Azure 1: Cloud Concepts & Azure Portal
easy⏱ 5 mincourseazure
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing delivers computing services — servers, storage, databases, networking, software — over the internet. Instead of buying and maintaining physical hardware, you rent resources from a provider like Azure. The three service models are: IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) where you manage VMs and networking, PaaS (Platform as a Service) where Azure manages the runtime, and SaaS (Software as a Service) where everything is managed for you.
// Cloud Service Models
// IaaS: Azure Virtual Machines — you manage OS, runtime, apps
// PaaS: Azure App Service — you manage apps, Azure manages the rest
// SaaS: Microsoft 365 — everything is managed for you
Azure Portal Overview
The Azure Portal (portal.azure.com) is the web-based GUI for managing all Azure resources. Key areas include the Dashboard (customizable home), Resource Groups (logical containers), All Services (browse everything), and the Cloud Shell (built-in terminal). You can also use the Azure CLI (az) or Azure PowerShell for scripting.
// Azure CLI — the command-line interface
az login // authenticate
az account show // current subscription
az group list --output table // list resource groups
Define cloud service models
Create a cloudModels object with keys IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. Each should have a description (string) and an azureExample (string). Use Azure Virtual Machines for IaaS, Azure App Service for PaaS, and Microsoft 365 for SaaS. Log the PaaS azure example.
Use Azure Cloud Shell for quick tasks
Azure Cloud Shell gives you a pre-authenticated Bash or PowerShell terminal right in the browser. It comes with az CLI, kubectl, terraform, and other tools pre-installed. No local setup needed — just open portal.azure.com and click the terminal icon.
Quiz: Cloud Models
Which cloud model does Azure App Service belong to? The answer should be in your code. PaaS is the correct answer — Azure manages the infrastructure and runtime, you deploy your code.