View source for Microsoft Azure

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2010}}
{{infobox software
| logo                = File:Microsoft Azure Logo.svg
| logo_size           = 250px
| name                = Microsoft Azure
| developer           = [[Microsoft]]
| website             = {{URL|http://azure.microsoft.com}}
| license             = [[Closed source software|Closed source]] for platform, [[Open source software|Open source]] for client [[Software development kit|SDKs]]
| released            = {{Start date and age|mf=yes|2010|02|01}}
| operating system    = [[Linux]], [[Microsoft Windows]]
}}

'''Microsoft Azure ''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|ʒ|ər}} is a [[cloud computing]] service created by [[Microsoft]] for building, deploying, and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed [[data center]]s. It provides [[software as a service]], [[platform as a service]] and [[infrastructure as a service]] and supports many different [[programming language]]s, tools and frameworks, including both Microsoft-specific and third-party software and systems.

Azure was announced in October 2008 and released on February 1, 2010 as '''Windows Azure''', before being renamed to Microsoft Azure on March 25th 2014.<ref name="renaming">{{cite web |url=https://azure.microsoft.com/ |title=Upcoming Name Change for Windows Azure |date=2014-03-24 |language=English |publisher=Microsoft Azure |archiveurl=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/upcoming-name-change-for-windows-azure/ |archivedate=2014-03-24 |accessdate=2016-08-29}}</ref><ref name=anya>{{cite news |last=Tharakan |first=Anya George and Dastin, Jeffery |title=Microsoft shares hit high as cloud business flies above estimates |newspaper=Rueters |publisher=[[Thomson Reuters]] |date=20 October 2016 |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-microsoft-results-idUKKCN12K2JC |access-date=21 October 2016}}</ref>

== Services ==
Microsoft lists over 600 Azure services,<ref>[https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/ Directory of Azure Cloud Services], Microsoft.com</ref> of which some are covered below:

=== Compute ===
* Virtual machines, [[infrastructure as a service]] (IaaS) allowing users to launch general-purpose [[Microsoft Windows]] and [[Linux]] virtual machines, as well as preconfigured machine images for popular software packages.<ref>{{cite web|title=How to monitor Microsoft Azure VMs|url=https://www.datadoghq.com/blog/how-to-monitor-microsoft-azure-vms/|publisher=Datadog|accessdate=16 September 2016}}</ref> 
* App services, [[platform as a service]] (PaaS) environment letting developers easily publish and manage Web sites.
* [[Microsoft Azure Web Sites|Websites]], high density hosting of websites allows developers to build sites using [[ASP.NET]], [[PHP]], [[Node.js]], or [[Python (programming language)|Python]] and can be deployed using [[File Transfer Protocol|FTP]], [[Git (software)|Git]], [[Mercurial]], [[Team Foundation Server]] or uploaded through the user portal. This feature was announced in preview form in June 2012 at the Meet Microsoft Azure event.<ref name=meetnew>{{cite web | url=http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2012/06/07/meet-the-new-windows-azure.aspx | title=Meet Windows Azure event June 2012 | publisher=Weblogs.asp.net | date=2012-06-07 | accessdate=2013-06-27}}</ref> Customers can create websites in PHP, ASP.NET, Node.js, or Python, or select from several open source applications from a gallery to deploy. This comprises one aspect of the [[platform as a service]] (PaaS) offerings for the Microsoft Azure Platform. It was renamed to Web Apps in April 2015.<ref name="renaming" /><ref>{{cite web | url=http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/app-service/web/ | title=Web App Service - Microsoft Azure | publisher=Microsoft}}</ref>
* WebJobs, applications that can be deployed to a Web App to implement background processing. That can be invoked on a schedule, on demand or can run continuously. The Blob, Table and Queue services can be used to communicate between Web Apps and Web Jobs and to provide state.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

=== Mobile services===
* Mobile Engagement collects real-time analytics that highlight users’ behavior. It also provides push notifications to mobile devices.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/mobile-engagement/ | title=Mobile Engagement - Microsoft Azure | publisher=azure.microsoft.com | date= | accessdate=2016-07-27}}</ref>
* HockeyApp can be used to develop, distribute, and beta-test mobile apps<ref>{{cite web | url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/hockeyapp/ | title=HockeyApp - Microsoft Azure | publisher=azure.microsoft.com | date= | accessdate=2016-07-27}}</ref>

=== Storage services ===
* Storage Services provides [[REST]] and [[Software development kit|SDK]] [[API]]s for storing and accessing data on the cloud.
* Table Service lets programs store structured text in partitioned collections of entities that are accessed by partition key and primary key. It's a NoSQL non-relational database.
* Blob Service allows programs to store unstructured text and binary data as blobs that can be accessed by a HTTP(S) path. Blob service also provides security mechanisms to control access to data.
* Queue Service lets programs communicate asynchronously by message using queues.
* File Service allows storing and access of data on the cloud using the [[REST]] APIs or the [[SMB protocol]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/storage/files/|title=File Storage|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=Microsoft|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|accessdate=7 January 2017}}</ref>

=== Data management===
* Azure Search provides text search and a subset of [[OData]]'s structured filters using REST or SDK APIs.
* [[DocumentDB]] is a [[NoSQL]] database service that implements a subset of the SQL SELECT statement on [[JSON]] documents.
* Redis Cache is a managed implementation of [[Redis]].
* [[StorSimple]] manages storage tasks between on-premises devices and cloud storage.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.computerworld.com/article/2600208/cloud-storage-microsofts-storsimple-a-first-look-at-the-8000-series.html | first=Jonathan | last=Hassell | title=Microsoft's StorSimple: A first look at the 8000 series | publisher=Computerworld | date=3 September 2014}}</ref>
* [[SQL Azure|SQL Database]], formerly known as [[SQL Azure]] Database, works to create, scale and extend applications into the cloud using [[Microsoft SQL Server]] technology. It also integrates with [[Active Directory]] and [[Microsoft System Center]] and [[Apache Hadoop|Hadoop]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.connx.com/products/azure.html | title=Azure and CONNX | publisher=CONNX|accessdate=30 October 2014}}</ref>
* [[Azure SQL Data Warehouse|SQL Data Warehouse]] is a data warehousing service designed to handle computational and data intensive queries on datasets exceeding 1TB.

=== Messaging ===
The Microsoft Azure Service Bus allows applications running on Azure premises or off premises devices to communicate with Azure. This helps to build scalable and reliable applications in a [[service-oriented architecture]] (SOA). The Azure service bus supports four different types of communication mechanisms:{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

* '''Event Hubs''', which provide event and telemetry ingress to the cloud at massive scale, with low latency and high reliability. For example an event hub can be used to track data from cell phones such as a GPS location coordinate in real time.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}
* '''Queues''', which allow one-directional communication. A sender application would send the message to the service bus queue, and a receiver would read from the queue. Though there can be multiple readers for the queue only one would process a single message.
* '''Topics''', which provide one-directional communication using a subscriber pattern. It is similar to a queue, however each subscriber will receive a copy of the message sent to a Topic. Optionally the subscriber can filter out messages based on specific criteria defined by the subscriber.
* '''Relays''', which provide bi-directional communication. Unlike queues and topics, a relay doesn't store in-flight messages in its own memory. Instead, it just passes them on to the destination application.

=== Media services ===
A PaaS offering that can be used for encoding, [[content protection]], streaming, or analytics.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

=== CDN ===
A global [[content delivery network]] (CDN) for audio, video, applications, images, and other static files. Can be used to cache static assets of websites geographically closer to users to increase performance. The network can be managed by a REST based HTTP API.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

Azure has 30 point of presence locations worldwide (also known as Edge locations) as of December, 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/regions/|title=Azure Regions {{!}} Microsoft Azure|website=azure.microsoft.com|access-date=2016-12-08}}</ref>

=== Developer ===
* Application Insights{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}
* Visual Studio Team Services{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

=== Management ===
* Azure Automation, provides a way for users to automate the manual, long-running, error-prone, and frequently repeated tasks that are commonly performed in a cloud and enterprise environment. It saves time and increases the reliability of regular administrative tasks and even schedules them to be automatically performed at regular intervals. You can automate processes using runbooks or automate configuration management using Desired State Configuration.[https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/documentation/articles/automation-intro/]
* [[Microsoft SMA (software)]]

=== Machine Learning ===
* Microsoft Azure Machine Learning (Azure ML) service is part of Cortana Intelligence Suite that enables predictive analytics and interaction with data using natural language and speech through [[Cortana (software)|Cortana]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Why Cortana Intelligence? | url=https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/why-cortana-intelligence-suite | website=Microsoft}}</ref>

== Regions ==
Azure is generally available in 34 regions around the world, and has announced plans for 4 additional regions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/regions/|title=Azure Regions {{!}} Microsoft Azure|website=azure.microsoft.com|access-date=2016-11-13}}</ref>

== Design ==
Microsoft Azure uses a specialized operating system, called Microsoft Azure, to run its "fabric layer":{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} a cluster hosted at Microsoft's data centers that manages computing and storage resources of the computers and provisions the resources (or a subset of them) to applications running on top of Microsoft Azure. Microsoft Azure has been described as a "cloud layer" on top of a number of Windows Server systems, which use Windows Server 2008 and a customized version of [[Hyper-V]], known as the Microsoft Azure Hypervisor to provide virtualization of services.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

Scaling and reliability are controlled by the Microsoft Azure Fabric Controller{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} so the services and environment do not crash, if one of the servers crashes within the Microsoft [[data center]] and provides the management of the user's Web application like memory resources and load balancing.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

Azure provides an [[Application programming interface|API]] built on [[Representational state transfer|REST]], [[HTTP]], and [[XML]] that allows a developer to interact with the services provided by Microsoft Azure. Microsoft also provides a client-side managed class library that encapsulates the functions of interacting with the services. It also integrates with [[Microsoft Visual Studio]], [[Git (software)|Git]], and [[Eclipse (software)|Eclipse]].{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

In addition to interacting with services via API, users can manage Azure services using the Web-based Azure Portal, which reached General Availability in December 2015.<ref>{{cite web | last1=Welicki | first1=Leon | title=Announcing Azure Portal general availability | url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/announcing-azure-portal-general-availability/ | publisher=Microsoft|accessdate=23 December 2015}}</ref> The portal allows users to browse active resources, modify settings, launch new resources, and view basic monitoring data from active virtual machines and services.

=== Deployment models ===
Microsoft Azure offers two deployment models for cloud resources: the "classic" deployment model and the Azure Resource Manager.<ref name="arm vs classic">{{cite web|last1=FitzMacken|first1=Tom|title=Azure Resource Manager vs. classic deployment|url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/resource-manager-deployment-model/|publisher=Microsoft|accessdate=16 September 2016}}</ref> In the classic model, each Azure resource (virtual machine, SQL database, etc.) was managed individually. The Azure Resource Manager, introduced in 2014,<ref name="arm vs classic" /> enables users to create groups of related services so that closely coupled resources can be deployed, managed, and monitored together.<ref>{{cite web|last1=FitzMacken|first1=Tom|title=Azure Resource Manager overview|url=https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/resource-group-overview/|publisher=Microsoft|accessdate=16 September 2016}}</ref>

== Timeline ==
[[File:Ray Ozzie PDC2008.jpg|thumb|[[Ray Ozzie]] announcing Windows Azure at PDC 2008, October 27]]
* October 2008 – ([[Professional Developers Conference|PDC]] LA), Announced the Windows Azure Platform
* March 2009 – Announced SQL Azure Relational Database
* November 2009 – Updated Windows Azure CTP, Enabled full trust, PHP, Java, CDN CTP and more
* February 2010 – Windows Azure Platform commercially available
* June 2010 – Windows Azure Update, [[.NET Framework 4]], OS Versioning, CDN, SQL Azure Update<ref>{{cite web | url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlazure/archive/2010/06/25/10030461.aspx | title=SQL Azure SU3 is Now Live and Available in 6 Datacenters Worldwide | work = SQL Azure Team Blog | publisher= Microsoft | date= | accessdate=2013-05-28}}</ref>
* October 2010 (PDC) – Platform enhancements, Windows Azure Connect, Improved Dev / IT Pro Experience
* December 2011 – Traffic manager, SQL Azure reporting, HPC scheduler
* June 2012 – Websites, Virtual machines for Windows and Linux, Python SDK, New portal, Locally redundant storage
[[File:Windows Azure logo.png|thumb|150px|Former Windows Azure logo, 2012-2014]]
* April 2014 – Windows Azure renamed to Microsoft Azure<ref name="renaming" />
* July 2014 – Azure Machine Learning public preview<ref>{{cite web | url=http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2014/06/16/microsoft-azure-machine-learning-combines-power-of-comprehensive-machine-learning-with-benefits-of-cloud/ | title=Microsoft Azure Machine Learning combines power of comprehensive machine learning with benefits of cloud | publisher=blogs.microsoft.com | date=2014-06-16}}</ref>
* November 2014 – Outage affecting major websites including MSN.com.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cloudwards.net/news/human-error-caused-microsoft-azure-outage-5776// | title=Human Error Caused Microsoft Azure Outage | publisher=Cloudwards.net | date=2014-12-20}}</ref>
* September 2015 – Azure Cloud Switch introduced as a cross-platform Linux distribution.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-demonstrates-its-linux-based-azure-cloud-switch-operating-system/ | title = Microsoft demonstrates its Linux-based Azure Cloud Switch operating system | publisher = ZDNet.com | date = 2015-09-18}}</ref>

== Privacy ==
Microsoft has stated that, per the [[USA Patriot Act]], the US government could have access to the data even if the hosted company is not American and the data resides outside the USA.<ref>{{cite web | last=Toor | first=Amar | url=http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/30/microsoft-european-cloud-data-may-not-be-immune-to-the-patriot/ | title=Microsoft: European cloud data may not be immune to the Patriot Act | publisher=Engadget.com | date=2011-06-30 | accessdate=2013-06-27}}</ref> However, Microsoft Azure is compliant with the [[Data Protection Directive|E.U. Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC)]]<ref>[http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240218892/EU-data-privacy-authorities-approve-Microsoft-Azure-Office-365-and-other-cloud-services "EU data privacy authorities approve Microsoft Azure"], 15 Apr 2014, ComputerWeekly.com</ref><ref>[http://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2015/10/20/the-collapse-of-the-us-eu-safe-harbor-solving-the-new-privacy-rubiks-cube/ "The collapse of the US-EU Safe Harbor"], October 20, 2015, Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer, Microsoft.com</ref>{{contradict-inline | reason=USA Patriot Act requirements directly conflict with the EU Data Protection Directive. | date=April 2015}}. To manage privacy and security-related concerns, Microsoft has created a Microsoft Azure Trust Center,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/support/trust-center/ | title=Microsoft Azure Trust Center | publisher=Windowsazure.com | date= | accessdate=2013-06-27}}</ref> and Microsoft Azure has several of its services compliant with several compliance programs including [[ISO 27001:2005]] and [[HIPAA]]. A full and current listing can be found on the Microsoft Azure Trust Center Compliance page.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/support/trust-center/compliance/ | title=Microsoft Azure Trust Center Compliance | publisher=Windowsazure.com | date= | accessdate=2013-06-27}}</ref> Of special note, Microsoft Azure has been granted JAB Provisional Authority to Operate (P-ATO) from the U.S. government in accordance with guidelines spelled out under the [[Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program]] (FedRAMP), a U.S. government program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud services used by the federal government.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://cloud.cio.gov/fedramp/cloud-systems | title=FedRAMP Compliant Cloud Systems | publisher=cloud.cio.gov | date= | accessdate=2014-10-15}}</ref>

== Significant outages ==
Documented Microsoft Azure outages and service disruptions.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope="col" style="width:100px;"| Date
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Cause
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 2012-02-29
|Incorrect code for calculating [[leap day]] dates<ref>{{cite web | url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2012/03/09/summary-of-windows-azure-service-disruption-on-feb-29th-2012.aspx | title=Summary of Windows Azure Service Disruption on Feb 29th, 2012 | publisher=Blogs.msdn.com | date=2012-03-09 | accessdate=2013-06-27}}</ref>
|
|-
| 2012-07-26
| Misconfigured network device<ref>{{cite web | url=http://gigaom.com/cloud/windows-azure-outage-hits-europe/ | title=Windows Azure outage hits Europe | publisher=Gigaom.com | date=2012-07-26 | accessdate=2013-06-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://gigaom.com/cloud/microsoft-pins-azure-outage-on-network-miscue/ | title=Microsoft pins Azure outage on network miscue | publisher=Gigaom.com | date=2012-07-27 | accessdate=2013-06-27}}</ref>
|
|-
| 2013-02-22
| Expiry of an SSL certificate<ref>[http://www.windowstricks.in/2011/06/cloud-reliability.html Microsoft’s Azure storage service goes down, locking out corporate customers from their data] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726003600/http://www.windowstricks.in/2011/06/cloud-reliability.html |date=26 July 2011 }}</ref>
| Xbox Live, Xbox Music and Video also affected<ref>{{cite web | first=Bryan | last=Bishop | url=http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/22/4019772/xbox-live-and-windows-azure-suffering-from-extended-outages | title=Xbox Live and Windows Azure suffering from extended outages | publisher=Theverge.com | date= | accessdate=2013-06-27}}</ref>
|-
| 2013-10-30
| Worldwide partial compute outage<ref>{{cite web | title=Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud hit by worldwide management interuption [sic] | url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/2059901/microsofts-windows-azure-cloud-hit-by-worldwide-management-interuption.html | publisher=www.pcworld.com|accessdate=2013-11-03|date=2013-10-31}}</ref>
|
|-
| 2014-11-18
| Azure storage upgrade caused reduced capacity across several regions<ref name=Zander>{{cite web | last1=Zander | first1=Jason | title=Update on Azure Storage Service Interruption | url=http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/11/19/update-on-azure-storage-service-interruption/ | publisher=Microsoft|accessdate=5 December 2014}}</ref>
| Xbox Live, Windows Store, MSN, Search, Visual Studio Online among others were affected.<ref name=FoleyMJ>{{cite web | last1=Foley | first1=Mary J | title=Microsoft says Storage service performance update brought Azure down | url=http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-says-storage-service-performance-update-brought-azure-down/ | publisher=ZD.NET|accessdate=5 December 2014}}</ref>
|}

As of December 4, 2015, Azure has been available for 99.9936% of the past year.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://cloudharmony.com/status-1year-of-compute-group-by-regions-and-provider | title=Service Status - CloudHarmony | publisher=}}</ref>

== Certifications ==
* [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/azure-certification.aspx Microsoft Azure certifications]

== See also ==
* [[Amazon Web Services]]
* [[Cloud computing]]
* [[Comparison of file hosting services]]
* [[Google Cloud Platform]]
* [[Microsoft Azure Web Sites]]
* [[Predix (software)]]

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite web | url=http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/4/3/e43bb484-3b52-4fa8-a9f9-ec60a32954bc/Azure_Services_Platform.pdf | title=Introducing Windows Azure | last=Chappell | first=David | date=October 2008| publisher=Microsoft }}
* {{Cite web | url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/warnov/archive/2009/11/19/stairway-to-azure-3.aspx | title=Stairway to Azure (3): Componentes de Cómputo y Almacenamiento | date=19 November 2009 | publisher=Microsoft | work=WarNov Developer Evangelist | accessdate=20 December 2013}}
* {{Cite web | url=http://www.dotnetcurry.com/windows-azure/1299/microsoft-azure-platform-services-overview | title=Microsoft Azure platform Demystified - Part 1 & 2 | date=August 2016 | publisher=DNC Magazine }}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://azure.microsoft.com}}
* {{dmoz|Computers/Programming/Internet/Databases/}}
* [http://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-team-services-vs.aspx/ Visual Studio Team Services]
{{Cloud computing}}
{{Microsoft Azure Services Platform}}
{{Microsoft}}

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