In the first chapter, I tried to give you an initial insight into the Azure platform with a comprehensive introduction. In the second chapter, we then followed with the question: Which technologies should we use?
The answers to this question fall into the following two areas:
- Compute: Compute is the area in which you deploy (host) your applications. This can, for example, be done as an Azure VM, but it is also conceivable within a microservices architecture.
- Data storing and processing: This area is easily explained. No application can exist today without being able to store and, if necessary, process data. This can, for example, be done by Azure Storage, but also by a more complex solution such as Azure Data Lake.
In the last chapter, we dealt with solutions in the area of compute. In this chapter, we will look at solutions in the area of data storing and processing.
In the computing area, the decision is made quickly—you know which solution you want to realize, briefly which approach (individual approach or combination) fits this solution and can start immediately.
In the data storing and processing area, the decision is much more complex. The reasons are very diverse and therefore, before I describe what Azure data services have to offer, I will first provide an introduction to the subject.
We will explore the following topics in detail in this chapter:
- Choosing the right data solution
- Which Azure data services are available?