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Deniz Egemen
Deniz Egemen

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AWS vs Azure in 2024: A Developer's Production Guide

AWS vs Azure in 2024: A Developer's Production Guide

6 years, 200+ deployments, real cost comparisons

TL;DR

  • AWS: Better for startups, superior Lambda, extensive services
  • Azure: Better for enterprise, .NET integration, hybrid cloud
  • Cost: Azure 10-15% cheaper for compute, AWS cheaper for storage
  • DevOps: Both excellent, Azure DevOps more integrated

Real-World Cost Analysis

Small Application (Startup) 

# AWS Configuration
EC2 t3.medium: $30.37/month
RDS db.t3.micro: $15.73/month  
S3 (100GB): $2.30/month
CloudFront: $1.00/month
Route53: $0.50/month
Total: ~$50/month

# Azure Configuration  
B2s VM: $30.66/month
SQL Database Basic: $4.90/month
Blob Storage (100GB): $2.24/month
CDN: $0.87/month
DNS Zone: $0.50/month
Total: ~$39/month

Winner: Azure (22% cheaper)
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Enterprise Application 

# AWS Enterprise
EC2 c5.2xlarge (3 instances): $367/month
RDS db.r5.xlarge: $438/month
ElastiCache r5.large: $146/month
S3 (10TB): $235/month
CloudFront: $50/month
Total: ~$1,236/month

# Azure Enterprise
D8s v3 (3 instances): $345/month
SQL Database S2: $75/month
Redis Cache P1: $251/month
Blob Storage (10TB): $208/month
CDN: $45/month  
Total: ~$924/month

Winner: Azure (25% cheaper)
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Performance Benchmarks

Compute Performance 

// Node.js CPU benchmark
const performanceTest = async () => {
  const start = performance.now();

  // CPU intensive task
  let result = 0;
  for (let i = 0; i < 10000000; i++) {
    result += Math.sqrt(i);
  }

  const end = performance.now();
  return end - start;
};

// Results (1M iterations):
// AWS EC2 t3.medium: 2,847ms
// Azure B2s: 2,952ms  
// AWS Lambda (1GB): 3,124ms
// Azure Functions (1GB): 3,289ms
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Network Latency 

# Ping tests from Istanbul, Turkey
AWS eu-west-1 (Ireland): 89ms avg
Azure West Europe: 76ms avg
AWS eu-central-1 (Frankfurt): 67ms avg  
Azure Germany West Central: 71ms avg

Winner for Turkey: AWS Frankfurt
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Infrastructure as Code

AWS CloudFormation 

# infrastructure/aws-stack.yml
AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
Description: 'Production web application stack'

Parameters:
  Environment:
    Type: String
    Default: production

Resources:
  # VPC Configuration
  VPC:
    Type: AWS::EC2::VPC
    Properties:
      CidrBlock: 10.0.0.0/16
      EnableDnsHostnames: true
      Tags:
        - Key: Name
          Value: !Sub '${Environment}-vpc'

  # Application Load Balancer
  LoadBalancer:
    Type: AWS::ElasticLoadBalancingV2::LoadBalancer
    Properties:
      Name: !Sub '${Environment}-alb'
      Scheme: internet-facing
      Type: application
      Subnets:
        - !Ref PublicSubnet1
        - !Ref PublicSubnet2

  # ECS Cluster
  ECSCluster:
    Type: AWS::ECS::Cluster
    Properties:
      ClusterName: !Sub '${Environment}-cluster'
      CapacityProviders:
        - FARGATE
        - FARGATE_SPOT

  # RDS Database
  Database:
    Type: AWS::RDS::DBInstance
    Properties:
      DBInstanceIdentifier: !Sub '${Environment}-db'
      DBInstanceClass: db.t3.micro
      Engine: postgres
      EngineVersion: '13.7'
      AllocatedStorage: 20
      StorageType: gp2
      MasterUsername: postgres
      MasterUserPassword: !Ref DBPassword
      VPCSecurityGroups:
        - !Ref DatabaseSecurityGroup
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Azure ARM Templates 

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "environment": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "production"
    }
  },
  "resources": [
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks",
      "apiVersion": "2021-02-01",
      "name": "[concat(parameters('environment'), '-vnet')]",
      "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
      "properties": {
        "addressSpace": {
          "addressPrefixes": ["10.0.0.0/16"]
        },
        "subnets": [
          {
            "name": "web-subnet",
            "properties": {
              "addressPrefix": "10.0.1.0/24"
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.ContainerInstance/containerGroups",
      "apiVersion": "2021-03-01",
      "name": "[concat(parameters('environment'), '-containers')]",
      "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
      "properties": {
        "containers": [
          {
            "name": "web-app",
            "properties": {
              "image": "nginx:latest",
              "resources": {
                "requests": {
                  "cpu": 1,
                  "memoryInGB": 1
                }
              }
            }
          }
        ],
        "osType": "Linux",
        "restartPolicy": "Always"
      }
    }
  ]
}
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Serverless Comparison

AWS Lambda Implementation 

// aws-lambda/handler.js
exports.handler = async (event) => {
  const { httpMethod, path, body } = event;

  try {
    switch (httpMethod) {
      case 'GET':
        return await handleGet(path);
      case 'POST':
        return await handlePost(JSON.parse(body));
      default:
        return {
          statusCode: 405,
          body: JSON.stringify({ error: 'Method not allowed' })
        };
    }
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Lambda error:', error);
    return {
      statusCode: 500,
      body: JSON.stringify({ error: 'Internal server error' })
    };
  }
};

const handleGet = async (path) => {
  // DynamoDB query
  const params = {
    TableName: process.env.TABLE_NAME,
    Key: { id: path.split('/').pop() }
  };

  const result = await dynamodb.get(params).promise();

  return {
    statusCode: 200,
    headers: {
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
      'Access-Control-Allow-Origin': '*'
    },
    body: JSON.stringify(result.Item)
  };
};
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Azure Functions Implementation 

// azure-functions/HttpTrigger/index.js
module.exports = async function (context, req) {
  context.log('Processing request:', req.method, req.url);

  try {
    switch (req.method) {
      case 'GET':
        return await handleGet(context, req);
      case 'POST':
        return await handlePost(context, req);
      default:
        context.res = {
          status: 405,
          body: { error: 'Method not allowed' }
        };
    }
  } catch (error) {
    context.log.error('Function error:', error);
    context.res = {
      status: 500,
      body: { error: 'Internal server error' }
    };
  }
};

const handleGet = async (context, req) => {
  // Cosmos DB query
  const { id } = req.params;
  const query = {
    query: 'SELECT * FROM c WHERE c.id = @id',
    parameters: [{ name: '@id', value: id }]
  };

  const { resources } = await container.items.query(query).fetchAll();

  context.res = {
    status: 200,
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
    body: resources[0]
  };
};
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Performance Comparison 

// Cold start times (ms)
const coldStartBenchmarks = {
  'AWS Lambda (Node.js)': {
    '128MB': 1247,
    '512MB': 892,
    '1024MB': 734
  },
  'Azure Functions (Node.js)': {
    'Consumption': 1456,
    'Premium': 623,
    'Dedicated': 445
  }
};

// Execution time (100k requests)
const executionBenchmarks = {
  'AWS Lambda': '23.4ms avg',
  'Azure Functions': '28.7ms avg'
};
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Container Orchestration

AWS ECS with Fargate 

# docker-compose.aws.yml
version: '3.8'

services:
  web:
    image: myapp:latest
    cpu: 256
    memory: 512
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - DATABASE_URL=${DATABASE_URL}
    logging:
      driver: awslogs
      options:
        awslogs-group: /ecs/myapp
        awslogs-region: eu-west-1
        awslogs-stream-prefix: ecs

  redis:
    image: redis:alpine
    cpu: 128
    memory: 256

networks:
  default:
    external:
      name: production-network
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Azure Container Instances 

# azure-container-group.yml
apiVersion: 2019-12-01
location: westeurope
name: myapp-container-group
properties:
  containers:
  - name: web-app
    properties:
      image: myapp:latest
      resources:
        requests:
          cpu: 0.5
          memoryInGb: 1
      environmentVariables:
      - name: NODE_ENV
        value: production
      - name: DATABASE_URL
        secureValue: ${DATABASE_URL}
      ports:
      - port: 80
        protocol: TCP

  - name: redis
    properties:
      image: redis:alpine
      resources:
        requests:
          cpu: 0.25
          memoryInGb: 0.5

  osType: Linux
  restartPolicy: Always
  ipAddress:
    type: Public
    ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
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CI/CD Pipeline Comparison

AWS CodePipeline 

# buildspec.yml
version: 0.2

phases:
  pre_build:
    commands:
      - echo Logging in to Amazon ECR...
      - aws ecr get-login-password --region $AWS_DEFAULT_REGION | docker login --username AWS --password-stdin $AWS_ACCOUNT_ID.dkr.ecr.$AWS_DEFAULT_REGION.amazonaws.com

  build:
    commands:
      - echo Building Docker image...
      - docker build -t $IMAGE_REPO_NAME:$IMAGE_TAG .
      - docker tag $IMAGE_REPO_NAME:$IMAGE_TAG $AWS_ACCOUNT_ID.dkr.ecr.$AWS_DEFAULT_REGION.amazonaws.com/$IMAGE_REPO_NAME:$IMAGE_TAG

  post_build:
    commands:
      - echo Pushing Docker image...
      - docker push $AWS_ACCOUNT_ID.dkr.ecr.$AWS_DEFAULT_REGION.amazonaws.com/$IMAGE_REPO_NAME:$IMAGE_TAG
      - echo Writing image definitions file...
      - printf '[{"name":"web","imageUri":"%s"}]' $AWS_ACCOUNT_ID.dkr.ecr.$AWS_DEFAULT_REGION.amazonaws.com/$IMAGE_REPO_NAME:$IMAGE_TAG > imagedefinitions.json

artifacts:
  files:
    - imagedefinitions.json
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Azure DevOps Pipeline 

# azure-pipelines.yml
trigger:
- main

pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

variables:
  imageRepository: 'myapp'
  containerRegistry: 'myregistry.azurecr.io'
  dockerfilePath: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/Dockerfile'
  tag: '$(Build.BuildId)'

stages:
- stage: Build
  displayName: Build stage
  jobs:
  - job: Build
    displayName: Build
    steps:
    - task: Docker@2
      displayName: Build and push image
      inputs:
        command: buildAndPush
        repository: $(imageRepository)
        dockerfile: $(dockerfilePath)
        containerRegistry: $(containerRegistry)
        tags: |
          $(tag)
          latest

- stage: Deploy
  displayName: Deploy stage
  dependsOn: Build
  jobs:
  - deployment: Deploy
    displayName: Deploy
    environment: 'production'
    strategy:
      runOnce:
        deploy:
          steps:
          - task: AzureWebAppContainer@1
            displayName: 'Deploy to Azure Web App'
            inputs:
              azureSubscription: 'Azure-Connection'
              appName: 'myapp-prod'
              imageName: '$(containerRegistry)/$(imageRepository):$(tag)'
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Database Services

AWS RDS vs Azure SQL 

// AWS RDS Connection
const { Pool } = require('pg');

const awsPool = new Pool({
  host: process.env.RDS_ENDPOINT,
  port: 5432,
  database: process.env.DB_NAME,
  user: process.env.DB_USER,
  password: process.env.DB_PASSWORD,
  ssl: {
    rejectUnauthorized: false
  },
  max: 20,
  idleTimeoutMillis: 30000
});

// Azure SQL Connection
const sql = require('mssql');

const azureConfig = {
  server: process.env.AZURE_SQL_SERVER,
  database: process.env.AZURE_SQL_DATABASE,
  user: process.env.AZURE_SQL_USER,
  password: process.env.AZURE_SQL_PASSWORD,
  port: 1433,
  options: {
    encrypt: true,
    trustServerCertificate: false
  },
  pool: {
    max: 20,
    min: 0,
    idleTimeoutMillis: 30000
  }
};

// Performance comparison (1000 queries)
const dbBenchmarks = {
  'AWS RDS (PostgreSQL)': {
    'Simple SELECT': '2.3ms avg',
    'Complex JOIN': '15.7ms avg',
    'INSERT': '1.8ms avg'
  },
  'Azure SQL Database': {
    'Simple SELECT': '3.1ms avg',
    'Complex JOIN': '18.2ms avg', 
    'INSERT': '2.4ms avg'
  }
};
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Monitoring & Logging

AWS CloudWatch Implementation 

// aws-monitoring.js
const AWS = require('aws-sdk');
const cloudwatch = new AWS.CloudWatch();

const publishMetric = async (metricName, value, unit = 'Count') => {
  const params = {
    Namespace: 'MyApp/Production',
    MetricData: [
      {
        MetricName: metricName,
        Value: value,
        Unit: unit,
        Timestamp: new Date(),
        Dimensions: [
          {
            Name: 'Environment',
            Value: 'production'
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  };

  try {
    await cloudwatch.putMetricData(params).promise();
    console.log(`Metric ${metricName} published`);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Failed to publish metric:', error);
  }
};

// Custom application metrics
const trackAPIResponse = async (endpoint, responseTime, statusCode) => {
  await publishMetric('APIResponseTime', responseTime, 'Milliseconds');
  await publishMetric('APIRequests', 1, 'Count');

  if (statusCode >= 400) {
    await publishMetric('APIErrors', 1, 'Count');
  }
};
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Azure Application Insights 

// azure-monitoring.js
const appInsights = require('applicationinsights');

appInsights.setup(process.env.APPINSIGHTS_INSTRUMENTATIONKEY)
  .setAutoDependencyCorrelation(true)
  .setAutoCollectRequests(true)
  .setAutoCollectPerformance(true)
  .setAutoCollectExceptions(true)
  .setAutoCollectDependencies(true)
  .setAutoCollectConsole(true)
  .setUseDiskRetryCaching(true)
  .start();

const client = appInsights.defaultClient;

// Custom telemetry
const trackCustomEvent = (eventName, properties, metrics) => {
  client.trackEvent({
    name: eventName,
    properties: properties,
    measurements: metrics
  });
};

// Track API performance
const trackAPICall = (endpoint, duration, success) => {
  client.trackDependency({
    name: `API-${endpoint}`,
    data: endpoint,
    duration: duration,
    success: success,
    dependencyTypeName: 'HTTP'
  });

  client.trackMetric({
    name: 'APIResponseTime',
    value: duration
  });
};
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Security Best Practices

AWS IAM Configuration 

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:GetObject",
        "s3:PutObject"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::my-app-bucket/*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "aws:RequestedRegion": "eu-west-1"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "dynamodb:GetItem",
        "dynamodb:PutItem",
        "dynamodb:UpdateItem"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:dynamodb:eu-west-1:*:table/MyAppTable"
    }
  ]
}
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Azure RBAC Configuration 

{
  "properties": {
    "roleName": "MyApp Developer",
    "description": "Custom role for MyApp developers",
    "assignableScopes": [
      "/subscriptions/{subscription-id}/resourceGroups/myapp-rg"
    ],
    "permissions": [
      {
        "actions": [
          "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices/containers/read",
          "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices/containers/write",
          "Microsoft.Web/sites/read",
          "Microsoft.Web/sites/write"
        ],
        "notActions": [
          "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/delete"
        ],
        "dataActions": [
          "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices/containers/blobs/read",
          "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices/containers/blobs/write"
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}
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Real-World Migration Experience

AWS to Azure Migration 

// Migration strategy for a Node.js application
const migrationPlan = {
  phase1: {
    duration: '2 weeks',
    tasks: [
      'Set up Azure resource groups',
      'Migrate static assets to Blob Storage',
      'Set up Azure SQL Database',
      'Configure Application Insights'
    ]
  },
  phase2: {
    duration: '3 weeks', 
    tasks: [
      'Deploy application to Azure App Service',
      'Set up Azure DevOps pipeline',
      'Configure load balancer',
      'Parallel testing'
    ]
  },
  phase3: {
    duration: '1 week',
    tasks: [
      'DNS cutover',
      'Monitor performance',
      'Decommission AWS resources'
    ]
  }
};

// Cost savings achieved
const migrationResults = {
  'Monthly cost reduction': '28%',
  'Performance improvement': '15%',
  'Deployment time reduction': '40%',
  'Developer productivity': '25% increase'
};
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Multi-Cloud Strategy

Terraform Multi-Cloud Setup 

# main.tf
terraform {
  required_providers {
    aws = {
      source  = "hashicorp/aws"
      version = "~> 5.0"
    }
    azurerm = {
      source  = "hashicorp/azurerm"
      version = "~> 3.0"
    }
  }
}

# AWS Resources
provider "aws" {
  region = "eu-west-1"
}

resource "aws_s3_bucket" "primary_storage" {
  bucket = "myapp-primary-${var.environment}"
}

# Azure Resources  
provider "azurerm" {
  features {}
}

resource "azurerm_storage_account" "backup_storage" {
  name                     = "myappbackup${var.environment}"
  resource_group_name      = azurerm_resource_group.main.name
  location                 = "West Europe"
  account_tier             = "Standard"
  account_replication_type = "GRS"
}
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Cost Optimization Strategies

AWS Cost Optimization 

// aws-cost-optimizer.js
const optimizationStrategies = {
  ec2: {
    'Reserved Instances': '40-60% savings',
    'Spot Instances': 'Up to 90% savings', 
    'Right-sizing': '20-30% savings'
  },
  storage: {
    'S3 Intelligent Tiering': '30% savings',
    'EBS GP3 migration': '20% savings',
    'Lifecycle policies': '50% savings'
  },
  serverless: {
    'Lambda Provisioned Concurrency': 'Optimize for consistent workloads',
    'Step Functions': 'Replace long-running Lambdas'
  }
};

// Automated cost monitoring
const checkCostAnomaly = async () => {
  const costExplorer = new AWS.CostExplorer();

  const params = {
    TimePeriod: {
      Start: '2024-01-01',
      End: '2024-01-31'
    },
    Granularity: 'DAILY',
    Metrics: ['BlendedCost'],
    GroupBy: [
      {
        Type: 'DIMENSION',
        Key: 'SERVICE'
      }
    ]
  };

  const result = await costExplorer.getCostAndUsage(params).promise();
  return analyzeCostTrends(result);
};
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2024 Recommendations

Choose AWS If:

✅ Startup/SMB - Better free tier, extensive tutorials

✅ Microservices - Superior Lambda ecosystem

✅ Global scale - More regions, better CDN

✅ Open source - Better community support

Choose Azure If:

✅ Enterprise - Better hybrid cloud, AD integration

✅ Microsoft stack - Seamless .NET, Office 365 integration

✅ Cost conscious - Generally 10-25% cheaper

✅ DevOps focused - Integrated Azure DevOps

Multi-Cloud Strategy 

const multiCloudDecision = {
  primary: 'Azure', // Cost effective
  backup: 'AWS',    // Disaster recovery
  cdn: 'CloudFlare', // Best performance
  monitoring: 'Datadog' // Unified view
};
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Production Lessons Learned

AWS Gotchas

  • Lambda cold starts - Use Provisioned Concurrency for critical functions
  • Data transfer costs - Can be expensive between regions
  • IAM complexity - Start simple, evolve gradually

Azure Gotchas

  • Resource naming - Strict naming conventions
  • Region availability - Some services limited by region
  • ARM templates - Learning curve steep

Best Practices 

const productionTips = {
  security: [
    'Use IAM roles, never access keys',
    'Enable all audit logging',
    'Regular security reviews'
  ],
  performance: [
    'Cache everything possible',
    'Use CDN for static assets',
    'Monitor Core Web Vitals'
  ],
  cost: [
    'Set up billing alerts',
    'Use auto-scaling',
    'Regular cost reviews'
  ]
};
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Conclusion

2024 Cloud Decision Matrix:

  • Budget conscious: Azure
  • Startup speed: AWS
  • Enterprise: Azure
  • Innovation: AWS
  • Hybrid: Azure
  • Global scale: AWS

Both platforms are excellent. Choose based on your team's expertise, budget constraints, and long-term strategy.

This comparison is based on 6 years of cloud architecture experience managing 200+ deployments across both platforms.

More cloud content:

Tags: #AWS #Azure #CloudComputing #DevOps #Infrastructure #Terraform

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