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Microsoft Azure for Beginners: Understanding Azure Terminologies – Part 1
Microsoft Azure for Beginners: How to Create an Azure Virtual Machine – Part 2
Microsoft Azure for Beginners: What is Azure Governance – Part 3
Microsoft Azure for Beginners: What is Azure PaaS – Part 4

In the recent “Azure for Beginners” series, we covered the basic principles of Azure. In this article, I take a closer look at the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure.

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What is Azure Cloud Adoption Framework?

The Cloud Adoption Framework consists of proven guidelines and best practices that help use Azure in the best way possible. Here, it does not matter whether an organization is already using Azure or planning to migrate to it. In either case, this framework provides sufficient guidance.

The Cloud Adoption Framework consists of different phases. Within these phases, we have to deal with various stakeholders, such as the product owner, board of directors, IT manager, Security officer, etc. Therefore, this framework enables broad-based decision-making so that choices can be made efficiently.

The Azure Cloud Adoption Framework aims to help organizations maximize the value of their investment in Azure and make the process of adopting and using the platform as smooth and successful as possible.

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Every process is different for every company, but the main implementation phases are the same for all organizations and consist of the following 6 phases :

Cloud Adoption Framework

Strategy

Start by understanding the business objectives to determine what role Azure can begin to play in this. There may be several reasons to migrate to Azure, for example :

  • Need for flexibility
    • Cost savingsAccelerate time to marketEfficiently respond to growth

It is essential to document your business strategy efficiently. Microsoft offers a standard approach and (example) templates for this. A Microsoft partner can also help with this.

Plan

In this phase, a (migration) plan is created to migrate (and accommodate) the workload to the Cloud. Use the Gartner Framework 5 Rs for this purpose :

  • Rehost

Also known as elevator and shift. The workload is picked up and deployed in the same state on Azure without any modifications

  • Revise

The workload is changed in such a way that a start can be made to make efficient use of the Cloud possibilities.

  • Reachitect

The workload is significantly modified to make it suitable for a Cloud Native solution.

  • Rebuild

The workload is redesigned from the ground up to make optimal use of the Cloud possibilities.

  • Replace

A SaaS alternative will replace the workload

Ready

Prepares the Azure environment so that workload can land on it. The Azure Landing Zone (Foundation) is set up in this phase. This Landing Zone provides a modular configuration with one or more building blocks attached to it where the workload can land, for example, an application. Think of a Hub/Spoke or an Azure Virtual WAN configuration.

Adopt

This phase consists of three parts, namely migrate, modernize and innovate. The workload that is now on-premise can be migrated 1:1 to Azure. Still, it can also be chosen to migrate to Cloud Native services of Azure to make optimal and efficient use of the possibilities that Cloud technology brings. See also Gartner’s 5 R’s earlier in this article.

Govern

Ensure your environment is insightful and uses standards defined in the earlier phases. These standards define how the environment is used and managed. Any change introduces risk. Governance mitigates these risks and ensures minimal disruption and an efficient understanding of the environment (management, cost management, performance)

Manage

There is now an efficiently designed Azure environment based on best practices. Obviously, it must be managed accordingly! Therefore, make sure you have a plan to fulfill the business commitments. This plan is based on agreements made for management.

What is an Azure Landing Zone?

An Azure Landing Zone is a reference architecture for deploying a secure and scalable environment in Microsoft Azure for an enterprise. It provides a set of pre-defined Azure resources and best practices for deploying a multi-environment, multi-account Azure environment that is designed to support the needs of a large, complex enterprise. The design principles of Azure Landing Zone focus on security, scalability, and ease of management. Some of the key design principles of Azure Landing Zone include the following:

  • Use of Azure Resource Manager templates to deploy and manage resources in a consistent and repeatable way
  • Use of Azure governance constructs such as management groups, policies, and Azure Blueprints to enforce standards and ensure compliance
  • Use Azure role-based access control (RBAC) to manage access to resources and ensure that only authorized users can access the resources they need
  • Use of Azure networking constructs such as virtual networks, subnets, and network security groups to create a secure and scalable network environment
  • Use of Azure monitoring and logging tools such as Azure Monitor and Azure Log Analytics to monitor the health and performance of the Azure environment and track resource usage
  • Overall, the design principles of Azure Landing Zone aim to provide a robust and secure foundation for deploying and managing enterprise workloads in Azure

Azure Landing Zone Design Principles

Of course, we want our Azure environment to be fit for innovation and transformation where security and compliance should not be forgotten. For this, we have defined five design principles:

1. Democratization of subscriptions

Subscriptions are used as a management and scalability unit, aligned with needs and priorities. This makes cost management easier and more transparent and allows for more efficient assignment of rights (based on RBAC roles).

2. Policy-based governance

Using the right Azure policies (often based on best practices) ensures compliance while giving developers and end users enough freedom to do their jobs properly.

3. One control and management plane

Management from one central place, choice of one way of management (e.g., by using infrastructure as code)

4. Application-oriented service model

Here you focus on the various application (layers) rather than the infrastructure it runs on. So, for example, when migrating an application, you look at the dependencies an application brings and a strategy is determined based on that.

5. Aligning on Azure design and roadmaps

This involves a Cloud Native first strategy. Where possible, Azure native Cloud services are used in order to make the most efficient use of all Cloud services Azure offers.

What are the potential drawbacks of the Cloud Adoption Framework?

There are a few potential drawbacks to using the Azure Cloud Adoption Framework. First, it is a framework, not a one-size-fits-all solution, so organizations will need to put in the work to tailor it to their specific needs. This can be time-consuming and require specialized knowledge. Additionally, the Azure Cloud Adoption Framework is designed to help organizations migrate to the Azure Cloud, so if an organization is not planning to use Azure,
it may not be the right fit. Finally, like any cloud-based solution, using the Azure Cloud Adoption Framework can require a significant investment in terms of both time and money.

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