Azure Fundamentals Episode 7: Azure Physical Infrastructure

Episode Objectives

• Learn about the following components:
  • Data centers
  • Regions
  • Region pairs
  • Geographies
  • Availability zones
• Understand the benefits and usage of these architectural components.

Data Center

• Definition: A physical facility hosting networked servers for Azure services (e.g., SQL Database, virtual machines).
• Key Features:
  • Own power, cooling, and networking infrastructure.
  • Building blocks of global Azure infrastructure.
• Regions are groups of connected data centers with high throughput internet connectivity.

Regions

• Definition: Geographical areas consisting of one or more data centers connected with low latency (under 2ms).
• Importance of region selection:
  • Closer proximity results in lower latency for clients.
  • Mandatory location field when deploying Azure services.
• Service Availability:
  • Not all services are available in every region.
  • Global services exist without a specific region.
• Current Availability:
  • Over 50 regions globally, with new regions being announced frequently.
  • Special regions for government regulations and partner regions like China.

Choosing a Region

• Tools for selection:
  • Azure Speedtest: Tests latency from current location to Azure regions.
  • Products available by region: Lists all services available in specific regions.
• Example: Choosing between Germany North and West Europe based on service availability.

Availability Zones

• Definition: Designed to protect from data center failures, consisting of multiple separated facilities within a region.
• Features:
  • Each zone has separate power, cooling, and network infrastructure.
  • Critical for building highly available applications.
• Service Types:
  • Zonal Services: User selects specific availability zones for deployment (e.g., virtual machines).
  • Zone Redundant Services: Automatic replication across zones (e.g., SQL databases).
• Limitations:
  • Not all regions support availability zones; currently about seven regions do.

Region Pairs

• Definition: Each region is paired with another region at least 300 miles away to mitigate regional failures.
• Features:
  • Ensures physical isolation to sidestep natural disasters.
  • Services may provide platform-level replication across pairs.
  • Updates are staggered across pairs to avoid downtime.
• Examples:
  • East US paired with West US; North Europe paired with West Europe.

Geographies

• Definition: Describes a discrete market containing two or more regions, ensuring data residency and compliance.
• Features:
  • Fault tolerant, offering protection from region-wide failures.
  • Grouped into areas like Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa.

Conclusion

• Visit the website for additional resources, study guides, cheat sheets, and practice tests.
• New section: "Expand Your Knowledge" for extra resources.
• Encourage engagement: Subscribe, like, and comment.
• Looking forward to the next episode!