How To Use Azure Blockchain Service

The
market for cloud services is currently growing at a rapid pace. All modern
technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of
Things (IoT), big data analytics, and web and mobile app hosting require heavy
computing power.
What
is Azure Blockchain Service?
Azure
is a cloud computing platform that has been developed by Microsoft for
creating, testing, deploying, and managing applications. It is a fully managed
ledger service that helps users grow and operate blockchain networks at scale
in Azure. It has the ability to support multiple ledger protocols. It offers
unified control for blockchain network governance and infrastructure
management. It offers the following:
·
Built-in consortium management.
·
Easy network deployment and operations.
·
The ability to build smart contracts using familiar
development tools.
Azure-
Network Deployment and Operations
Azure
Blockchain Service is developed through the Azure CLI, Visual Studio Code, or
the Azure portal with the assistance of the Azure Blockchain extension. Network
deployment is made simple in the Azure Blockchain Service and it including
provisioning both the validator and transaction nodes and Azure Virtual
Networks for service-managed storage and security isolation. When a new member
is deployed, users join or create a consortium. Consortiums allow multiple
parties in several Azure subscriptions to be able to communicate securely with
each other on a shared blockchain. This simplifies blockchain network
deployment to a great extent and reduces the time from days to minutes.
Performance
and Service Tiers
The
two service tiers offered in Azure Blockchain Service are basic and standard.
Each tier offers several capabilities and performance to support lightweight
development and also allows the testing of workloads to massively scaled
production blockchain deployments. Both these tiers include two validator nodes
(standard), one validator node (basic), and one transaction node.
Maintenance
and Security
Once
you provision your first blockchain member, you will be able to add additional
transaction nodes to your member. Transaction nodes need configuration for access
and are safeguarded through firewall rules. Apart from firewall rules, the
other options that can be used for securing transaction node access are access
keys, basic authentication, and Azure Active Directory integration.
Monitoring
and Logging
The
Azure service offers rich metrics through the Azure Monitor Service that
provides insights into the memory, storage usage, and CPU of the nodes. Apart
from these, it also provides insights into blockchain network activity such as
transaction queue depth, active connections, and transactions and blocks mined.
Azure makes it possible to customize metrics to provide views into the
insights. It is also possible to define thresholds through alerts to help users
trigger actions such as sending an email or text message or running a logic app
or Azure function. Users will also be able to view logs related to the Quorum
ledger using Azure Log Analytics.
Built-in
Consortium Management
As
mentioned earlier, at the time of deploying the first blockchain member, you
will either join or create a consortium. A consortium can be understood as a
logical group that manages the connectivity and governance between blockchain
members who transact in a multi-party process. Azure offers governance controls
through pre-defined smart contracts that determine the actions members present
in the consortium are allowed to take. The administrator can customize the
governance controls as and when needed. You must have an invite to join a
consortium. Consortium management actions like removing and adding members from
a consortium can be accessed through a REST API and Power Shell.
Conclusion
I
hope you have now gained a fair idea about the Azure Blockchain Service. To get
instant updates about blockchain certifications and to become a blockchain
expert, check out Blockchain Council.
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