Microsoft Azure Compute: The Definitive Guide

Author: Avinash Valiramani
Publisher: ‎ Microsoft Press
Pages: 320
ISBN: 978-0137564446
Print: 0137564449
Kindle: B09RFFWZBR
Audience: Azure users
Rating: 4.5
Reviewer: Kay Ewbank

This book is a guide to Azure compute services for IT professionals who need to work out the best way to implement Azure, then deploy and operate it.

Taking a straightforward approach this book starts with a chapter on Azure virtual machines that gives an overview of what they are, then looks at how to take high availability into consideration. The chapter then looks at storage disks, networking, cost-optimization options, and backup and disaster recovery.

Chapter 2 moves on to virtual machine scale sets in Azure. These are individual VMs that are all configured identically and managed as a group rather than individually. Having given a good overview of scale sets, the chapter considers high availability, maintenance and networking. There's a section on best practices for VM scale sets, and the chapter concludes with a look at disks for scale sets and strategies for cost optimization.

 

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Chapter 3 introduces Azure App Service, the service that is used to host web apps, the back end of mobile apps, and REST APIs. This is probably where the book becomes of direct interest to developers, but as with the rest of the book, Valiramani mainly aims the material at administrators and IT managers rather than developers. There's an in depth look at planning deployment and operations, and another on networking considerations that covers aspects such as hybrid connections, network security groups and DNS private zones.

azurecompute

The Azure Virtual Desktop is the subject of the next chapter. This is a desktop-as-a-service that is a virtualization service for both desktops and applications, and having looked at the core concepts, Valiramani moves on to design considerations. There's a detailed look at session hosts, the underlying VM instances that host sessions-based desktops and apps. The rest of the chapter examines backups, disaster recovery, authentication, security, and integration with Azure DevTest Labs.

Chapter 5 covers container instances, which can be used to deploy containers on demand in the cloud without having to have a back-end VM infrastructure. Instead, the serverless Azure environment is managed by Microsoft. The chapter includes what to consider when setting up containers and how to ensure security.

The final chapter in the book looks at Azure Functions, a serverless compute service that provides on-demand access and that can be used for trigger-based apps. The chapter explains what Azure Functions offers, how to deploy apps on Functions, event-driven scaling, and Functions best practices.

This is a dense book that sticks to the practicalities. If you have to interact with Azure Compute, it's a book worth having.

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Seriously Good Software

Author: Marco Faella
Publisher: Manning
Date: March 2020
Pages: 328
ISBN: 978-1617296291
Print: 1617296295
Kindle: B09782DKN8
Audience: Relatively experienced Java programmers
Rating: 4.5
Reviewer: Mike James
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Publisher: Addison Wesley
Pages: 576
ISBN: 9780138052102
Print: 0138052107
Kindle: B0B8RZZBDJ
Audience: Smart programmers wanting in-depth coverage
Rating: 4.8
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 03 January 2023 )