Updated: July 12, 2020 (September 5, 2011)
Analyst ReportWindows Azure Platform Topology
The cloud-based Windows Azure platform uses a Platform as a Service (PaaS) architecture to offer several services for hosting applications and storing data. Customers are charged for the services at various rates that use metrics such as compute time, storage used, and number of transactions performed.
In this diagram, red objects and communication paths represent services and operations for which Microsoft charges fees.
Azure’s components include the following:
- Windows Azure Compute, which provides a hosted Windows Server-based OS where customers can deploy applications using instances called Web and worker roles
- Windows Azure Storage, which stores nonrelational data in blobs (such as video files), tables, queues (primarily for storing pending tasks for Windows Azure Compute worker roles), and drives (file-based storage that supports NTFS APIs)
- SQL Azure Database, which provides a relational database service based on SQL Server
- AppFabric Cache, which improves ASP.NET
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