Azure Acronyms for ISV Marketplace Success

One of the more challenging parts of joining a new ecosystem is learning to talk the talk and walk the walk. For those just joining the Azure Marketplace, we’ve got a guide for you. 

How you engage and the language you use in the Salesforce ecosystem vs. Microsoft Azure ecosystem should be unique to each. And when you move from one ecosystem to another there is a whole new language to learn. Each ecosystem will talk about their specific business differently and getting the language right matters. 

Based on the popularity of our Salesforce acronyms blog post, we’ve created a helpful guide for the Azure Marketplace. 

Account –  An account is used to access and manage an Azure subscription. It’s often referred to as an Azure account although an account can be any of these: an existing work, school, or personal Microsoft account. You can also create an account to manage an Azure subscription when you sign up for the free trial.

• Sign up for an Azure subscription with your Microsoft 365 account and Accounts you can use to sign in.

App Service app – The compute resources that Azure App Service provides for hosting a website or web application, web API, or mobile app backend. App Service apps are also referred to as App Services, web apps, API apps, and mobile apps.

• Access the Azure App Services here 

Availability set – A collection of virtual machines that are managed together to provide application redundancy and reliability. The use of an availability set ensures that during either a planned or unplanned maintenance event at least one virtual machine is available.

Azure classic deployment model – One of two deployment models used to deploy resources in Azure (the new model is Azure Resource Manager). Some Azure services support only the Resource Manager deployment model, some support only the classic deployment model, and some support both. The documentation for each Azure service specifies which model(s) they support.

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) – The service that allows users to deploy, manage and monitor their Azure resources in a consistent and predictable way.

Azure Resource Manager deployment model – The second of the two deployment models used to deploy resources in Microsoft Azure. Some Azure services support only the Resource Manager deployment model, some support only the classic deployment model, and some support both. The documentation for each Azure service specifies which model(s) they support.

Azure CLI – A command-line interface for managing Azure resources from Windows, macOS, and Linux environments. Some services or service features can be managed only via PowerShell or the CLI. 

• Access CLI documentation here

Azure PowerShell – A command-line interface to manage Azure services via a command line from Windows PCs. Some services or service features can be managed only via PowerShell or the CLI. 

• How to install & configure a powershell here

Co-sell opportunity – A co-sell opportunity is a collaboration of multiple parties to sell products that meet a customer’s needs. As a Microsoft Partner, you can take complete advantage of co-sell opportunities. Co-sell opportunities can originate from a customer account when a Microsoft sales representative invites a partner to participate in a co-selling activity. Co-sell opportunities can also originate from a partner who needs more help from Microsoft sales to close a deal.

Types of co-sell opportunities – 

• Partner-to-partner (P2P) – In a partner-to-partner (P2P) opportunity, one partner can invite other partners in the Microsoft co-sell ecosystem to collaborate. Partners can optionally invite a Microsoft sales representative to the deal to help close the deal. Both partners and Microsoft can be invited even after creating a deal, as long as the deal isn’t yet complete.

• Solution assessments (SA) – Solution assessments are deals that can be created only by a set of partners who are vetted by the solution assessments business team for performing technology assessments for customers who are using or are planning to use Microsoft technologies.

• Partner-led – In a partner-led deal, a partner decides to work independently on a deal but allows the details of the deal to be seen by Microsoft sales team members. Partners can invite Microsoft sellers after creating the deal. These deals are eligible for deal registration when an incentive-eligible solution is a part of the deal. 

• Private – In a private deal, a partner decides to work independently on a deal that has been created in the Partner Center. Partners can give visibility to the Microsoft sales team or invite Microsoft sellers. 

• You can access more information about co-sell opportunities here

Fault domain – The collection of virtual machines in an availability set that can possibly fail at the same time. An example is a group of machines in a rack that share a common power source and network switch. In Azure, the virtual machines in an availability set are automatically separated across multiple fault domains.

Geo (also called geography) – A defined boundary for data residency that typically contains two or more regions. The boundaries may be within or beyond national borders and are influenced by tax regulation. Every geo has at least one region.

Region- An area within a geo that does not cross national borders and contains one or more data centers. Pricing, regional services, and offer types are exposed at the region level. A region is typically paired with another region, which can be up to several hundred miles away. Regional pairs can be used as a mechanism for disaster recovery and high availability scenarios. Also referred to as location.

• List of Azure regions here 

Geo-replication – The process of automatically replicating content such as blobs, tables, and queues within a regional pair.

Image – A file that contains the operating system and application configuration that can be used to create any number of virtual machines. In Azure there are two types of images: VM image and OS image. A VM image includes an operating system and all disks attached to a virtual machine when the image is created. An OS image contains only a generalized operating system with no data disk configurations.

IP Co-sell Ready – Collaborative, better-together selling solutions which enables both partners and Microsoft to drive joint sales, revenue and mutual customer success. Co-sell happens when qualified sales leads are shared, accepted and won against Microsoft-managed customers.

Limits – The number of resources that can be created or the performance benchmark that can be achieved. Limits are typically associated with subscriptions, services, and offerings.

• Azure subscription & service limits, quotas and constraints here 

Load balancer– A resource that distributes incoming traffic among computers in a network. In Azure, a load balancer distributes traffic to virtual machines defined in a load-balancer set. A load balancer can be internet-facing, or it can be internal.

Microsoft AppSource –   the destination for business and industry solutions

Azure Marketplace – is designed for IT and developer solutions. Offers are available in each of the online stores based on categories and industries that you selected during the offer creation.

Microsoft Partner Programs – various programs to help ISVs reach success, including the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program and Azure for Independent Software Vendors. 

Microsoft Managed Accounts – are accounts managed by Microsoft. If you pick an account from this tab, the deal is eligible for IP co-sell deal registration if it meets all the other criteria. (For more information, see Register deals you’ve won in Partner Center.)

If Microsoft has multiple entries for the same customer, we display the entries in a single row in the results linked under Show Linked Accounts. You can expand this list to see other accounts for the same customer in the Microsoft database. You can pick any of the entries, as you think appropriate. All the entries are linked to each other, and the same Microsoft team manages them.

Microsoft Unmanaged – these  are accounts that aren’t managed by Microsoft, so if you pick an account from this tab, the deal won’t be eligible for IP co-sell deal registration.

Offer – The pricing, credits, and related terms applicable to an Azure subscription.

• Azure offer details page here 

Pricing Calculator –  Allows you to estimate the costs for Azure products and services.

Portal – The secure web portal used to deploy and manage Azure services.

Resource- An item that is part of your Azure solution. Each Azure service enables you to deploy different types of resources, such as databases or virtual machines.

Resource group – A container in Resource Manager that holds related resources for an application. The resource group can include all of the resources for an application, or only those resources that are logically grouped together. You can decide how you want to allocate resources to resource groups based on what makes the most sense for your organization.

Resource Manager template– A JSON file that declaratively defines one or more Azure resources and that defines dependencies between the deployed resources. The template can be used to deploy the resources consistently and repeatedly.

• Access the Resource Manager Templates here 

Resource provider – A service that supplies the resources you can deploy and manage through Resource Manager. Each resource provider offers operations for working with the resources that are deployed. Resource providers can be accessed through the Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, and several programming SDKs.

Role – a role is a  means for controlling access that can be assigned to users, groups, and services. Roles are able to perform actions such as create, manage, and read on Azure resources.

• Built in roles here

Service level agreement (SLA)- The agreement that describes Microsoft’s commitments for uptime and connectivity. Each Azure service has a specific SLA.

• Access SLAs here

Shared access signature (SAS)– A signature that enables you to grant limited access to a resource, without exposing your account key. For example, Azure Storage uses SAS to grant client access to objects such as blobs. IoT Hub uses SAS to grant devices permission to send telemetry.

Storage account- An account that gives you access to the Azure Blob, Queue, Table, and File services in Azure Storage. The storage account name defines the unique namespace for Azure Storage data objects.

• Access more about storage accounts here 

Subscription- A customer’s agreement with Microsoft that enables them to obtain Azure services. The subscription pricing and related terms are governed by the offer chosen for the subscription. 

Tag- An indexing term that enables you to categorize resources according to your requirements for managing or billing. When you have a complex collection of resources, you can use tags to visualize those assets in the way that makes the most sense. For example, you could tag resources that serve a similar role in your organization or belong to the same department.

• More about using tags to organize your Azure resources here

Tenant- A tenant is a group of users or an organization that share access with specific privileges to an instance of a product, service, or application. In Azure Active Directory a tenant is an instance of Azure Active Directory that an organization receives when it signs up for a cloud application like Microsoft 365. Each Azure AD tenant is distinct and separate from other Azure AD tenants. Multitenancy refers to an instance of an application shared by multiple organizations, each with separate access to the instance.

Azure Active Directory – Azure’s identity and access management service, allowing users to securely manage access to applications, services and resources.

Update domain- The collection of virtual machines in an availability set that are updated at the same time. Virtual machines in the same update domain are restarted together during planned maintenance. Azure never restarts more than one update domain at a time. Also referred to as an upgrade domain.

Virtual machine- The software implementation of a physical computer that runs an operating system. Multiple virtual machines can run simultaneously on the same hardware. In Azure, virtual machines are available in a variety of sizes. 

• Access virtual machine documentation here

Virtual machine extension- A resource that implements behaviors or features that either help other programs work or provide the ability for you to interact with a running computer. For example, you could use the VM Access extension to reset or modify remote access values on an Azure virtual machine.

Virtual network- A network that provides connectivity between your Azure resources that is isolated from all other Azure tenants. An Azure VPN Gateway lets you establish connections between virtual networks and between a virtual network and an on-premises network. You can fully control the IP address blocks, DNS settings, security policies, and route tables within a virtual network.

Learning to speak the language of your Azure audience is key to connecting and growing revenue. If you’d like to learn more about Invisory and how we could help your organizations journey with CRM and Hyperscalers, reach out at info@invisory.co.

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