Microsoft Azure is a public cloud service in which you rent compute services from Microsoft that run in Microsoft’s data centers. You pay only for the resources you use over the course of your billing period.

I wrote this book to give you a gentle yet thorough introduction to Microsoft Azure, showing you how it works and why you may want to use it to save your company money, time, effort, and sanity.

About This Book

You may wonder why you don’t find a large number of Azure–related books in your local bookstores or at online retailers. The answer is quite simple: Azure changes often, so print publishers have a great deal of difficulty keeping up.

I’ve worked with Azure for several years and have regular contact with Azure team members at Microsoft, who find it to be just as time- and effort-intensive to stay current with the technologies as users do.

Thus, I wrote this book with the intention of helping you with the following:

• Becoming comfortable with Microsoft Azure: I give you this comfort by sticking to what Microsoft calls the “80 percent scenarios,” or Azure deployments used by 80 percent of its customer base.
• Gaining skill with programmatic deployment: Along the way, I show you how to use Azure PowerShell, Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI), and Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates to get your Azure work done. These Azure access methods change less frequently than the Azure portal graphical user interface (GUI).
• Becoming comfortable with tools and staying current: You can expect the Azure portal to change such that what you see on your screen may not match what’s in this book. That’s to be expected! In the last section of the book, “The Part of Tens,” I give you the skills to stay current on your own and not to feel blindsided when Azure looks different today from how it looked yesterday.

I include many web addresses, also called URLs, throughout this book. If Microsoft changes a page address, and the link I provide no longer works, don’t fret! Simply run a Google search for the article title, and you’ll find the updated page address nearly instantly.

Throughout this book, you’ll find dozens of step-by-step procedures. I want you to keep the following points in mind as you work through them:

• You need an Azure subscription to follow the steps. If you haven’t already done so, you can create a free Azure account (https://azure.microsoft.com/free) that gives you 30 days to spend $200 USD on any Azure service. This quota should get you through this book’s material so long as you delete your deployments when you finish using them.
• I often provide sample values that work in my environment but may not work in yours. You should customize these procedures to suit your requirements.
• If you require additional software to complete an exercise, I tell you at before the exercise. Software requirements are limited to free Microsoft software to minimize the financial impact that working through this book has on you.

I assume that you have an Internet connection; otherwise, you’d be unable to access Azure (unless you’re using Azure Stack, but that’s a subject for another book).

Finally, most of the Azure administration and development tools are available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. (I used a Windows 10 workstation.)

Foolish Assumptions

I wrote this book with several types of readers in mind. See whether you can place yourself roughly or exactly in any of the following descriptions:

• You’re an experienced IT professional who needs to know Azure for future initiatives at work.
• You’re an IT newcomer who wants to know Azure to futureproof your career.
• You’re proficient in other public cloud platforms, such as Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud Platform, and you want to see how Azure compares.
• You’re being forced to use Azure for your job.
• You’re tasked with convincing your boss and other decision-makers how valuable Azure could be to your business, and you want to make sure that you understand the basics.
• You’re already using Azure but want to fill in your knowledge or skills gaps.

Regardless of your present attitude and orientation toward Azure, I hope that by studying this book and applying its methods you can more knowledge about Azure and thereby excel in your profession.

Icons Used in This Book

If you’ve read a For Dummies book before, then you’re probably familiar with the icons. If not, or if you want a formal description of each, then read on!

The Tip icon marks tips (duh!) and shortcuts that you can use to make working with Azure easier.

Remember icons mark especially important information. To siphon off the most important information in each chapter, skim the paragraphs that have these icons.

The Technical Stuff icon marks information of a highly technical nature that you can skip.

The Warning icon tells you to watch out! It marks important information that may save you headaches.

Where to Go from Here

Although I’d read this book in order starting with Chapter 1, you may not prefer to use that method. You can dip into any chapter with no formal dependency on those that come before it, so flip to the chapter that you want to begin with, and let’s get to work!

IN THIS PART …

Figuring out exactly what “cloud computing” means and how Microsoft Azure fits into the cloud computing picture

Differentiating the different cloud computing deployment and service delivery models

Understanding the basics of Azure Resource Manager

Gaining familiarity with the various Microsoft Azure administrative tools