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Microsoft's massive Azure Extension into the Enterprise

Author: Ritesh Mehta
by Ritesh Mehta
Posted: Sep 21, 2017

Now that Windows Server 2016 is available, Microsoft states that IT pros and developers could create and extend containerized workloads and apps to the network-and computer-enhanced Azure public cloud, and vice-versa.

MICROSOFT AZURE GOAL

Since Microsoft Azure was launched in early 2010, Microsoft has put consistent emphasis on its goal of bringing parity between a datacenter and cloud, a prospect which is easier said than done, particularly since infrastructure services did not come until several years later. First, Microsoft underscored hybrid clouds as a way of getting there from the start with Windows Azure Connect, a tool that enables connectivity from Microsoft-based endpoints towards public cloud. The firm took a further step with Windows Server 2012, dubbed as Cloud OS for its capability to bridge datacenter workloads to Azure.

AZURE-BASED WINDOWS SERVER MANAGEMENT

Windows Server is described as the edge of Azure and vice versa. It is the new Windows Server 2016 Azure-based RSMT or Remote Server Management Tools option that is used to tandem with the Nano Server deployment option. Microsoft confirmed major components of the tools could be found in the Azure marketplace. RSMT allows admins to manage any Windows Server 2016 servers that run on-premises and VMS in Azure as well. As Nano and Server Core options are becoming more prevalent, which Microsoft and others have predicted to become the norm, traditional tools like MMC, Microsoft Management Console or Server Manager snap-ins will not work with the headless servers. RSMT utilizes a gateway architecture to enable remote management of Windows Server 2016 machines as well as VMS on-premises.

BRINGING WINDOWS CONTAINERS TO AZURE

An equally vital new capability Microsoft brought to Windows Server 2016 is support for Docker Engine, a commercial runtime environment of open source container platform. Microsoft has announced at Ignite that Docker Engine would be included for free in Windows Server 2016. This makes it extremely easy for developers as well as IT admins to leverage container-based deployments with the use of Windows Server 2016.

AZURE BIG DATA TOOLS LURE ENTERPRISES TO PUBLIC CLOUD

The Azure big data tools draw enterprise to the public cloud. With the now-available SQL Data Warehouse big data service, Microsoft aims to attract customers’ on-premises data management to the cloud and to keep pace with Amazon Web Services or AWS. The company continue fleshing out its big data analytics tools to draw more traditional customers to its public cloud. In a lot of ways, the Azure big data service leapfrogs what frontrunner Amazon offers, filling in Microsoft’s final piece of analytics platform and ecosystem to help Information Technology stores to shift data management to the cloud.

CLOUD COMPUTING

Cloud computing is computer capability that is delivered as utility via Internet protocols and standards. This opens up the possibilities for ‘public cloud’ and ‘private cloud’ concepts. Public cloud, as the name implies, is available for anyone with a credit card. Private cloud on the other hand is meant the exclusive use of a business or business consortium as identified by the mission statement of private cloud. Azure, AWS, Google App Engine and Force.com are some examples of public clouds. Any private data center that is run by a huge enterprise could be called a private cloud if it has the advantage of a unified resource model that is enabled by wider virtualization, which treats storage, compute and networking as homogenous resource pol and take advantage of processes that are highly automated to operate the system.

VIRTUAL SDN ARCHITECTURE OF WINDOWS AZURE

The virtual SDN architecture of Azure achieves scalability through massive distributing the control panel and data plane of the network. It has numerous federated controllers, each one dedicated to particular apps, network functions and services. The data plane and the all Layer 4-7 series and policies are implemented across each hypervisor host in Azure data centers. The virtual SDN control plane includes federated, specialized controllers. There are controllers by app and are federated.

The approach of Microsoft to the forwarding plane in the Windows Azure network was inspired by OpenFlow. The idea is match-action tables. A controller programs the tables. There are tables for virtual networks, NAT or network address translation, load balances, ACLs or access control lists. There are hundreds of features and are implemented in ways that could not be done if all was cooked into hardware. Azure’s virtual cloud load-balancing services is an example of how the virtual SDN model could scale in massive cloud. It is hosted on each single server in the data center.

Definitely, Azure is a flexible and open cloud platform that allows building, deploying and managing applications quickly across a global Microsoft-managed datacenters network.

About the Author

Ritesh Mehta is the Sales Director at TatvaSoft Australia, a Software & mobile app development company. For Over 15 years, he has been professionally active in financial management, software development.

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Author: Ritesh Mehta

Ritesh Mehta

Member since: Apr 26, 2017
Published articles: 70

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