q140/random_k2/random_2.md

Partners:
Microsoft
Azure

Implementing
Hybrid Cloud
with MS Azure

White paper

Shaping
the future
of digital
business

01

Implementing
Hybrid Cloud
with Microsoft
Azure
 B

How GFT and Azure
can help your organization
implement a strategic
hybrid model that is
cost effective and offers
sustainable benefits.

Introduction

A

In a diverse world where
technology is in constant flux, many
organisations have computing
solutions that straddle cloud and on
premises. While both environments
have an important role to play today
and in the foreseeable future, a
consistent approach is crucial.

For many organisations, integrating
these two to create a hybrid
model is essential but there are
many business and technical
considerations.

This paper evaluates how Microsoft
Azure can help any organisation
implement a strategic hybrid model
that is cost effective and offers
sustainable benefits.

Shaping  the futureof digital  businessPartners:MicrosoftAzureImplementing  Hybrid Cloud with Microsoft AzureWhite paper
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3

Why use a hybrid cloud?

A

Cloud computing gets a lot of attention, and for good
reason: it is where much of IT is going. However,
on-premises datacentres also have an important
role to play, both today and in the future. For many
organisations, integrating these to create a hybrid
cloud is essential.

ASSESS
Why move to the cloud and
are you ready?

OPTIMIZE
How can yiu make most
of the cloud?

MIGRATE
What will be your
migratiion strategy?

OPERATE
Have you considered
the impact on your support
and maintance teams?

Microsoft understands this reality.
To help you to achieve it, they are offering
a broad range of cloud and on-premises
technologies that work together in a
coherent way. Moreover, unlike many other
vendors in the market, Microsoft provides
the flexibility to let you choose the path
that is right for your organisation. Microsoft
is committed to providing a consistent
hybrid cloud that supports every strategy.
So, what exactly is a hybrid cloud?
While getting everyone to agree on a
definition is not easy, there are some
obvious requirements. For example, you
need a way to connect your on-premises
datacentres with the cloud, a problem
Microsoft solves with Azure Virtual
Networks, Azure ExpressRoute. However,
basic connectivity is not enough; a hybrid
cloud must extend  beyond this to provide
complete set of consistent services.
Microsoft believes that a true hybrid cloud
must provide four components, each of
which brings significant benefits.

SECURE
Concerned the cloud isn‘t
secure?

These are:
 ■ Common identity for on-premises

and cloud applications. This improves
productivity by giving users single
sign-on to all of their applications.

 ■ Integrated management and security
across the hybrid cloud. This offers a
cohesive way to monitor, manage, and
help secure the environment, giving
increased visibility and control.

 ■ A consistent data platform for the
datacentre and the cloud. This
ensures data portability, combined
with seamless access to on-premises
and cloud data services for deep data
insight.

 ■ Unified development and DevOps
across the cloud and on-premises
datacentres. This lets the client
move applications between the
two environments as needed, and
it improves developer productivity,
as both places now have the same
development environment.

—
Taken together, these
four requirements provide
consistent experiences
for developers, data
professionals, IT
managers, and users.
Figure 1 summarizes this,
showing example
Microsoft technologies
for each.

Azure Active
Directory

Azure Management
and Security

Azure
Data Services

Azure
Services

Common
Identity

Integrated
Management
and Security

Consistent
Data
Platform

Unified
Development
and DevOps

Active
Directory

On-premises
Infrastructure

SQL Server

Azure Stack

Figure 1: A hybrid cloud must provide consistent solutions in four areas: identity;
management and security; data platform; development and DevOps.

As the figure shows, Microsoft offers hybrid cloud technologies that address all four areas.
Examples of these include:

 ■ Azure Active Directory works with the on-premises Active Directory to provide

common identity for users.

 ■ Azure provides integrated management and security services for both cloud and on-

premises infrastructure.

 ■ Azure data services combine with SQL Server to create a consistent data platform.

 ■ Microsoft Azure services in the cloud combined with Microsoft Azure Stack on-

premises provide unified development and DevOps.

What happens if you attempt to create a hybrid cloud without these four attributes?
The short answer is pain: you will have needless differences throughout your
environment. These differences bring complexity, which in turn makes the hybrid cloud
harder to use, harder to manage, and harder to secure. Risks increase while user benefits
shrink.

Creating a truly consistent hybrid cloud, with the advantages it brings, is a better
approach. As this paper describes, Microsoft stands alone in offering these advantages.

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5

01.
Requirement: common identity
A

When users access applications, they should not need to worry
about whether those applications are running on-premises or in the
cloud. Providing consistent identity is fundamental to achieving this,
which is why Microsoft created Azure Active Directory (Azure AD).
Among other benefits, cloud service offers secure single sign-on and
automated provisioning of new users.

To use Azure AD in a hybrid cloud, an
organization first connects its on-premises
Active Directory to Azure AD in the cloud.
Users can then sign in as usual – Azure
AD is invisible to them. Those users can
now access both on-premises applications
and cloud applications without signing
in again. They enjoy single sign-on
throughout their hybrid world.
Azure AD supports cloud applications
from Microsoft, including Office 365 and
Dynamics 365. It also supports many
other SaaS offerings, including Google
Apps, Salesforce CRM, Dropbox, Box,
Slack, Service Now, Workday, and many
more. Just as Active Directory allows
single sign-on to on-premises applications
from many different vendors, Azure AD
provides this for cloud apps from many
SaaS providers.

01.1
Give your users single
sign-on to applications
anywhere

Everyone hates having to remember
different passwords. In enterprises, the
problem of providing single sign-on –
the ability to log in once to access any
application – was solved long ago. With
the rise of Software as a Service (SaaS),
however, this problem must be solved
again. Rather than make users sign in
separately to each application, they
should be able to sign in just once, and
then access both on-premises and cloud
(that is, SaaS) applications.

Figure 2 shows how Azure AD makes this
possible.

Azure Active
Directory

Cloud
Applications

1. Connect

Active
Directory

2. Sign in

3. Access

Applications

On-premises

Figure 2: Azure Active Directory
lets a user sign in once, then
access both on-premises and cloud
applications.

Using Azure AD for single sign-on also
offers other benefits:

 ■ Because Azure AD provides a common
account for many applications, there is
less need to have multiple passwords
that might be reused across different
SaaS applications. This improves
security, because a breach at one site
is less likely to expose a password
that has been reused for another
application.

 ■ When a user leaves the organization,
an administrator can terminate access
to multiple applications (cloud or on-
premises) by simply removing one ID
from Azure AD. If there were separate
sign-on to these applications, the
administrator would need to find and
remove each one.

Microsoft’s broad support for hybrid
identity is unique among major cloud
platform providers. For example, AWS
Identity and Access Management focuses
on managing identity for AWS itself and
for resources running on AWS. Unlike
Azure AD, it does not provide a general
solution for single sign-on that works
across cloud applications from multiple
vendors.

Hybrid SaaS applications
Applications that are available as both SaaS solutions and on-premises products represent another form of hybrid cloud computing.
For example, Office 365 includes several components that function this way, including Exchange and SharePoint.
In a hybrid world, hybrid SaaS applications can be useful. For example, SharePoint Online and SharePoint Server offer a common
administrative experience, as do Exchange Online and Exchange Server. These applications also provide other hybrid benefits, such
as support in SharePoint for searching across SharePoint Online and SharePoint Server and the ability to use a common email domain
across Exchange Online and Exchange Server.
Like other applications, hybrid SaaS solutions must deal with identity. With Office 365, the application is also using Azure AD, but users
may be unaware of this. This offers benefits, such as assigning licenses to specific Office 365 applications based on AD groups, so
that everyone in a particular group is granted access. Combining hybrid identity with hybrid SaaS applications is another way that a
consistent hybrid cloud provides value for an organization.

—
01.2
Protect identities across
on-premises and cloud
environments
A

Using a common identity to access many
applications has real benefits. It also makes
protecting that identity more important
than ever. Microsoft offers several ways to
do this.

For example, Azure AD provides Multi-
Factor Authentication (MFA). With this
option, logging in to Azure AD requires
more than just a simple password. Users
also need a second factor, such as entering
a code sent to their mobile phone. With
MFA, even an attacker who steals a user’s
password cannot log in as that user. The
attacker would also need access to the
user’s phone, or another factor being used
for authentication. The result is better
identity protection and lower risk.

Azure AD also supports conditional access
policies. These let your administrators
control access to specific applications
using not just the user’s identity, but
also based on what device is being
used, the location, the groups the user
belongs to, and more. User identities
define the perimeter of the hybrid cloud,
cross-platform APIs to integrate identity
management into on-premises or cloud
applications, with support for all modern
protocols, including SAML 2.0, WS-Fed,
OAuth 2.0, and OpenID Connect.

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02.
Requirement: integrated
management and security
A

Insights and
Analytics

Automation
and Control

Security
and Compliance

Protection
and Recovery

Azure
Management and Security

Windows

Linux

Windows

Linux

On-premises

Figure 3: Azure provides integrated
management and security services for
a modern hybrid cloud.

Figure 4: The Monitoring Dashboard
provides a broad and customizable
view of a hybrid cloud environment.

Using a hybrid cloud can broaden
options for delivering IT services to the
organization. However, hybrid clouds
bring new hurdles for management and
security. Challenges include:
 ■ Monitoring combined on-premises
infrastructure and cloud resources

 ■ Effectively automating whenever

possible, such as the response to alerts
raised through monitoring

 ■ Securing the larger surface area that a

hybrid cloud brings

 ■ Providing effective data backup and
disaster recovery for both cloud and
on-premises resources

Addressing these challenges requires
a specialist approach to management
and security that is designed for hybrid
clouds. To provide this, Microsoft delivers
management and security services from
Azure, providing built-in capabilities
throughout the operational lifecycle.
Azure includes a cohesive set of tools for
monitoring, configuring, and protecting
the entire hybrid cloud. Figure 3 shows
the big picture of Azure Management and
Security (which is sometimes referred to
as the Operations Management Suite).

Designed for a hybrid and heterogeneous
world, Azure management and security
services give increased control of Windows
and Linux systems running in Azure or
in an on-premises datacentre. Although
not shown in the diagram, these Azure
services can also extend to management
of Windows and Linux systems running
at hosting services or on other cloud
platforms, such as AWS.

Four key services comprise the lifecycle
approach to management from Azure:
Insight and Analytics, Automation and
Control, Protection and Recovery, and
Security and Compliance. All of them are
accessed through a single dashboard, an
example of which is shown in Figure 4.

The console is built from tiles, and each
user can customise which  tiles appear
to suit specific needs. A user focused on
security, for example, might choose to
show the status of antimalware software
on managed systems, the number of
outstanding security issues, and a map
showing where threats are coming from.
A user who is responsible for backup might
choose to display information about the

latest backups for virtual machines, email,
and other data. A user who is responsible
for all of these areas – Azure management
and security services are designed to
be effective tools for generalists – might
display some combination of these
things. Whatever the requirement, this
customizable interface gives all users
access to the information and services
most relevant to their own needs.

In addition, because Azure cloud services
are designed for a hybrid world, the
picture the dashboard presents can span
both on-premises and cloud datacentres.

—

02.1
Get common insight
and analytics across your
hybrid cloud
A

One of the most important aspects of
management is monitoring to keep track of
what is happening in your world. Doing this
effectively in a hybrid cloud is especially
challenging, since you need the ability to
reach into both on-premises and cloud
datacentres. Azure addresses this with the
Insight and Analytics service.

The Insight and Analytics service collects
information, such as log and performance
data, about all the systems it monitors.
Using the dashboard, a user can then
issue custom queries against this data or
create queries that run regularly, and then
generate an alert if there is an irregularity.
Moreover, to support common situations,
Insight and Analytics includes a group
of solutions that provide predefined
queries and logic for addressing a specific
area. For example, the AD Assessment
solutions displays the status of Active
Directory, along with recommendations for
improvement, while the SQL Assessment
solutions provides similar information for
SQL Server.

This Azure monitoring service can
also connect directly to System Centre
Operations Manager. Doing this lets Insight
and Analytics receive information and
alerts that Operations Manager gets from
the systems it monitors. Connecting to
Operations Manager provides easy access
to useful information, and so it is a common
way to get started with Insight and Analytics.

02.2
Provide management
automation for your
hybrid cloud
A

In general, it is a good idea to automate as
much of systems management as possible.
To do this from the cloud, Azure includes
the Automation and Control offering.
This service lets administrators create
PowerShell scripts called runbooks to
automate common processes.

For example, think about the scenario just
described, where Insight and Analytics
raises an alert based on detection of a
problem with an application. One way to
handle this is to rely on an administrator
to find and fix the problem. This might be
the only option the first time a problem
surfaces. If it is likely to the administrator,
can create a runbook that takes the same
steps, such as truncating the database
table, and then configure the runbook to
execute whenever the alert appears. Doing
this can make problem resolution faster,
more reliable, and less expensive.

The Automation and Control offering also
addresses many other scenarios. The
administrator might create runbooks that
reset user passwords or set up virtual
machines for a development environment
or schedule and deploy patches for
Windows and Linux. To make this easier,
Microsoft and others provide a gallery
of predefined scripts that address many
common scenarios. Besides runbooks,
this Azure service offering also provides
Desired State Configuration (DSC), which is
the ability to specify how Windows or Linux
server should be configured, then monitor
and enforce that configuration.

Together with Insight and Analytics,
Automation and Control has one
overarching goal: to help proactively find
and fix problems in your hybrid cloud
before they affect your business.

Insight and Analytics also provides other
useful tools, including:

 ■ Service Map, which can automatically
discover distributed applications in
your hybrid environment; show the
dependencies among application
components, such as databases and
business logic, and help trouble shoot
problems.

 ■ Network Performance Monitor allows

an administrator track network
performance, including links between
on-premises and cloud datacentres,
the find and fix network problems.

To understand the value of this
technology, consider a simple scenario,
and suppose Insight and Analytics raises
an alert about an application in your
environment. An administrator might
use Service Map to understand the
structure of that application and then
determine that the problem lies with
the application’s SQL Server database.
The administrator can use the SQL
Assessment solution provided by Insight
and Analytics do take a closer look at that
database. Perhaps the problem is that
one of the database’s tables has reached
its maximum size, for instance. Once
the administrator  knows this, the table
can be truncated and the  application
returned  to normal operation.

The important point to note is that the
process of finding and fixing an error is
the same whether the problem database
is running on-premises, at a hosting
provider, or in the cloud. It is also the
same for SQL Server and Azure SQL
Database. Consistency is an integral
feature of the Insight and Analytics
service because it was designed
specifically for a hybrid world.

Compare this with other cloud vendors.
AWS, for example, provides CloudWatch
for monitoring a cloud environment. Yet
this technology provides little information
about anything else because is not
designed for a hybrid world. Service Map,
by contrast, can automatically discover
applications that span cloud and on-
premises datacentres, and the monitoring
capabilities of Insight and Analytics in
Azure treat both environments equally.
This Azure service is designed from the
ground up to work with a hybrid cloud.

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02.3
Get a unified view of
security and compliance
A

8

9

No aspect of systems management is more
important than security. Which of your
systems are being attacked right now?
Where are the attacks coming from? What
is the status of antimalware software on
each of those systems? In a hybrid cloud,
you must be able to answer all of these
questions in a common way for systems
in both on-premises datacentres and the
cloud.

Azure Security and Compliance addresses
these concerns. By providing a unified set
of tools, it lets your administrators - even
those who are not security specialists -
prevent, detect and respond to threats
across your hybrid cloud. Here are some
examples of what this capability provides:

 ■ Administrators can see the security
state of their entire hybrid cloud
in a single view. This view can
include antimalware status, whether
systems conform to defined baseline
configurations, and more. In fact,
the Security and Compliance service
offering relies on the repository and
query mechanism used by Insight and
Analytics, bringing the same breadth
and power to security management.

 ■ This broad visibility can help

administrators quickly detect and
respond to security threats. For
example, an administrator can
determine that a virtual network is
incorrectly configured, the click a

button in the dashboard to fix it, or that
a database in Azure SQL database
does not have encryption enabled,
and the turn it on with a few more
clicks. Security and Compliance even
provides a prioritized list of security
vulnerabilities like these, along with
guidance on how to fix them.

 ■ Because Azure Security and

Compliance is continually updated by
Microsoft, it learns about new threats as
they appear. This helps administrators
maintain an up-to-date security posture
across the hybrid cloud. In addition,
because these updates draw from
Microsoft’s own information about
attacks on Azure, Xbox and other
cloud services, this threat intelligence
is based on a very large dataset. You
get the benefit of Microsoft’s broad
experience, along with the ongoing
updates possible in a cloud-based
solution.

Once again, it is worth comparing what
Azure provides with what most other cloud
providers offer. Because these vendors are
focused solely on the cloud, their solutions
do not typically address the wider needs of
a hybrid environment. Moreover, since the
other major cloud providers tend to lack
Microsoft’s long experience as a provider
of enterprise management software, they
might not understand what is required
to manage an on-premises computing
environment as well as the cloud.

—
02.4
Use cloud-based services
for on-premises backup
and disaster recovery
A

Wherever it is stored, data needs to be
backed up. Given the massive amount
of low-cost storage available in a cloud
platform like Azure, using a cloud service
to do this makes sense. Similarly, many
applications need disaster recovery (DR)
to make sure they keep running in the face
of unexpected failure. The cloud is ideally
suited to provide this service.

To meet these needs, Microsoft provides
two distinct services: Azure Backup and,
for DR, Azure Site Recovery. As its name
suggests, Azure Backup backs up data
to Azure datacentres. This data might be
from Windows or Linux virtual machines,
Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, or
Windows files. Whatever the source, Azure
Backup lets you store copies of data on
Azure, then restore that data as required.

In addition, you can restore just the data
you need. Unlike tape backup, there is no
need to fetch an entire tape from an offsite
location. Azure Backup also lets you keep
that data on geo-redundant storage to
protect your backup in the unlikely event
that an entire Azure datacentre is disabled.
Azure Site Recovery is a cloud-based

disaster recovery service designed to take
advantage of the scalability and resilience
of Azure. Figure 5 illustrates this service.

Azure Site Recovery can be used with
Linux and Windows virtual machines
running on VMware or Hyper-V, as well as
physical servers. These can be running
anywhere in the hybrid cloud, on-premises,
at a hosting provider, or (for virtual
machines) on Azure. Wherever they are,
these systems send regular updates to
Azure Site Recovery in the cloud. Should
disaster strike, the service manages
failover to Azure. This includes creating
the necessary Azure virtual machines,
initializing these with the most recent
state stored in Azure Site Recovery, and
configuring virtual networks. Intended to
be used for even complex workloads, such

as SAP, this service provides easy-to-use
disaster recovery at relatively low cost.
Backup and DR are commonly available
offerings, so what makes these Azure
services uniquely suited for a hybrid cloud?

The answer is that both Azure Backup and
Azure Site Recovery are managed cloud
services. Any cloud platform lets you run
third-party software for backup and DR,
and Azure does too. You are free to use
CommVault, Veritas, or something else
with Azure Blobs, for example. This big
difference is Microsoft provides managed
services for both, which removes the need
to buy, install, and run backup and DR
solutions in the cloud. This is significantly
simpler than managing your own servers in
the cloud, and it is an important example of
the benefits of a hybrid cloud.

Azure

Windows
VMs

Linux

Windows
Windows
VMs
VMs

Linux
Linux

1. Send
updates

Azure Site
Recovery

2. Failover

Windows
VMs

Linux
VMs

Azure

VMware

Windows
VMs

Linux

Hyper-V

Windows
VMs

Linux

On-premises

Figure 5: Azure Site Recovery provides disaster recovery for virtual
machines and physical servers with failover to Azure.

Maintain hybrid or migrate entirely to the cloud?
Some organizations plan to remain hybrid indefinitely. Others view hybrid as a waystation on their journey to the cloud: they consider
hybrid cloud as part of a migration strategy.
If you are in this second category, a consistent hybrid cloud can make migration significantly easier. For example, Azure Site Recovery
can help with migration as well as disaster recovery because it can create new instances of on-premises applications on Azure. Rather
than manually moving applications to the cloud, you can rely on Azure Site Recovery to do this and to help you cut over to the new
cloud instances. The Microsoft hybrid cloud provides other tools as well, such as the migration wizard built into SQL Server Management
Studio to help move on-premises SQL to help move on-premises SQL Server applications to Azure IaaS virtual machines.
Microsoft also helps lower the cost of migration by transferring on-premises licenses to Azure. You can use your existing Windows
Server licenses with Software Assurance to enable up to 40 percent savings on Windows Server virtual machines in Azure by using
the Azure Hybrid Use Benefit. Similarly, license mobility provides the flexibility to deploy existing SQL Server licenses with Software
Assurance in the cloud without additional fees. These attributes can unlock significant savings as you look to extend into cloud or lift
and shift to cloud. You can also rely on GFT Cloud Team, to provide both migration knowledge and tools.
Whatever options you choose, Microsoft’s consistent approach to hybrid cloud can make migration to a full cloud environment simpler,
faster, and less expensive.

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03.
Requirement: consistent data platform
A

What is the best approach for working with data in
a hybrid cloud? There is no single answer to suit all
organizations. However, one thing is universally clear:
you will have important information in both the cloud
and on-premises. Given this, it makes sense to have
a common approach to working with data in both
places.

To facilitate this, the Microsoft hybrid cloud provides a consistent data platform. This
consistency lets an organization use the same tools and the skills throughout its
environment. Moreover, because organizations use data in various ways, the Microsoft
platform works with both operational data, such as orders in an online shopping
application, and analytical data, such as aggregated information used for data analysis

The challenges this helps you address include:
 ■ Using a common database across an on-premises datacentre and the public cloud.

 ■ Using data services in the cloud to complement on-premises database.

 ■ Providing consistent services on-premises and in the cloud for data warehousing, data

analysis, and data visualization.

03.1
Take advantage of
common database on-
premises and in the cloud
A

Microsoft SQL Server is a mature offering
that supports mission-critical workloads in
datacentres around the world. In a hybrid
cloud environment, this technology can be
used in a number of helpful ways.

One option is to run SQL Server in an
Azure IaaS virtual machine. For example,
you might do this as part of moving an
entire application to the cloud to lower
your costs, or to create a development
environment for applications that are
deployed on-premises. Whatever the
reason, you can use the same database
technology throughout to your hybrid
cloud. This makes it easier to move data
and applications as needed to respond to
changing business requirements.

Another possibility is to take advantage of
the cloud to provide business continuity

Microsoft Azure VM

Application

On-premises

SQL
Server

SQL
Server

SQL Server
Always On
Availability
Group

Figure 6: With SQL Server AlwaysOn, a secondary server can run in an Azure virtual machine,
using the cloud to provide business continuity for an on-premises database.

with SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability
Groups. Figure 6 shows how this looks.
As the figure shows, an availability
group has two, or more, instances of SQL
Server running on two different systems.
The AlwaysOn technology automatically
replicates changes to data across both
systems. If the primary fails, the secondary
can automatically take over, letting
applications that use this database continue
running. This kind of replication is essential

for mission-critical workloads, and AlwaysOn
supports scenarios with a low recovery
time objective (RTO).

Running the secondary server in the cloud
can save money and time. This secondary
can also be made readable to help scale
access to data. For example, a readable
secondary could be located in an Azure
datacentre that is closer to salespeople
using a mobile business intelligence app.

—03.2
Save money by moving
your on-premises data to
the cloud
A

Running a database in a cloud virtual
machine is useful. However, a hybrid
data platform should also provide cloud
database services that complement
on-premises databases. The Microsoft
hybrid cloud does this in several ways.

SQL Server, for example, provides built-
in support for backups to Azure Blobs.
This support is simple to use – setting
up scheduled backup requires just a few
clicks – and it lets you take advantage of
the low-cost storage provided by Blobs. It
can also provide geo-replication of backup
data, making sure this data is stored in two
different Azure datacenters. Given the ever-
growing amount of data that organizations
need to store, having easy access to this
bottomless cloud storage is useful.

Using Azure SQL Database, a PaaS data
service, brings more possibilities. Because
Azure SQL Database is based on SQL
Server, in fact, the two share the same
core database engine, applications can
access data in the same way with both
technologies. Azure SQL Database can
also be combined with SQL Server in
useful ways.

For example, the SQL Server Stretch
Database feature lets an application
access what looks like a single table in a
SQL Server database. In fact, however,
some or all rows of that table might be
stored in Azure SQL Database. This
technology automatically moves data that
is not accessed for a defined period to the
cloud, as Figure 7 illustrates.

2. Transparently
access cloud data
as needed

1. Read

Application

On-premises

Azure SQL
Database

SQL Server

Figure 7: SQL Server Stretch Database
automatically archives cold relational data in
the cloud.

An application reading this data is
unaware that any of it has been moved
to the cloud. The application just issues
SELECTs as usual. When colder data is
required to satisfy a query, SQL Server
Stretch Database will automatically fetch
this data from Azure SQL Database. The
data is protected throughout the entire
process, both at rest and in motion. The
result is automatic archiving or less-used
data in the lower-cost cloud. You might
use this, for instance, to store the order
history of your customers. In this situation,
you certainly want to retain the older data,

but since older orders are accessed less
frequently, storing them in Azure SQL
Database can save money while requiring
no changes to your applications.
SQL Server Stretch Database offers
another example of how Microsoft’s
hybrid cloud differs from its competitors.
Because GFT provides both SQL Server
and Azure SQL Database, we can
combine the two to deliver innovative
services in unique ways. AWL, for
example, does not support this – the
SQL Server Stretch Database feature is
available only with the Azure cloud.

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03.3
Use consistent data
warehousing, analysis,
and visualization services
A

So far, the focus has been on operational
data. To see the full value of a consistent
data platform, we need to broaden our
scope. Analytical data is also an important
part of the story, which is another area
where Microsoft’s consistent hybrid cloud
can improve how an organization works
with data. Figure 8 shows one possible
scenario.

Suppose you need to analyse operational
data held in an on-premise SQL Server
database and in Azure SQL Database. As
Figure 8 shows, you can load data from
both sources (and many others) into Azure
SQL Data Warehouse. This cloud service
can hold very large amounts of data, both
relational and unstructured, and empowers
users to set up a data warehouse in a few
minutes. The service also makes scaling
simpler: just move a slider to increase or
decrease warehouse capability. In addition,
to enable a user to issue queries over both
relational and unstructured data, Azure
SQL Data Warehouse proves PolyBase a
technology for using any language with
any data.

You can use Azure Analysis Services to
analyse this data, as the figure shows.
Based on the proven technology of SQL
Server Analysis Services, this cloud service
lets your organization make use of existing
skills and familiar tools. Rather than
learning something entirely new, staff can
be productive immediately. In addition, as
Figure 8 shows, you can import existing
tabular models to reuse work already done.
Data analysts can also create new models,
and then deploy them to either Azure
Analysis Services or SQL Server Analysis
Services just by changing a URL.

The last link in the analytics chain is
visualizing the data. To enable this, the
Microsoft data platform provides the cloud-
based Power BI (Business Intelligence).
This service can work with data from many
different sources, including Azure Analysis
Services, reports produced on-premises

Azure SQL
Database

Data

Azure SQL
Data
Warehouse

Azure
Analysis
Services

Power BI

Data

Tabular Model

Report

SQL Server

Analysis
Services

Reporting
Services

On-premises

Figure 8: Microsoft’s hybrid cloud data platform
includes consistent services for analysing and
visualising both, on-premises and cloud data.

software and services for working with
data in many different ways. The platform
also lets you move data and other
artifacts, like tabular models, as needed.
In addition, just as importantly, the cloud
components of this data platform are all
PaaS services. Rather than running on-
premises servers in IaaS virtual machines,
with all of the management effort this
implies, PaaS services take care of this.
Creating and scaling resources in the cloud
is straightforward, and Azure handles
high availability. These factors can lower
your costs and free your people for more
valuable work.

Alternative solutions lack the breadth
of Microsoft’s hybrid data platform, as
well as consistency across the cloud and
your datacentre. They also do not offer
Microsoft’s commitment to providing PaaS
services wherever possible. Without this
kind of consistent data platform, you do
not really have a hybrid cloud.

using SQL Server Reporting Services,
and more. It also has a connector to AWS
Redshift, Amazon’s data warehousing
services.

Power BI can display dashboards through
a web browser, mobile devices, or in other
ways. It can also be accessed via natural
language queries spoken to a phone. For
example, a salesperson might use a phone
to easily call up information about last
month’s sales in London or to make other
specialized requests.

Microsoft’s consistent data platform
provides additional technologies for a
hybrid cloud. For example, an organization
can gain rich insights from its data,
relational and non-relational, with fully
managed big data services in the cloud,
including Azure HDInsight and Azure
Data Lake. The Microsoft hybrid cloud
also enables analytics, deep learning, and
intelligent applications across on-premises
and cloud data with common templates
and reusable R language support. Azure
Machine Learning, Cognitive Services, and
other offerings make this possible.

Why is Microsoft’s hybrid cloud data
platform better than alternatives? There are
several reasons. First, it is broad, providing

—04.
Requirement: unified development
and DevOps
A

Some things are the same, of course –
both environments offer virtual machines
running Windows Server and Linux – but
others are quite distinct. These differences
can create problems, including the
following:

 ■ An application built for a cloud

platform might be hard to move back
on-premises. If the application uses a
technology that is not available in your
datacentre, you might find yourself
committed to the cloud.

 ■ Providing up-to-date platform

technologies in cases where a cloud
solution is not appropriated can be
difficult. A primary example of this is
edge-computing scenarios, where
applications cannot always connect
to the cloud or must run close to their
users for performance reasons.

 ■ Creating applications that exploit the
cloud while still complying with every
applicable regulation can be challenging.
If the application must run in even one
geography where data sovereignty
rules require an on-premises solution,
developers might need to create
different versions for the cloud and an
on-premises datacentre.

One of the biggest
challenges in using the
cloud is that the
cloud development
platform differs from
traditional on-premises
platforms.

Applications

IaaS

PaaS

Serverless

Containers

Storage

…

Azure

Applications

IaaS

PaaS

Serverless

Containers

Storage

…

Azure Stack

On-premises

Figure 9: Azure Stack provides a subset of
Azure services in the datacentre, letting the
same applications run in both places.

 ■ Differences between a cloud platform

and on-premises environment can make
it hard to create a common DevOps
environment for applications deployed
in both places.

Microsoft Azure Stack addresses all
of these challenges. You can use this
technology to provide a subset of the
cloud services offered by Microsoft Azure
on your own premises. Figure 9 shows
how this looks.

Azure Stack lets developers build and
deploy software in the same way, whether
it runs on-premises or in the cloud. It also
lets them implement consistent DevOps
mechanisms across a hybrid cloud. To
allow these things, Azure Stack provides
many of the most important Azure
technologies, and more are being added.

Technologies in Azure Stack include:

 ■ Infrastructure as a service (IaaS),

providing Windows and Linux virtual
machines on demand.

 ■ Platform as a service (PaaS), including
App Service, with support for creating
applications in .NET, PHP, Java, and
other environments, and Service
Fabric, a foundation for microservices
applications. Both Azure and Azure
Stack also support Cloud Foundry, a
cross-platform PaaS technology.

 ■ Serverless computing with Azure

Function.

 ■ Container support with Azure Container
Service (ACS), which provides container
orchestration using Kubernetes, DC/OS,
and Swarm.

 ■

Storage, including Azure Blobs and
Tables.

Rather than trying to stretch existing on-
premises technologies to provide cloud
services, Azure Stack brings Azure services
into the datacentre. Creating a consistent
hybrid cloud helps solve the problems
described earlier.

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04.3
Create cloud applications
that meet every regulation
A

For many organizations, the biggest barrier
to embracing cloud computing is regulatory.
Sometimes the law prohibits storing customer
data outside an organisation’s own datacentre,
or maybe remote storage is allowed, but
only within a specific country. Since no cloud
provider has a presence in every nation, these
regulations can prevent you from using the
cloud for some applications.

With Azure Stack, your developers can
create an application that can be deployed
without modification on either Azure or Azure
Stack. If regulations permit cloud, running
an application on Azure might be the least
expensive, most scalable, and most secure
choice. If regulations dictate that data must
be kept on-premises, the same application
can be run on Azure Stack in the  datacentre.
In addition, if you would like to run the
application externally, but are required to
keep it within a specific national border, you
can rely on a hosting provider that runs Azure
Stack in an in-country datacentre. Whatever
the regulatory requirement, the combination of
Azure and Azure Stack lets you meet it using
the same application. Moreover, as always,
these applications can be externally facing
or internally facing, with web clients, mobile
clients and more.

Compare this to the options with a public-
cloud-only provider, such as AWS. To address
the same regulatory diversity, you would
likely need to build two different versions of
your application. A true hybrid cloud does
not require this; it provides the same modern
cloud platform everywhere.

04.1
Run the same modern
applications on-premises
and in the cloud
A

04.2
Provide integrated
solutions across edge
and cloud
A

Many business requirements can be met
by applications running in the cloud.
But cloud is not suitable for all, so the
edge is still important. For example, in
situations where the latency inherent
in cloud access is not acceptable.
In a manufacturing environment, for
instance, a real-time control application
might need to be located very close
to the robots it controls. The speed
of light is a constraint that is not
going away. Alternatively, suppose a
continuous connection to the cloud is
not practical. Think of a cruise ship at
sea, for example, which might have only
intermittent internet access.

In all of these situations, organizations
still want to create applications using
modern platform technologies. They
might also want to create applications
that can run in the cloud if needed.
Why lock these applications into an
on-premises environment if it is not
required? Using Azure Stack lets an
organization create the best possible
applications at the edge while still taking
advantage of the cloud as needed. For
example, a cruise ship might rely on a
shipboard application built on Azure
Stack to collect and aggregate data
about that ship. The same application
might also run on the Azure cloud to
collect and aggregate data across the
company’s fleet of ships. Having the
same development environment in both
places makes this possible.

Because Azure and Azure Stack offer
the identical technologies – the same
services with the same interfaces –
moving applications between the two
is straightforward. This has several
advantages.

First, an organisation can choose where
to deploy an application based on precise
needs. There is no commitment to either
cloud or an on-premises datacentre.
Instead, where an application runs in a
hybrid cloud can change with evolving
business and technical requirements.

In addition, developers can use up-to-date
technologies for all of the applications
they create, whether they run in the
cloud or in the datacentre. This includes
externally facing applications, such as an
e-commerce system used by customers,
as well as internally facing applications,
such as a line-of-business solution used by
employees. The most recent innovations,
including serverless computing with Azure
Functions and modern container support
with ACS, are available in both places.
On-premises development projects are no
longer limited to older technologies.

Just as important, using the same
technologies in both places means that an
organization can leverage the same skills
in both places. Rather than finding (and
keeping) people with different skills for
cloud and on-premises development, the
same people can be used for both kinds of
projects. Similarly, the same processes can
be adopted for deploying and updating
applications, as described in more detail
later.

Compare this with what is required if you
choose a cloud platform from a provider
that is solely focused on the cloud, such
as Amazon Web Services (AWS). Without
an on-premises equivalent, you are forced
to use different technologies, people, and
processes in these two environments.
This is a clear example of why a consistent
hybrid cloud is so important.

The Internet of Things as edge computing

The Internet of Things (IoT) provides another topical example of combining edge
computing with the cloud. To support IoT applications, Microsoft Azure provides
IoT Hub, a cloud service that can accept and buffer large numbers of events from
many devices. These events can then be processed by applications running
on Azure, perhaps using Azure Stream Analytics or another Azure streaming
technology. In addition, to help create field gateways, systems that aggregate data
from multiple simple devices, Microsoft provides the IoT Gateway SDK.

—
04.4
Use a common DevOps
environment on-premises
and in the cloud
A

DevOps is a combination of tools,
processes, and culture that can improve
how software is deployed and updated.
Among the most important aspects of
implementing DevOps well are:

 ■ Automating creation of the environment

the application needs. This might
include creating virtual machines, setting
up networks, deploying application
code, and more. Automation means
doing all of this with software, so this
aspect of DevOps is often referred to
with the phrase “infrastructure as code.”

 ■ Automating the deployment of new
software into this environment. This
typically uses tools such as Jenkins or
Visual Studio Team Services that allow
creating pipelines to build, test, and
deploy new code.

In a hybrid world, the same application
might be run either on-premises or in the
cloud. Accordingly, an important part of
creating a hybrid cloud is setting up a
DevOps process that works identically
for both. With Azure and Azure Stack, the
Microsoft hybrid cloud provides this, as
shown in Figure 10.

As the figure shows, a DevOps team
uses Azure Resource Manager (ARM) to
define the required infrastructure in both
Azure and Azure Stack. By creating an
ARM template, the team can fully specify
whatever environment an application
requires. Moreover, because Azure
and Azure Stack provide completely
consistent services, the same template
can be used to create this environment in
either the cloud or on-premises.
Once this is done, the DevOps team
can use its choice of tools to create
deployment pipelines for new software.
Because Azure Stack is a subset of
Azure, the same pipeline can target
either environment. Sending software
to one or the other requires changing
only the URL targeted by a pipeline. For
example, suppose you have created an
application that serves most of its users
from Azure in the cloud, but runs on
Azure Stack in a particular country for
regulatory reasons. The development
team can create an ARM template to
set up an identical environment in both
places, then use whatever build server
they choose to deploy updates to both
in the same way. This consistency lets
them create applications in a common
way, and then easily deploy them to the
right location. It also lets the team reuse
ARM templates across your hybrid cloud
as needed, simplifying your DevOps
process.

1. Define infrastructure

Azure Resource
Manager

TEMPLATES

Figure 10: Azure and Azure Stack can share
identical DevOps environments.

Applications

Azure

Applications

Azure Stack

On-premises

2. Deplay software

Visual Studio Team
Services, Jenkins, …

PIPELINES

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17

Next steps

Hybrid cloud computing is important for many
organizations, and it is likely to remain such.
Choosing the right hybrid cloud vendor is of fundamental
importance.

A truly consistent hybrid cloud must provide four key components, all explicitly
designed for a hybrid world:
 ■ Common identity
 ■ Integrated management and security
 ■ A consistent data platform
 ■ Unified development and DevOps

The Microsoft hybrid cloud offers all four. Whether your goal is integrating your on-
premise environment with the cloud, optimizing your computing across both worlds, or
innovating with the new services cloud computing provides, Microsoft supports you.
If you are looking for a holistic computing environment that lets on-premises resources
and the cloud smoothly work together, provides a unified approach to management,
and allows a single identity everywhere, you are looking for the Microsoft hybrid cloud.
Microsoft’s credibility and consistent hybrid capability makes it the right trusted vendor
for your safe journey.

Microsoft Azure Cloud Migration
> https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/solutions/cloud-migration/

Microsoft Azure Hybrid Integration
> https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/solutions/hybrid-integration/

Microsoft Azure DevOps
> https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/solutions/devops/

Microsoft Azure Internet of Things
> https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/solutions/internet-of-things/

References
A

Stay in touch
A

Carlos Mattos
B
Global Business Unit
Head – Azure
E.: carlos.mattos@gft.com

Team-oriented leader with a successful track record and over 20 years’ experience
spanning global corporate software development, strategy, sales, business development
and operations for software market. Nominated by Microsoft as Regional Director (RD)
from 2017 to 2020. Also awarded as Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for 12
years (2003-2016).

—GFT
at a glance
A

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