What Is Microsoft Azure? (And 3 Reasons Why It Matters)

By Staff Contributor on February 15, 2022

Technology changes fast. Even if you’re an IT professional, you could be forgiven for not having the Microsoft Azure environment on your radar. However, this lack of familiarity means you could be missing out on the Azure platform’s powerful features.

By appreciating the benefits of Azure technology, you can bring yourself up to speed on one of the most formidable application programs around. You can use SolarWinds® Server & Application Monitor (SAM) to monitor its performance more easily.

In this article, we’ll introduce you to Azure cloud computing. Then, we’ll walk you through three reasons why it could matter for your organization.

An Introduction to Microsoft Azure

The Microsoft Azure environment is a public cloud computing platform. Customers with access to Azure technology can use it for tasks like executing program analytics and storing essential data.

These features make the Microsoft Azure infrastructure an extremely useful tool if you’re looking to develop new applications or run existing ones. It’s also geared towards IT professionals, meaning you’ll gain access to all the advanced settings you need.

An Azure environment helps you break away from on-premises servers. Physical servers can be expensive to maintain. They’re also vulnerable to data loss from hardware malfunctions.

However, the cloud-based system means you can harness the power of Microsoft technology without limitations.

3 Main Reasons Why Microsoft Azure Matters

In the 2021 fiscal year alone, Microsoft Azure services earned Microsoft nearly US$60 billion. Here are a few reasons why this wildly popular technology might matter enough to make you a paying customer, too.

1. It Provides Essential Disaster Recovery Tools

Let’s face it: accidents happen. Whether it’s a far-away natural disaster or a technical glitch in your own office, it’s important to prepare for the worst. The integrated recovery tools of Microsoft Azure technology can help you do just that.

One reason for this is an on-premises data center. This program may rely on the cloud, but it’s not its only resource. You can use the Azure web service to store emergency backups in locally redundant storage (LRS), geo-redundant storage (GRS), and zone-redundant storage (ZRS).

For more peace of mind, you can also automate your backup policy. No need to keep yourself on a schedule—regular maintenance is part and parcel of the Microsoft Azure infrastructure.

However, it can be nearly impossible to predict when and how your web application may break. Azure cloud computing will alert you of any radical changes to your metrics, which are easily trackable with the help of an intuitive dashboard, like in SolarWinds SAM.

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Microsoft cloud services are responsible for powering this rigorous tracking and secure backup strategy. Nevertheless, you’re free to choose whichever Azure environment monitoring tool best fits your needs.

2. It Helps You Develop and Host Applications With Flexibility

The Microsoft Azure infrastructure can produce almost any type of web application. However, it’s not just about the creation process: it can also meet your hosting needs.

This kind of flexibility means you don’t have to worry about weighing the “Azure IaaS vs. PaaS” question. It can perform equally well no matter which environment you choose. Virtual machines (VMs) are also well-served by the Microsoft Azure platform.

Microsoft leverages the full power of its cloud servers regardless of your choice. The Microsoft Azure environment can provide in-depth monitoring to show exactly how your applications are performing.

No matter where you’ve landed between Azure IaaS vs. PaaS, it’ll be well-supported. Thi

However, this isn’t the only flexibility offered by the Azure web service. For example, let’s say you’re running multiple Azure virtual machines projects. You can pick from several different specialties to fit each one’s unique resource needs, including healthcare systems as well as government agencies.

3. It Provides Huge Amounts of Adaptable Data Storage

As we mentioned earlier, the cloud-based Microsoft Azure infrastructure gives you almost limitless storage options. You can keep any data you need for an Azure cloud computing project securely at your fingertips.

You don’t always know exactly how much storage you’ll need. For example, comparing the fine data needs of an Azure IaaS vs. PaaS project could take a lot of time and may influence your choice.

That’s another reason why the Microsoft Azure environment could be critical to your company. The cloud-based system means you can easily upgrade and scale as necessary. Without the limits of a physical server, you can make sure you’re only paying for what you need.

Moreover, you don’t have to analyze your Azure cloud computing limits to figure out what they are. A high-quality monitor can help you visualize your entire Microsoft ecosphere to optimize its performance.

© 2022 SolarWinds. All rights reserved.

Whatever you need the data storage for, Microsoft will also be keeping it safe. Its Microsoft Azure environment is fully in line with the company’s strict standards and compliance rules. In addition to the disaster recovery features, it’s both a powerful and safe solution.

Conclusion

An Azure environment can be a powerful thing, but its innate complexity can make it difficult to understand how it can benefit your company. Fortunately, there are a few key points to help you optimize your use of Azure technology. You can also use SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor to monitor its performance.

In this article, we covered three reasons why a Microsoft Azure environment may be beneficial for your organization:

  1. It provides world-class disaster recovery tools.
  2. It can help support you in both developing and hosting your applications.
  3. You can take advantage of a huge amount of secure storage.

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