Why We Use Microsoft Azure for Modern Business Applications

History and context

IaaS, PaaS and SaaS

Reference Azure architecture

Why App Service is often enough

ASP.NET Core applications do not need to become container-orchestration projects simply because they run in the cloud. App Service can be a pragmatic default for many APIs and web workloads. Containers or Kubernetes should appear when they solve a concrete packaging, scheduling or operational problem.

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddControllers();
builder.Services.AddHealthChecks();

var app = builder.Build();

app.MapControllers();
app.MapHealthChecks("/health");

app.Run();

CI/CD and controlled releases

A production deployment should be reproducible from source control.

trigger:
  branches:
    include:
      - release/uat

pool:
  vmImage: ubuntu-latest

steps:
  - task: UseDotNet@2
    inputs:
      packageType: sdk
      version: '10.x'

  - script: dotnet restore
  - script: dotnet test --configuration Release
  - script: dotnet publish --configuration Release --output out

Secrets and managed identity

Passwords and signing keys should not be committed to repositories. Key Vault and managed identity patterns reduce dependence on long-lived credentials embedded in application configuration.

Observability is an architectural capability

logger.LogWarning(
    "Payment failed for OrderId {OrderId}. ProviderCode {ProviderCode}",
    orderId,
    providerCode);

Useful telemetry includes request latency, dependency duration, database time, payment error rate, cache hit ratio, queue backlog, CPU, memory and business-level success measures.

Five quality dimensions

Microsoft's Azure Well-Architected Framework evaluates workload design through reliability, security, cost optimisation, operational excellence and performance efficiency. These pillars are useful because cloud architecture is never only a scaling exercise.

Business value and practical considerations

References