What this book covers
Chapter 1, Getting Started as an Azure Architect, starts by sharing a view of the different architecture disciplines. We define the roles and responsibilities of the various architects (enterprise, solution, infrastructure, data, and security). The rationale of going through these definitions lies in the fact that, from our experience, we have noticed some knowledge gaps in what the different stakeholders are doing. This often leads to turf wars, which can be avoided simply by understanding the broader picture. We then introduce our maps, and we help you understand how to properly conduct a cloud strategy and what the key aspects are that will make your cloud journey successful. In a nutshell, we give you a glimpse into what it feels like to be an Azure architect who has to deal with all these different disciplines, and who sometimes must report to top management on strategic aspects.
Chapter 2, Solution Architecture, covers key aspects to consider when building a cloud solution. A solution architect is responsible for the end-to-end aspects of a solution, from its development to its monitoring. A solution architect knows what Agile methodologies are, as well as what ITIL, TOGAF, and COBIT are. They are the cornerstone of a solution, its main pillar. The primary role of a solution architect is to assemble all the building blocks to make a consistent and coherent design, as well as to talk to various stakeholders. Their stakeholders are other, more specialized architects, developers, and IT engineers, as well as enterprise architects and management. This chapter remains high-level from a technical perspective because we will still envision Azure as a whole. We share the solution architecture map, which encompasses many Azure services, and we explore multiple dimensions around the non-functional requirements. We also zoom in on Azure's container platform offering, which has been booming and expanding greatly over the last few years. Lastly, we will walk you through a concrete use case and a glimpse into what comes next, including a deeper dive into the technical and technological aspects.
Chapter 3, Infrastructure Design, delves deeper into technical matters. We will review the typical infrastructure topologies and we will zoom into infrastructure-specific concerns such as networking, monitoring, backup and restore, high availability, and disaster recovery (for which we'll see a sample use case). Because containerization has become mainstream, we will also dive into Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) and unveil a dedicated AKS architecture map. You will learn that AKS is not really a service like the others, and we will walk you through a reference architecture to host a service mesh (for microservices) in AKS.
Chapter 4, Infrastructure Deployment, is almost entirely hands-on! You will learn about the different Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools and frameworks. You will provision some Azure services using Azure Resource Manager templates, Bicep, and Terraform. Nevertheless, we won't forget our architecture glasses, so we will also look at the machinery of a Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery/Deployment (CI/CD) factory.
Chapter 5, Application Architecture, looks at what the development architecture would look like for building an app on the Microsoft cloud. You may ask 10 different people what cloud-native means, and you might receive 10 different answers. So, we will start by explaining what we mean when we refer to the cloud and cloud-native solutions. Next, we will review some modern design patterns, such as CQRS, Event Sourcing, and so on. In the process, we will map them to the Azure services to help you identify how to bundle the services together in order to build solutions based on these patterns. Lastly, we will go through a microservices use case, using Dapr (Distributed Application Runtime), which is a very recent and promising framework for developing distributed applications. Throughout this chapter, our motto will be to not reinvent the wheel. Instead, leverage the ecosystem to design and build your solutions.
Chapter 6, Data Architecture, explores how data is processed and stored. Data is the new gold, and Azure contains many gold mines! In this chapter, we will consider traditional and modern data practices in opposition to each other, and see how to use both in Azure. We will also explore big data and artificial intelligence and analytics. At last, our hands-on use case is based on a data-streaming scenario. We are going to build a real-time dashboard, which consolidates aggregates of metrics from a fake speed detector (which we have developed for you). A separate real-time tile will show all the vehicles that should receive a fine (for breaking the law).
Chapter 7, Security Architecture, emphasizes and explains the importance of security in the cloud. Security is everywhere, and it's even more important with the cloud. This tends to awaken age-old fears and trepidations. This topic certainly deserves an entire book, so (to avoid writing a second book) we decided to be very pragmatic and to focus on the essential parts only. We start by giving you a glimpse into cloud-native security, to see beyond the technology and what the required mindset is. We will then explain why there is a paradigm shift in identity with the public cloud, by simply … proving it! Lastly, we will focus on the most recurrent security services and topics in Azure, which you must absolutely master as an Azure architect. Throughout the chapter, our motto will be to not simply stack network layers. Instead, think further and modernize your security practices.
Chapter 8, Summary and Industry Scenarios, revisits the topics covered in the book and consolidates our key ideas from each previous chapter. In other words, we'll identify what the most important aspects to remember are. In addition, we'll look at several key industry verticals through the lens of the previous chapters, to guide you through some existing architectures that you can continue exploring after you complete the book. We'll finish with some notes on the unique key values of this book, and a brief summary.