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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.

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December 2024
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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
reviewer1753023 - PeerSpot reviewer
Independent consultant
Real User
The license is reasonable, and the packages are competitive
Pros and Cons
  • "Azure services like EDM and Batch are all famous, but one of the most popular services for development is Azure Functions, especially the PaaS option. Depending on a customer's environment, they can go for the PaaS."
  • "The management portal can be confusing sometimes. We have difficulty navigating the menus because the terminology is unclear, especially when referring to the content or actionable items."

What is our primary use case?

Most workloads can be migrated to Azure. For example, say a small business wants to have a website or even do development. 

What is most valuable?

Azure services like EDM and Batch are all famous, but one of the most popular services for development is Azure Functions, especially the PaaS option. Depending on a customer's environment, they can go for the PaaS.

What needs improvement?

The management portal can be confusing sometimes. We have difficulty navigating the menus because the terminology is unclear, especially when referring to the content or actionable items. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working as an Azure trainer for about a year and a half. In my last job, I was working with on-premises solutions, but the whole industry is transitioning to the cloud, so Azure, AWS, Google, and many other cloud providers are trying to get a market share now.  

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I don't have any issues with scalability or stability. We moved migrated from our physical infrastructure earlier, and we haven't seen any problems. It's more about the organization getting comfortable with the solution. That's the only thing.

How was the initial setup?

Azure setup is straightforward. There is no comparison to on-premises deployment because it's all automated. It's very fast, but I can't compare the speed to other vendors because I've never deployed AWS or Google.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

AWS is good, but Azure's license is reasonably priced, and Microsoft is gaining market share with a competitive package overall. Moreover, Microsoft is well ahead of AWS in terms of ease of use and billing, so I think I still love Microsoft. Obviously, both have a market, but customers working on development projects or using Microsoft products often go for Azure because of the license benefits and product support. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Microsoft Azure eight out of 10.

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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reviewer1630506 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Project Manager, Senior Java Developer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
A very user friendly interface, easy access, and great features
Pros and Cons
  • "Great features at a good price."
  • "Performance could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

I am a customer of Microsoft Azure and this solution is for my personal use. 

What is most valuable?

Compared to other solutions, I find Azure to be the best organized in terms of user interface, access, and features. The Google cloud platform is very awkward, access is not easy and it's difficult to see the prerequisites for your needs. With Microsoft, everything is easily accessible, you see all the preconditions, all the requirements with great monitoring, and at a good price. They do a lot of promotions so I was able to get the Azure subscription with my Visual Studio subscription. 

What needs improvement?

It's possible that the performance could be improved, but it's not a big issue. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for two years. 

How are customer service and technical support?

I haven't had experience with Microsoft's technical support because they offer good insights in the platform itself.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this product. 

I rate this solution a nine out of 10. 

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
Sr. Systems Engineer / Tech Logic Consultant. at a non-tech company with self employed
Real User
Feature-rich, good update management, stable, and easy to install
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of this solution are the Access Management and the PIN modules."
  • "Because it has a lot of features, a person just coming into Microsoft Azure might feel that it is a bit complex."

What is our primary use case?

We use Microsoft Azure to patch our servers. We are also using it for creating and access management.

How has it helped my organization?

We have several benefits in having Azure on board. If you are Microsoft-centric, you get gold certificate partnerships. Furthermore, if you elect MSP, you have MSP certification, which allows you to have more customers on board.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of this solution are the Access Management and the PIN modules. They are very good features.

Update management is also very good, for both on-premises and for cloud services.

Microsoft Azure is a very good product. For my requirements, it works fine.

It's user-friendly, and the reporting is good.

What needs improvement?

Because it has a lot of features, a person just coming into Microsoft Azure might feel that it is a bit complex. Once you are familiarized with it, they will find that it is organized in a structured way.

It's a bit clunky at first.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure for two yes, but I would not say that my experience is at the expert level.

We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have not contacted technical support. 

There is a lot of documentation available online.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

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

It's a pay-as-you-go subscription.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would recommend Azure to anyone who is interested in using it.

I would rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer1328976 - PeerSpot reviewer
Digital Architecture Project Leader at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
A good solution with useful features and good stability, scalability, and availability
Pros and Cons
  • "Active Directory is a good feature. The infrastructure features that Azure provides are also good."
  • "There should be more language options for the Azure Functions apps. It supports programming languages, but there are only a few options. It could have more programming languages."

What is our primary use case?

We are a consultancy company. We provide technology solutions for our clients. We use Microsoft Azure to provide infrastructure for our clients. 

What is most valuable?

Active Directory is a good feature. The infrastructure features that Azure provides are also good.

What needs improvement?

There should be more language options for the Azure Functions apps. It supports programming languages, but there are only a few options. It could have more programming languages. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It has good stability. It has an availability of 99,9%.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It has good scalability. It is an automatic process. 

It is a retail solution. Therefore, we have a lot of users. We probably have direct and indirect users in thousands.

How are customer service and technical support?

I don't like their support so much. The support of Microsoft is not fast enough and should be faster. They have a lot of layers or levels. I used to get in touch with them through the Azure Portal.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. We have developed a DevOps automatic process, which makes it very fast to deploy. It takes just a few minutes.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise taking care of the intermediate layers between your business and Microsoft. They aren't good.

I would rate Microsoft Azure an eight out of ten. This rating is based on the general features. If they put more programming languages, I would rate it a ten. It is a good product.

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
PeerSpot user
Country Manager at Orion Consultores C.A
Real User
The pricing Calculator feature is valuable and easy to use
Pros and Cons
  • "Azure has improved my organization because it is a new technology and so the customers who don't have enough knowledge about the cloud delegate the administration of their cloud infrastructure to us. We incorporate and add a new service to our product lineup about how to manage their Azure. It impacts our business because we're able to incorporate this new service."
  • "The interface is not easy to use. I'd like to see them develop a better interface, more graphical information about the resource and the consumer."

What is our primary use case?

We use Azure as an infrastructure service. Most of our customers have web servers but we also manage Azure for SAP R/3. It works fine. They do have a lot of options for SAP All-In-One, but we don't have as many options for SAP Business One. What Azure offers for Business One customers is too short to have enough servers certified. It works fine but it's not a complete solution for customers that use SAP Business One.

How has it helped my organization?

Azure has improved my organization because it is a new technology and so the customers who don't have enough knowledge about the cloud delegate the administration of their cloud infrastructure to us. We incorporate and add a new service to our product lineup about how to manage their Azure. It impacts our business because we're able to incorporate this new service.

What is most valuable?

The Pricing Calculator would be the most valuable feature. It's easy to use. 

What needs improvement?

I would like to have more certified servers for SAP. Our customers need an easier interface to manage Azure. They don't have people who have cloud knowledge. The knowledge group is taking time and they use our services to manage the cloud data. Azure is built for auto services but it's not easy. The interface is not easy to use. I'd like to see them develop a better interface and more graphical information about the resource and the consumer.

There's a machine, the server. The smallest machine that they have has 112 GB of RAM. It is big for a customer. It has around 16 cores and a 112 GB of RAM. Amazon has a server with around 8 cores and 60 GB of RAM. The smallest certified machine for SAP Business One HANA in Amazon Web Services is 8 cores and 60 GB of RAM and Microsoft it's 16 and 112 GB of RAM. It's too big for a small customer. Because this machine is able to manage 50 concurrent users it's too big for a customer with 22 or 30 users. 

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Until now I have only had a few problems with stability. There was a problem with Azure Active Directory in the US central region that affected almost all of the data centers around two or three months ago but otherwise, it's good stability. The stability is good enough.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is fine. We tried to create services in the data center in Brazil and there was not enough space. There were not enough cores and RAM so we were not able to create it. We opened a ticket with technical service and they told to use another region.

We chose Azure because of its scalability. With Azure, we are able to use the size of a machine that we need.

How is customer service and technical support?

I haven't opened any tickets with technical support. The technical team opened most tickets but from what I hear, technical support has been fine. It could be better. They could improve the time it takes to respond but I have never heard about any issues from the technical guys about their support. They would prefer to get a faster response back because when you have a problem, you have your boss asking for updates so you need a fast answer.

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

It's a very expensive machine and I would like for them to improve the price. There are smaller sized competitors who offer cheaper prices. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We didn't look at any other options because we are not business partners with other cloud solutions or providers. We only have Azure so we try to solve everything with Azure. If a customer asks us for a proposal to move or create some interesting tool in the cloud, we all use Azure. We never compared it to other cloud providers.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution a nine because they are always incorporating new alerts and new features. I wouldn't give it a ten because it's sometimes not easy to use and the price is not a fair price for the solution.

I don't know why customers think that Amazon is the best. I think that the customer thinks that the best option for cloud is an Amazon service and the second one is Microsoft. My advice to someone considering this or a similar solution is to be careful with Amazon because the customers think that they are always on the list.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Owner with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Session Affinity and Windows Azure

Everybody speaks about recently announced partnership between Microsoft and Oracle on the Enterprise Cloud. Java has been a first-class citizen for Windows Azure for a while and was available via tool like AzureRunMe even before that. Most of the customers I've worked with are using Apache Tomcat as a container for Java Web Applications. The biggest problem they face is that Apache Tomcat relies on Session Affinity.

What is Session Affinity and why it is so important in Windows Azure? Let's rewind a little back to this post I've written. Take a look at the abstracted network diagram:

So we have 2 (or more) servers that are responsible for handling Web Requests (Web Roles) and a Load Balancer (LB) in front of them. Developers has no control over the LB. And it uses one and only one load balancing algorithm – Round Robin. This means that requests are evenly distributed across all the servers behind the LB. Let's go through the following scenario:

  • I am web user X who opens the web application deployed in Azure.
  • The Load Balancer (LB) redirects my web request to Web Role Instance 0.
  • I submit a login form with user name and password. This is second request. It goes to Web Role Instance 1. This server now creates a session for me and knows who I am.
  • Next I click "my profile" link. The requests goes back to Web Role Instance 0. This server knows nothing about me and redirects me to the login page again! Or even worse – shows some error page.

This is what will happen if there is no Session Affinity. Session Affinity means that if I hit Web Role Instance 0 first time, I will hit it every time after that. There is no Session Affinity provided by Azure! And in my personal opinion, Session Affinity does not fit well (does not fit at all) in the Cloud World. But sometimes we need it. And most of the time (if not all cases), it is when we run a non-.NET-code on Azure. For .NET there are things like Session State Providers, which make developer's life easier! So the issue remains mainly for non .net (Apache, Apache Tomcat, etc).

So what to do when we want Session Affinity with .NET web servers? Use the SessionAffinity or SessionAffinity4 plugin. This basically is the same "product", but the first one is for use with Windows Server 2008 R2 (OS Family = 2) while the second one is for Windows Server 2012 (OS Family = 3).

I will explain in a next post what is the architecture of these plugins and how exactly they work.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Owner with 51-200 employees
Vendor
Active Directory in Azure – Step by Step

Ever since Windows Azure Infrastructure Services were announced in preview I keep hearing questions "How to run Active Directory in Azure VM? And then join other computers to it". This article assumes that you already know how install and configure Active Directory Directory Services Role, Promote to Domain Controller, join computers to a Domain, Create and manage Azure Virtual Networks, Create and manage Azure Virtual Machines and add them to Virtual Network.

Disclaimer: Use this solution at your own risk. What I describe here is purely my practical observation and is based on repeatable reproduction. Things might change in the future.

The foundation pillar for my setup is the following (totally mine!) statement: The first Virtual Machine you create into an empty Virtual Network in Windows Azure will get the 4th IP Address in the sub-net range. That means, that if your sub-net address space is 192.168.0.0/28, the very first VM to boot into that network will get IP Address 192.168.0.4. The given VM will always get this IP Address across intentional reboots, accidental restarts, system healing (hardware failure and VM re-instantiating) etc., as long as there is no other VM booting while that first one is down.

First, lets create the virtual network. Given the knowledge from my foundation pillar, I will create a virtual network with two separate addressing spaces! One addressing space would be 192.168.0.0/28. This will be the addressing space for my Active Directory and Domain Controller. Second one will be 172.16.0.0/22. Here I will add my client machines.

Next is one of the the most important parts – assign DNS server for my Virtual Network. I will set the IP Address of my DNS server to 192.168.0.4! This is because I know (assume) the following:

  • The very first machine in a sub-network will always get the 4th IP address from the allocated pool;
  • I will place only my AD/DC/DNS server in my AD Designated network;

Now divide the network into address spaces as described and define the subnets. I use the following network configuration which you can import directly (however please note that you must have already created the AffinityGroup referred in the network configuration! Otherwise network creation will fail):

01 <NetworkConfiguration
02   xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
03   xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
04   xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ServiceHosting/2011/07/NetworkConfiguration">
05   <VirtualNetworkConfiguration>
06     <Dns>
07       <DnsServers>
08         <DnsServer name="NS" IPAddress="192.168.0.4" />
09       </DnsServers>
10     </Dns>
11     <VirtualNetworkSites>
12       <VirtualNetworkSite name="My-AD-VNet" AffinityGroup="[Use Existing Affinity Group Name]">
13         <AddressSpace>
14           <AddressPrefix>192.168.0.0/29</AddressPrefix>
15           <AddressPrefix>172.16.0.0/22</AddressPrefix>
16         </AddressSpace>
17         <Subnets>
18           <Subnet name="ADDC">
19             <AddressPrefix>192.168.0.0/29</AddressPrefix>
20           </Subnet>
21           <Subnet name="Clients">
22             <AddressPrefix>172.16.0.0/22</AddressPrefix>
23           </Subnet>
24         </Subnets>
25       </VirtualNetworkSite>
26     </VirtualNetworkSites>
27   </VirtualNetworkConfiguration>
28 </NetworkConfiguration>

Now create new VM from gallery – picking up your favorite OS Image. Assign it to sub-net ADDC. Wait to be provisioned. RDP to it. Add AD Directory Services server role. Configure AD. Add DNS server role (this will be required by the AD Role). Ignore the warning that DNS server requires fixed IP Address. Do not change network card settings! Configure everything, restart when asked. Promote computer to Domain Controller. Voilà! Now I have a fully operations AD DS + DC.


Let's add some clients to it. Create a new VM from gallery. When prompted, add it to the Clients sub-net. When everything is ready and provisioned, log-in to the VM (RDP). Change the system settings – Join a domain. Enter your configured domain name. Enter domain administrator account when prompted. Restart when prompted. Voilà! Now my new VM is joined to my domain.


Why it works? Because I have:



  • Defined DNS address for my Virtual Network to have IP Address of 192.168.0.4

  • Created dedicated Address Space for my AD/DC which is 192.168.0.0/29

  • Placed my AD/DC designated VM in its dedicated address space

  • Created dedicated Address Space for client VMs, which does not overlap with AD/DC designated Address Space

  • I put client VMs only in designated Address Space (sub-net) and never put them in the sub-net of AD/DC

Of course you will get same result if with a single Address Space and two sub-nets. Being careful how you configure the DNS for the Virtual Network and which sub-net you put your AD and your Client VMs in.


This scenario is validated, replayed, reproduced tens of times, and is being used in production environments in Windows Azure. However – use it at your own risk.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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.