Azure

Integration with Microsoft Azure allows you to access Windows Azure facilities via EPAM Orchestrator, and use Orchestrator to create, manage and monitor Azure-based instances same way you do it with EPAM and AWS-based ones.

Please note that for you to get access to Azure facilities, your project should be activated in an Azure region (EPAM-AZURE). To do it, please, submit a request and provide the name of the Azure region in which you want your project to be activated. We are proud to guarantee project activation in Azure within three hours only.

This topic contains the following sections:

Azure Roadmap

More and more users address us with their need to host environments in Azure. Thus, it makes the direction development necessary and expected.

Hybridization approaches within EPAM Cloud are based on the following principles: the users should be able to manage their virtual infrastructures in external clouds using the same tool as with native EPAM resources, and the unification should cover as much of provider's capabilities, as possible. Those feature that cannot be reached with EPAM Orchestration tools, should be accessed via native provider's access points.

Thus, when planning to work with Azure, as well as with AWS, it is important to have an idea of existing tools and their most effective application cases.

To help with this, we created a roadmap that will help you to make the correct decision and find the necessary information resources.

Comments
1/2 To activate your project in EPAM Cloud or Azure regions for a project, please submit an activation request at EPAM Service Desk and provide the details.
3 To perform standard instance manipulations in Azure, you can use Maestro CLI commands or Cloud Management Console tools with Azure regions specified as --region parameter value. For more details, please, see Maestro CLI Reference Guide , sections 2: Getting Started and 3: Working with Instances.
4 To get access to Azure Portal, use the respective button on the Dashboard, or run the or2-azure-management-console command and follow the link provided in the command response. For more details, please, see Hybrid Cloud Guide.
5-8 To find more information on the mentioned EPAM Cloud capabilities, please, see our Cloud Management Console and Account Management guides.
9 EPAM Cloud web-site is available on https://cloud.epam.com/site.
10 The details on EPAM Cloud integration with Azure and AWS are given in other section on this page
11 Maestro CLI User Guide lists the details on all the available CLI commands and settings

Azure Regions Activation

To activate Azure regions for your project in EPAM Cloud, simply leave a Project or Region Activaion Request.

The request is free of charge and will be fulfilled during three working days. Please remember that it should be approved by the Project Manager/Project Coordinator.

When the project is activated in Azure, all the project members get a corresponding email notification, and the access to all Azure regions via EPAM Orchestration.

Running VMs in Azure

To run a VM in EPAM-Azure, use any of available standard Orchestration tools (either Dashboard or CLI) with the EPAM-AZURE region specified:

or2run -p -r EPAM-AZURE -s -i

When a VM (either Windows or Linux) creation is initiated, you get a letter containing credentials for access to this VM remotely. These credentials are generated only once and won't be available for reference anywhere except this letter. Please save them properly for further usage.

The Public IP necessary to connect to the VM will be given in the next letter on Azure VM creation. This letter will be sent to you as soon as your new VM gets to the RUNNING state.


When working with VMs in Azure via EPAm Orchestrator, please take the following integration specifics:
- Each virtual instance in Azure is created within a specific resource group, with the name, matching the ID of the VM. The resource group includes the VM, system disk, network interface. The VM termination request removes the whole resource group, even if other resources were added to it manually, and any attached volume.
- If the names of the VM and resource group do not match, only the VM gets terminated.
- Each virtual instance and volume, created in Azure via EPAM Orchestrator, are based on Azure Managed Disks for better performance and usability.

Getting Access to Azure Console

You can get access to Windows Azure tools by calling the following command (the command can be called by a user:

or2-azure-management-console -p

The command allows you to login to your project's console on Azure Portal and sends you a notification with login instructions.

Follow the link in the email and login using your EPAM credentials. This will bring you to Azure portal home page where you can start working with Azure services.

Once you logged in to Azure Portal, you get the EPAM_BasicUser role (which includes standard Contributor's permissions to Azure services and facilities without the ability to manage access, security groups, and network settings).

Azure Pricing

Azure resources pricing is performed according to standard Azure policy, which is described in details on Azure Pricing page. No other additional fees are applied.

Limitations

Integration with Microsoft Azure has started not long ago, thus some functional limitations are present here.

  • Checkpoints management is restricted
  • Images creation and deletion is restricted
  • Storage volume management is restricted
  • Networking commands are restricted