Coming one month after a pair of new data center regions went into production in Japan, another set of Windows Microsoft Azure data center regions have moved into production – in mainland China this time. There was a press release detailing how this is done in partnership with 21Vianet, “the largest carrier-neutral internet data center services provider in China” (source).
The addition of these two new data center regions – in Beijing and Shanghai areas – increases Microsoft’s footprint for Azure data center regions to 12 – joining these 10: Asia Pacific East, Asia Pacific Southeast, Japan East, Japan West, Europe North, Europe West, US West, US East, US South Central, US North Central.
There are also 3 more in the works – one in Brazil and a pair in Australia. In addition there is a pair of US Government-specific Fedramp data center regions.
| [ | |
| { "Geo" : "Asia Pacific", "Region": "Asia Pacific East", "Location": "Hong Kong", "Failover Region" : "Asia Pacific Southeast", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "Asia Pacific", "Region": "Asia Pacific Southeast", "Location": "Singapore", "Failover Region" : "Asia Pacific East", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "Asia Pacific", "Region": "Shanghai China", "Location": "Shanghai China", "Failover Region" : "Beijing China", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "Asia Pacific", "Region": "Beijing China", "Location": "Beijing, China", "Failover Region" : "Shanghai China", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "Australia", "Region": "Australia East", "Location": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Failover Region" : "Australia SE", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "Australia", "Region": "Australia SE", "Location": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Failover Region" : "Australia East", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "South America", "Region": "Brazil South", "Location": "Brazil", "Failover Region" : "US South Central", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "Europe", "Region": "Europe West", "Location": "Amsterdam, Netherlands", "Failover Region" : "Europe North", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "Europe", "Region": "Europe North", "Location": "Dublin, Ireland", "Failover Region" : "Europe West", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "Japan", "Region": "Japan East", "Location": "Saitama, Japan", "Failover Region" : "Japan West", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "Japan", "Region": "Japan West", "Location": "Osaka, Japan", "Failover Region" : "Japan East", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "United States", "Region": "US North Central", "Location": "Chicago, IL, USA", "Failover Region" : "US South Central", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "United States", "Region": "US North Central", "Location": "Chicago, IL, USA", "Failover Region" : "US South Central", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "United States", "Region": "US Central", "Location": "Iowa, USA", "Failover Region" : "US East 2", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "United States", "Region": "US East", "Location": "Bristow, Virginia, USA", "Failover Region" : "US West", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "United States", "Region": "US East 2", "Location": "Virginia, USA", "Failover Region" : "US Central", "Status" : "Preview" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "United States", "Region": "US West", "Location": "San Francisco, California, USA", "Failover Region" : "US East", "Status" : "Production" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "United States", "Region": "US Gov-Iowa", "Location": "Iowa, USA", "Failover Region" : "US Gov-Virginia", "Status" : "Preview" }, | |
| { "Geo" : "United States", "Region": "US Gov-Virginia", "Location": "Virginia, USA", "Failover Region" : "US Gov-Iowa", "Status" : "Production" } | |
| ] |
Microsoft Azure is New Brand
This all comes on the heels of Microsoft recognizing its cloud brand is bigger than just “Windows” and rebranding from Windows Azure to Microsoft Azure. With Linux VMs available, tons of services available over APIs, SDKs for PHP, Python, Ruby, Java, .NET, Node.js, iOS, Android, Windows 8, and Windows Phone, the platform has taken on a decidedly cross-technology feel, with a focus on features rather than on Windows.
Azure Map Updated
For the Azure Map I am maintaining, I updated the JSON meta data in the Azure Map project to promote these two data center regions to “Production” then re-generated and re-posted the GeoJSON and TopoJSON maps. All data is in GitHub. For more info, see these two posts:
- Stupid Azure Trick #5 – Got a Penny? Run a Simple Web Site 100% on Blob Storage for a Month – Cost Analysis Provided – this uses the Azure Map as its example app
- Where’s Azure? Mapping Windows Azure 4 years after full General Availability. – this also offers historical context
The full interactive single-page Azure Map is here: http://azuremap.blob.core.windows.net/apps/bingmap-geojson-display.html
Coding Out Loud 
I don’t see the asia pacific. I need a chinese account to see china region ?
Same problem here – don’t see the Shanghai or Beijing regions …?
Yes, you do need a special account for regions in Beijing and Shanghai (mainland China portal at https://manage.windowsazure.cn/), but not for Hong Kong and Singapore (which are part of general global release at https://manage.windowsazure.com/).
I recommend starting with support (find phone number and other options at http://www.windowsazure.cn/zh-cn/documentation/) to find out how to get an account for mainland China regions.