Book review of The Azure Cloud Native Architecture Mapbook – 2nd Edition

This review is a sequel to my post in Linkedin post couple of weeks ago.

The book has a long name “The Azure Cloud Native Architecture Mapbook – Design and build Azure architectures for infrastructure, applications, data, AI and security – Second Edition by Stéphane Eyskens“.

First edition was published on 2021.

Let’s start.

Content of the book

The book has a lot of content and you can see the short description here of each chapter.

Chapter 1, Getting Started as an Azure Architect, details the different architecture roles and introduces
the Azure ecosystem and cloud fundamentals.

Chapter 2, Solution Architecture, browses the vast Azure landscape and shows the most important
building blocks and cross-cutting concerns every solution architect should be aware of.

Chapter 3, Infrastructure Design, dives deeper into the infrastructure vertical. It explains the various
network topologies and addresses common infrastructure concerns, such as backup/restore, high
availability, and disaster recovery.

Chapter 4, Working with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), is an in-depth exploration of AKS, with
detailed architectures addressing single and multi-tenant clusters. The chapter highlights the
key role played by logic isolation and service meshes.

Chapter 5, Working with Other Container Services, makes an extensive comparison between container
services to help you choose the right one that best fits your unique requirements.

Chapter 6, Developing and Designing Applications with Azure, describes what each application factory
should master to be efficient when developing cloud solutions, from local development tools and
emulators to the most recurrent cloud-native design patterns.

Chapter 7, Data Architecture, covers the most recurrent data patterns, such as Lambda, Kappa,
and Medallion architecture, as well as the traditional Online Transaction Processing (OLTP)
and Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) services and the emerging Hybrid Transactional/
Analytical Processing (HTAP) capabilities.

Chapter 8, Artificial Intelligence Architecture, explores both established and emerging AI patterns
that have proven their relevance and are shaping the future of intelligent systems. Because the
field evolves so rapidly, the chapter emphasizes architectural patterns and design principles
rather than hands-on exercises.

Chapter 9, Security Architecture, provides a 360-degree view of Azure’s security landscape and tackles
typical concerns such as identity and access management, threat detection, security posture
management, compliance, and governance.

Chapter 10, Closing Thoughts and Next steps, provides a summary of the entire book as well as useful
resources, which can help you deepen your skills further.

Code

This book also includes Terraform code samples which you can use/open with Visual Studio Code. The links are included in the book.

What will you learn

Align architecture with business and technical requirements
Choose the right compute, storage, and networking services
Visualize key components using architectural map diagrams
Apply design principles for identity, governance, and observability
Architect hybrid and containerized solutions
Translate real-world needs into actionable cloud designs
Apply patterns from Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework

For who

Cloud architects, Solution Architects, developers, DevOps engineers, and IT professionals designing, deploying, or modernizing solutions on Microsoft Azure. Readers should understand core Azure services and have experience working in cloud-native or hybrid environments. Additionally, readers should be familiar with some generic architecture concepts.

What you need for the walkthrough

For successful walkthrough and the best learning experience you need VS Code, Terraform experience (or start learning), Azure subscription where to build things and Azure CLI to deploy solutions.

Some topics

Infrastructure design

The Azure infrastructure architecture map, shown above, is intended as your Azure infrastructure compass. It should help you to deal with the typical duties of an infrastructure architect, which we covered in Chapter 1, Getting Started as an Azure Architect. Unlike the solution architecture map, which was more high level, this map is a vertical exploration of infrastructure topics. It is by no means the holy grail, but it should help you grasp the broad infrastructure landscape at a glance.

Stéphane Eyskens

Security architecture

Security architects have a vertical knowledge of the security field. They usually deal with regulatory or in-house compliance requirements. The cloud and, more particularly, the public cloud, often emphasizes security concerns (much more than for equivalent on-premises systems and applications). With regard to diagrams, security architects will add a security view (or request one) to the reference solution architectures, such as the following:

Stéphane Eyskens

Links

To get Azure subscription.

To get Azure CLI.

To get Terraform.

To get Visual Studio Code

GitHub page for the book. Download codes for the book.

To buy this go to Amazon or Packt.

Summary

The way Stephane writes a book is clear and understandable. I like it. Many authors use repeat method so for example in first chapter describe something and then after couple of pages repeat the same message. Yes, you can get a lot of pages with that method but I don’t like to read it.

I also like these mind maps. You can see the dependencies and main levels easily with one look.

Stephane has created a guidebook with to plan, design and build a well form Azure environment.

To read and understand this book you need to know some basics of the Azure environments. This is book is not for dummies but still welcomes everyone to read it though the learning curve can be steep.

And for me who does security with Microsoft security products this is a very interesting book since it gives me tips to design security even better than I know now.

Jussi Metso

Author is a lifelong IT enthusiast, Microsoft Security MVP and interested in Cloud Security, XDR, SIEM and AI. Motto: Learning is the key for your future.

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