Azure Fundamentals part 3: Describe core solutions and management tools on Azure

Choose the best Azure IoT service for your application

Below is the knowledge check from the end of this module:

Our goal in this module was to help Tailwind Traders explore various IoT services from Azure and choose the best service for the company’s business scenarios.

Tailwind Traders was able to capture telemetry data from appliances, combine it with some machine learning to predict future maintenance, and create a significant value-added service for customers by using Azure IoT Hub. The company was able to implement a complete real-time logistics system to track deliveries and vehicles by using Azure IoT Central and the Connected Logistics starter template. And, finally, it was able to design and build a secure, modern, point-of-sale self-checkout terminal by using Azure Sphere.

Without Azure IoT services, receiving messages from devices might still be possible, but it would likely be much less secure and require custom development to implement a dashboard for reporting and management. It would also be more difficult to push software or firmware updates to each device.

IoT is an exciting evolution in computing that bridges the physical and digital worlds. Azure IoT services provide a significant amount of functionality for organizations that want to build device-driven and sensor-driven solutions.

Further reading

Azure Sphere development kits provide everything you need to start prototyping and developing Azure Sphere applications. Order a kit and start taking advantage of the rich development experience in Visual Studio. Get started with Azure Sphere.

Choose the best AI service for your needs

Below is the knowledge check from the end of this module:

Our goal in this module was to help Tailwind Traders explore several AI service offerings from Azure that it can apply to various business opportunities.

You identified a few product options and their capabilities, including Azure Bot Service, Azure Cognitive Services, and Azure Machine Learning. You analyzed certain decision criteria to help yourself choose one option over another depending on the scenario. Then you applied those decision criteria to three Tailwind Traders initiatives, helping the company find the best service option for each scenario.

Without AI services, Tailwind Traders would spend more time and effort on manual tasks, respond to customers less quickly, offer weak product recommendations, and be unable to fully support customers who speak languages other than English.

AI is one focus that could transform every area of a business. Such transformation is limited only by the creativity and imagination of the organization.

Learn more

This module discussed several products and services that you can learn more about:

• For an exhaustive list of services available in Azure Cognitive Services, see What are Azure Cognitive Services?.
• The Cognitive Services Personalizer service was mentioned as a possible solution for one of the scenarios. For more information, see Cognitive Services Personalizer.
• Azure Language Understanding (LUIS) was mentioned as a way to interact with the Bot Service by using natural language. For more information, see Azure Language Understanding.
• QnA Maker was mentioned as a pre-packaged virtual assistant solution available from Azure Marketplace. For more information, see QnA Maker.

Choose the best Azure serverless technology for your business scenario

Below is the knowledge check from the end of this module:

In this module, we wanted to help Tailwind Traders choose the right serverless computing technology for its business scenarios.

When the company needed to build a solution that pulls code logic from an existing C# Windows service, we helped it choose Azure Functions.

When the company needed to orchestrate a workflow to improve customer retention after a negative shopping experience, we helped it choose Azure Logic Apps.

In both cases, we noted how choosing the other serverless computing service would be possible. However, we tried to help the company consider the decision criteria we outlined and choose the right service for the scenario.

Without serverless computing, Tailwind Traders would be forced to set up and manage its own computing infrastructure for these business scenarios. The team would have needed to closely monitor the services to determine whether it needed to scale the service. And it likely would have wasted money in the process, with either too many or too few computing resources dedicated to the solution.

Additionally, it might have had to design, write, test, and maintain custom code to get similar results.

By helping Tailwind Traders select the right serverless computing solutions, we were able to deploy new functionality to help the company improve customer satisfaction with its e-commerce platform.

Choose the best tools to help organizations build better solutions

Below is the knowledge check from the end of this module:

The goal in this module was to help Tailwind Traders choose the best DevOps solution for a set of requirements across various software development and testing needs.

We identified various product options and capabilities, including Azure DevOps Services, GitHub (including GitHub Actions), and Azure DevTest Labs. We analyzed the criteria for choosing one option over another for each scenario. Then we applied those criteria to three separate challenges at Tailwind Traders, helping the team determine the best service option for the scenarios.

Without software development services and tools from Microsoft, the Tailwind Traders team might have difficulty in realizing the benefits of such DevOps practices as continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), source-code management, and work-item management.

DevOps practices and processes have changed the software development landscape, helping to accelerate software development and improve the deployability and quality of software systems. Microsoft offers a wealth of tools that can help organizations implement DevOps practices, experience better collaboration among technical teams, and achieve more consistent results from those teams.

Choose the best tools for managing and configuring your Azure environment

Below is the knowledge check from the end of this module:

Our goal in this module was to help Tailwind Traders choose the right cloud management tools from Microsoft for its various technical needs.

We identified a variety of product options and their capabilities, including the Azure portal, the Azure mobile app, Azure PowerShell, the Azure CLI, and Azure Resource Manager templates (ARM templates).

We analyzed decision criteria for choosing one option over another in specific scenarios.

We then applied those decision criteria to three different Tailwind Traders initiatives, helping the company find the best service option for each scenario.

Without a full suite of management tools, the company would be severely limited in how it interacts with Azure. Fortunately, Azure provides a powerful mix of visual management tools, imperative scripting tools, and declarative infrastructure-as-code tools.

Choose the best monitoring service for visibility, insight, and outage mitigation

Below is the knowledge check from the end of this module:

Our goal in this module was to help Tailwind Traders explore several monitoring service offerings from Azure to apply to a variety of business scenarios.

We identified three product options and their capabilities: Azure Advisor, Azure Monitor, and Azure Service Health. We analyzed decision criteria for choosing one option over another for certain scenarios. Then we applied those decision criteria to three different challenges faced by Tailwind Traders, helping them find the best service option for the scenario.

Without monitoring services, Tailwind Traders would spend more money on its cloud environment, be unsure about its cloud security posture, have difficulty pinpointing issues in its application logic, and be unable to plan ahead for outages or supply formal outage reports to stakeholders.

Azure monitoring services provide a comprehensive array of features to help improve your cloud operations.