Friday, September 2, 2016
When deciding to host your Dynamics NAV’s solution data on Microsoft Azure, it is crucial that you deploy your NAV system in the right Microsoft Azure datacenter region. To determine which Microsoft Azure datacenter location is best you must carefully consider performance and availability. Luckily, this article explains all the factors to evaluate in order to choose the right Microsoft Azure datacenter region as well as the technical aspects of deploying your NAV solution in one region versus another.
Microsoft Azure is a huge network of datacenters that are located around the world. The global existence of these Microsoft Azure datacenters provides the ability to deploy a NAV solution anywhere in the world. In order to best meet customer demands, the Azure datacenters are located in 26 strategic places worldwide. Recently, Microsoft has also announced plans to add an additional 8 regions to expand to 34 regions in total.
Probably the most common question about any application cloud deployment is “where my data will be stored?”. There are a number of elements that should be considered when choosing the best Microsoft Azure datacenter region for NAV solution deployment, such as:
1. Network performance
2. Data compliance
3. Regional cost
4. Service capability and availability
The impact of each of these factors will be discussed in the rest of this article.
1. Network Performance for Microsoft Azure
The network performance is probably the most critical factor when determining regionally which Microsoft Azure datacenter your customer’s NAV solution should be hosted on. To determine the best datacenter region for your customer, you should accurately test and measure network latency.
Network latency is an expression of how much time it takes for a packet of data to get from one designated point to another. Therefore, when you, the Partner, considers which Microsoft Azure region datacenter to choose for your customer, among the first things you should do is to validate the latency between your customer’s location and Microsoft Azure regions.
You can test the network latency by using this helpful tool: http://www.azurespeed.com/.
The test should not take more than 5 minutes. According to Microsoft Azure documentation, the benchmark for network performance is 100 MS. The datacenter regions that yield the lowest latency, specifically not exceeding 100 MS, should be shortlisted for deploying your customer’s NAV solution on Microsoft Azure as it will provide the best network performance.
2. Data Compliance on Microsoft Azure
Data compliance is a significantly important factor to consider when determining the right datacenter for your customer’s NAV system deployment. International companies need to guarantee that any software deployed in the cloud abide by the laws and regulations in accordance to the location of the company’s headquarters, foreign subsidiaries, employees and vendors.
Also, despite the primary location of the data, any backup locations must be known to make sure these laws and regulations are followed. By default, backups are created on the same datacenter as the primary data; however, if needed another datacenter can be chosen to store backups.
Pairing Azure Datacenters
Additionally, customer can choose the pairing ability, meaning Microsoft replicates all data stored on Microsoft Azure Storage to the secondary region located in the paired region within the same geography (note: the distance between pairs can be no more than 400 miles). Hence, it is worth considering whether other regions, besides the location where primary data is hosted, abides by the legal regulations as well.
Local Data Security Laws & Regulations
Beyond your customer’s data location, bear in mind the location of the datacenter as well. There could be some difficult laws and regulations that are based on the specific datacenter region. For instance, in China laws allow the local government to access the data regardless of its sensitivity. Your customer might even be prohibited from coding the data without confirming that local authorities can decode it if needed. For that reason, Microsoft Azure datacenters in China are primarily used for China based businesses.
EU’s & Germany’s Data Privacy Regulations
The data protection laws of the European Union (EU) member states are different and have a number of definitive requirements. For example, Germany has specifically one of the strongest privacy policies. That is why Microsoft announced the option for EU customers to store their data in German datacenters. The decision to open two datacenters in Germany was made to strength the datacenters’ security, displaying trust in this European region.
German customers’ cloud data will be stored in two datacenters directed by Deutsche Telekom AG, Germany’s largest telecommunications group. Microsoft will have access to this data only if the permission is granted directly by the customer or Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems, which will have control over the data. If permission is given to Microsoft, they would only proceed under supervision.
Ultimately, in order to choose the right cloud and datacenter services, business leaders must decide with input from the company’s CIO, information security team and privacy professionals.
For more information about where cloud data is located on Microsoft Azure, who can access it, under what circumstance it can be accessed, and how it is responsibly protected, transferred, and deleted please visit the Microsoft Trust Center.
3. Microsoft Azure Datacenter Costs
If latency is not significant for your customer’s NAV application, their data can be deployed in a region with a lower cost. It is important to note that the prices for different Microsoft Azure regions can be dissimilar for the same services and it can vary by up to 20%. The pricing details of each service provided by Microsoft Azure in different regions can be found by referring to this link: Azure Pricing.
With the 1ClickFactory Self-Provisioning for NAV on Azure service, our per-user-per-month pricelist is the same for all datacenters that are offered by Microsoft Azure. Therefore, by deploying Microsoft Azure through 1ClickFactory, we ensure a stable and predictable investment for you and your customer for NAV solution deployment on Microsoft Azure.
4. Microsoft Azure Service Capability and Availability
Despite the fact all Microsoft Azure datacenters offers trusted cloud principles of security, privacy, control, compliance, and transparency as well as consistency with Microsoft’s global cloud services, it is worth mentioning that not all Azure additional features (e.g. analytics) are available everywhere. Before deploying a NAV solution on Microsoft Azure, it is worth reviewing the following link and selecting a region(s) which provides the available services according to your customer’s needs: Services by region.
Microsoft Azure Datacenter vs Self-Provisioning NAV on Azure
To conclude, after considering each critical factor above you are well equipped to select the best Microsoft Azure datacenter(s) to deploy your customer’s NAV solution. It is important to note you should start your evaluation by measuring datacenter network performance as all other factors rely upon the datacenter performing optimally for your customer.
One simple option to ensure you are selecting the best datacenter for your customer’s NAV solution is using the 1ClickFactory Self-Provisioning for NAV on Azure service, an automated platform that offers a subscription, fixed per-user-per month pricing, and allows quick and secure implementation of any Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution with any customizations on Microsoft Azure, all while minimizing your risk associated with Azure’s utility billing.
To find out more about the 1ClickFactory Self-Provisioning for NAV on Azure service, please visit http://partners.1clickfactory.com or contact us at service@1clickfactory.com. The 1ClickFactory Cloud team is ready to support you with any questions you may have!