Azure Regions are geographically defined locations around the world where Microsoft has data centers and provides its cloud computing services. Each region is composed of multiple data centers, which are located in close proximity to each other for redundancy and resiliency.
As of 2021, Azure has more than 60 regions worldwide, with each region having one or more data centers. These regions are classified into three categories:
- Public regions: These regions are available to everyone and are intended for general-purpose use cases. Examples of public regions include East US, West US, East Asia, and West Europe.
- Government regions: These regions are reserved for use by government agencies and their partners. Examples of government regions include US Government, US Department of Defense, and Germany National Cloud.
- Special regions: These regions are designed for specific use cases, such as compliance or data sovereignty requirements. Examples of special regions include China East, China North, and US DoD Central.
Each region has its own set of Azure services available, and the services available in one region may differ from those available in another. Customers can choose to deploy their applications and services in any of the available regions, and can also choose to replicate their data across multiple regions for disaster recovery and business continuity purposes.
The choice of region depends on various factors such as data sovereignty requirements, latency, availability of services, compliance regulations, and cost. For example, if a company has customers in Europe and needs to comply with GDPR regulations, it may choose to deploy its services in the West Europe region. Similarly, if a company has customers in Asia and requires low latency, it may choose to deploy its services in the East Asia region.
s of September 2021, the current Azure regions are:
- Central US
- East US
- East US 2
- North Central US
- South Central US
- West Central US
- West US
- West US 2
- Canada Central
- Canada East
- Brazil South
- Europe North
- Europe West
- UK South
- UK West
- France Central
- France South
- Germany West Central
- Germany North
- Norway East
- Norway West
- Switzerland North
- Switzerland West
- UAE North
- UAE Central
- South Africa North
- South Africa West
- East Asia
- Southeast Asia
- Japan East
- Japan West
- Korea Central
- Korea South
- Australia East
- Australia Southeast
- Australia Central
- Australia Central 2
- India Central
- India South
- India West
- China East
- China North
- US DoD Central
- US DoD East
Note that the availability of Azure services and the number of data centers within a region may vary.
Region Pairs
Region pairs, also known as paired regions or geographic redundancies, are a feature offered by Azure that enables customers to protect their data and applications from unexpected disasters or disruptions by replicating them across two geographically distant Azure regions. Each Azure region pair consists of two Azure regions located at least 300 miles apart and is designed to provide high availability and data durability.
The primary benefit of region pairs is that they enable customers to implement a robust disaster recovery strategy for their Azure resources. If one region in a pair is impacted by an unplanned event, such as a natural disaster, power outage, or cyberattack, the other region in the pair can take over and continue to provide service to customers. This ensures that business-critical applications and data are available and accessible to users, even in the event of a regional outage.
Region pairs are particularly useful for customers who require compliance with specific regulatory requirements, such as data sovereignty laws. By replicating their data and applications across two regions, customers can ensure that their data is stored and processed in compliance with regulatory requirements, while still benefiting from the scale and flexibility of Azure.
It is important to note that region pairs are not automatically enabled for all Azure services, and some services may require additional configuration or setup to take advantage of region pairs. Customers should also be aware of the additional cost associated with replicating data and resources across two regions, as well as the potential impact on performance and latency.
Here is a list of all current Azure regions and their paired regions:
- Central US: East US
- East US: Central US
- East US 2: Central US
- West US: East US 2
- North Central US: South Central US
- South Central US: North Central US
- West Central US: East US
- Canada Central: Canada East
- Canada East: Canada Central
- Brazil South: South Central US
- UK South: UK West
- UK West: UK South
- France Central: France South
- Germany North: Germany West Central
- Germany West Central: Germany North
- Norway East: Norway West
- Switzerland North: Switzerland West
- UAE Central: UAE North
- South Africa North: South Africa West
- East Asia: Southeast Asia
- Southeast Asia: East Asia
- Japan East: Japan West
- Korea Central: Korea South
- Australia East: Australia Southeast
- Australia Southeast: Australia East
- Central India: South India
- South India: Central India
- West India: South India
- Japan West: Japan East
- Korea South: Korea Central
It is important to note that region pairs may change over time due to the addition of new regions or updates to Azure’s infrastructure. Customers should refer to the Azure documentation or consult with Azure support for the most up-to-date information on region pairs.
Azure Sovereign Regions
Azure Sovereign Regions are a set of Azure regions specifically designed to meet the compliance and regulatory requirements of customers with specialized data protection needs. These regions are operated by Microsoft and are isolated from other Azure regions, providing additional security and compliance features.
There are currently two Azure Sovereign Regions: Azure Government and Azure China. Azure Government is designed to meet the regulatory requirements of U.S. federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as partners who serve these customers. Azure China is designed to meet the regulatory requirements of the Chinese government and its customers.
Azure Government offers a range of services tailored to meet the unique needs of government customers, including:
- Compliance with U.S. government standards, such as FedRAMP, DoD IL 4-5, and CJIS
- Access to Azure Government-specific services, such as Azure Government Secret, which is designed for customers with classified workloads
- Data residency options to ensure that customer data is stored within the United States
- Enhanced security features, such as network isolation, intrusion detection, and DDoS protection
- Support for hybrid cloud scenarios, including connections to on-premises infrastructure and other cloud environments
Azure China offers a similar set of services tailored to meet the regulatory requirements of the Chinese government and its customers. Some of the key features of Azure China include:
- Compliance with Chinese government regulations, including the Multi-Level Protection Scheme (MLPS)
- Access to Azure China-specific services, such as Azure China 21Vianet, which is operated by 21Vianet and licensed by Microsoft
- Data residency options to ensure that customer data is stored within China
- Enhanced security features, such as network isolation, intrusion detection, and DDoS protection
- Support for hybrid cloud scenarios, including connections to on-premises infrastructure and other cloud environments
Azure Sovereign Regions provide customers with specialized data protection needs the ability to run their workloads in a highly secure and compliant environment.
