Top Microsoft Azure Development Tools

Top 10 Tools for Microsoft Azure Development

Cloud computing is slowly turning out to be a staple for every business. Cloud computing provides essential safeguards against unnecessary expenditures and overheads. Most important of all, businesses could shift the tasks of maintaining servers and databases to fully managed services with cloud computing. The search for Azure development tools and other cloud computing resources is common for every business. The reason?

Designing, developing, and deploying applications for the cloud is a crucial advantage for every type of business. Cost reduction and simplicity are the foremost determinants of the popularity of cloud computing. However, the selection of different cloud service vendors, according to your needs, could be quite difficult. Why?

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Many cloud service vendors in the market right now offer a wide range of services for architecting and developing solutions on the cloud. Therefore, the demand for Microsoft Azure development tools is also clearly evident in the present scenario. The following discussion would provide essential insights regarding the top development tools on the Azure platform. Most important of all, the guide points out the introduction of Microsoft Azure and the process for development.

What is Microsoft Azure?

The discussion on azure development tools should start with an introduction to Microsoft Azure. Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform with continuous expanding possibilities and excessive potential. However, is it a good alternative for businesses? Obviously, yes, the company among the Big 3 of the public cloud service market is definitely a worthy investment. Microsoft Azure is a public cloud platform that offers IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS solutions for different services.

The services of Microsoft Azure include virtual computing, networking, storage, analytics, and many more. The best thing here is the facility of sophisticated Microsoft azure development tools. The different elements of Microsoft Azure services are prominently beneficial for realizing its importance in the cloud computing landscape.

Microsoft Azure development provides a flexible, compatible, reliable, economical, and global solution. Developers have the option of scaling resources up and down according to their requirements. The compatibility of Microsoft Azure with major operating systems, programming languages, frameworks, and tools is a promising aspect for developers.

In addition, Azure provides the assurance for 99.95% availability with its SLA alongside providing round the clock tech support. The best feature of Microsoft Azure cloud development is the economical pricing of its services. You have to pay only for the resources that you use. Now, you must be wondering about the factors that differentiate Azure development from development on other cloud service vendor platforms. 

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Microsoft Azure development and tools

The basics of Microsoft Azure cloud development could be the starting to master the concepts of Azure development gradually. You can learn to create and customize dashboards in the Azure portal alongside sharing them with team members. The starting guide for azure cloud development could also help in the creation and deployment of simple .NET Core web app and database by leveraging the Azure portal.

The next important learning outcome in the basics of Microsoft azure development is the extension of application for performing data analytics by using Cognitive Services and Logic Apps. In addition, you can also learn the process of setting up continuous delivery with GitHub. As a result, you can deploy changes automatically in a continuous delivery pipeline, thereby improving the resilience of the app. Furthermore, you could also make the apps easier to update. 

Top tools for Azure developers

Now, let us take a look at the different azure development tools that developers should take into concern. The most important aspect that validates the effectiveness of Microsoft azure development is the integration with Visual Studio. The integration with Visual Studio offers uninterrupted development flow starting from project setup till deployment.

In addition, Visual Studio also offers better opportunities for resource management. Microsoft has made the most of Visual Studio, and many third-party solutions providers have come up with unique tools. Here are some of the popular Azure developer tools that you can use for coding apps and run them quickly. 

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1. AzurePing

AzurePing is the first entry in this list of azure development tools that is an effective productivity tool. It is a free monitoring utility extension that runs as a local Windows Service. AzurePing helps in maintaining tabs for Azure Storage resources or Azure-hosted databases. AzurePing contains simple in-built logging capabilities in addition to the facility of adding own additional logging or notifications by using Apache log4net extensions. 

2. Cloud Explorer for Visual Studio

Cloud Explorer for Visual Studio is another prominent mention among azure developer tools. The tool helps in the identification of Microsoft Azure resources according to name, type, or resource groups and that too directly from Visual Studio IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Cloud Explorer helps in finding out resource properties alongside available developers and diagnostic activities and processes. Furthermore, Cloud Explorer also integrates effectively with the Azure Preview Portal for the management of resources and groups. 

3. Cloud Combine

Cloud Combine is also a prolific mention among Azure development tools because of its multiple functionalities. It helps in easier browsing, downloading, upload, and transfer of files between cloud storage services. The cross-platform compatibility with different cloud storage services such as Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services is one of the notable highlights of this service. Furthermore, it also helps in easier logging into all the cloud services and management of storage resources. 

4. SQL Database Migration Wizard

The SQL Database Migration Wizard is also another notable entrant as a Microsoft application development tools. This tool helps in the migration of SQL Server 2005, 2008, 2012, and 2014 databases to the SQL database. The tool also includes upgrades and migration analyzers for identification and troubleshooting potential issues. 

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5. Azure Blob Studio

Azure Blob Studio is an old entrant among popular azure development tools. It helps in easier management of Azure blob storage through the creation and removal of containers, retrieval of URIs, and management of blobs. The standalone utility of this tool is also a helpful aspect for developers. 

6. Microsoft Azure Storage Connected Service

Microsoft Azure Storage Connected Service is a new tool from Microsoft that is helpful in accessing design-time tools. The design-time tools can help in the configuration of Azure storage services and generating code for the consumption of services. This tool is also an ideal Microsoft application development tools because of the functionality in the consumption of containers, blobs, and entities. 

7. Graph Engine VSExtension

Graph Engine VSExtension is also a useful mention among azure development tools. It is an SDK by Microsoft Research to provide development functionalities by using the distributed, in-memory graph processing engine, Trinity. This tool supports direct deployment to Azure. 

8. Docker

Docker is definitely one of the important tools for Microsoft Azure developers. It is presently the recommended option for the creation, management, and deployment of application containers. Docker is a completely supported tool with Microsoft Azure. The new Visual Studio 2015 Tools for Docker help in establishing locally hosted Docker containers for development and debugging. Furthermore, the advantage of complete integration with Visual Studio IDE provides effectiveness.

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9. Azure developer portal

The Azure developer portal is also a prominent tool for azure development. It serves as a promising open-source developer portal with customization, styling, and authoring facilities through an in-built visual editor. In addition, the new Azure developer portal in Azure API development would provide an extension of the core functionalities existing now. 

10. Azure Grid

Azure Grid is also another prominent entry among popular azure development tools. Developers generally follow a modular approach by breaking down a problem at hand and then ensuring the allocation of cloud resources. Azure Grid leverages the Grid Computing framework that provides considerable functionalities for simplifying the work of Azure developers.

The Azure Grid framework helps in easier establishment of a grid, definition of code, and data for allocation to each node. Furthermore, Azure Grid also offers better control over these activities through an effective WPF client application. The client app is helpful for monitoring of the entire development process. In addition, the friendly user interface equipped with all the necessary tools for visualization help in the better observation of the project’s progress. 

Conclusion

The diverse assortment of developer tools on azure can be very confusing for developers without any proper guidance. Therefore, detailed knowledge regarding Azure development tools can help considerably in selecting the right tools according to requirements. A clear understanding of the functionalities of different tools is important for cost-effective development.

First of all, the use of Visual Studio is evident in cases where you need easier development, debugging, deployment, management, and diagnosis of cloud-scale applications on Azure. Visual Studio offers a comprehensively, feature-rich integrated development environment (IDE). Therefore, if you want a one-stop development solution, then Visual Studio is the right option. 

On the other hand, Visual Studio Code is ideal for editing and debugging code with a flexible and simple code editor. The compatibility of the code editor with different operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS, and Linux helps in cross-platform development. In addition, Visual Studio Code helps in building and deployment of Node.js and Java applications to the cloud. Most important of all, Visual Studio Code supports the use of serverless computing, containers as well as managed Web Apps. 

The next important set of tools for Microsoft Azure developers are SDKs. The SDKs are language-specific and could be ideal for flexible development in .NET, Python, Java, and Node.js. Therefore, the assortment of development tools on Azure offers easier chances to find out the best development functionality.

To get ahead in your career, it is always recommended to validate your skills with a certification. So, check out Azure certifications training courses and lean towards becoming a certified Azure professional.

About Pavan Gumaste

Pavan Rao is a programmer / Developer by Profession and Cloud Computing Professional by choice with in-depth knowledge in AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform. He helps the organisation figure out what to build, ensure successful delivery, and incorporate user learning to improve the strategy and product further.

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