AWS vs. Azure
Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure are both cloud computing platforms that allow users to access a remote server from any location, as long as the user is connected to the internet. You can specify the amount of storage, RAM, and CPU needed for the server. You would pay for the service based on the specs of the hardware you chose to use. The hardware is located in a data center and the hardware you are using is allocated from a much larger machine. Cloud computing is beneficial for companies because they can save money without having to have a server on-premise. It also saves the space by not having to have the physical machine at their location.
Amazon Web Services and Azure are the two largest cloud computing platforms as of right now, so I will see how they compare. They both can run instances, which is the virtual server. AWS calls them Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), and Azure calls them Virtual Machines (VM). Both of the services also have auto-scaling features that can be configured. Auto-scaling means that if the server gets overloaded, more instances will automatically spawn to accommodate for the load. They will also terminate once the load has decreased. AWS and Azure both have storage services as well. AWS uses the Simple Storage Service (S3) and Azure uses Storage Block blob. The storage service is best used for large files and each file is stored as an individual unit. AWS and Azure do much of the same functions, but they do have slight variations between them in how certain things work. In AWS, you can set up a virtual private cloud (VPC) and configure the subnets, internet gateway, and security groups. Instead of having a VPC, Azure has a Virtual Network where those configurations can be done. Microsoft Azure is more friendly for using third-party cloud providers alongside themselves than AWS. AWS can have more features than Azure with the use of third-party tools. Both AWS and Azure use the pay as you go method for charging the user for the hardware allocated. The difference is that AWS charges for each hour while Azure charges for each minute.
This topic relates to MIS 3406 because we learned about cloud computing, the internet, and AWS. Since Microsoft Azure is also a cloud computing service, it is very similar to what we learned in class. AWS and Azure share a lot of the same functions so switching between platforms could be a relatively easy process. So, learning more about Azure would be building off of what we learned in class by expanding our knowledge of cloud computing platforms.
AWS and Azure are both large services that are used by notable companies. One of the biggest users of AWS is Netflix. In 2015, Netflix finally closed all of its own data centers and completely moved to AWS to host their entire streaming library. Microsoft Azure and Adobe Creative Cloud have partnered to enhance the adobe digital experience. Overall, there are a number of similarities and differences between AWS and Azure, and it is beneficial to know what they are.