Before we go into what is in the cloud, I have to talk about how things we need to use the cloud. Usually, modern applications are made up of smaller applications, services, or sub-systems; all these applications work together to accomplish one goal. All these resources can be grouped in different ways: all databases in one resource group, all web services in another, all similar functionality resources in another. With this in mind, in Azure, you have to create the grouping first. Everything that you create in any cloud service has to be part of a Resource Group.
Whenever you enable or create a new azure service of any kind you have to assign it a resource group. there are no set rules of which resources should go where the azure user can decide how it goes.
Since I will not have that many different resources for Poller, one resource group will work fine. In this RG I will include all AppServices, Databases, and VMs that work to prove the functionality that Poller needs.
You will need to create a Billing Profile which is where RGs are assigned to and where you as an azure client will be charged. There are many tools that Azure provides to see and optimize your cost. There is a Cost Management section where you can see which costs you have incurred from which resource groups and which services. This was a big factor that drove me to AppServices vs VMs.
Something that every user should always set up is a Monthly Budget. You can set up a Monthly Budget with alarms that will trigger if you are close to hitting that budget, allowing you to go in and disable any services that you aren’t using. I learned this lesson the hard way. I paid around $40 for a service I wasn’t even using; if I had set up a budget, I would’ve noticed on time and disabled it on time.
One last note that is important to consider is the type of subscription. There are two main types: Pay-as-you-go and Reserved. With Reserved you have to pay up-front and longer you reserve an azure service, the more savings you will have. Pay-as-you-go is more expensive per hour or processing time, but is more flexible, meaning you can stop an azure service and not pay for what’s not used.
Next up, I’ll talk about AppServices and what I needed to do to make the shift.
Thanks!
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