Microsoft Azure

An Azure virtual machine is a server that runs in a Microsoft data centre instead of your office. You choose the region, and the processor, memory and disk it needs, and pay for those resources while it runs. Your people reach it securely from anywhere, and there is no hardware for you to repair or replace.

Virtual machines are a natural home for software that needs a Windows server, such as Sage Pastel Partner, Sage VIP, QuickBooks and SYSPRO. They also suit heavy applications that slow laptops down, test environments you switch on only when needed, older line-of-business software that can’t move to a modern app yet, and failover servers that take over if your main system goes down.

We size each machine to its job. Azure offers burstable machines for light, uneven workloads, general-purpose machines for everyday servers, compute-optimised machines for processing-heavy software and memory-optimised machines for databases. We monitor, patch and back up every virtual machine we run for you, and resize it as your needs change.

Azure Storage gives your business secure, scalable cloud storage that people can reach from the office or at home. It is built for availability and durability, and you can keep your data in South Africa, under South African law, or choose another region.

• Azure Files: fully managed file shares that replace or supplement an ageing file server. Folders can be lifted and shifted to the cloud without rewriting anything, and Windows, macOS and Linux devices can all connect.
• Azure managed disks: the drives behind Azure virtual machines, from standard hard disks to premium and ultra SSDs, sized to how fast each workload needs to be.
• Azure Blob Storage: low-cost storage for unstructured data such as images, video, backups and archives, with hot, cool and archive tiers so rarely used data costs less.

Storage is billed as you go, so you never pay for capacity you don’t use. Standard storage suits most files and backups; premium SSD storage suits databases and busy servers. For everyday document sharing, see cloud storage and Microsoft 365.

Moving to the cloud can feel risky when your business depends on the systems you have, so a good Azure migration starts with understanding them. Our engineers assess your servers, applications, network and data, check how ready each one is to move, and agree the order with you based on your goals and budget. We work in three stages:

1. Assess: list what you run, find what depends on what, and estimate what it will cost to run in Azure.
2. Migrate: move workloads in planned windows, starting with the least critical, so your people keep working.
3. Optimise: right-size what has moved, switch off what is no longer needed, and set up monitoring and backup.

We move Windows Server and SQL Server applications, including Sage Pastel, Sage payroll and SYSPRO, and line-of-business software that has to keep running during the move. Read our cloud migration checklist before you start, or see cloud services for moving files and email to Microsoft 365.

Cyber attacks get the headlines, but data is just as often lost to failed hardware, deleted files, power problems or a flood in the server room. Moving to the cloud doesn’t remove that risk on its own: your data still needs a backup you can restore.

Azure Backup copies your servers, virtual machines, files and databases to Microsoft’s cloud on a schedule, encrypted in transit and at rest, and you can keep a local copy for fast restores too. You choose how many copies Azure keeps, and where:

• Locally redundant storage (LRS): three copies in one data centre, the lowest-cost option, protecting against hardware failure.
• Zone-redundant storage (ZRS): copies across separate data centres in one region, so a power or site outage doesn’t stop you.
• Geo-redundant storage (GRS): copies in a second region hundreds of kilometres away, for protection against a regional disaster.

Azure Site Recovery works alongside Azure Backup. Backup keeps your data safe; Site Recovery replicates whole servers so they can be started in Azure if your main site goes down. Together they form your disaster recovery plan, and we check that backups complete and restore.