What is an Azure Subscription ?
An Azure subscription is a logical container used to provision resources in Azure. It holds the details of all resources like virtual machines (VMs), databases, and more. When we create an Azure resource like a VM, we identify the subscription it belongs to. As we use the VM, the usage of the VM is aggregated and billed monthly.
Azure subscription boundaries
An Azure subscription is a logical container used to provision resources in Azure. It holds the details of all resources like virtual machines (VMs), databases, and more. When we create an Azure resource like a VM, we identify the subscription it belongs to. As we use the VM, the usage of the VM is aggregated and billed monthly.
The following boundaries can be defined with an Azure subscription:
Billing boundary
The billing requirements for accessing resources are defined by this subscription type. Azure will give our each subscription its own different billing so that we can create multiple subscriptions as per our business needs.
Access control boundary
In order to separate the subscriptions, by applying different management policies we can construct an access control border at the subscription level to represent diverse organizational structures
Azure Subscriptions Types
Microsoft offers different types of subscriptions tailored to fulfil all types of requirements.
Free
A free subscription can be created with an email account and a credit card that includes 200$ credit for the first 30 days and free limited access for 12 months when converted to a pay-as-you-go subscription.
Pay-As-You-Go
Generates a monthly charge depending on the amount of Cloud resources used.
Enterprise
A single Enterprise agreement is made for bulk purchases of subscriptions, with discounts for new licenses and Software Assurance – targeted at enterprise scale – Organizations.
CSP (Cloud Solution Provider)
Azure Subscription hierarchy
Buy a Azure subscription
Customer can buy a Azure subscription in two ways - Purchase directly from Microsoft - Get the same pay-as-you-go pricing through the Azure website or through an Azure sales specialist. Purchasing direct means that you:
Manage your Azure environment yourself—or get help from a partner.
Receive a monthly bill.
Have the option to choose an Azure support plan.
Enlist an Azure partner for a managed cloud solution
Work with a partner for complete, managed cloud solutions for Azure. Partners help you:
Provision, deploy and manage Azure services.
Customise a billing plan that meets your business needs.
Optimise costs and get the support you need.
Azure Regions and Geographies
As of now, Microsoft have 60+ Azure region’s in 10 geo locations around the world.
A Region is a grouping of data centres that together form a deployment location for workloads
All region names are based on a general geography.
A geography location have multiple Azure datacentres.
Azure Subscription Support Plans
Best for | Non-critical workloads | Production workloads | Business-critical workloads |
Reactive technical support | 1 business day response | 1-hour response for critical cases | 1-hour response + priority tracking of critical cases |
| Developer | Standard | Professional Direct |
Proactive technical support | Not applicable | Not applicable | Access to a pool of technical experts |