What is AWS and Azure Called and How Do They Compare

AWS and Azure are two of the most popular cloud computing platforms, but what exactly do they offer and how do they compare?

AWS, or Amazon Web Services, is a comprehensive cloud platform that provides a wide range of services, including computing, storage, databases, analytics, machine learning, and more.

Azure, on the other hand, is a cloud computing platform offered by Microsoft that provides a similar array of services, with a focus on enterprise-level solutions.

In terms of market share, AWS currently leads the way, with over 30% of the market share, while Azure trails behind with around 20%.

AWS is Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. and the most mature cloud platform, offering a wide range of services to individual developers, small and large enterprises, and governments.

AWS started as an internal cloud platform and evolved into a publicly available, on-demand internet computing resource in 2006, offering services like Amazon S3 cloud storage and elastic compute cloud (EC2). It now offers more than 200 fully featured services to millions of users.

Azure, on the other hand, is a cloud platform that provides a comprehensive suite of cloud services and solutions, similar to AWS. It offers unique capabilities and features, such as Azure Virtual Machine, Azure Scale Sets, and Azure Resource Manager, Azure Automation.

AWS and Azure are both market leaders in the cloud computing industry, with AWS being the current market leader, raking in one of every three dollars spent on cloud services, with an annual growth rate of 37%.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the current market leader in cloud platforms, offering a wide range of services to individuals, small and large enterprises, and governments.

It started its life as an internal cloud platform and evolved into a publicly available, on-demand internet computing resource in 2006.

AWS now offers more than 200 fully featured services to millions of users, making it a go-to platform for many businesses.

It rakes in one of every three dollars spent on cloud services, with an annual growth rate of 37%, according to figures published in The Register.

Amazon Web Services delivered 54% of Amazon’s total operating income in 2023.

Prominent AWS customers include governments and large enterprises.

Microsoft Azure is a comprehensive cloud platform that offers a wide range of services to meet the diverse needs of companies of all sizes. It provides a robust suite of cloud services, including compute, storage, database, and deployment services.

Azure Virtual Machine is a key compute service offered by Azure, allowing businesses to create and manage virtual machines in the cloud. Azure Scale Sets is another compute service that enables businesses to scale their virtual machine deployments with ease.

Blob Storage, Azure File Storage, and Azure Disk Storage are some of the storage services offered by Azure, providing businesses with flexible and secure data storage options. Azure StorSimple is another storage service that helps businesses manage and optimize their data storage needs.

SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB databases are some of the database services offered by Azure, providing businesses with a range of database options to choose from. Azure Kubernetes Services is a container orchestration service that enables businesses to manage and scale their containerized applications.

Azure Resource Manager and Azure Automation are deployment services that help businesses manage and automate their cloud resources. CloudWatch and CloudWatch Logs are monitoring and logging services that provide businesses with real-time visibility into their cloud resources and applications.

Cloud Service Providers are the backbone of the cloud computing industry, and the big three players are AWS, Azure, and GCP. AWS has the largest catalog of services, topping 250.

These three cloud providers offer a wide range of services, including AI, ML, and analytics. Azure is a close second, with an impressive set of over 200 AI, ML, and analytics services.

Each cloud provider has its own strengths and weaknesses, but they all share a common goal of providing scalable and secure solutions to businesses. GCP matches Azure in the number of services they offer.

Here's a brief overview of the common service offerings of each cloud platform:

AWS and Azure are two of the most popular cloud computing platforms available today. They offer a wide range of services and solutions to meet the diverse needs of companies of all sizes.

AWS provides a comprehensive suite of cloud services, including EC2 (Elastic Compute) and AWS Auto Scaling, which allows for scalable and flexible computing resources. Azure, on the other hand, offers Azure Virtual Machine and Azure Scale Sets for similar purposes.

Both AWS and Azure provide serverless web application options, with AWS offering AWS Elastic Beanstalk and AWS Lambda, while Azure provides Azure Functions. This means that developers can build and deploy applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

Deploying applications is also a key area where AWS and Azure differ, with AWS using Cloud Formation and Azure using Azure Resource Manager and Azure Automation. These tools allow developers to define and deploy applications in a repeatable and consistent manner.

In terms of storage services, AWS offers S3 (Simple Storage Service), Elastic File System, and AWS Storage Gateway, while Azure provides Blob Storage, Azure File Storage, and Azure Disk Storage. Both platforms also offer database services, with AWS providing AWS RDS and Azure offering SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB databases.

Containerization and container orchestration support is another key area where AWS and Azure differ, with AWS offering Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Services and Azure providing Azure Kubernetes Services. This allows developers to deploy and manage containerized applications in a scalable and efficient manner.

CloudWatch and CloudWatch Logs are also available on AWS, providing monitoring and logging capabilities for applications and infrastructure.

AWS has the largest catalog of services, topping 250. This is a significant advantage for those who need a wide range of options for their cloud needs.

Azure is a close second, with an impressive set of over 200 artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and analytics services. These services are perfect for businesses looking to leverage AI and ML to gain a competitive edge.

GCP matches Azure in the number of services they offer, making it a strong competitor in the cloud market.

Cloud computing providers like AWS have massive computing power, with AWS alone offering over 2 million I/O operations per second.

This means that cloud services can handle massive amounts of data and processing power, making them ideal for applications that require high performance, such as video editing or data analytics.

Cloud providers also offer a wide range of deployment options, including on-demand instances, reserved instances, and spot instances.

These options allow users to choose the best fit for their needs, whether it's a one-time project or a long-term application.

Cloud services also support a variety of deployment models, including public, private, and hybrid clouds.

This flexibility makes it easy to deploy applications and services in the cloud, regardless of the user's specific needs or requirements.

Cloud providers also offer a range of tools and services to help users deploy and manage their applications, including cloud formation, elastic beanstalk, and AWS cloud development kits.

These tools make it easy to automate deployment and management tasks, freeing up time for more important tasks.

Storage is a crucial aspect of cloud deployment, and both Azure and AWS offer robust storage solutions. Azure Blob Storage is a robust object storage solution with versatile tiers to meet various storage needs.

AWS excels in object storage with its highly scalable and durable Amazon S3. Amazon S3 has different storage classes available, allowing businesses to optimize cost and performance based on their data access patterns.

Azure offers a range of storage options, including Azure Files for managed file shares. Azure Files supports both SMB and NFS protocols, making it a versatile storage solution.

AWS Storage Gateway enables seamless integration of on-premises environments with AWS storage services. This allows businesses to integrate their on-premises infrastructure with the cloud.

Both AWS and Azure offer unlimited allowed objects, but there are differences in the object size limit. AWS imposes a maximum object size limit of 5 TB, while Azure has a size limit of 4.75 TB.

Logging is a crucial aspect of cloud infrastructure management. It helps developers monitor and maintain their applications and infrastructure by collecting and displaying real-time logs, metrics, and event data in automated dashboards.

Amazon CloudWatch simplifies infrastructure and application maintenance by collecting and displaying real-time logs, metrics, and event data in automated dashboards. This feature is particularly useful for monitoring and troubleshooting issues.

Amazon CloudWatch Logs provides developers with the capability to monitor, store, and access log files from various sources such as Amazon EC2 instances, AWS CloudTrail, and Route 53. This feature is a game-changer for developers who need to quickly view, search, filter, and archive logs for analysis.

Azure Monitor consolidates and centralizes data from all layers and components of the system into a unified data platform. This feature is essential for developers who need to analyze Logs data quickly.

Azure Monitor Logs collects and organizes log and performance data from monitored resources. This feature is particularly useful for retrieving specific records or performing in-depth data analysis to identify crucial patterns in the monitoring data.

Azure Monitor Alerts notify developers of potential issues with the infrastructure or application by detecting and addressing problems before users notice them. This feature uses Azure Monitor data to keep developers informed and take timely actions.

Certificate Management is a crucial aspect of cloud services, allowing for the creation of and management of security certificates in the cloud.

With certificate management, you can securely manage your digital certificates, ensuring that your online identity is protected and your data is encrypted.

Some cloud services offer automated certificate renewal, so you don't have to worry about expiring certificates.

This feature saves time and reduces the risk of security breaches.

In addition, cloud-based certificate management provides a centralized platform for managing multiple certificates, making it easier to keep track of your digital identity.

Load Balancing is a crucial feature that helps distribute traffic across multiple EC2 instances, creating fault-tolerant solutions. This is made possible by Elastic Load Balancing, which is fully managed and automatically scales to meet demand.

There are two types of load balancers available: Classic Load Balancer and Application Load Balancer. Classic Load Balancer offers general purpose Layer 4 and Layer 7 routing, while Application Load Balancer is designed for modern application workloads like containerized applications.

Both load balancers come with built-in health monitoring, operational management through CloudWatch, logging, SSL termination, and sticky sessions. Pricing is based on the number of deployed load balancers per hour plus a charge for the data processed.

If more control is required, third-party load balancing appliances like Kemp LoadMaster and Barracuda Load Balancer can be used from the AWS Marketplace. These appliances offer advanced features and customization options.

Route 53 also provides DNS-based load balancing services, allowing you to direct weighted portions of traffic to different endpoints, choose endpoints based on latency, or route traffic based on the user's geographical location.

Cloud Networking is a key component of both AWS and Azure. It allows users to connect their applications and services across different locations, making it a crucial aspect of cloud computing.

AWS offers a range of cloud networking services, including Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), which provides a virtual networking environment for users to launch and manage resources. Azure also offers a similar service called Azure Virtual Network (VNet).

Cloud networking enables users to create secure and scalable networks that can be easily managed and monitored. This is particularly useful for businesses that need to support a large number of users or applications.

With both Amazon and Azure, you can establish a private network from a specific location to the cloud without using the internet.

This means you can maintain a secure connection even in areas with limited internet connectivity or high-security requirements.

You can set up a dedicated network to ensure your cloud data is safe from unauthorized access and cyber threats.

This level of control and security is especially important for businesses handling sensitive information or complying with strict data regulations.

By creating a dedicated network, you can also reduce the risk of data breaches and maintain the integrity of your cloud-based systems.

Azure and GCP both cover common computing needs, but their differences fall into two categories: how each service is implemented in its cloud platform and the individual features available for each service.

Their implementation in the cloud platform is where we see some key differences. Azure and GCP have their own unique approaches to managing networking services.

One notable difference is the way they handle various aspects of networking. Azure, AWS, and GCP all have their own way of doing things, but Azure and GCP are more similar in their approach compared to AWS.

Here's a brief comparison of Azure and GCP networking features:

This comparison shows that both Azure and GCP have robust networking features to support their cloud platforms.

Route 53 is a DNS service that resolves user requests and ensures they are directed to the correct infrastructure.

It's a Start of Authority naming service, meaning it's the authority for mapping domain names to IP addresses.

Route 53 provides a range of configurable routing strategies to suit different needs.

Pricing is based on the number of hosted zones, with a discount applied after 25 hosted zones.

You can register domain names directly from Route 53 through the console or via an API.

An additional charge is applied per billion queries per month according to the routing policy being used, with geo routing being the most expensive.

If you're using Traffic Flow, there are additional charges for each policy defined.

The first 50 health checks are free, after which additional charges apply.