level needs” can be met, leading to “dependencies” on the lower levels.

The challenge is a delicate balance in that any change in the lower levels affects the chances of success or failure of the required outcome (higher levels); in this theory, the outcome to be achieved is “self-actualization.”