1. Resource management and monitoring
In this video, we'll dive deeper into the resource management and monitoring components of Azure.
2. Resource management in Azure
Resource management is the creation, organization, and control of resources in Azure.
Azure has some important features related to resource management: Infrastructure as Code, which refers to how resource infrastructure is managed in Azure; resource tags and resource locks, which are used to organize and control resources.
3. Infrastructure as code (IaC)
Infrastructure as code or IaC underlies how resources are automated in Azure.
It means that resources are managed using structured code and automation tools rather than manual processes.
This has several benefits: it ensures consistency and reproducibility, is easier to document and share, and is less prone to errors.
Compare this to a script for a play. A script contains all cues, roles, and stage directions necessary for the play. Similarly, IaC uses configuration files to define a specific setup for resources.
This also ensures consistency across different use cases and allows for easy updates, like a script can also be re-used by other groups or adapted to fit a different style without having to rewrite the script from scratch.
However, IaC is not easy to learn and requires coding expertise.
4. Resource tags and locks in Azure
Another important resource management feature in Azure is the use of resource tags and resource locks.
They are metadata used to organize and control resources.
Resource tags are used specifically to label resources and track them more efficiently, for example, to follow-up costs.
They can be compared with labeling boxes in a warehouse to keep track of their contents and original location if they are moved.
Resource locks are used to prevent modifications to resources or to prevent deletion, either accidental or on purpose.
The locks can be set permanently or temporarily, for example, during maintenance.
They can be compared to putting padlocks on some boxes in the warehouse.
5. Example use case: business-critical resources
Suppose you are responsible for managing business-critical resources in Azure and need to ensure that those resources cannot be deleted.
Using Azure, you can use resource tags to label these resources as 'critical' and put resource locks on them to block deletion.
6. Monitoring with Azure
Our final component in this video is monitoring.
Monitoring is important to maintain an overview of all your processes in Azure and their performance.
Typical monitoring tasks in Azure include: identifying potential issues with resources or applications,
following up on usage and costs,
and analysis of logged data to plan for future needs.
Azure offers a comprehensive solution for monitoring, with a lot of capabilities to proactively detect issues and optimize processes.
7. Example use case: monitoring application health
Suppose you manage a web application with the help of Azure. It is a business-critical application, so you are tasked to ensure downtime is minimal.
Using Azure, you can do tasks like proactively detecting issues with resources to prevent downtime and monitor usage traffic to plan new resource capacity if needed.
8. Let's practice!
Time to put what you've learned into practice!