If you are part of an organization that uses cloud in this digital age, you must be overwhelmed with the benefits cloud computing has offered. Cloud-based services, platforms and infrastructures have altered the digital landscape altogether. It has not only provided opportunities to cut costs drastically, but the hassle of maintenance of servers and databases has also been shifted to cloud-based platforms.
What is Microsoft Azure?
Prior to discussing the top tools for Microsoft Azure Development, let's have an introduction to Microsoft Azure.
It is a platform on the public cloud with scalable offerings of IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service). Microsoft Azure has emerged as one of the Top 3 companies of cloud computing platform. This platform carries great potential and provides immense value for money.
Microsoft Azure services:
The platform provides the following services:
- Virtual computing
- Networking
- Storage
- Analytics
- Development tools
Microsoft Azure development tools are the salient features of this in-demand platform. It provides reliability, flexibility, compatibility, and economy in the solutions. Moreover, developers have the valued feature of scalability, which allows the developers to scale up or down the resources according to the requirements. Microsoft Azure is compatible with most of the renowned operating systems, tools, frameworks and programming languages. This is an extremely promising feature for developers apart from the economic benefits it provides.
Services provided by Azure are also priced economically. You only have to pay for the services you are using
Why Azure?
Among the options available for organizations on cloud computing platforms, organizations look for economy and simplicity as the most important determinants while making a choice. Azure is reliable, scalable, flexible and compatible with many operating systems and frameworks. Various vendors are offering cloud-based solutions globally. Following statistics can give you an insight into the popularity of the platform in the current scenario.
|
Number of Azure customers |
20000 |
|
Percentage of Fortune 100 that are on Microsoft cloud |
85% |
|
Share of the global Iaas Market |
15.5% |
|
Share of total cloud market |
31% |
The effectiveness of Microsoft Azure development lies in the fact that it can be integrated with Visual Studio. This feature provides support in all the steps of development, starting from setup to deployment. You can choose Azure development as a career path and grow your knowledge by earning Azure Developer certification.
In addition, Microsoft Azure is comparatively better in resource management. The remaining article carries discussion regarding the top development tools on Microsoft Azure platform.
Top tools for Azure developers
1. AzurePing
It is a free utility extension that helps maintain tabs for Azure-hosted databases or Azure Storage resources. AzurePing is an effective tool for productivity that runs as a local Windows Service. This tool includes in-built loggings and uses Apache log4net extensions for adding loggings or notifications.
2. Cloud Explorer for Visual Studio
Cloud Explorer is another effective tool if you want to benefit from Microsoft Azure offerings; it helps identify Microsoft Azure resources on the basis of name, resource groups or type.
Cloud Explorer integrates with Azure Preview Portal for managing groups and resources, along with assisting in locating resource properties, diagnostic processes and available developers.
3. Cloud Combine
Cloud Combine assists in easier download, upload, and transfer of files. It is a must-have for organizations that want to enjoy numerous functionalities. It provides the functionality of logging into all cloud services, while also allowing you to manage storage resources. Cloud Combine ensures cross-platform compatibility with various cloud services such as Google Cloud, Amazon Web services and Google Cloud.
4. Azure developer portal
Azure developer portal is an important Azure development tool. It is an open-source portal for developers with authoring, styling and customization features through a visual editor that is built-in. Moreover, the new Azure developer portal in Azure API development comes with an extension of existing functionalities. With Azure developer training, you can master the functionalities offered by Azure developer portal.
5. SQL Database Migration Wizard
SQL Database Migration Wizard is another prominent tool by Azure. It assists in migration of SQL Server 2002, 2008, 2012 and 2014 databases to the SQL database. It provides features such as upgradation and migration analyzers for identifying and troubleshooting possible issues.
The list of useful tools goes on with many popular tools such as Azure Blob Studio, Microsoft Azure Storage Connected Service, Graph Engine VSExtension, Docker, Azure Grid and many more.
6. Docker
It is currently the recommended option for creating, managing and deploying application containers. It is supported by Microsoft Azure. The new Visual Studio 2015 Tools for Docker establish locally hosted Docker containers for development and debugging. Furthermore, the advantage of complete integration with Visual Studio IDE provides effectiveness in delivering related tasks smoothly.
Summary:
- Microsoft Azure has emerged as a popular choice in cloud computing platforms. Among other functionalities, development and deployment of applications on Microsoft Azure cloud is an in-demand feature.
- Numerous tools are available to work with Azure and make life easy when utilizing Azure as a platform. You need to have in-depth knowledge and exposure to Azure development tools to benefit from diverse tools available. You can join Azure training classes to take advantage of Microsoft Azure Platform in a cost-effective way. It is better to earn certifications to have better opportunities in the job market.
- Visual Studio enables you to develop, debug and deploy easily. It also offers you a one-step development solution.
- In addition, Visual Studio provides compatibility with different operating systems. Such as Windows, Mac OS and Linux. Visual Studio Code assists in building Java and Node.js applications to the cloud. Last but not least, Visual Studio Code supports the use of containers, serverless computing as well as managed Web Apps.
- Another important set of tools for Microsoft Azure developers are SDKs. The SDKs are good for flexible development in Java, .NET and Python and are language-specific. Therefore, the assortment of development tools on Azure offers easier chances to find out the best development functionality.
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