Tag: Architecture

Feb162021February 16, 2021February 15, 20210Commentby Thomas Maurer
Azure Friday Building modern hybrid applications with Azure Arc and Azure Stack

Azure Friday: Building modern hybrid applications with Azure Arc and Azure Stack

Posted in Microsoft Azure

Last Friday, I had the chance to chat with Scott Hanselman on Azure Friday to talk about how you can architect, deploy, and manage hybrid applications using Azure Arc and Azure Stack. In this Azure Friday video, I join Scott Hanselman to show how developers can be more collaborative in developing, deploying, and managing applications across multiple environments and clouds. Build and deploy a truly consistent app experience everywhere in your hybrid cloud using your existing DevOps pipelines, Kubernetes manifests, and Helm Charts – as well as your choice of tools. Azure Arc is integrated with GitHub, Azure Monitor, Security Center, Update, and more.

To learn more about Azure Hybrid Architectures, check out the Azure Architecture Center.

Azure Friday – Building modern hybrid applications with Azure Arc and Azure Stack

 You can watch the full episode here on Microsoft Channel 9.

If you want to know more about the Azure Arc, Azure Stack and Azure Hybrid architecture, check out the following blog post and Microsoft Docs articles:

If you want to check out my other Azure Friday episodes, in which I was joining Scott Hanselman to talk about how you can connect Windows Server to Azure Hybrid Cloud services using Windows Admin Center. Or then one where I join Donovan Brown on Azure Friday to talk about how you can manage and govern your hybrid servers using Azure Arc.

I hope you liked this Azure Friday episode about how you can architect, deploy, and manage hybrid applications using Azure Arc and Azure Stack. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment.


Dec102020December 10, 2020December 10, 20200Commentby Thomas Maurer
Microsoft FastTrack for Azure

Start your Cloud Project with Microsoft FastTrack for Azure

Posted in Microsoft, Microsoft Azure

I often get asked by customers how they can get started with their projects on Microsoft Azure. They often need help and support for datacenter migrations, new cloud deployments, architectures, and much more. Now there are obviously two things to consider, first is the internal skilling, which is important to understand how Azure works and get a basic understanding, for that I recommend my blog post on how to get started learning Microsoft Azure and Cloud Computing. The second one is finding partners and people which can do consulting for you, and help you to get on the right track. One of the programs Microsoft is offering is FastTrack for Azure, which is provided free of charge. FastTrack for Azure is a technical enablement program that helps with rapid and effective design and deployment of cloud solutions. It includes tailored guidance from Azure engineers to provide proven practices and architectural guidance.

Azure FastTrack

Azure FastTrack

What is FastTrack for Azure?

Save time and implement your cloud solutions correctly and confidently with FastTrack for Azure, regardless of your level of cloud experience.
FastTrack for Azure is a technical enablement program for organizations with cloud projects that enables the rapid, effective design, and deployment of Azure solutions in the cloud. It includes tailored guidance from Azure engineers that leverages proven practices and architectural guides.

Why choose FastTrack for Azure?

Let’s have a look at why you should choose FastTrack for Azure. I already mentioned a couple of the benefits of working with the Azure FastTrack program, but there is more. The Azure FastTrack team can help when you want to move to the cloud quickly, supported by expert guidance from Azure engineers. Another great reason, which I see very often is that customers want to gain confidence that their cloud architecture and deployment will be resilient, secure, and well-governed. And last but not least, FastTrack is a great choice when you want to accelerate the deployment of Azure solutions.

What FastTrack for Azure will do for you:

  • Assess your technical architecture, gather deployment requirements, and provide you with personalized guidance.
  • Build your confidence and reduce risk with best practice design guides, reference architectures, and blueprints.
  • Collaborate with Azure engineers and partners to deploy your Azure solutions to production quickly and efficiently.

If you want to learn more about the FastTrack for Azure program, check out the official Microsoft page.

Read More

Oct222020October 22, 2020October 22, 20200Commentby Thomas Maurer
Video Recording Azure Architecture Best Practices

Video Recording: Azure Architecture Best Practices

Posted in Certification, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Speaking, Thomas Maurer

The video recording from the free online event where I was presenting together with Microsoft Cloud Solution Architect, Dominik Zemp, about Azure Architecture Best Practices is now available. In this session, you will learn about proven guidance that’s designed to help you, architect, create and implement the business and technology strategies necessary for your organization to succeed in the cloud. It provides best practices, documentation, and tools that cloud architects, IT professionals, and business decision-makers need to successfully achieve their short- and long-term objectives. We will be focusing on topics like the Cloud Adoption Framework and the new Enterprise-Scale landing zone architecture.

Azure Architecture Best Practices Virtual Event Agenda:

  • Introduction
  • Why Azure Architecture?
  • Introduction to the Cloud Adoption Framework
  • What is Enterprise-Scale?
    • Build landing zones with Enterprise-Scale
    • Critical design areas
    • Deployment using AzOps
    • Demo
  • Build on top of Enterprise-Scale – Well-Architected Framework for workloads and apps
  • Q&A

Azure Architecture Best Practices Virtual Event Video Recording

Important Links:

You can find some of the links mentioned in the video here:

About the Speakers

Dominik Zemp (Microsoft Cloud Solution Architect)

Dominik Zemp is a Cloud Solution Architect working with Global Swiss financial customers and has been working at Microsoft since 2008. Before Dominik changed role in late 2015, he worked as a Security and Identity Consultant in the Microsoft Services organization. Dominik’s focus areas are applications and infrastructure, including cloud-native applications, networking, and security. Dominik holds a Bachelor’s degree in IT with a Specialization in software systems.

Thomas Maurer (Microsoft Senior Cloud Advocate)

Thomas works as a Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft. He engages with the community and customers around the world to share his knowledge and collect feedback to improve the Azure cloud platform. Prior to joining the Azure engineering team (Cloud + AI), Thomas was a Lead Architect and Microsoft MVP, to help architect, implement and promote Microsoft cloud technology. If you want to know more about Thomas, check out his blog: www.thomasmaurer.ch and Twitter: www.twitter.com/thomasmaurer

Azure Solutions Architect Certification

AZ-304 Study Guide Azure Architect Design Exam Study Guide

AZ-304 Study Guide Azure Architect Design Exam Study Guide

Also, check out my exam study guides to achieve the Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Certification:

I hope you enjoyed the video recording of our Azure Best Practices virtual event. If you want to learn more about Azure, check out my blog post How to learn Microsoft Azure in 2020, and if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.


Oct202020October 20, 2020October 19, 20201Commentby Thomas Maurer
Azure Hybrid Cloud Architectures

How to create Azure Hybrid Cloud Architectures

Posted in Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, SQL Server, Thomas Maurer, Virtualization, Windows Server

Hybrid Cloud is important for many companies out there since hybrid cloud will be an end state for many customers and not just an in-between state until they have moved everything into the cloud. But how do we leverage all the hybrid cloud offerings of Microsoft Azure, and how do we build Azure hybrid cloud architectures? That is what we addressed with many new hybrid cloud architectures in the Azure Architecture Center. There you can find Architecture diagrams, reference architectures, example scenarios, and solutions for common hybrid cloud workloads.

These architectures focus on my different topics like:

Azure Hybrid Cloud Architectures

Here are some of the examples we have added to the Azure Architecture Center. You can find more Azure hybrid cloud architectures here.

Hybrid Security Monitoring using Azure Security Center and Azure Sentinel

This reference architecture illustrates how to use Azure Security Center and Azure Sentinel to monitor the security configuration and telemetry of on-premises and Azure operating system workloads. This includes Azure Stack.

Hybrid Security Monitoring using Azure Security Center and Azure Sentinel

Hybrid Security Monitoring using Azure Security Center and Azure Sentinel

You can find the full Hybrid Security Monitoring using Azure Security Center and Azure Sentinel architecture here.

Read More

Sep012020September 1, 2020September 1, 20201Commentby Thomas Maurer
Azure Architecture Best Practices Virtual Event

Azure Architecture Best Practices Virtual Event – October 20

Posted in Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Speaking, Thomas Maurer

As you might remember we did an Azure Architecture Best Practices Virtual Event back in August 2020. Since we got very high demand and great feedback, we decided to do a second event on October 20. So, I am happy to let you know about another free online event where I am presenting together with Microsoft Cloud Solution Architect, Dominik Zemp, about Azure Architecture Best Practices. This free virtual event will be on October 20 from 9:30am-12:00pm (CEST). In this session, you will learn about proven guidance that’s designed to help you, architect, create and implement the business and technology strategies necessary for your organization to succeed in the cloud. It provides best practices, documentation, and tools that cloud architects, IT professionals, and business decision-makers need to successfully achieve their short- and long-term objectives. We will be focusing on topics like the Cloud Adoption Framework and the new Enterprise-Scale landing zone architecture.

Azure Architecture Best Practices Virtual Event Agenda:

  • Introduction
  • Why Azure Architecture?
  • Introduction to the Cloud Adoption Framework
  • What is Enterprise-Scale?
    • Build landing zones with Enterprise-Scale
    • Critical design areas
    • Deployment using AzOps
    • Demo
  • Build on top of Enterprise-Scale – Well-Architected Framework for workloads and apps
  • Q&A

You can register for the event here: Microsoft Virtual Live Event

About the Speakers:

Dominik Zemp (Microsoft Cloud Solution Architect)

Dominik Zemp is a Cloud Solution Architect working with Global Swiss financial customers and has been working at Microsoft since 2008. Before Dominik changed role in late 2015, he worked as a Security and Identity Consultant in the Microsoft Services organization. Dominik’s focus areas are applications and infrastructure, including cloud-native applications, networking, and security. Dominik holds a Bachelor’s degree in IT with a Specialization in software systems.

Thomas Maurer (Microsoft Senior Cloud Advocate)

Thomas works as a Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft. He engages with the community and customers around the world to share his knowledge and collect feedback to improve the Azure cloud platform. Prior to joining the Azure engineering team (Cloud + AI), Thomas was a Lead Architect and Microsoft MVP, to help architect, implement and promote Microsoft cloud technology. If you want to know more about Thomas, check out his blog: www.thomasmaurer.ch and Twitter: www.twitter.com/thomasmaurer

I am really looking forward to the second Azure Architecture Best Practices virtual event, and I hope to see you there!

AZ-304 Study Guide Azure Architect Design Exam Study Guide

AZ-304 Study Guide Azure Architect Design Exam Study Guide

Also, check out my exam study guides to achieve the Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Certification:


Aug102020August 10, 2020August 10, 202034Commentsby Thomas Maurer
Azure Architecture Best Practices Virtual Event

Azure Architecture Best Practices Virtual Event

Posted in Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Speaking, Thomas Maurer

I am happy to let you know about another free online event where I am presenting together with Microsoft Cloud Solution Architect, Dominik Zemp, about Azure Architecture Best Practices. This free virtual event will be on August 18 from 9:30am-12:00pm (CEST). In this session, you will learn about proven guidance that’s designed to help you, architect, create and implement the business and technology strategies necessary for your organization to succeed in the cloud. It provides best practices, documentation, and tools that cloud architects, IT professionals, and business decision-makers need to successfully achieve their short- and long-term objectives. We will be focusing on topics like the Cloud Adoption Framework and the new Enterprise-Scale landing zone architecture.

Azure Architecture Best Practices Virtual Event Agenda:

  • Introduction
  • Why Azure Architecture?
  • Introduction to the Cloud Adoption Framework
  • What is Enterprise-Scale?
    • Build landing zones with Enterprise-Scale
    • Critical design areas
    • Deployment using AzOps
    • Demo
  • Build on top of Enterprise-Scale – Well-Architected Framework for workloads and apps
  • Q&A

You can register for the event here: Microsoft Virtual Live Event

About the Speakers:

Dominik Zemp (Microsoft Cloud Solution Architect)

Dominik Zemp is a Cloud Solution Architect working with Global Swiss financial customers and has been working at Microsoft since 2008. Before Dominik changed role in late 2015, he worked as a Security and Identity Consultant in the Microsoft Services organization. Dominik’s focus areas are applications and infrastructure, including cloud-native applications, networking, and security. Dominik holds a Bachelor degree in IT with Specialization in software systems.

Thomas Maurer (Microsoft Senior Cloud Advocate)

Thomas works as a Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft. He engages with the community and customers around the world to share his knowledge and collect feedback to improve the Azure cloud platform. Prior to joining the Azure engineering team (Cloud + AI), Thomas was a Lead Architect and Microsoft MVP, to help architect, implement and promote Microsoft cloud technology. If you want to know more about Thomas, check out his blog: www.thomasmaurer.ch and Twitter: www.twitter.com/thomasmaurer

I am really looking forward to the Azure Architecture Best Practices virtual event, and I hope to see you there!

Also, check out my exam study guides to achieve the Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Certification:


Jul212020July 21, 2020July 21, 20201Commentby Thomas Maurer
Download Azure Architecture Icons

Download New Azure Architecture Icons now!

Posted in Microsoft, Microsoft Azure

With the latest Azure Portal refresh, Microsoft Azure got some new icons as well. If you want to draw some Azure architecture diagrams you can now download the latest Azure Architecture Icons from the Azure Architecture Center.

Customers and partners are permitted by Microsoft to use the Azure icons to create architecture diagrams. They are designed as a family. The icons can also be used in training manuals or documentation about a Microsoft product. The full name of the icon must always be used in proximity to the icon, but never locked to appear like a logo.

Also, make sure you aware of the do’s and don’ts on how to use the Azure Architecture Icons.

Do’s

  • Use the icon to illustrate how products can work together
  • In diagrams, make sure to include the product name somewhere close to the icon
  • In text, at first mention use the full product name: Microsoft Azure (insert name)

Don’ts

  • Never put the product name so close to the icon that it appears to be a logo
  • Don’t crop, flip or rotate icons
  • Don’t distort or change icon shape in any way
  • Don’t use Microsoft product icons to represent your product or service

To download the Azure Architecture Icons go to the Microsoft Architecture Center. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment. If you are interested in becoming a Microsoft Certified Azure Solutions Architect, check out my exam study guides for AZ-303 Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies and AZ-304 Microsoft Azure Architect Design.


Dec272019December 27, 2019October 30, 202011Commentsby Thomas Maurer
How to Learn Microsoft Azure in 2020

How to Learn Microsoft Azure in 2020

Posted in Certification, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Thomas Maurer

The year 2019 is almost over, and usually, we take the time to look back at the year and also to find some New Year’s resolutions for the new year. Why not take all that energy and prepare for the cloud computing era and advance your career by learning Microsoft Azure. In this post, I try to give you a quick look at how you can get started to learn Microsoft Azure in 2020.

Azure hands-on experience

There is nothing better than hands-on experience, so get started with a free Azure account. Your Azure free account includes a limited quantity of free services for 12 months. Within these limits, you have the flexibility to use the free services in various configurations to meet your needs.

Learn with Free Azure services

Learn with Free Azure services

To learn more, see the Azure free account FAQ

Free Azure Account

Create free Azure Account ☁

Create your Azure free account today and get started with 12 months of free services!

Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Learn was introduced at Ignite 2018 as a free learning platform for a lot of different Microsoft technologies, not just Azure. Microsoft Learn provides you with various learning paths depending on your job role or the skills you are looking for. Most of the learning paths give you a hands-on learning opportunity so that you can develop practical skills through interactive training. And it is free! You get instant in-browser access to Microsoft tools and modules, no credit card required.

Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Learn 🎓

Up your game with a module or learning path tailored to today’s IT Pro, developer, and technology masterminds and designed to prepare you for industry-recognized Microsoft certifications.

Become Microsoft Azure Certified

Another great option to learn and verify your skills is to take Microsoft Azure certification exams. A couple of months back, I wrote a series of blog posts on why you should become Microsoft Azure certified, how you prepare for Microsoft Azure exams, and how you take and pass Microsoft certification exams. Taking the new role-based Microsoft certification exams will help you to find the right topics and structure to learn, depending on your current or future job role you are looking for.

Microsoft Certification

Microsoft Certification

Earn certifications that show you are keeping pace with today’s technical roles and requirements.

If you are just getting started with Azure, have a look at the AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam. You can also have a look at my experience with the different Azure exam certifications:

Exam Study Guides

I also wrote a couple of Microsoft certification exam study guides, which might help you as well.

More resources to learn Azure in 2020

There are a couple of more resources I want to point you to, to get started and learn Microsoft Azure in 2020.

Azure Architecture Center

Azure Architecture Center

  • Azure Architecture Center – The Azure Architecture Center contains guidance for building end-to-end solutions on Microsoft Azure. Here you will find reference architectures, best practices, design patterns, scenario guides, and reference implementations.
  • Cloud Adoption Framework – The Cloud Adoption Framework is the One Microsoft approach to cloud adoption in Azure, consolidating, and sharing best practices from Microsoft employees, partners, and customers. The framework gives customers a set of tools, guidance, and narratives that help shape technology, business, and people strategies for driving desired business outcomes during their adoption effort. This guidance aligns to the following phases of the cloud adoption lifecycle, like Strategy, Plan, Ready, Migrate, Innovate, Govern, and Manage.
  • Azure Migration Center – Get all the tools and resources you need to migrate your apps, data, and infrastructure at your own pace, with confidence.
  • Azure Architecture Framework – A successful cloud solution requires to focus on these five pillars of architecture excellence: Cost, DevOps, Resiliency, Scalability, and Security. The Azure Architecture Framework helps you to build on these pillars.
  • Application architecture guide – The Azure Application Architecture Guide presents a structured approach for designing applications on Azure that are scalable, resilient, and highly available. It is based on proven practices that we have learned from customer engagements.
  • Azure Cloud Design Patterns – The Azure Cloud Design Patterns are useful for building reliable, scalable, secure applications in the cloud. Each pattern describes the problem that the pattern addresses, considerations for applying the pattern, and an example based on Microsoft Azure. Most of the patterns include code samples or snippets that show how to implement the pattern on Azure.
  • Azure Reference Architectures – The Reference Architectures are a set of recommended architectures for Azure. Each architecture includes best practices, prescriptive steps, and a deployable solution.
  • Architectural decision guides – The architectural decision guides in the Cloud Adoption Framework describe patterns and models that help when creating cloud governance design guidance.
  • Cloud Operating model – Establish an operating model for the cloud
  • Get started guide for Azure developers – The get started guide helps developers to get started with Azure and tools.
  • Azure Quickstart Templates – Deploy Azure resources through the Azure Resource Manager with community contributed templates to get more done. Deploy, learn, fork, and contribute back.
  • Code samples – Get started with Microsoft developer tools and technologies. Explore our samples and discover the things you can build.
  • Azure Hybrid – Learn about Azure Hybrid Cloud with features and services like Azure Stack, Azure Arc, and many more.
  • Azure for AWS Professionals – This article helps Amazon Web Services (AWS) experts understand the basics of Microsoft Azure accounts, platform, and services. It also covers key similarities and differences between the AWS and Azure platforms.
  • Azure Security – Learn about Azure and security
  • Azure compliance – Get an overview of compliance in Microsoft Azure, with more than 90 compliance offerings
  • Azure privacy – Learn more about Azure data privacy and protection.
  • Service Level Agreements (SLA) – Read the SLAs to learn about our uptime guarantees and downtime credit policies.
  • Azure pricing – learn about how Azure pricing works and how you can save costs and get the best value at every stage of your cloud journey.
  • TCO Calculator – Estimate the cost savings you can realize by migrating your workloads to Azure.
  • Azure Support Plans – Explore the range of Azure support options and choose the plan that best fits, whether you’re a developer just starting your cloud journey or a large organization deploying business-critical, strategic applications.

I hope these resources give you a great summary of how you can start learning Azure in 2020. If you have any questions, or you feel that some resources are missing, let me know in the comments. Also, subscribe to my blog to learn about the latest updates.


Dec032018December 3, 2018September 25, 20190Commentby Thomas Maurer
Azure Stack Tenant Portal

Considerations for deploying apps and services on Azure Stack

Posted in Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, PowerShell

I work with a couple of customers on different Azure Stack projects. One of the main topics that always comes up, is what are the differences between Azure and Azure Stack when deploying applications and services. Obviously there are the high-level differences, which I have written about it here: Microsoft Azure Stack – Azure Extension in your Datacenter. However, there are also small differences in features and services between Azure and Azure Stack. These differences can block customers form deploying and automating workloads. I tried to summarize the most common differences and considerations you should know, in a single blog post.

High-level differences between Azure and Azure Stack

Some of the high-level differences between the two platforms are:

  • An Azure Stack does not have the same SLA and physical security in place since the Azure Stack does not run in a Microsoft operated location.
  • Azure Stack provides only a subset of the Azure services and features.
  • Azure Stack is not operated by Microsoft. Azure Stack backend is operated by the operators in your company or by a service provider.
  • The Azure Stack operator, which can be your company or a service provider, chooses which services, features and marketplace items he wants to make available on Azure Stack.
  • Azure Stack comes with its own portal. It has the same look and feel, but it will be another URL and endpoints for the portal as well as for the APIs.
  • Azure Stack will have different PowerShell and API versions available. If you are building a hybrid cloud app, which should work on Azure and Azure Stack, make sure you are using the versions supported by Azure Stack.

Considerations and differences between Azure and Azure Stack

Obviously, there is much more to this. I put a list of links together, where you can find the differences between Azure and Azure Stack and more considerations you should think of when deploying on Azure Stack.

Setup an Azure Stack operator and developer environment

Install Azure Stack PowerShell

To connect to Azure Stack using PowerShell, Visual Studio, the Azure CLI or another Azure Stack tooling, you have to set up a few things. I recommend that you read my blog post about how to set up an Azure Stack operator and developer environment. This is not only helpful for operators, but also for people who want to deploy and develop solutions on Azure Stack.

Check API versions available

Azure Stack API Verions PowerShell

If you are an Azure Stack tenant and you want to check which API versions are available on your Azure Stack, you can run the following PowerShell command against Azure Stack. This does not need any administrator rights, you will just need a tenant account on Azure Stack to access it. If your Azure Stack is running at a service provider, it is very likely that you won’t have access to the Administrator portal to check the version.

Get-AzureRmResourceProvider | Select ProviderNamespace -Expand ResourceTypes | Select * -Expand ApiVersions | `
Select ProviderNamespace, ResourceTypeName, @{Name="ApiVersion"; Expression={$_}}

Check version release notes

Azure Stack Version Release Notes

Another good thing to check if you are running in any issues deploying applications or services is to check the Azure Stack version release notes. Theses document very well the new features added, fixed as well as known issues with that release.

You can find the links to the latest Azure Stack release notes here. I also recommend that you read my article about Updating Azure Stack.

I hope this gives you a quick overview and help you to successfully deploy applications and services on Azure Stack. You can find most of this information on the documentation site, but I decided to consolidate this information in one post.


Mar122014March 12, 2014September 2, 20180Commentby Thomas Maurer
Windows Azure Pack IaaS

Windows Azure Pack Architecture

Posted in Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, PowerShell, System Center, Virtualization, Windows Server

Some days ago I wrote about Windows Azure Pack which basically brings Windows Azure Services to your datacenter on top of Windows Server and System Center. I also showed a little overview how the overall architecture looks like, including the different resource providers such as VM Cloud or SQL Server.

Overall Architecture

Windows Azure Pack Archtiecture Overview

Components

If you a look on the Windows Azure Pack you have 7 different components, which need to be installed.

Service Management APIs

  • Windows Azure Pack Admin API – The Windows Azure Pack Admin API exposes functionality to complete administrative tasks from the management portal for administrators or through the use of Windows PowerShell cmdlets.
  • Windows Azure Pack Tenant API – Windows Azure Pack Tenant API enables users, or tenants, to manage and configure cloud services that are included in the plans that they subscribe to.
  • Windows Azure Pack Tenant Public API – Windows Azure Pack Tenant Public API enables end users to manage and configure cloud services that are included in the plans that they subscribe to. The Tenant Public API is designed to serve all the requirements of end users that subscribe to the various services that a hosting service provider provides.

Authentication sites

  • Admin Authentication Site – This is the authentication site where Administrators authenticate against. By default, Windows Azure Pack uses Windows authentication for the administration portal. You also have the option to use Windows Azure Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) to authenticate users.
  • Tenant Authentication Site – This is the authentication site where Tenants (Customers) authenticate against. Windows Azure Pack uses an ASP.NET Membership provider to provide authentication for the management portal for tenants.

Service Management portals

  • Management portal for administrators – A portal for administrators to configure and manage resource clouds, user accounts, tenant plans, quotas, and pricing. In this portal, administrators create Web Site clouds, virtual machine private clouds, create plans, and manage user subscriptions.
  • Management portal for tenants – A customizable self-service portal to provision, monitor, and manage services. In this portal, users sign up for services and create services, virtual machines, and databases.

Source: TechNet

In addition to the Windows Azure Pack components you also have the Resource providers such as VM Cloud (IaaS), Websites, SQL and more, which integrate in WAP.

Design

You can install all of the Windows Azure Pack components on different servers and also make them highly available and scalable. First you have to understand that there are multiple types of components, you have the Tenant Portal, Tenant authentication site and the tenant public API which are public and should be accessible for the customers, Tenant API, Admin API, Admin Portal, Admin Authentication site as well as the SQL database behind are so called privileged services which should be protected.

Windows Azure Pack ditributed deployment architecture

 

Microsoft describes several different scenarios which you can mix. The minimal installation shows you two “servers” or tiers, one for the public facing services and one for the privileged services. To make them highly available you would have two servers for each tiers behind a load balancer.

Windows Azure Pack minimal deployment architecture

The make the deployment more scalable you can split up the different components on different tiers.

Windows Azure Pack scaled deployment architecture

Well and Microsoft also offers you an express installation which should only be used for lab or proof of concept installations. This installs all the needed components on to a single server.

Windows Azure Pack Express Deployment

At the end you and the customer have to decide how you deploy your environment based on scale, availability and security. You can get more information about the Windows Azure Pack Architecture on TechNet.



  • About Thomas Maurer

    Thomas Maurer

    My name is Thomas Maurer. I am a Senior Program Manager & Chief Evangelist for Azure Hybrid at Microsoft. I am part of the Azure engineering team (Cloud + AI) and engage with the community and customers around the world. Opinions are my own.

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