Before starting about Database Services available in Azure, I would like to brief about the Service models available in Cloud.
The Service models available are IAAS, PAAS, SAAS. How do they differ? The below diagram is self-explanatory.
IaaS Means – Infrastructure-as-a-Service
IaaS provides the infrastructure such as virtual machines and other resources like virtual-machine disk, firewalls, load balancers, IP addresses, virtual local area networks etc. Infrastructure as service or IaaS is the basic layer in cloud computing model.
Virtual Machine, Storage, Network everything will be maintained by Cloud Service Provider. The Data, OS, Application running inside the Iaas Machine should be controlled by us
PaaS Means – Platform-as-a-Service
Platform as a service model provides you computing platforms which typically include operating system, programming language execution environment, database, web server. It is a layer on top of IaaS as the second thing you demand after Infrastructure is platform.
Databases like SQL Server, Mongo DB, MySQL shall be placed in cloud as PAAS. Just the Application and Data has to be maintained by us and the rest of the resources should be managed by Cloud Service Provider.
SaaS Means – Software-as-a-Service
In a SaaS you are provided access to application services installed at a server. You don’t have to worry about installation, maintenance or coding of that software. You can access and operate the software with just your browser.
Gmail, Office 360, Facebook shall be the best example
When infrastructure started to move into cloud it was Virtual Machines, Storage and Network that started the Cloud culture with Infrastructure as a solution (IAAS). Immediately Platform as a solution (PAAS) started to trend the cloud. Databases are most notable among the Azure PAAS Services.
Those are the days where if an application team needs a Database for their business purpose then they need to involve Server team, Storage team, Network team and DBA team to set the Database. Server, Storage and Network team would get the Server ready and the DBA team need to install the Database engine they need (May me SQL Server, Oracle or whatever). Once the Setup is ready then the DBA team has to get the Database created and all the team together need to manage the setup. Now Cloud made things easier for the Business. If the application team need a database then in few clicks they can get the Database created in Cloud(PAAS databases). We need not worry about the OS hosting the database, Patching Cycle, Backups and even the availability, Cloud will take care of everything for you.
Database PAAS Services provided by Azure are
Azure SQL Database
A fully managed relational database that provisions quickly, scales on the fly, and includes built-in intelligence and security.
Azure Cosmos DB:
A globally distributed multi-model database, with support for NoSQL choices, with industry-leading performance and SLAs
Azure Database for MariaDB
A fully managed, scalable MariaDB relational database with high availability and security built in at no extra cost
Azure Database for PostgreSQL
A fully managed, scalable PostgreSQL relational database with high availability and security built in at no extra cost
Azure Cache for Redis
High throughput and consistent low-latency data access to power fast, scalable applications
In the coming Articles I will explain briefly on the most of the databases Services available in Azure.
CloudToon 
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