Azure Cloud Computing Services and Green Cloud Computing
The idea of cloud computing has been around since the 1970s with a greater push in usage starting around the 1990s. Taking physical products like computers and transferring them to the cloud with the help of the internet is the real backbone to why cloud computing is as complex as it is today. It is fairly well known that Amazon Web Services (AWS) has one of, if not the largest, cloud computing service platforms on the market today, but it is not just that simple. As all other businesses experience, there are pushbacks on services for a business whether the business is a physical store or an online clothing brand. To start off, in regards to cloud computing, Green Cloud Computing is a topic just like world pollution that needs to be discussed. Green Cloud Computing is very similar to what the term suggests. When you have services as a business, everything from employee commute time to printing reports for the business affects the environment. The idea behind this term is to reduce emissions caused by these actions to make cloud computing as efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. In addition, AWS is not the only cloud computing service offered as mentioned before. Microsoft owns Azure, which has similar functions and pricing as AWS offers. Especially with the recent pandemic, cloud computing services in all areas of the market have drastically increased making these services even more popular and causing substantial growth in the industry as a whole. In the starting weeks of Cloud Architecture, we learned a lot about AWS including what services they have to offer, how to recreate those services, and how they all connect to each other. Azure works in similar ways as well. Azure has various data centers around the world and supports multiple languages like Node.js, Java, C#, etc. Some terms that are used in AWS are not necessarily called the same in Azure but the same principles apply to both services since they are providing the same infrastructures. Using the concepts, we learned in class for AWS makes it a lot easier to adapt to Azure as a new platform if we ever had to switch in the future since, like AWS, many large and market-leading companies use Azure as well. In regards to Azure’s implementation of Green Cloud Computing, since AWS and Azure function relatively the same, the same concepts can be used for both services. Reducing physical server rooms and system-related hardware allows for the reduction of power needed to run each data center as well as reduce maintenance costs for the company. In the long run, these alterations in how these products will lower the emission footprint on the environment as a result of those energy consumption reductions. Some disadvantages to Green Cloud Computing with Azure and AWS include high cost for implementation, adaptability, and the hardware computer power available with each system. These examples are all a part of the transition to a cleaner environment but they are important to note when talking about these various cloud computing services. Lastly, the implantation of Azure works very similar to AWS but a real-life example would be password protected. If your company is using online cloud-based timesheets, logging into the system with separate passwords for each employee is a risk to the security of that system. With Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), you can link that timesheet system to Azure AD and only require your employees to login into Azure which reduces the amount of user error for forgetting login information and helps to secure each login password as well. Overall, the implantation of these services is drastically improving in the coming years, and combining AWS and Azure services alike with Green Could computing will increase the longevity of cloud computing services as a whole for the future.
Works Cited
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“Green Cloud Computing: An Easy 4 Step Beginner’s Guide.” Jigsaw Academy, 23 Nov. 2020, www.jigsawacademy.com/blogs/cloud-computing/green-cloud-computing/#:~:text=“Green%20Cloud%20Computing”%2C%20the,waste%20disposed%20to%20the%20environment.&text=The%20reduction%20in%20energy%20consumption%20will%20reduce%20carbon%20emissions%20in%20the%20environment.. Accessed 21 Apr. 2021.
“How to Modernize Your Business Process Automation – Webinar.” New Signature, 23 Jan. 2015, newsignature.com/articles/real-world-scenarios-for-using-azure-active-directory-for-authentication/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2021.
Jones, Edward. “AWS vs Azure in 2021 (Comparing the Cloud Computing Giants).” Kinsta, Kinsta, 10 Mar. 2021, kinsta.com/blog/aws-vs-azure/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2021.
Simplilearn. “What Is Azure? | Microsoft Azure Tutorial for Beginners | Microsoft Azure Training | Simplilearn.” YouTube, 25 Oct. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Arj5zlUPG4. Accessed 21 Apr. 2021.