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reviewer1488372 - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Manager at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Straightforward documentation, flexible, and helpful technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "I have found the solution to be flexible, easy to use, and the documents are straightforward to understand."
  • "When we are doing transfers of records in large amounts, for example, petabytes of data or few long datasets, the performance should not degrade as it does."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution for executing the ADF pipelines through the database port. We provide the scripts in the database, we run it, and it goes through the ADF pipeline. Afterward, through the database command, the ADF pipeline will run and push the data into Azure SQL. 

What is most valuable?

I have found the solution to be flexible, easy to use, and the documents are straightforward to understand. For example, it is flexible, we have a single pipeline that has three phases, within approximately 15 minutes the records get transferred into this solution efficiently.

Additionally, the solution is well integrated with other solutions such as Power BI.

What needs improvement?

When we are doing transfers of records in large amounts, for example, petabytes of data or few long datasets, the performance should not degrade as it does. I am working on big data platforms like Informatica and others and even though there are terabytes of data being transferred it does it immediately. However, in this solution, I would like the performance to be there when building a large dataset to integrate the data.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for the past three years.

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have found the solution to be scalable. We use Teradata for large data and we are building the pipelines for it, so far it has operated well. We have approximately 25 individuals using the solution in my organization.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is very good, if you have an issue they will be able to help.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used Informatica in the past and it has some performance advantages compared to this solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution does require a license.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others and we are going to continue using it in the future. We have numerous clients switching to this solution.

I rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1499406 - PeerSpot reviewer
General Manager at a tech company with 11-50 employees
Real User
A reliable, stable, and scalable solution that meets our needs and is easy to implement and use
Pros and Cons
  • "There are many useful features. We use web apps, so instead of starting a web server, we just have machines running some web services. This was helpful for us in terms of the scalability of the application. We also use Active Directory for authentication and some services for the data backup. It is a very good and reliable solution. It was easy to implement this solution. It fits very well into our plans and covers our needs to provide infrastructure in the cloud. The portal to configure new resources is very easy, and it is very easy to allocate new resources."
  • "We would like it to be cheaper. As a customer, we always want to pay less."

What is our primary use case?

Our production system is on Microsoft Azure. We are using the latest version of this solution.

We have services for the data in the SQL Server database. We also have servers for our web-based applications. All transactions occur in this environment. We also have a mirror environment in Azure, which is a different cloud geographically. 

What is most valuable?

There are many useful features. We use web apps, so instead of starting a web server, we just have machines running some web services. This was helpful for us in terms of the scalability of the application. We also use Active Directory for authentication and some services for the data backup.

It is a very good and reliable solution. It was easy to implement this solution. It fits very well into our plans and covers our needs to provide infrastructure in the cloud. The portal to configure new resources is very easy, and it is very easy to allocate new resources.

What needs improvement?

We would like it to be cheaper. As a customer, we always want to pay less.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution since 2013.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

In the past, they had some major outages, but it is a pretty stable platform.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable. It is as easy as assigning more resources, but it also depends on the architecture. If you have web apps or microservices, it is easy to implement a kind of dynamic or elastic growth. When you have a lot of activities, Azure will automatically assign more resources, which is pretty convenient.

We have around 200 users in our company, but we also have a merchant network that uses our system. This network has about 1,000 users.

How are customer service and technical support?

We had to escalate one case with the Microsoft team because we lost the connection with a data store. We got a response back within an hour of the event, and it was normal. Their service is fine in this regard. You can also have a better support contract, but what we have is enough for our purposes and needs.

How was the initial setup?

It is pretty easy. You just have to follow the step-by-step guidelines. The deployment happens almost immediately. If you need to increase or upgrade a server or have a new server, you just go to the portal and create a new resource, such as a server or a disk. It is very fast. There is no waiting time at all.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Its price can be cheaper. Price is always an issue. We pay around $10,000 per month for all resources.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are launching a new platform for software as a service. We create our software, and for a new concept and architecture, we are comparing AWS with Azure. We are exploring AWS. It is a different stack, and we don't have much experience with it. So far, we don't have a lot of information about production on AWS because the product is not live yet. It will take a couple of months to be finished.

What other advice do I have?

It is a good solution. If you have any on-premise applications, you have to be very careful about the architecture. What you don't want to do is copy what you have in your data center and put it on the cloud because there are various alternatives once you are in the cloud. Therefore, I would recommend others to review the architecture and take advantage of the features that it provides.

I would rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten. We are happy with Microsoft and this solution.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure
December 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2024.
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it_user8436 - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Vendor
Building Private Clouds with Windows Azure Pack (WAP)

The model of elastic self-service deployment of VMs and applications that come with the Azure public cloud are changing the way IT departments allocate servers. Rather than tying servers to a specific application, IT departments now look to provide a pool of shared and dynamically self-allocated resources. There are compelling needs to run on premise a private version of the Azure Cloud that provides a lot of the multi-tenant services and benefits of the public Cloud. There are a lot of hosting partners that want to offer these Azure Cloud OS services to their customers. MS wants to give a consistent platform across hosting providers, private DCs, and Azure Cloud. The newly released Windows Azure Pack (WAP) decouples and brings a few of Azure OS features and a modified portal with common code base into the private Cloud. It allows an enterprises to assume the role of service providers. It removes limitations to allow service providers to try and garner enterprise workloads.

Using WAP, your IT department can install these new features. (This was previously Windows Azure Services for Windows Server released at start of 2013 with System Center). The Azure Pack is built on top of Windows Server 2012 and System Center R2/ with Service Provider Foundation. An IT Dept. that builds on w2012 and Sys Center can move to WAP anytime. One of WAP’s goals is to drive a consistent IT ops and developer experience. These technologies will evolve over time. Some features for Azure will be released first in WAP and rolled into Azure Cloud, and vice versa. WAP comes at no cost for datacenters running System Center and Windows Server 2012.

Here are the services/workloads in the first release of Windows Azure Pack.
1. Web sites
• IIS currently is a server-centric platform but needs to evolve to be Cloud-first. IIS team rebuilt a new hosting PaaS with LB and scaling on-demand, dev0ps optimized. High-density supports 1000s of users on less of a cost than IIS with new capabilities. This is a good motivation to move into the on premise Cloud instead of running original IIS.
• Multi-machine PaaS container with data and app tier and Load balancing. The platform can talk to many source code providers. As an IT Ops person you just deploy the Web PaaS and don’t have to mess with configuration issues.

2. Service Bus
• Been on premise awhile but had restrictions. Now is same messaging architecture as Azure Cloud service bus with no limitations.
• Reliable messaging to build a cloud app that scales and communicates with other apps or across other boundaries. Messaging allows a way to pass and receive messages cross platform.
• Supports publish and subscribe messaging patterns across a variety of access points on multiple platforms using standard protocols.

3. Virtual Machines (IaaS)
• Allows you to provision and manage VMs as a consumer and define your networking. Gallery of apps and fully self-service experience for provisioning VMs.
• Consistent Azure VM API on premise and in Cloud so you can access VMs the same way regardless of where DC is that you are using.
• Adds a new Azure feature called Virtual Machine Roles (like AMIs in AWS which are Amazon EC2 Virtual Machine Templates). A VM Role provides a way to scale VMs elastically and define metadata for its container and its parameters. They are VM templates the IT Department can define to make available for self-provisioning and can scale. Templates can be versioned and take initial container info such as instance count, VM size, and hard disk. Provide admin credentials and OS version, IP address type and allocation method for IP address. You can specify app specific settings as well.
• Virtual Networks allows you to define VMs. Site to Site connectivity allows customers to connect their Cloud networks to their private networks. Good for hosters as well as the enterprise.

4. Service Management Portal and API
• Federate identities, Active Directory, and standards based.
• Take same portal as in Azure, decouple it, and run it in the on premise DC and talks to the consistent Service Management API.

Service Consumers
Service consumers are those who consume apps (developers) and infrastructure (IT Ops) from Service Providers. They need self-service admin and want to acquire capacity upon demand within limits defined by IT Dept. or hosting provider (have an internal approval process to increase beyond limits). Need predictable costs and get up and running quickly.

IT Depts. are now moving internally using a charge-back model (internal dollars vs. credit card) where IT Ops are charging back to different departments, almost like internal hosters. Today some internal IT requests lead internal folks to go out of band to get their job done via external hosting providers or acquire HW/SW without IT approval. WAP helps with simple and quick self-provisioning so no longer need to acquire hosting hardware outside IT budget.

Additional Consumer Services
• Integration with AD for the enterprise. ADFS and co-admins that are critical for the enterprise (Not for service providers).
• Integration with SQL Server and MySQL. Support for SQL Server always on to make DBs highly available across cluster.
• Co-Admins in WAP allows you now to associate an IT group with a co-admin account. This does not exists in Azure Cloud yet.
• Console Connect – Today Remote desktop in Azure Cloud IaaS will only work on a public network (RDP for Windows VM or SSH for Linux). If you can’t get to it publicly you can’t remote into VM. Now, with WAP, you have a new feature called “Console Connect” through a secure channel that allows you to connect into a machine that is not running on a public network but in an enterprise on premise network.

Service Providers
Service Providers want to provide the most service at lowest cost to service consumers. Providers want to use hardware efficiency by automating everything. Also may desire to provide differentiate on SLAs and profiles for different environments – thus different SLAs per workload that is not present in public cloud.
As the enterprise looks to move from capital to operational expenditures service providers see a window of opportunity to acquire enterprise business in the leased model of a private Cloud. WAP allows service providers to easily shift their offerings in this direction to attract this business from the enterprise.

Provider Portal
WAP supplies a Provider Portal for the cloud services that Service providers can offer their tenants (for enterprises or hosters). Can provides different SLAs to customers through portal and tailor how you offer those services. The Provider portal runs inside the enterprise firewall. It manages a different set of objects than the normal portal. You can manage a high-level PaaS Web hosting container that hosts multiple Web sites. You can connect to VM clouds and service bus deployments along with their health. There is an automation tab that integrates with run books in System Center and you can edit workbook jobs and schedule them, and tie them to events coming from System Center.

Additional Provider Services
In the Provider portal there is a Plans service that allows providers to decide what types of plans a customer can access. Providers pick services to make available and then define a set of constraints and quotas for each subscription for subscribers. Providers can pick the VM template and Gallery items available. Maps capabilities to backend infrastructure.
• Public plan allows subscribers to try out a plan
• Private plan allows you to manually permit a subscription.

Additionally in the Provider Portal there is a User Accounts service allowing providers to manage users and add co-admins or suspend/delete a subscription.

For additional information on the Windows Azure Pack go to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-azure-pack.aspx.

Disclosure: The company I work for is a Microsoft Partner - http://www.aditi.com/about-us/alliance/

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Santiago Ochoa - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at Open Source & Cloud Advisory Services Architect IBM
MSP
Top 10
Good storage and elasticity with reasonable pricing on offer
Pros and Cons
  • "The pricing is quite good, and it is designed as pay-per-use."
  • "Maybe Microsoft could improve its monitoring around the networking."

What is our primary use case?

I use Microsoft Azure for different clients. I have different workloads or different architecture in Azure.

The most common use case is for migrations from on-premise to cloud. The principal solution is for a virtual machine, storage, and networking. 

What is most valuable?

The principal features that I use include computing, networking, and storage.

The elasticity within the cloud is great for clients to complete their pre-determined goals.

The cost is pretty good. They have a pay-per-use way of dealing with licensing that is very attractive. Migrating to the cloud becomes very attractive due to this.

The solution can scale.

Stability has been good.

What needs improvement?

Maybe Microsoft could improve its monitoring around the networking.

Clarity on the cost of the things could be better in some cases. For example, it's difficult to do a report with the cost of the things in Azure. Their calculator to estimate the cost needs to improve in terms of the estimation they provide.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have five years of experience with this product.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There are some products that have good stability and virtual machines - depending on your setup and configuration - are very good. With Microsoft Azure, it's very rare that I even have a problem with it. In any solution, there's always some form of issue, however, with this, it's less common.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I've found the scalability to be quite good. 

I have worked with clients that have 300 users or more, however, sometimes with a smaller client they will have maybe 60 or 100 users.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is very good, however, it depends on the problem. There are some problems that originate with the client itself that Microsoft, naturally, couldn't necessarily resolve due to the origin of the problem. However, in general, I haven't had any problems with the support with Microsoft. They are helpful and responsive. 

How was the initial setup?

Whether the initial setup is straightforward or complex depends on the client. There are some products that are more complex to set up. However, for me, it's easy to deploy different features or different products. It's easier compared to on-premise deployments.

Deployments can be two to three months for an enterprise.

For maintenance, you need a good team with good skills in Microsoft Azure, especially in the cloud due to the fact that it's a bit different. Things are different in the cloud compared with on-premise. 

What about the implementation team?

I am able to deploy the solution for clients. 

I work with a team in my company. When, for example, we need help or support from Microsoft, we have a contact with the architect of this provider to resolve some issue or some problem that we have in the cloud.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is quite good, and it is designed as pay-per-use.

What other advice do I have?

We are partners with Microsoft.

I am an architect, cloud architect, and I work in design solutions and implementing solutions in the cloud.

I'd rate the product at an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Director comercial at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
Real User
We like its compatibility with other operating systems
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the best features is the last package security of upgrades to Microsoft Azure. Also, we like Azure's compatibility with other operating systems."
  • "We use Microsoft Server 2019 and 2016. And I didn't like the 2019 client, so we had to downgrade back to 2016. The main issue there was its monitoring system. Our client needed an alternative, and if they were using more Windows products, they also needed to make that downgrade."

What is our primary use case?

We've been using Microsoft Azure for federal government installations, and it has been really useful. Azure works well with the servers and equipment that we use. We've been deploying a hybrid environment, so this has been a great tool for our clients. For example, we've been upgrading systems for a secure health institution in Mexico City, so we deployed an Azure-based management system for the entire institution. However, things weren't so easy for some of our other clients. In one case, we used Azure to manage all the mortgages, connectivity, and databases for a huge mortgage provider. We managed all that information in Microsoft Azure. 

What is most valuable?

One of the best features is the last package security of upgrades to Microsoft Azure. Also, we like Azure's compatibility with other operating systems. 

What needs improvement?

We use Microsoft Server 2019 and 2016. And I didn't like the 2019 client, so we had to downgrade back to 2016. The main issue there was its monitoring system. Our client needed an alternative, and if they were using more Windows products, they also needed to make that downgrade.

For how long have I used the solution?

I started working with Microsoft Azure around 10 years ago.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Microsoft Azure 10 out of 10. We like how accessible it is to the end-user, not just the engineers or developers.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1686495 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managed IT Services Provider at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
A scalable solution for one's directory management needs, but lacks fluidity and intuitiveness
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is completely scalable."
  • "The solution lacks fluidity and is not intuitive."

What is our primary use case?

Microsoft Azure can be used for everything, including development, hosting and storage. Since it offers active directory as relates to the cloud, it can be used for directory management and logins.

What needs improvement?

We work with Azure, which is okay, but very clunky and complex. It lacks fluidity and is not intuitive. This can be problematic and require one to work with external consultants. Things can depend on the client. Not everything can be known in advance and there may be a need to make changes to the interface. Changes which are made to the functionality are not always intuitive. As such, while the solution offers very good functionality, its intuitiveness, in respect of user experience and configuration, is not the best. I should note that these are minor issues and I do not work with Azure very much, there being only a couple environments in which we employ it. 

We see the same issue with Microsoft, which is not an intuitive platform. The ways in which the various components are placed seems to be illogical. There are different screens and end-configurations. In my familiary with Microsoft, a decision was reached to do things this way and there is no way to alter this. 

As such, the solution could definitely be more intuitive. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is reasonably stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is completely scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

I have encountered no issues with Microsoft tech support. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup of everything is very quick, although the real issue revolves around the speed at which the changes get synchronized. While this may take 24 hours, there are occasionally issues which arise, such as problems with the DNS or general networking issues. This requires one to involve Microsoft tech support.

What about the implementation team?

The technical team required for deployment and maintenance can vary. One of the clients with whom I work is an external provider who does all the configuration in Azure. Another has a back-end of Microsoft 365 and I manage this on my own.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Everything involves an annual commitment with a monthly charge.

What other advice do I have?

The solution is also cloud-based.

At present, two of my clients are using the solution. 

I would not recommend the solution to someone who does not require it, instead referring the person to AWS. Like Microsoft Azure, AWS is also not sufficiently intuitive, although it is a more robust solution in my experience. 

I rate Microsoft Azure as a six out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer1628190 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Projects Manager at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Stable, reasonably priced, and has the ability to scale
Pros and Cons
  • "We have found the scalability to be good."
  • "The deployment was quite complex."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution as a server for some applications. 

What is most valuable?

As a software data center, we can put some pretty cool applications running there.

The stability is very good. It's reliable. 

We have found the scalability to be good. 

The pricing is reasonable. It's not too expensive.

What needs improvement?

They develop so fast, it's hard to trace the technology. They have a lot of folders, for example, and it's hard to keep up with changes. 

The deployment was quite complex. It's not easy to implement. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for about a year or so. It hasn't been that long so far.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of the product is very good. It doesn't have bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze. It's been very reliable for the most part.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution scales well. If a company needs to scale it out, it can do so. It's not a problem at all. 

How are customer service and technical support?

We haven't really used support so far. I can't speak to how helpful or responsive they are. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup isn't exactly straightforward. The deployment is a complex process.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We're happy with the licensing pricing in general. It's not overly expensive. 

What other advice do I have?

We have a business relationship with Microsoft.

I'd recommend the solution to other users and companies. We've been largely happy with its capabilities in general. 

I'd rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Pradeep Saxena - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technical Officer at Evangelist
Real User
Top 10
Provides monitoring and security with good performance
Pros and Cons
  • "Everything is very good by way of performance."
  • "It would be nice to have faster support."

What is our primary use case?

We are working with the latest version.

What is most valuable?

PaaS is a valuable feature, which allows for management visibility of Microsoft. Everything is very good by way of performance. Many of my customers are using SaaS and PaaS and are happy with its tasks and performance. There are many tools, such as monitoring. The security can change along with your defender. 

From the perspective of management, the solution has functional apps that are running, SQL as a service. Everything is pretty good. 

What needs improvement?

In my role as a service provider the vendor appointment may be required from the Microsoft plan. Occasionally, the response time is inadequate. It would be nice to have faster support. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using and providing Microsoft Azure services since 2000. As of 2011 I have been providing PaaS and IaaS services. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable under the right circumstances. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not complex. The solution is user-friendly. A good working knowledge enables one to do a pretty good job in comparison with AWS. 

What other advice do I have?

Microsoft is in the process of implementing a vast security apparatus. Their security features are really good. The ones that are part of Microsoft Azure allow for vulnerability assessment, with good security features. In the event of someone deploying a red flag or app they get in contact with you and take action. 

Our customers run the gamut from small, medium to enterprise businesses. SMB comprise our major customers, with two or three being enterprise. 

As I am a Microsoft partner, I recommend Microsoft exclusively. 

I rate Microsoft Azure as a ten out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.