Chapter 5: Core Azure Solutions

In Chapter 4, Core Azure Resources, you learned about compute, storage, networking, databases, and the Azure Marketplace.

This chapter will outline the core solutions available in Azure, including serverless computing, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, big data and analytics, and DevOps.

This chapter aims to provide complete coverage of the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals Skills Measured section known as Describe Core solutions on Azure.

By the end of this chapter, you will have learned about the following skills:

• Serverless computing solutions, including Azure Functions and Logic Apps
• Azure Machine Learning, Cognitive Services, and Azure Bot Service
• Internet of Things (IoT) Hub, IoT Central, and Azure Sphere
• Azure Synapse Analytics, HDInsight, and Azure Databricks
• Azure DevOps, GitHub, GitHub Actions, and Azure DevTest Labs

To support your learning with some practical skills, we will also look at how to create...

Technical requirements

To carry out the hands-on labs in this chapter, you will need the following:

• An Azure subscription that can create and delete resources in the subscription. If you do not have an Azure subscription, you can create a free Azure account by going to https://azure.microsoft.com/free.
• Access to an internet browser so that you can log into the Azure portal: https://portal.azure.com.
• Alternatively, you can use the Azure desktop app: https://portal.azure.com/App/Download.
• A Twitter account and an Outlook account for sending notifications (https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/create-twitter-account and https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/outlook/, respectively).

Serverless computing solutions

This section will cover the following exam objective: describe the benefits and usage of serverless computing solutions, including Azure Functions and Logic Apps.

Before we look closer at the serverless computing solutions that are part of the exam objectives, we will create a knowledge foundation and baseline to build from. This also aims to build an understanding of the bigger picture of how the different compute solutions are positioned and interrelated for both technical and business personas.

As we learned in Chapter 1, Introduction to Cloud Computing, serverless computing arose due to the evolution of cloud computing platforms and is an architectural shift in the compute layer. This evolution moves IT professionals in a new direction, away from infrastructure in the deployment, scale, and management layers and toward the business logic layer. This is the new unit of deployment, scale, and management; it extends and evolves the PaaS cloud computing...

Artificial intelligence solutions

This section will aim to cover the following exam objective: describe the benefits and usage of Azure Machine Learning, Cognitive Services, and Azure Bot Service.

Before we look closer at the Microsoft AI platforms that are part of the exam objectives, we will create a knowledge foundation and baseline to build from. This also aims to build an understanding of the bigger picture of how the different AI techniques are positioned and interrelated for both technical and business personas.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the ability of a computer to imitate intelligent human behavior. AI allows computers to make predictions based on data, analyze images, take actions, recognize speech and text, and interact naturally.

The following are some important terminologies to understand regarding AI:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): This is the broad term given to describe the ability to mimic human intelligence by a computer; it can be applied to...

Internet of Things solutions

This section will aim to cover the following exam objective: describe the benefits and usage of Internet of Things (IoT) Hub, IoT Central, and Azure Sphere.

Before we look closer at the IoT solutions that are part of the exam objectives, we will create a knowledge foundation and baseline to build from. This also aims to build an understanding of the bigger picture of how the different IoT solutions are positioned and interrelated for both technical and business personas.

IoT is a technology solution that provides intelligent devices (things) equipped with sensors to collect and send data to a cloud platform for analysis and take action based on insights.

The three core elements of an IoT solution are collecting the data, processing the data, and taking action on the data. You need a set of connected technologies across these three areas, which are outlined as follows:

• Things: The physical things that have embedded sensors that, when connected...

Big data and analytics solutions

This section will aim to cover the following exam objective: describe the benefits and usage of Azure Synapse Analytics, HDInsight, and Azure Databricks.

Before we look closer at the big data and analytics solutions that are part of the exam objectives, we will create a knowledge foundation and baseline to build from. This also aims to build an understanding of the bigger picture of how the different big data and analytics solutions are positioned and interrelated for technical and business personas.

We should first understand what we mean by big data and analytics. In a nutshell, it is about discovering information hidden in data, which should present actionable/ acknowledgeable information to help an organization make informed decisions and, dependent on the context, gain a competitive advantage.

The challenge is that traditional Data Warehouse (DW) solutions and technologies cannot handle the massive volumes of complex, unstructured data...

DevOps solutions

This section will aim to cover the following exam objective: describe the benefits and usage of Azure DevOps, GitHub, GitHub Actions, and Azure DevTest Labs.

Before we look closer at the DevOps solutions that are part of the exam objectives, we will introduce DevOps and create a knowledge foundation and baseline to build from. This also aims to build an understanding of the bigger picture of how the different DevOps solutions came into existence, how they are positioned, and how they are interrelated for both technical and business personas.

The history of DevOps

A Tale of Two Teams

To understand DevOps as a software and systems development culture, it is important to understand its origins and why it came into existence.

The waterfall and agile software and systems development frameworks have their limitations; comparing them against DevOps is far beyond the scope of this book. For this book, you can consider waterfall and agile to be development frameworks...

Thought exercise

In this exercise, we will look at a fictitious company called MilesBetter Pizzas.

With the walk-in trade no longer a viable commercial business model due to the pandemic, they have taken their business online through a pizza delivery service.

They wish to streamline operations, be as agile as possible, and react quicker than their competition to their customer's demands during the pandemic; solutions will need to allow them to react to the market, innovate and release online services, and provide initiatives quicker than their competition in these challenging times.

The approach to be taken should be based on understanding the business process requirements that a new app would be required to execute, the logic to be processed, and the outcome to be arrived at, and then translating that into the most appropriate technology choice, based on the decision's criteria.

The following diagram visualizes the core design paths:

Figure...

Hands-on exercises

To support your learning with some practical skills, we will complete some hands-on exercises surrounding some of the resources covered in this chapter.

The following exercises will be covered:

• Exercise 1 – Creating a serverless solution using an Azure Function
• Exercise 2 – Creating a serverless solution using an Azure Logic App
• Exercise 3 – Creating an IoT solution using an Azure IoT Hub
• Exercise 4 – Creating an AI solution using a Bot Service

Getting started

To get started with these hands-on exercises, you must create a free Azure account at https://azure.microsoft.com/free.

This free Azure account provides the following:

• 12 months of free services
• $200 credit to explore Azure for 30 days
• 25+ services that are always free

In addition, you will also need a Twitter account and an Outlook account to send notifications.

Exercise 1 – Creating a serverless solution using...

Summary

This chapter provided complete coverage of the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam skills area called Describe Core Azure Solutions.

In this chapter, you learned about various skills that will provide you with the confidence to explain and discuss the following aspects with a business or technical audience: serverless computing, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, big data and analytics, and DevOps.

Every organization should be evaluating the solutions referenced in this chapter; this is more important than ever for organizations of any size. There is a need to accelerate innovation, work smarter and not harder, and find ways to reduce costs from shrinking budgets. An organization needs to respond quickly to gain a competitive advantage or get software and systems into the market; release and update cycles of years, months, and weeks are no longer tenable.

For each of the technology areas we have covered in this chapter, the question should no longer be Why would...

Further reading

This section provides links to additional exam information and study references:

• Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/certifications/exams/az-900
• Exam AZ-900: skills outline: https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE3VwUY
• Microsoft Learn: Azure Fundamentals – Describe core solutions on Azure: https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/paths/az-900-describe-core-solutions-management-tools-azure
• Azure Serverless, Azure Logic Apps, and Azure Functions: https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/logic-apps/logic-apps-serverless-overview
• Azure IoT: https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/iot-fundamentals
• Artificial intelligence (AI): https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/architecture/data-guide/big-data/ai-overview
• Cognitive Services: https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/paths/explore-computer-vision-microsoft-azure/
• Big data and analytics: https://azure.microsoft.com/solutions/big-data/#solution-architectures...

Skills check

Challenge yourself with what you have learned in this chapter by answering the following questions:

1. Explain how serverless is different from IaaS and PaaS (the key differentiators).
2. Explain the benefits of serverless.
3. Explain what Azure functions are.
4. Explain what Azure logic apps are and how they are different from Azure functions.
5. Explain what artificial intelligence is and what value it provides an organization with.
6. Explain how AI, ML, and DL are connected.
7. Explain the differences between Azure Machine Learning and Azure Cognitive Services.
8. List and explain the three core elements of an IoT solution.
9. List and explain at least three use case scenarios for IoT solutions.
10. Explain the difference between Azure IoT Central and IoT Hub.
11. Explain Azure Sphere.
12. Explain the term big data.
13. Explain the Modern Data Warehouse approach and ELT versus ETL.
14. Explain what is meant by DevOps and what its value is to an organization...