What is Microsoft Azure?

Table of Contents

How Azure Works
Core Services
Reference Architecture
Why Deploy RELIANOID Load Balancer on Azure?
Resources

Microsoft Azure is a global cloud platform offering compute, storage, networking, databases, analytics, AI, and security services. It spans multiple Regions and Availability Zones and integrates tightly with Microsoft identity and enterprise tooling.

How Azure Works #

Azure resources live in subscriptions and are organized with resource groups. Networking uses Azure Virtual Network (VNet), subnets, NSGs, and route tables. Compute is provided by Virtual Machines, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and App Services. Identity is centrally managed with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD). Most services are API-driven for automation.

Core Services #

Compute: VMs, VM Scale Sets, AKS, Functions (serverless), App Service.
Storage & Data: Blob, Disk, Files, SQL Database, Cosmos DB, Cache for Redis.
Networking: VNet, VPN/ExpressRoute, Application Gateway, Azure Load Balancer, Front Door, Traffic Manager.
Security & Management: Defender for Cloud, Key Vault, Monitor, Log Analytics, Policy, Update Manager.
DevOps & IaC: ARM/Bicep, Azure DevOps/GitHub Actions, Terraform support.

Reference Architecture #

Create a hub-and-spoke VNet topology with shared services in the hub.
Run workloads in spokes (AKS or VMSS) across Availability Zones.
Expose apps through Azure Load Balancer or Front Door; terminate TLS as needed.
Use Key Vault for secrets, Managed Identities for auth, and Monitor for observability.

Why Deploy RELIANOID Load Balancer on Azure? #

Running RELIANOID as Azure VMs or VM Scale Sets inside your VNets gives you a consistent, portable L4/L7 application delivery plane:

Advanced traffic control: Fine-grained HTTP/S routing, header rewrites, mTLS enforcement, and protocol features beyond basic L4 LB.
High availability: Multi-AZ deployment with health checks and hot restart to apply policy changes without dropping connections.
Security: Centralized TLS termination with modern ciphers, integration with your PKI, and segmentation with NSGs.
Hybrid consistency: Uniform policies across Azure, other clouds, and on-prem—useful for migrations and DR.
Automation: Bootstrap via cloud-init, ARM/Bicep/Terraform, and integrate with pipelines for repeatable changes.

This is especially valuable when you need features or behaviors consistent with existing non-Azure environments, or when consolidating policy across many apps.