Top Microsoft Azure Blogs to Follow in 2022

Microsoft Azure is one of the top three cloud service providers, and there are dozens of Microsoft Azure blogs focused on helping readers understand the various services the cloud service provider offers. One of the top players in cloud computing for years, Azure has surpassed Amazon Web Services (AWS) in usage in 2022, according to the Flexera 2022 State of the Cloud Report.

In a 67-page research report published in June, Credit Suisse research analysts led by Phil Winslow said they anticipate Microsoft Azure will continue to narrow the revenue gap to Amazon Web Services, which is currently number one in the field. The analysts wrote, “Azure has grown meaningfully faster than AWS when achieving revenue run-rate milestones . . .” Credit Suisse believes the Azure growth trend will “continue to narrow the revenue gap” with AWS. The analysts believe that customers who already have large investments in Microsoft technology in their own data centers are likely to choose Azure as a strategic cloud provider.

Whether you or your organization are currently an Azure customer or are thinking of becoming one, you’ll learn about the pros and cons by reading a variety of blog posts. We’ve listed the Top 10 blogs that focus on Microsoft Azure to help you get started with your research.

Top Microsoft Azure Blogs to Follow

What better place to find the latest news on Azure than from Microsoft itself? Written by Azure team members, the Microsoft Azure Blog covers a wide range of topics. With posts archived back to 2008, popular topics include general announcements about services and features, developer tools, Azure databases, big data, and Azure Virtual Machines. Microsoft’s Azure Blog posts are geared towards users familiar with Azure, as there are little to no “beginner-friendly” posts on the site. However, it’s a great place to be alerted to new features and updates and to learn about features that are currently in preview or development.

Specialty: Azure Serverless

Skill level: Beginner/Intermediate

Serverless360 is an Azure management platform that is focused on making Azure’s user experience easier. The company’s blog publishes posts covering retrospective looks on Azure’s rollouts and detailed explanations of various topics, such as Azure automation, Data Explorer and Azure Service Bus. Almost all the Serverless360 blog posts are less than a six-minute read, making them a great resource for simple explanations of complex features. The blog also offers easily digestible overviews on Azure communication services, serverless SQL database offerings, and Azure container apps. If you’re new to Azure, and want to learn foundational level knowledge on cloud concepts, such as core Azure services and Azure management and governance features and tools, check out the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals training course.

Specialty: Cloud & Datacenter

Skill level: Intermediate/Advanced

Thomas Maurer, a member of the Azure engineering team and senior program manager for Azure Hybrid, created his personal blog to share his knowledge of Azure and Microsoft with a worldwide audience while collecting feedback along the way to make changes and improvements to Azure. Publishing about five blog posts per month and posting numerous videos, Maurer provides clear explanations on using Azure features and services. For example, he explicitly describes how to set up and use new the Windows Admin Center in the Azure portal and provides detailed screenshots for clarification. While the blog posts at Thomas Maurer are advanced — covering topics such as deploying Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Azure Stack — he also posts news about his “Learn Live” video streams in which he provides introductory discussions on topics like Azure Arc and Hybrid Cloud management. For those who are looking to take a Microsoft Certification Exam, Maurer also has a slew of study guides to help them prepare. ExitCertified, which offers students dozens of courses in Microsoft Azure, also offers training courses in Microsoft, as well as a Microsoft Fundamentals Certification Exam Voucher.

Specialty: Virtualization; Azure Virtual Desktop

Skill level: Intermediate

Christiaan Brinkoff holds an impressive resume. He’s worked as a principle program manager on the Windows 365 cloud PC Engineering team at Microsoft, has earned a “Global Black Belt” for Azure Virtual Desktop, and has co-hosted the video podcast “Windows on the Cloud.” His eponymous blog, Christiaan Brinkoff, provides step-by-step guides, reviews, and sources for learning more about Azure Virtual Desktop features. While Brinkoff’s Azure blog posts are hyper-specific to Azure Virtual Desktop, he also covers topics such as Windows365 and Windows 10. Brinkoff also posts notices of his frequent “ask me anything” livestreams, where viewers can take advantage of his advanced knowledge and discuss the latest features in Azure Virtual Desktop.

Specialty: Windows Servers; Clustering

Skill level: Intermediate/Advanced

With over 2 million hits on his blog, Robert Smit must be doing something right. Smit has covered dozens of Azure topics, such as Azure file sharing, recovery, Stack, and virtual machines. But what sets the Robert Smith blog apart is his account of failures and the fixes for them, such as Azure Stack Proof of Concept (POC) deployment issues and cluster errors in Azure Active Directory. While Smit’s instructions are advanced, he provides screenshots and graphics to show users step by step how to fix each issue. Since Smit’s blog is searchable, it’s easy to look up specific issues you may be having with Azure. Smit is a Senior Technical Evangelist and a Microsoft MVP in clustering.

Specialty: Cloud & Enterprise Technology; Azure CLI

Skill level: Advanced

Build5Nines was launched as BuildAzure.com in 2015 with a heavy focus on Microsoft Azure-related content. It was rebranded as Build5Nines.com in 2019, covering everything in the cloud and enterprise space, not just Microsoft technologies. Still, there’s a heavy focus on Microsoft Azure, and the blog has more than 100,000 monthly views. The blog covers all areas of technology surrounding the Microsoft ecosystem. Azure Administrators, DevOps Engineers, Developers and Solutions Architects who write scripts on a daily basis will find help using the Azure CLI (Command-Line Interface) through a project called “Az Kung Fu.” The Azure CLI Kung Fu project will point you in the right direction to save time and work smarter with Azure CLI scripting.

Specialty: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Skill level: Beginner/Intermediate

Richard Hooper is a Microsoft MVP for Azure and a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) working as an Azure architect. He created his blog, PixelRobots, in 2016 to store his step-by-step, troubleshooting guides for Microsoft technologies and to help other people by sharing these guides and his ideas. Hooper’s blog also provides discussions about new Azure features and comprehensive posts about Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). The blog posts are easily digestible with an average reading time of less than five minutes, but they contain a wealth of Azure information. Whether you’re just a beginner who wants to learn about containers and gain basic knowledge of Kubernetes or you’re more advanced and are looking to increase your expertise, you can find a variety of Kubernetes training courses to suit your level.   

Specialty: Cloud Native & Kubernetes

Skill level: Advanced

A former Microsoft employee who worked as an Azure Technology Solutions Professional, Daniel Neumann started his personal blog in 2008 to write his thoughts about Microsoft Azure, Kubernetes, and Cloud Native technologies. With over 255 posts dedicated to Azure alone, Daniel’s Tech Blog is a one-stop-shop Azure developers and engineers for information and guidance on Azure Virtual Machines, Stacks, Kubernetes and more. Neumann sets provides links to his own scripts and posts guides for using them, providing insight on issues such as Azure IaaS configuration scripts, volume over commitments on a Hyper-V Cluster, and virtual hard disk renames. He also posts links to a list of blogs from people who have received the Most Valuable Professional award for Microsoft Azure.

Specialty: Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Service

Skill level: Intermediate

RebelAdmin is run by Dishan Francis, an Azure/Identity consultant at Microsoft, and contains over 400 blog posts on different Azure services. Francis is a seven-time winner of Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professional award and the author of “Mastering Active Directory.” While he writes on a variety of Azure topics, his main focus is on Active Directory Service. He posts step-by-step guides on Azure AD, making his blog an invaluable resource for IT admins and app developers. He also blogs on security issues, such as how to set up and use Microsoft Defender and how to encrypt Azure disks. If you’re looking to understand Active Directory, check out this one-day course, the Fundamentals of Active Directory.

Specialty: IT Training; Cloud Computing

Skill level: All

ExitCertified has a blog on all things related to technology, including DevOps, the cloud, the most in-demand IT skills, business intelligence and Microsoft Azure. ExitCertified discusses Azure basics in articles like “How Microsoft Azure Works,” “Microsoft Azure vs. Amazon Web Services: What's the Difference?” and “Machine Learning Service Comparisons Among the Main Cloud Vendors.”

On the blog page, you’ll find dozens of topic categories to choose from, including news, virtualization, big data,  AWS, SAP, and Cloud.  ExitCertified provides nearly 100 training courses on Microsoft Azure, as well as hundreds of other IT courses.