Overview of the Azure Cloud Stack Architecture

Below we can see the classic diagram of the azure stack architecture. We have the ARM, the PR and the infrastructure control layers. Let’s take a look at the functionality of each layer in the Azure Cloud Stack.

Image Source: www.microsoft.com

The ARM Layer of Azure Stack Cloud

We have the Azure portal and the templates being able to work with PowerShell and the way the overall topology of Azure is managed in Azure Stack. The Azure Resource Manager (ARM) is an instance that runs in Azure Stack. This is the end point that you interact with as both a tenant and administrator of an Azure-Stack-instance – This is key to the overall delivery.

The PR Layer

Underneath the ARM layer is an architectural layer as a partition request broker. We have a number of abbreviations listed underneath that. All of them refer to essentially a resource provider. It is a widely known API that interacts back-and-forth with the ARM.

Azure Cloud’s Infrastructure Control Layer

Then underneath that, we have, essentially the changes that start to occur, because the architecture, nothing like the massive data center, it is going to be 4-servers to start with. So, we have to take the software that runs in that data center in some form and deliver the stability of Azure and bring it onto a four node configuration to begin.

This essentially represents the core pieces where the variance starts to occur from an Azure standpoint. This is all essential detail. This is an infrastructure that Microsoft Azure Cloud is providing and it is not externally-disclosed to you through a set of APIs. You are not going to see that when you go-off to deploy workloads as a tenet or administer for the whole server-solution.

Image Source: www.cio.com

Inside the infrastructure is the hardware Layer that underlies all this. So compute, network and storage is an underlying feature or set. Then the details of essentially what’s inside that infrastructure role. When your coworkers like to refer to that long list of things, if you are going to open up the task manager in Windows on your desktop, you see a bunch of services running like you may know what those are, but you don’t really have to get into the details of how to manage them. You know that they are present and might have to stop-and-restart them occasionally, But the idea is that those are well-engineered, tested, validated and you really don’t need to interact with them or know their detail.