Introducing Microsoft Azure

After describing the Microsoft 365 offering, we will now turn our attention to Microsoft Azure as the other cloud service heavily used in conjunction with Power Platform solutions.

Microsoft Azure is a Microsoft cloud platform consisting of hundreds of different cloud services, primarily of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) types. There are around 60 Azure regions worldwide covering around 140 countries, with new data centers appearing every year.

In this section, you will get an overview of the Microsoft Azure services that are most relevant for a Power Platform solution. By implementing, integrating, and using these services, the Power Platform solution can be easily extended with many new capabilities, including artificial intelligence, IoT, integration, and automation.

There are many other Microsoft Azure services that can be used within a Power Platform solution. However, this would go beyond the scope of this section.

Introducing Azure Active Directory

Azure Active Directory (AAD) is a key component of all Microsoft cloud services. In contrast to some other cloud providers, Microsoft requires every user to have an account in AAD in order to be able to use any cloud service. AAD is also a baseline for cloud service licensing, since all user licenses are assigned on the AAD level. For Microsoft Power Platform, AAD is used indirectly through the Microsoft 365 administration site, which contains user management, group management, and license management as a wrapper over AAD.

As well as AAD, there is also a component called Azure Active Directory B2C (Business to Consumer), used to manage external identities such as customers, consumers, and citizens. AAD B2C has a special relevance for Power Apps portals, where it can be used as one of the options for the authentication of external portal visitors.

In the next chapters, you will learn about AAD user provisioning, authentication types, license management automation, integration, and so on.

Introducing Azure Service Bus

Azure Service Bus is a message broker solution, used primarily for message-based integration scenarios. Power Platform contains a built-in integration with Azure Service Bus to support integration solutions. The solution can be used to perform near real-time outbound integration from a Power Platform solution to the customer's on-premise data center or to another cloud solution.

Introducing Azure Event Hub

Azure Event Hub is an event ingestion and streaming solution, used primarily for large-scale event processing from several event sources and distributing the events to several consumers. Power Platform contains a built-in integration with Azure Event Hub to support integration solutions in the same way as for Azure Service Bus.

Introducing Azure Logic Apps

Azure Logic Apps is a cloud integration solution for building integration and automation solutions using the business logic capabilities and the capabilities of more than 350 different connectors to many Microsoft as well as non-Microsoft products and technologies. Azure Logic Apps is the foundation for Power Automate, but the usage scenarios are slightly different, as you will learn in later parts of this book. Power Platform solutions can benefit from using Azure Logic Apps for building cloud as well as hybrid integration scenarios.

Introducing Azure API Management

Azure API Management is a component for building and publishing APIs to existing on-premise or cloud solutions and offering these APIs to internal or external third-party applications. Azure API Management provides advanced capabilities for security, authentication, quota limits, caching, and monitoring. Power Platform solutions can use Azure API Management for various integration scenarios alone or in combination with other Azure components for protecting the Power Platform API, exposing and securing part of it to external systems, and so on.

Introducing Azure Functions

Azure Functions is a platform for building and operating serverless computing applications. An Azure Functions solution can be developed in a variety of programming languages and consists of a trigger and the business logic. Power Platform solutions can benefit from using Azure Functions in several ways:

• Azure Functions solutions can be triggered from a Power Platform solution using the HTTP trigger.
• Azure Functions solutions can be triggered from an integrated Azure Service Bus or Azure Event Hub.
• Scheduled jobs for a Power Platform solution can be developed using the Timer trigger.

Introducing Azure SQL

Azure SQL is basically a Microsoft SQL database engine deployed in the cloud as a PaaS solution. The user of Azure SQL does not need to maintain any software installations, just create, maintain, and use their databases. Power Platform solutions can benefit from using Azure Functions in several ways:

• Database replication of the CDS database into its own Azure SQL instance to get full access to Power Platform data on the database level. This capability can be achieved by using the free Microsoft Data Export Service AppSource module.
• Database consolidation to consolidate data from CDS together with various other data sources for the purpose of reporting and analytics with Power BI or other reporting tools.
• Database staging for various integration scenarios involving Power Platform solutions

Introducing Azure Cosmos DB

Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed database that allows scalability and replication across any number of Azure data centers and so provides very low latency and high response times anywhere in the world. Azure Cosmos DB is multi-model, supporting the storage of documents, key-value pairs, object graphs, and relational data. Azure Cosmos DB offers a wide variety of NoSQL APIs. Power Platform solutions can benefit from using Azure Cosmos DB in several ways:

• Azure Cosmos DB can be used as a connected database for implementing virtual entities using the free Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB for Document DB API Data Provider AppSource module.
• Azure Cosmos DB can be used as a global consolidation database for several Power Platform implementations.
• Azure Cosmos DB can be used as an archival database for a Power Platform solution using the free Microsoft Dynamics 365 Data Archival and Retention AppSource module.

Introducing Azure Blob Storage

Azure Blob Storage is one of the storage types that can be created and used in an Azure Storage account. Azure Blob Storage is best used for massive amounts of data such as text, binary, and similar data types. Power Platform solutions can benefit from integrating with Azure Blob Storage to offload large unstructured data elements, such as record file attachments from the CDS database to a much less expensive storage type, for example, using the free Microsoft Attachment Management AppSource module.

Introducing Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 is a cloud platform for building enterprise data lakes, scaling to multiple petabytes and high throughput. Power Platform has a built-in integration with Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 for the continuous replication of CDS data. The service is fully configurable and enables the use of CDS data in the data lake for analytical and reporting purposes with Power BI and machine learning.

Introducing Azure IoT Hub and Azure IoT Central

Azure IoT Hub and Azure IoT Central are both IoT cloud integration platforms for IoT message processing, bi-directional communication, security, analytics, routing, and monitoring. The difference between them both is that Azure IoT Central is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, based on top of Azure IoT, which is a PaaS solution. Power Platform solutions can benefit from both Azure IoT Hub and Azure IoT Central when integrating an IoT ecosystem with a business solution. A typical out-of-the-box implementation is the Dynamics 365 Connected Field Service module, which can integrate IoT with Azure IoT Hub or Azure IoT Central.

Introducing Azure Key Vault

Azure Key Vault is a cloud solution for securely storing various credentials, keys, passwords, certificates, connection strings, and other artifacts that require the highest level of protection. There are two versions of Azure Key Vault: a software version and a hardware version using specific FIPS-compliant hardware modules for increased security. Power Platform solutions can benefit from using Azure Key Vault by storing all confidential artifacts used in various cloud solutions that are integrated with Power Platform; for example, integration solutions, APIs, and batch jobs.

Introducing Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps is a cloud development and operations tool enabling agility, continuous planning, development, integration and delivery, source control, and monitoring. Azure DevOps is used by large development teams to develop complex software solutions but can be used at any scale. Power Platform implementation teams can benefit from Azure DevOps specifically when using the Power Platform build tools.

Introducing Azure Monitor

Azure Monitor is a collection of telemetry and monitoring tools to analyze the cloud as well as on-premise application performance, identify issues, and provide notifications and analytics. Power Platform solutions can include Azure Monitor capabilities, specifically, Azure Application Insights and Azure Log Analytics to monitor performance and help keep the solutions in good shape.

Contoso Inc. using Microsoft Azure

Contoso Inc. performed a detailed analysis of Microsoft Azure and recognized the relevance of this cloud service for the planned Power Platform solution implementation. They decided to purchase an appropriate Microsoft Azure subscription and made a preliminary decision regarding several usage scenarios.

Using authentication and single sign-on

Contoso Inc. has recognized that using cloud identity for the current Microsoft 365 subscription being deployed is just a temporary solution. They decided, for the purpose of full governance and true single sign-on capability, that they would deploy the Azure Active Directory Federation using Azure Active Directory Connect. To authenticate their external portal users, they will implement Azure Active Directory B2C.

Power Platform integration

Contoso Inc. has analyzed the existing IT landscape and identified multiple existing special purpose on-premise, as well as cloud-based, IT systems, that need to be integrated with Power Platform. For this purpose, Contoso Inc. has selected the following Microsoft Azure services as possible integration technology components:

• Azure Service Bus
• Azure Event Hub
• Azure Logic Apps
• Azure API Management
• Azure SQL
• Azure Key Vault

IoT integration

Since Contoso Inc. plans to implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 Connected Field Service, they have decided to use Azure IoT Hub to implement sensor integration.

Monitoring

Contoso Inc. plans to establish Azure Monitor as the general monitoring platform for all Power Platform solutions that are planned to be developed.

Application lifecycle management

Contoso Inc. plans to establish Azure DevOps as the general development platform for all Power Platform-based solutions.