Getting Started with Microsoft Azure
For some time now I’ve wanted to learn all about Microsoft Azure and dive deeper into cloud computing. Through completing The Getting Started with Microsoft Azure training course from LinkedIn learning I was able to gain meaningful knowledge on the various cloud services available, I learned how to interact with the Azure web portal, how to set up and configure virtual machines and a web app using Azure web App services, and I learned about some of the other useful cloud services that are available through Microsoft Azure.
This course went over the three main cloud-based models, first IaaS (Infrastructure as a service) which are networks, disks, memory, actual physical hardware that is maintained by the cloud service provider in which you bring your own operating system and apps, and you do all of the networking and programing on their virtual machines for a fee. This method of developing offers the lowest cost, the most control, and most flexibility but puts most of the responsibility on the user. Next, (PaaS Platform as a service) which consist of the infrastructure but also specialized software from the service provider that runs on that infrastructure. An example of PaaS is Azure App Service, the service provider provides the operating system and takes care of all the system maintenance, and you bring the app. While this service may increase costs with less control and flexibility there is far less responsibility, and a web portal provides a no code environment to interact with Azure for ease of use. Lastly, (SaaS software as a service) which is the most common; is software or a service that is hosted in the cloud, for example Outlook or Netflix.
The Microsoft Azure Platform offers many more cloud based and hybrid services such as virtual machines, Azure Web App Service, Azure Storge, Azure Cognitive Services which offers pre-trained AI models that can be used in your web app, and Azure Machine Learning which allows data scientists to store, manipulate, and train very large amounts of data.
I learned a lot through this course, it was robust and in depth. It showed me not just the basics of starting with Azure but also got me familiar with the way virtual machines and web apps are set up in Azure and other cloud service providers.