I only use Microsoft Azure for queries, creating databases, and applying rules. The data lakes are very simple to connect.
BI Expert at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Reliable, high performance, and stable
Pros and Cons
- "I have not had a problem with the stability. It is reliable."
- "I have found Microsoft Azure has many components to use and it's very difficult to understand every component."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Microsoft Azure is a very fast and high-performance solution. It is the best product today.
What needs improvement?
I have found Microsoft Azure has many components to use and it's very difficult to understand every component.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Microsoft Azure within the past 12 months.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not had a problem with the stability. It is reliable.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used Amazon AWS, Oracle SQL, and NoSQL databases.
How was the initial setup?
The configuration of Microsoft Azure can be difficult because of the mapping.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Azure an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Team Lead Information Security Control at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Easy to manage on private cloud
Pros and Cons
- "The ability to create the actual resource on the private cloud is easy to manage with Microsoft Azure."
- "The response time and stability of Microsoft Azure need to be improved."
What is our primary use case?
I am a Team Lead of Information Security Control. We currently have 200 users working with Azure in our organization.
How has it helped my organization?
Capacity planning has played an important part in working with Azure because it estimates all of the business goals and translates messages into the technology that is required to support.
What is most valuable?
The ability to create the actual resource on the private cloud is easy to manage with Microsoft Azure.
What needs improvement?
The response time and stability of Microsoft Azure need to be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure for four years.
How are customer service and support?
The maintenance of this solution is done through Microsoft's partner, I would consider the service acceptable.
What about the implementation team?
The initial deployment was done by Microsoft. The integration experience was good. The deployment and configuration was easy.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend working with Azure as this is a easy tool to use. I would rate this solution an 8 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private 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.
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Microsoft Azure
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,562 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Product Owner at Software Technology
Easy to use, stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is similar to a plug-and-play system, it is easy to use."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Azure for our internal systems during elections. We monitored the election party and we had a database of 20 million users.
What is most valuable?
The solution is similar to a plug-and-play system, it is easy to use.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Azure has been stable
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support of Microsoft is okay. However, there were times we had to speak to them in the US time zone which was not convenient. There are times we have to wait because of the time zone issue.
What about the implementation team?
The solution takes two to five people to implement and for maintenance; if the environment is larger it still only takes two to five people.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The subscription models can be confusing and it would be beneficial for them to simplify them. We are on an annual subscription.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Azure an eight 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.
Director Of Sales Marketing at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
A good choice for enterprises in sectors like semiconductors, biochemistry
Pros and Cons
- "To me, the most valuable Azure features are AKS, Cloud SQL, security, and account management."
- "Azure installation is complicated. When we first deployed Azure, it was challenging."
What is our primary use case?
I have developed a platform on Azure for the semiconductor industry. Azure is an excellent choice for enterprises in sectors like semiconductors, biochemistry, etc.
What is most valuable?
To me, the most valuable Azure features are AKS, Cloud SQL, security, and account management.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Microsoft Azure for a couple of years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Azure is as stable as most cloud providers like AWS and Google Cloud.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Azure is stable but not as scalable as I'd like. In terms of scalability, AWS is better than Azure. In my organization, we have 500 or so employees.
How was the initial setup?
Azure installation is complicated. When we first deployed Azure, it was challenging. By contrast, AWS is easy to install and maintain. Azure is tough. It takes from one to two weeks to fully deploy. Our technical team responsible for deploying and managing Azure has 30 people.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Azure eight out of 10. Azure is difficult to deploy at first, but we have the money to develop, maintain, and support it.
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.
Senior Manager Global Database Services at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
A dynamic and easy-to-use platform
Pros and Cons
- "Azure allows us to bring applications to life quickly."
- "Integration with other cloud environments can be tricky at times."
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution to build VMs and create databases.
We absolutely plan to continue using Azure in the future. We actually plan on increasing our usage.
How has it helped my organization?
Azure allows us to bring applications to life quickly.
What is most valuable?
Microsoft Azure is very dynamic.
What needs improvement?
The cost is something that could be improved. There's not much clarity regarding the price range. We'll create a VM and then at the end of the month, we'll receive a bill with various costs from different locations — it's confusing.
Integration with other cloud environments can be tricky at times.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Azure for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Azure is very stable.
How are customer service and technical support?
The support could be improved. On a scale from one to ten, I would give their support a rating of six.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very complex because of the landing zone. Only Microsoft can create the landing zone. Implementation is very fast; it only takes a few minutes.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented Microsoft Azure ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing costs are quite reasonable.
What other advice do I have?
My advice is to keep an eye on your usage otherwise you could wind up with a hefty bill.
The biggest lesson I have learned is that Microsoft Azure is very dynamic — the environment is very dynamic.
Microsoft Azure is absolutely great. On a scale from one to ten, I would give it a rating of eight because it's user-friendly and very simple to use. All of the basic features are covered. Some things can be tricky, but there is always a simple 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.
Director of Technology at WinSoft IT, C.A.
Feature-rich, and the virtual machine support is good
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the virtual machine."
- "It is impossible to sell a cloud-based model here in Venezuela because we have strong inflation and most of our clients are immigrating to on-premises solutions."
What is our primary use case?
We are a solution provider and Azure is one of the products that we offer to our customers. However, there is a problem. It is impossible to sell a cloud-based model here in Venezuela because we have strong inflation and most of our clients are immigrating to on-premises solutions.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the virtual machine.
What needs improvement?
The pricing needs to be adjusted so that the strong inflation in Venezuela does not prevent customers from purchasing it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have a lot of experience with Microsoft. I started using Microsoft 25 years ago. I have used it in all aspects, both on-premises and soon in Azure cloud.
This is not strongly done on-premises, but we have several approaches with Microsoft Azure.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have approached our clients about using Kubernetes or Docker because it's cheaper when inflation is considered.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are researching how we can migrate all old legacy applications using Docker. In Venezuela, the software installed with all of our clients is legacy.
We have clients with Windows Server 2003, 2008, and applications with older operating systems who need to move to the cloud, but it is impossible because the cloud doesn't support those operating system versions. For this reason, we are considering using Docker to encapsulate the applications to see if it is feasible to migrate to the cloud or if we require new equipment on-premises.
Most of their software is not updated and won't be able to migrate to the cloud.
What other advice do I have?
In Venezuela, we are having some problems with the economy regarding the exchange control with our currency.
The best Microsoft product in my opinion Azure Stack Hyper-Converged Infrastructure or Azure Stack HCI. It's for working in hybrid mode.
I would rate Microsoft Azure 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: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
CEO at CLIFURVA
Very stable infrastructure as a service with good technical support
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is very stable for Windows setups."
- "The pricing needs to be a bit lower. It's an expensive solution right now."
What is our primary use case?
Right now we're designing our desktop solutions. I need, for example, to use a virtual desktop and I need to use infrastructure as a service. I am looking for other infrastructure as a service solutions as well,
What is most valuable?
We really like the infrastructure as a service and the data center as a service solution functionality.
The backup data center and the business compute solutions for Azure are good. There are a lot of good hybrid solutions with onsite and cloud solutions.
The solution is very easy to set up.
The solution is very stable for Windows setups.
The technical support on offer has been very good.
What needs improvement?
The pricing needs to be a bit lower. It's an expensive solution right now.
In future releases, I would like to see Microsoft offer personal desktop environments in a virtual solution. Citrix, for example, now offers this as an option.
For how long have I used the solution?
I only have some limited experience with the product. I've only been using it for about six months or so. It hasn't been that long.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
For the most part, the solution is stable. It's great with the Windows solution, however, with Linux and other operating systems, I hope that it's okay. I don't know for certain. I've never tried it with others. For Windows, it is very good. When the customer has all-Windows solutions everything is okay. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The companies we usually sell to are typically medium-sized. When it comes to scaling, the cloud solution is an elastic solution. I can scale it well. The customer can go up however high they want to go. The solution allows for that flexibility. It's easy to expand with the solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
I've reached out to technical support in the past. I understand that if I need them I can easily reach them. They are available and responsive. I'd say we are satisfied with our solution.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not difficult or complex. It's pretty straightforward. It's easy. A company shouldn't have any issue with the process.
We sell the solution to our clients and it takes six months to one year to deploy it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We would like to see Microsoft lower its prices a bit for their customers. It's a costly solution.
What other advice do I have?
I'm a Microsoft reseller.
I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using.
While we are currently using the on-premises deployment model, we are considering moving to the cloud.
I'd recommend the solution to other users and organizations. I'm already recommending it to various clients as a potential solution for them.
I'd rate the solution at a nine out of ten. We're quite satisfied with the solution.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
Software Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Excellent user interface and portal; provides great documentation
Pros and Cons
- "User interface and portal are great."
- "Azure calculator could be improved, there are issues with login synchronization."
What is our primary use case?
I'm currently trying to build a new product for my company using Microsoft Azure. Prior to that, I was using Microsoft Azure on the cloud to deploy microservices using specific Azure services to host the microservices. But the most common Azure services that we're using is the App Service and relational databases. In terms of the application, the first one was just the Microsoft Azure application and the second one was an integration with Elastic Stack. I'm a software architect.
What is most valuable?
The user interface offers a good experience, it's better than Azure itself. The portal is great. Microsoft Azure has very good documentation for any kind of technical person.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes the Azure Calculator doesn't have a good way to do a higher estimate, because for any organization there are sometimes issues with the application sites, but I know that the logs are not the real time and there are issues with login synchronization. It cam sometimes take more than five minutes for that information to reach the Azure application side. I'd like to see integration with other lifecycle managing rules because with Azure DevOps, it's straightforward, but the system is painful sometimes.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for nearly five years, the last 12 months in this new company.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In general, stability is good, but in the past month I had some issues with the connection to Azure resources, not just Microsoft Azure, but with Azure in general. Microsoft has an issue with its authentication system which has proved painful, because my applications were up and running, but I can't log in to make changes or see metrics. It's a lot better now, we've had the application down three or four times but it hasn't been critical.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is good, I haven't had any issues with their configuration. I think we have around 600 concurrent users.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't used Azure support. They have good documentation, although I sometimes think that the examples on GitHub aren't updated. On the whole, documentation is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used AWS but we knew there was already a lot of experience with Microsoft Azure and their technologies and we wanted to use all the features for each service. Given that this is with government and the integration is with Microsoft Azure, we can use all the features and benefits of each service. Another issue is that they were using AWS with infrastructure as a service, but they redesigned this application to use software as a service and platform as a service. We dropped the use of infrastructure as a service and using the platform as a service, and it was estimated that it would cost less than with AWS.
How was the initial setup?
I think the initial setup is straightforward. I have around 20 microservices, so deployment took probably two weeks. It took longer than a previous implementation which took several hours.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did a quick check with cloud computing, but we didn't find anything really efficient outside of the Google Kubernetes Engine that was better than the Azure Kubernetes Service or the Kubernetes service in AWS. But it was just a quick check and it was documented.
What other advice do I have?
I can sometimes see that Microsoft has poor training, but to be honest the whole training thing isn't good at a technical level. They are designed to be the entrance point and show the way you can create a web portal and database. But if they could offer an in-depth technical solution of Azure services that would be good. It's possible that Google has something about it and they can offer better learning than Microsoft sometimes does. Reading through their documentation can take some time.
I rate this solution a nine out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: November 2024
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