What is Azure Kubernetes Services Aks? Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a fully managed Kubernetes service offered by Microsoft Azure. It allows you to deploy and manage Kubernetes clusters on the Azure cloud platform. Azure Kubernetes Service makes it easier for developers to deploy, manage and scale containerized applications using Kubernetes. In this article, we will delve deeper into Azure Kubernetes Service and look at its features, benefits, and drawbacks. One of the standout features of AKS lies in its role as an enabler for both development and operations teams. By offering a managed environment, AKS allows developers to channel their efforts towards crafting and refining applications without being burdened by the intricacies of infrastructure provisioning and maintenance. Simultaneously, operations teams benefit from the automation and optimization features inherent to AKS, which simplify the deployment and orchestration of containerized workloads.     Azure Kubernetes Service offers several features that make it an attractive option for developers. These features include: Managed Kubernetes: Azure Kubernetes Service is a fully managed Kubernetes service, meaning that Microsoft manages Kubernetes clusters. This includes provisioning, scaling, and upgrading the Kubernetes clusters. Easy Deployment: AKS makes it easy to deploy Kubernetes clusters on Azure. Developers can deploy a cluster with just a few clicks, making it easy to start with Kubernetes in Azure. High Availability: AKS provides high availability for Kubernetes clusters using multiple nodes in different availability zones. This ensures that the cluster is always available, even in a failure. Security: AKS provides security features such as role-based access control (RBAC) and network security groups (NSGs) to secure Kubernetes clusters. Scalability: AKS allows you to scale your Kubernetes cluster up or down based on your application’s workload. Integration: AKS integrates with other Azure services such as Azure Container Registry, Azure Active Directory, and Azure DevOps.Hybrid cloud capabilities: Azure provides hybrid cloud capabilities, enabling organizations to run Kubernetes clusters both on-premises and in the cloud, and easily move applications between the two environments.        Benefits of Azure Kubernetes Services Simplified Deployment: AKS simplifies the deployment of containerized apps by reducing the complexities of managing infrastructure. Developers can easily use familiar tools and workflows to deploy applications, reducing the learning curve associated with container orchestration. Cost-Efficiency: By leveraging AKS, organizations can achieve cost-efficiency through optimized resource utilization. Avoid unnecessary expenses by scaling resources based on demand, ensuring efficient resource allocation. High Availability: It provides high availability by distributing applications across multiple nodes and availability zones. This ensures that applications remain accessible even in the event of node failures or other infrastructure issues. Security and Compliance: AKS incorporates robust security features, including Azure Active Directory integration, role-based access control (RBAC), and network policies. This helps organizations meet their security and compliance requirements while deploying and managing containerized applications.   Cons of Azure Kubernetes Service Vendor Lock-In: AKS is a Microsoft Azure service, meaning you may be locked into the Azure cloud platform if you choose to use AKS. Cost: AKS is a paid service, which can quickly add up if you have large Kubernetes clusters. Limited Control: AKS is a managed Kubernetes service, meaning that Microsoft manages the Kubernetes cluster. This can limit the level of control you have over the underlying infrastructure. Learning Curve: Although AKS removes the complexity of managing Kubernetes clusters, there is still a learning curve associated with deploying and managing containerized applications on Kubernetes.                                            Why Azure Kubernetes Services? One of the main advantages of AKS is its seamless integration with other Azure services. This makes deploying and managing containerized applications on the Azure cloud platform easy. AKS can be used with Azure Container Registry (ACR) to store and manage container images and Azure DevOps to enable continuous containerized application integration and deployment (CI/CD). Azure Kubernetes Service also simplifies Kubernetes deployment. It automates the deployment, scaling, and management of Kubernetes clusters, so developers can focus on building and deploying their applications. AKS provides features such as automatic scaling, self-healing, and rolling updates, which help ensure that applications are always available and up-to-date. Another advantage of AKS is its high availability. AKS uses multiple nodes in different availability zones, ensuring the Kubernetes cluster is always available. It also supports horizontal scaling, which allows the cluster to adjust automatically to changes in demand. Conclusion Overall, AKS stands out for its seamless integration with Azure services, simplified Kubernetes management, high availability, security features, and Microsoft support.AKS provides a powerful platform for deploying and managing containerized applications, making it easier for organizations to adopt Kubernetes and leverage the full potential of containers in the cloud. Businesses already using Azure for their cloud infrastructure should consider using AKS to deploy and manage their containerized applications.

Serverless computing is a widely adopted approach and an extension of the cloud computing model where customers can focus solely on building logic, with the server infrastructure being completely managed by third-party cloud service providers. In Microsoft Azure, serverless computing can be implemented in various ways, one of which is by using Azure Functions. In this blog, we will discuss how to use Azure Functions for serverless computing. Firstly, let us understand the following terms. What Is Serverless Computing? Serverless computing, also known as the Function-as-a-Service (FAAS) approach to building software applications, eliminates the need to manage the server hardware and software by the consumer and be taken care of by third-party vendors. What Are Azure Functions? Azure functions are the serverless solution that provides all the necessary resources to carry out the tasks with minimal lines of code, infrastructure, and cost. The Azure function are a combination of code and event allowing us to write the code in any language. A Step-by-Step Approach For Creating An Azure Function Go to the Azure portal, search for Function App, and select Function App. Create a new Function App and fill in the details accordingly. Basic tab You can select the Runtime stack and version based on your requirements. Here, I am selecting .NET with version 8 and the operating system Windows. Storage You may leave the default values or configure them according to your project requirements. The default values are configured as. Storage account: You may use the existing storage account or create a new account to store your function app. Monitoring Enable the Application insights to monitor the activity. Deployment tab To enable Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD), you may connect your function app to a repository by authorizing it to GitHub. These are the important things to focus on while creating your function app, you may leave the remaining details as default or customize them according to your requirements. Once you finish configuring your app, you can click the “create” button at the bottom of the page.Now your app will start the process of deployment. Once deployment is done click on go to the resource tab and you will see your function app was created successfully. Now we need to create a function in our function app. As you can see We have various options to choose Visual Studio, VS code, and other editors or CLI. Choose an environment to create your function. I’ve chosen Visual Studio to create my function app. Create an Azure Functions with Visual Studio From the Visual Studio menu, select File > New > Project. In Create a new project, enter functions in the search box, choose the Azure Functions template, and then select Next. Here you can select the function based on your requirements. Here I am selecting Timer trigger function. Then click on the Create button to create a project. You will see that the default Timer trigger function is created. Here I have created one more function called "HTTPTrigger". Here, you can see two JSON files: host.json and local.settings.json. The local.settings.json file stores app settings and settings used by local development tools. Settings in the local.settings.json file are used only when you're running your project locally. When you publish your project to Azure, be sure to also add any required settings to the app settings for the function app. Publish to Azure Use the following steps to publish your project to a function app in Azure. In Solution Explorer, right-click the project and select Publish. In Target, select Azure then Next. Select Azure Function App (Windows) for the Specific target, which creates a function app that runs on Windows, and then select Next. In the Functions instance, You have to select the function that you created on the Azure portal and then click the finish button.  You can see that the publish profile has been added. Now, click on the Publish button to publish the function to Azure. Once the function is published, go to the Azure portal and search for Application Insights. You can find the Application Insights instance with the same name as the function. On the LHS, go to the Transaction search tab under Investigate and click on See all data in the last 24 hours. In the logs, you can see that your function is working properly. Conclusion In a nutshell, Azure functions provide a very precise environment for developers allowing them to more focus on coding rather than then managing infrastructure. This feature plays a key role in building scalable and responsive applications with low cost.