Microsoft Azure wants to be a key enterprise cloud management system

Microsoft has been promoting its Azure cloud services to 5,000 attendees at Microsoft's 2013-Year Management Summit this week, encouraging them to use the system for a variety of specific tasks, while Microsoft cautions that Azure is better suited to a mature hybrid cloud framework. Over time, the hybrid cloud framework may be more appealing.

In a speech to the conference, Microsoft announced that users can now access managed resources using the Active Directory in the Azure cloud.

Microsoft also says it has expanded the coverage of its System Center management platform to provide internal information on the performance of resources hosted in Azure. Users can now use Azure's global access point to discover how well a customer-facing service is running to form a global user perspective.

These new services will attract companies familiar with Azure. Microsoft wants to apply the overall model of a hybrid cloud called "Cloud OS." This pattern merges the private cloud, the public cloud hosted by other service providers, and the resources in azure, allowing users to access these resources, just as these resources are in the same place.

"This creates a data center without boundaries," says Brad Anderson, vice president of Microsoft's Windows Servers and Systems Center. Many people are thinking about what their cloud platform should look like. Let's be the cloud platform in your mind. ”

The platform consists of Windows servers, System Center, and SQL Servers that can be run as a private cloud, or as a public cloud operated by a Third-party service provider, or as a pillar of azure. It is this consistent platform that can create supplemental SQL storage in the runtime when more storage is needed.

Azure now supports active catalogs to manage user applications hosted in Azure and Microsoft cloud services such as Office 365. This feature allows end users to access any application they authorize once they log on to Azure.

Similarly, an enterprise can revoke access rights after an employee leaves the company or changes its position within the company. Customers and business partners have access to and simplify access to the azure based corporate services. The only requirement to access Azure active directories and logins is to use the latest browsers.

The System Center Management Pack for the Azure and System Center Advisor Connector (Systems Central Advisor Connector) will be available as a public preview to the System Center SP1 customers. The first application can monitor the performance of corporate resources hosted in Azure clouds that use the same System Center platform. They use the same system-centric platform to monitor assets in the corporate network. The second application is a resource for the best configuration method for Windows Server 2012 and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012. This Advisor connector can be accessed through the System Center Operations manager.

Windows Azure Backup (Backup) is now a paid public preview. A backup to Azure can protect data in a server owned by the enterprise by creating a backup in the cloud.

Microsoft has provided global Service monitor. This server can help organizations with System Center SP1 to understand a little bit about the performance of their external-facing Web services to their users.

(Responsible editor: Fumingli)