Azure Cloud Computing: Definitions, Models, and Management Tools

What is the NIST definition of cloud computing?

On-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable resources (servers, storage, apps, services) provisioned with minimal management effort.

What is Microsoft's definition of cloud computing?

Delivery of computing services over the internet, expanding IT offerings like IoT, AI, ML, without building a datacenter.

What is the shared responsibility model?

Defines who secures what: On-prem = customer handles all. IaaS = customer manages OS up. PaaS = customer manages apps/data. SaaS = customer mainly manages access and data.

What are public, private, and hybrid clouds?

Public = provider hardware, scalable, pay-as-you-go. Private = customer datacenter, full control, legacy support. Hybrid = mix of public + private, often via VPN or ExpressRoute.

What's the difference between CapEx and OpEx?

CapEx = upfront hardware/datacenter spend. OpEx = pay-as-you-go cloud consumption.

What is elasticity vs scalability?

Elasticity = auto grow/shrink with demand (scale out/in). Scalability = handle more users/work with bigger SKUs or more resources.

What's the difference between uptime and availability?

Uptime = system running. Availability = service accessible by users (measured in nines).

Keywords for identifying serverless?

Stateless, ephemeral, triggered = Serverless. Push model = Event Grid. Per execution billing = Azure Functions. Connectors/workflows = Logic Apps.

What is an Azure geography vs region vs region pair?

Geography = discrete market (e.g., US, Europe). Region = cluster of datacenters. Region pair = two regions in same geography, 300+ miles apart, chosen by Microsoft.

What is the Azure resource hierarchy?

Management groups > Subscriptions > Resource groups > Resources.

What are Azure Storage redundancy options?

LRS (local), ZRS (zone), GRS (geo-redundant), RA-GRS (read-access geo).

What are Azure identity services?

Entra ID (directory), Entra Domain Services (managed AD), authentication (SSO, MFA, passwordless), external identities (B2B, B2C).

What is conditional access in Entra ID?

Policy requiring conditions like compliant devices, MFA, or hybrid join for access.

What is Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

Unified security management system, free + standard tiers, supports Azure, on-prem, AWS, GCP. Provides compliance checks, recommendations, workload protection.

What tools help estimate Azure costs?

Pricing Calculator (monthly cost) and TCO Calculator (compare on-prem vs cloud).

What are tags in Azure?

Metadata key/value pairs applied to resources for organization and cost tracking.

What is Azure Policy?

Service for enforcing governance rules (e.g., only certain VM SKUs, must use managed disks).

What is Azure Blueprints?

Templates for deploying and configuring compliant environments (policies, RBAC, ARM templates).

What is Azure Monitor vs Service Health?

Monitor = metrics, logs, alerts. Service Health = personalized view of Azure service issues, outages, planned maintenance.