Data Centers
A physical facility
Hosting for a group of networked servers
Has own power, cooling and networking infrastructure
The servers in a data center are divided into multiple Groups
Physical Grouping: Fault Domain — Shares same power and network
Logical Grouping: Update Domain — Devices are Restarted/ Updated together
Availability Set: Logical Grouping of multiple Fault Domains and Update Domains
Regions
One or more data centers connected through high throughput networks ( < 2 milliseconds)
Location where our services reside (Some services are not available in all regions)
Some services are global services these services do not have any region assigned
Azure has 50+ regions
Special regions are also present for government use (US DoD Central, US Gov Virginia)
Partner Regions (China East, China North): Regions not managed by Microsoft
Availability Zones
Logical grouping of data centers that belong in the same region
Designed to protect from data center failures
Each AZ is its own Fault Domain and Update Domain
Two service categories:
- Zonal Services (VMs, Disks): Allows to choose AZ
- Zone Redundant Services (SQL, Storage): Service auto-replicated at multiple AZs
Not all region supports AZ. Supported regions have 3 or more zones
An AZ can consist of multiple data centers
Region Pair
Each pair is more than 300 miles (482.8 km) apart
These exist so that services don’t go down if a regional disaster occurs
Region pairs are static. Each pair lies in the same geography
Some services have Platform level replication
Geography
A geography is a discrete market that houses two or more Azure Regions
Ensures that Data residency, sovereignty, resiliency, and compliance requirements of that market are met
e.g., America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa
Azure Sovereign Regions
Azure for regions that have to meet very strict compliance and regulation needs
Azure Government
Azure for the US Government
It is a separate instance of Azure (There is a separate portal)
They are physically Isolated
Only Authorized Personnel can access them
Azure China
Separate Instance
Physically Separated
Operated by 21Vianet
NOTE
Companies that have a majority interest in foreign markets cannot setup business in China