Chapter 12: Microsoft Azure IaaS, Storage, and
Networking
Explain the difference between platform as a service and infrastructure as a
service. The key difference relates to who is responsible for which elements of the
solution. With platform as a service, solutions are written for a supplied platform
within certain guidelines. The platform then ensures availability and protection for
the application, and no operating system or fabric management is required. The key
point is that the application must be written to work with the PaaS platform. With
infrastructure as a service, a virtual machine is provided, which means that the
provider manages the compute, storage, and network fabric, but the user of the virtual
machine is responsible for the operating system and everything within it as well as
patching it. The benefit of IaaS is that you have complete access to the operating
system, so normal applications can run in IaaS without requiring customization. A key
principal of IaaS is that you should not have to modify the application to work on it.
Master It What is software as a service?
Solution Software as a service requires no infrastructure management from the
user of the service because a complete, maintained solution is provided that is
accessible, typically over the Internet. The only administration relates to basic
configuration and administration of users of the service. A good example of SaaS is
Office 365, which is Microsoft’s Exchange-, Lync-, and SharePoint-based service in
the cloud.Connect Microsoft Azure to your on-premises network. Creating connectivity
between Microsoft Azure and your local network has several requirements. First,
virtual networks need to be defined in Microsoft Azure within a region. Virtual
machines are created and configured at the time of creation to use a specific subnet in
the virtual network. A site-to-site gateway is created between Microsoft Azure and
your on-premises network, which permits seamless connectivity via a site-to-site VPN
or ExpressRoute.
Master It Can Windows Server 2012 RRAS be used on the local premises side of
the VPN gateway?
Solution Yes. Windows Server 2012 RRAS can be used for the on-premises side of
the VPN connection, and the Microsoft Azure management portal will generate the
full configuration script required to enable automatic configuration.Move data between on-premises and Microsoft Azure. Microsoft Azure is built
on Windows Server Hyper-V and specifically leverages the VHD format currently. A
virtual machine that uses VHD can be copied to Microsoft Azure storage and used
with a new Microsoft Azure virtual machine or added to an existing virtual machine.
Similarly, VHD files used in Microsoft Azure virtual machines can be downloaded to