What is an Azure landing zone? | Architecture | Accelerator (2024)

To create the initial cloud environment, Azure landing zones provide a clear architecture, reference implementations, and code samples. By consistently implementing a set of common design areas, this environment will support all other adoption efforts. These design areas represent how the cloud-based operating model is supported.

Azure landing zone implementation options provide a reference implementation or approach to assist in making decisions about networking, identity, resource organization, governance, operations, and other design areas that affect the environment. The options provide a structure for organizations to follow in order to ensure that all minimal design considerations are made and decisions are reflected consistently across the cloud environment.

Azure Landing Zones Implementation Options

Azure landing zones are designed to meet customers’ specific needs based on today’s requirements, followed by a clear path to customize and mature any personalized landing zone implementation. This begins with selecting an implementation option for a landing zone, which will quickly deploy a starting point for the cloud environment.

Some Azure landing zones are intentionally small in order to encourage skill development and customization. The “start small” implementation options establish an infrastructure-as-code approach and then provide a series of decision guides to the IT team. This method aids in directing the thoughts and decisions that must be made. This iterative approach lays the groundwork in tandem with the cloud adoption strategy, allowing the team to make more concrete decisions as their cloud experience grows.

The “enterprise-scale” implementation option fills in the gaps for organizations with well-defined operating models. This option includes extremely detailed security, governance, and operations solutions. In the reference implementations, these solutions are automated and enforced by Azure Policy and other governance tools. When organizations begin with enterprise-scale, they can reduce the number of decision points and implement a proven cloud operating model more quickly.

Scalable and Modular

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for all technical environments. A few Azure landing zone implementation options can assist you in meeting the deployment and operations requirements of your expanding cloud portfolio.

Scalable: Regardless of the workloads or Azure resources deployed to each landing zone instance, all Azure landing zones support cloud adoption at scale by providing repeatable environments with consistent configuration and controls.

Modular:Based on a common set of design areas, all Azure landing zones provide a modular approach to building out your environment. Each design area is easily extensible to meet the specific requirements of various technology platforms such as Azure SQL Database, Azure Kubernetes Service, and Azure Virtual Desktop.

Whether you’re looking to deploy your first production application to Azure or manage a complex portfolio of tech platforms and workloads, the Azure landing zone implementation options can be tailored to your specific requirements.

Platform landing zones vs. application landing zones

Azure Landing Zone Architecture

The Azure landing zone conceptual architecture shown below represents the destination in many organizations’ cloud adoption journeys. It is a mature, scaled-out target architecture designed to assist organizations in running successful cloud environments that drive their business while adhering to best practices for security and governance.

This conceptual architecture represents scale and maturity decisions based on a wealth of lessons learned and feedback from customers who have integrated Azure into their digital estate.

While your specific implementation may differ as a result of specific business decisions or existing investments in tools that must persist in your cloud environment, this conceptual architecture will help set a direction for your organization’s overall approach to designing and implementing a landing zone.

Azure Landing Zone Accelerator

The Azure landing zone accelerator is a ready-made deployment experience for organizations where this conceptual architecture aligns with the operating model and resource structure they intend to use.

The accelerator is an Azure portal-based deployment that will deliver a complete implementation of the conceptual architecture, as well as opinionated configurations for important components like management groups and policies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions Asked in Interviews

Q1) What is an Azure Landing Zone, and why is it essential in cloud adoption strategies?

Ans. Azure Landing Zone is a collection of best practices and recommendations for creating and executing a well-architected, secure Azure environment. It’s critical to have a standardized and scalable basis for cloud usage.

Q2)How do you ensure security and compliance within an Azure Landing Zone?

Ans. Security and compliance are assured by using Azure Policy, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), Azure Blueprints, and continuous monitoring, which align the Landing Zone with organizational norms and regulatory needs.

Q3) How do you design and implement an Azure Landing Zone to cater to specific organizational requirements and goals?

Ans. Understanding organizational requirements, aligning with governance policies, creating resource hierarchies, establishing networking patterns, and applying security measures all contribute to designing an Azure Landing Zone that is tailored to specific company needs and goals.

Q4) What considerations should be made for scalability and elasticity when designing an Azure Landing Zone for future growth and expansion?

Ans. Scalability and elasticity considerations in an Azure Landing Zone include planning for horizontal scalability, using Azure Auto scale, implementing load balancing, and employing serverless computing technologies to smoothly handle changing workloads and business needs.

Q5) How do you implement network security within an Azure Landing Zone, including strategies for secure connectivity and segmentation?

Ans. To guard against unauthorized access and network threats, Azure Landing Zones utilize network security groups, Azure Firewall and Azure ExpressRoute for secure connection and segmentation.

Knowledge check

Q. What is enterprise-scale?

A. A landing zone design
B. An architectural approach and reference implementation
C. A landing zone reference implementation
D. A landing zone for enterprises only

Comment your answer in the comment box.