Cloud Computing Architecture Diagrams

This example of cloud computing system architecture diagram was redesigned from the Wikimedia Commons file: Windows Azure Network and Computes Architecture.png. [commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/ File:Windows_ Azure_ Network_ and_ Computes_ Architecture.png]
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 license. [creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 2.0/ ]
"Microsoft Azure (formerly Windows Azure before 25 March 2014) is a cloud computing platform and infrastructure, created by Microsoft, for building, deploying and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters. It provides both PaaS and IaaS services and supports many different programming languages, tools and frameworks, including both Microsoft-specific and third-party software and systems." [Microsoft Azure. Wikipedia]
The diagram example "Microsoft Azure network and computes architecture" was created using ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Azure Architecture solution from the Computer and Networks area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.

This Azure cloud architecture pattern diagram template was created on the base of figure in the article "Health Endpoint Monitoring Pattern" from the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) website.
"Health Endpoint Monitoring Pattern.
Implement functional checks within an application that external tools can access through exposed endpoints at regular intervals. This pattern can help to verify that applications and services are performing correctly. ...
It is good practice—and often a business requirement—to monitor web applications, and middle-tier and shared services, to ensure that they are available and performing correctly. However, it is more difficult to monitor services running in the cloud than it is to monitor on-premises services. ...
Implement health monitoring by sending requests to an endpoint on the application. The application should perform the necessary checks, and return an indication of its status.
A health monitoring check typically combines two factors: the checks (if any) performed by the application or service in response to the request to the health verification endpoint, and analysis of the result by the tool or framework that is performing the health verification check. The response code indicates the status of the application and, optionally, any components or services it uses. The latency or response time check is performed by the monitoring tool or framework." [msdn.microsoft.com/ ru-RU/ library/ dn589789.aspx]
The Azure cloud system architecture diagram template "Health endpoint monitoring pattern" for the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software is included in the Azure Architecture solutin from the Computer and Networks area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.

This example of cloud computing system architecture diagram was created on the base of picture in the post "Sending Windows 8 Push Notifications using Windows Azure Mobile Services" from the Nick Harris .NET blog.
"The goal of Windows Azure Mobile Services is to make it incredibly easy for developers to add a cloud backend to their client apps be it a Windows 8, Windows Phone, iOS or Android application. ... Mobile Services today provides:
- Structured Storage
- Server Logic ...
- Auth ...
- Push Notifications ...
- Common tenants of Windows Azure Services
- Scale ...
- Diagnostics ...
- Logging ...
What are Push Notifications?
The Windows Push Notification Services (WNS) enables you to send toast, tile, badge and raw notifications from the cloud to your Windows Store applications even when your app is not running. Push notifications are ideal for scenarios when you need to target a specific user with personalized content.
The following diagram depicts the general Lifecycle of a push notifications via the Windows Azure Notification Service (WNS). We’ll walk through the steps shortly but before doing so I thought it would be important to call out that as a developer implementing a push notification scenario all you need to do is implement those interactions in grey and the applications/ services in blue." [nickharris.net/ index.php/ 2012/ 10/ 04/ blog-series-sending-windows-8-push-notifications-using-windows-azure-mobile-services/ ]
The diagram example "Push Notification Lifecycle Overview" was created using ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Azure Architecture solution from the Computer and Networks area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.

This cloud computing system architecture diagram example was created on the base of the picture in the post "Windows Azure Solution Cookbook" from the Clint Edmonson's blog notsotrivial.net.
"The diagram you see ... is designed to provide a layered architectural overview of the developer and infrastructure services currently available in Windows Azure." [notsotrivial.net/ blog/ post/ 2012/ 07/ 02/ Windows-Azure-Solution-Cookbook.aspx]
The diagram example "Microsoft Azure reference architecture" was created using ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Azure Architecture solution from the Computer and Networks area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.

This Azure cloud architecture pattern diagram template was created on the base of figure in the article "Competing Consumers Pattern" from the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) website.
"Competing Consumers Pattern.
Enable multiple concurrent consumers to process messages received on the same messaging channel. This pattern enables a system to process multiple messages concurrently to optimize throughput, to improve scalability and availability, and to balance the workload. ...
An application running in the cloud may be expected to handle a large number of requests. Rather than process each request synchronously, a common technique is for the application to pass them through a messaging system to another service (a consumer service) that handles them asynchronously. This strategy helps to ensure that the business logic in the application is not blocked while the requests are being processed. ...
Use a message queue to implement the communication channel between the application and the instances of the consumer service. The application posts requests in the form of messages to the queue, and the consumer service instances receive messages from the queue and process them. This approach enables the same pool of consumer service instances to handle messages from any instance of the application." [msdn.microsoft.com/ ru-RU/ library/ dn568101.aspx]
The Azure cloud system architecture diagram template "Competing consumers pattern" for the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software is included in the Azure Architecture solutin from the Computer and Networks area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.

This Azure cloud architecture pattern diagram template was created on the base of figure in the article "Valet Key Pattern" from the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) website.
"Valet Key Pattern.
Use a token or key that provides clients with restricted direct access to a specific resource or service in order to offload data transfer operations from the application code. This pattern is particularly useful in applications that use cloud-hosted storage systems or queues, and can minimize cost and maximize scalability and performance. ...
Client programs and web browsers often need to read and write files or data streams to and from an application’s storage. ...
Data stores have the capability to handle upload and download of data directly, without requiring the application to perform any processing to move this data, but this typically requires the client to have access to the security credentials for the store.
... applications must be able to securely control access to data in a granular way, but still reduce the load on the server by setting up this connection and then allowing the client to communicate directly with the data store to perform the required read or write operations. ...
To resolve the problem of controlling access to a data store where the store itself cannot manage authentication and authorization of clients, one typical solution is to restrict access to the data store’s public connection and provide the client with a key or token that the data store itself can validate.
This key or token is usually referred to as a valet key. It provides time-limited access to specific resources and allows only predefined operations such as reading and writing to storage or queues, or uploading and downloading in a web browser. Applications can create and issue valet keys to client devices and web browsers quickly and easily, allowing clients to perform the required operations without requiring the application to directly handle the data transfer. This removes the processing overhead, and the consequent impact on performance and scalability, from the application and the server." [msdn.microsoft.com/ ru-RU/ library/ dn568102.aspx]
The Azure cloud system architecture diagram template "Valet key pattern" for the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software is included in the Azure Architecture solutin from the Computer and Networks area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.