Process Manager at a marketing services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Flexible, easy to use, and good technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is easy to use and flexible."

    What is our primary use case?

    We are using Microsoft Azure for test case management and automation code repositories.

    What is most valuable?

    The solution is easy to use and flexible.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Microsoft Azure for approximately one year.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We have approximately 300 users using the solutions in my organization.

    Buyer's Guide
    Microsoft Azure
    April 2024
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    How are customer service and support?

    The Microsoft technical support is good.

    How was the initial setup?

    Microsoft Azure's initial setup is simple.

    What about the implementation team?

    We use the help of our organization's system administrator. The solution does not require much maintenance.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The license cost could be reduced.

    What other advice do I have?

    I rate Microsoft Azure an eight out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Chief Technology Officer at SYSDE
    Real User
    Flexible, integrates well, and beneficial templates
    Pros and Cons
    • "The solution is very flexible, it is not limited to Microsoft solutions. It integrates well with other solutions, such as Oracle. There are a lot of templates we are able to use allowing us to reduce the time for configuration."
    • "The solution could improve by simplifying network management."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Microsoft Azure as a cloud-based platform.

    How has it helped my organization?

    The solution has made operations for our organizations better by offering flexibility and integration with multiple other products.

    What is most valuable?

    The solution is very flexible, it is not limited to Microsoft solutions. It integrates well with other solutions, such as Oracle. There are a lot of templates we are able to use allowing us to reduce the time for configuration.

    What needs improvement?

    The solution could improve by simplifying network management. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using the solution within the past 12 months.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is very easy to scale.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The price of the solution can be expensive.

    What other advice do I have?

    I rate Microsoft Azure a nine out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Microsoft Azure
    April 2024
    Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
    770,394 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    Senior Solutions Specialist at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Has good technical support and monitoring tools
    Pros and Cons
    • "We are satisfied with the technical support."
    • "The process by which our customers can switch from one subscription to another should be simplified."

    What is our primary use case?

    We help our customers to migrate from on-premises to Azure. 

    We generally sell the infrastructure as a service, meaning we help our customers to migrate their on-premises VMware to cloud.

    What needs improvement?

    The process by which our customers can switch from one subscription to another should be simplified.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I cannot say for certain for how long we have been selling Microsoft Azure products, although I do know that we have been doing so for a long time. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is scalable. 

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We are satisfied with the technical support. Customers who have signed up for premium service benefit from better support. 

    How was the initial setup?

    The issue of installation does not concern us, as our job is solely to help our customers to migrate.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The licensing price is fine. We pay it on a monthly basis. 

    What other advice do I have?

    The solution is cloud-based.

    We feel the monitoring tools to be sufficient. The interface, monitoring and dashboard features are good. I cannot say for certain about the security features. 

    While I cannot definitively say how many customers we have that are using Microsoft Azure, as I am not part of the production team, I do know that they comprise the majority.

    I would recommend the solution to others contemplating its use. 

    I rate Microsoft Azure as an eight out of ten. 

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Solutions Architect at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    Feature rich, reasonably priced, but more migration services needed
    Pros and Cons
    • "There are plenty of functions available that we have used extensively. It is a complete platform of services."
    • "There was a time when the solution was updated on their side and all of our functions stopped working. This issue could be worked on to prevent it from happening in the future. They must give us the information of when they are going to updates on the platform side so that we can take the appropriate measures on our side as well."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use this solution to integrate with multiple versions of ServiceNow, for automatic ticket closure and ticket opening.

    What is most valuable?

    There are plenty of functions available that we have used extensively. It is a complete platform of services.

    What needs improvement?

    There was a time when the solution was updated on their side and all of our functions stopped working. This issue could be worked on to prevent it from happening in the future.
    They must give us the information of when they are going to updates on the platform side so that we can take the appropriate measures on our side as well.

    We would like to see more enhancements in the Azure Migrate services in the future.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using the solution for approximately two years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is stable and has good performance.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    I have all different kinds of clients, from small businesses to enterprises.

    How was the initial setup?

    The setup was straightforward and the documentation is good.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The price of the solution is reasonable.

    What other advice do I have?

    I rate Microsoft Azure a seven out of ten.

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Public Cloud
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Integrator
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    Asst. Manager, Cloud Solutions at Corporate Projukti Limited
    Real User
    Easy to maintain with a simple initial setup but the pricing is a bit high
    Pros and Cons
    • "The focus on security is excellent. We really appreciate that about the solution."
    • "The pricing in our region can be a bit high."

    What is our primary use case?

    We primarily have the solution working as an infrastructure as a service.

    What is most valuable?

    The focus on security is excellent. We really appreciate that about the solution.

    The maintenance of the solution is very good.

    The migration capabilities are great. 

    The implementation is easy.

    What needs improvement?

    The solution could be a bit more intuitive and easier to use.

    The documentation could be a bit better. It could be more clear and accessible. It would be good to know if the person answering the questions was a Microsoft employee or just another user.

    The pricing in our region can be a bit high.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've been using the solution for as long as three years at this point.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The solution is very stable. There's never any downtime. We don't deal with crashes or freezing. There aren't bugs or glitches. It works well.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The product is scalable. If a company needs to expand, it can do so easily.

    Currently, we have 20 people that use the solution within our organization. We also have three or four admins.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Basically, the solution offers regional support and I'm okay with that. I don't need to worry about not getting the services I need. I've called and got support right away.  I'm quite satisfied with the level of service that is being provided to us.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is not complex at all. It's straightforward as the product is basically focusing on a pay as you go model.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    For our region, Bangladesh, the pricing of the product is too much.

    What other advice do I have?

    We're a gold partner with Microsoft in Bangladesh.

    We're always using the latest version of the solution as Azure constantly updates itself.

    I'd recommend the product to other organizations.

    Overall, I would rate the solution at a seven out of ten. Mostly we've been happy with it, however, we do find the pricing  to be a bit high.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
    PeerSpot user
    PeerSpot user
    Owner with 51-200 employees
    Vendor
    Secure your ASMX WebServices with SWT and Claims

    I was recently involved into interesting project, that was using the plain old ASMX web services. We wanted to migrate it to the Windows Azure Access Control Service and make use of Claims.

    The way we achieved that is to add additional Soap Header to the client requests that includes Simple Web Token (SWT). On the server side, we make a check for this specific header existence, then extract the token, perform some validation checks and inject a fresh new Claims Identity into the Service instance. One thing to look out for is that you have to think of a workaround, if your ASMX WebService is a Singleton object. My implementation works with non-singleton implementations. And I currently get my Simple Web Tokens from Windows Azure Access Control Service’s WRAP endpoint. I have configured a “Password” service identities and I play with the RuleGroups to add additional claims, based on identity used. It is pretty flexible!

    The result is on … GitHub. I initially wanted to be on CodePlex, because I have other projects there and am more used to TFS style of working. But CodePlex’s TFS is down for quite some time, which was a good excuse to use GitHub. There is some explanations in the Readme.txt file, as well as comments in the code. So feel free to get the code, play around with it, ping me if it is not working for some reason, and so on!

    The project makes extensive use of SWT Implementation, done by the Two10Degrees’ team. But I added a compiled assembly reference for convenience.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user6648 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Owner at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
    Consultant
    Easy to connect to on-premise infrastructure, but deprovisioning services is complicated and SLA is not competitive

    Valuable Features:

    SSO access Easy connect to On-Prem infrastructure GA of new features, such as Azure Backup and Mobile services, free websites and easy to manage pay-as-you-go model.

    Room for Improvement:

    Deprovisioning services is complicated. SLA is not competitive. While some prices have been lowered, some increased after GA. Options from beta moved to different categories.
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    it_user1065 - PeerSpot reviewer
    Senior Manager of Data Center at a integrator with 51-200 employees
    Vendor
    Microsoft's cloud computing platform Windows Azure is a combination of both PaaS and IaaS

    Valuable Features:

    The pros of using Windows Azure are- 1) Windows Azure Virtual Network which enables virtual private network creation for enterprise usage 2) Support for Python, PHP, JAVA, .NET 3) More focus on application deployment, rather than infrastructure 4) Provides an application interface built on REST, HTTP, and XML 5) Content Delivery Network

    Room for Improvement:

    Few cons on Azure are- 1) Poor debugging and logging management for applications 2) Increased competition for development resources 3) Pricing 4) load balancing causes interruption in many of the stateful applications

    Other Advice:

    Windows Azure is a cloud computing platform from Microsoft for running windows applications and working with data on the cloud. It is based on the architecture of HyperV and windows fail over clustering to support redundant instances of application with zero downtime. It's built to quickly deploy application with .NET, JAVA, SQL, Python, and other cloud services. It works on the combination of SQL, azure, and AppFabric, along with other cloud services.
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Microsoft Azure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: April 2024
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Microsoft Azure Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.