working of Azure

Question

Hello,

How can I visualize all the components of Azure? If I have to look it at cloud computing, will I visualize it as a virtual group of datacenters doing the tasks that physical hardware did before? Is there an image or a clear but short diagram with description about this?

Thanks

Marouf

Answer 1

Here you go

Here's a text-based hierarchical diagram that captures Azure's global infrastructure, core components, and service scope in a structured format.

Azure Global Infrastructure
├── Azure Regions (Geographic locations with multiple datacenters)
│   ├── Some regions support Availability Zones (AZs)
│   ├── Some regions do not have AZs (Single-zone regions)
│   ├── Region Pairs (Designed for disaster recovery)
│   ├── Sovereign Clouds (Azure Government, Azure China, etc.)
│
├── Availability Zones (AZs) [Only in certain regions]
│   ├── Separate physical datacenters in a region
│   ├── Independent power, cooling, networking
│   ├── Zone-redundant services (e.g., Storage, SQL Hyperscale, AKS)
│   ├── Some services are not zone-aware
│
├── Core Azure Components
│   ├── Compute
│   │   ├── Virtual Machines (VMs) - Windows/Linux
│   │   ├── Azure App Services - Web Apps, APIs
│   │   ├── Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) - Managed Kubernetes
│   │   ├── Azure Functions - Serverless execution
│   │
│   ├── Storage
│   │   ├── Azure Blob Storage - Scalable object storage
│   │   ├── Azure Files - SMB file shares
│   │   ├── Azure Managed Disks - VM disk storage
│   │
│   ├── Networking
│   │   ├── Virtual Networks (VNETs) - Private networking
│   │   ├── ExpressRoute - Private dedicated connections
│   │   ├── Load Balancers - Distribute traffic (Layer 4)
│   │   ├── Application Gateway - Layer 7 HTTP traffic routing
│   │   ├── Traffic Manager - DNS-based traffic routing
│   │
│   ├── Databases
│   │   ├── Azure SQL Database - Managed SQL Server
│   │   ├── Cosmos DB - Global NoSQL database
│   │   ├── Managed PostgreSQL / MySQL / MariaDB
│   │
│   ├── Identity & Security
│   │   ├── Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) - IAM & SSO
│   │   ├── Azure Key Vault - Secure key and secret storage
│   │   ├── Microsoft Defender for Cloud - Security monitoring
│   │   ├── Sentinel - SIEM solution for threat detection
│   │
│   ├── Monitoring & Management
│   │   ├── Azure Monitor - Performance tracking
│   │   ├── Log Analytics - Centralized logging and insights
│   │   ├── Azure Policy - Compliance and governance
│
├── Service Scope & Deployment Models
│   ├── Zonal Services (Deployed in specific AZs)
│   │   ├── Virtual Machines (when deployed in an AZ)
│   │   ├── Managed Disks (zone-pinned)
│   │   ├── Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
│   │
│   ├── Regional Services (Available in a region, not AZ-specific)
│   │   ├── Azure App Services
│   │   ├── Azure SQL Database (Single-region instance)
│   │   ├── Storage accounts (Non-ZRS configurations)
│   │
│   ├── Global Services (Operate across multiple regions)
│       ├── Azure Active Directory (AAD)
│       ├── Traffic Manager (Global DNS routing)
│       ├── Microsoft Defender for Cloud
│       ├── Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN)

---

If the above response helps answer your question, remember to "Accept Answer" so that others in the community facing similar issues can easily find the solution. Your contribution is highly appreciated.

hth

Marcin