StackNova / Paths / Cloud
PATH 02 · CLOUD

Runtime and identity.

Containers and the platforms that run them in production, plus the Microsoft Entra family that decides who can sign in and what they can reach.

14 ARTICLES

Articles in this path.

Two clusters. Containers - the foundation, the tool that made them ubiquitous, where they run in production, the comparisons to help you pick, and how each side auto-scales. And identity - the Microsoft Entra family that decides who can sign in and what they can reach.

CLOUD · FUNDAMENTALS / LEVEL 101

What is a container?

The runtime-agnostic foundation - what's inside one, how it differs from a virtual machine, and the Linux primitives (namespaces, cgroups, layered filesystems) that make it work.

Read it
CLOUD · CONTAINERS / LEVEL 101

What is Docker?

The platform that turned containers usable - Engine, CLI, Desktop, Hub, Compose, and Buildx, plus the build-ship-run cycle every developer learns first.

Read it
CLOUD · CONTAINERS / LEVEL 101

What is Podman?

The daemonless, rootless container engine - the same commands as Docker, minus the background service and the need for root, plus pods that mirror Kubernetes.

Read it
CLOUD · CONTAINERS / LEVEL 101

What is an Azure Container App?

Serverless containers as long-lived services - HTTPS, autoscaling, rolling revisions, and a managed environment, without a Kubernetes cluster to operate underneath.

Read it
CLOUD · CONTAINERS / LEVEL 201

What is an Azure Container App Job?

Serverless containers that start, do work, and exit - scheduled by cron, triggered by a queue, or kicked off on demand, on the same platform that runs your services.

Read it
CLOUD · COMPARISON / LEVEL 101

Container App vs Container App Job

Same platform, same image, two contracts. The dividing line between Apps and Jobs, the billing implications, and a four-question decision tree for picking the right one.

Read it
CLOUD · COMPARISON / LEVEL 101

Azure Function vs Container App Job

Two serverless ways to run bounded work on Azure - one ships a container, one ships a handler. Duration, programming model, billing, and which one fits the task.

Read it
CLOUD · SCALING / LEVEL 101

How Functions and Jobs scale

Both auto-scale - but through different machinery and different units. The scale signal, the scale controller vs KEDA, scale to zero, and a worked burst.

Read it
CLOUD · IDENTITY / LEVEL 101

The Entra Family

A field guide to every product under the Microsoft Entra umbrella - what each one does, what problem it solves, and when you'd actually reach for it.

Read it
CLOUD · IDENTITY / LEVEL 101

What is Microsoft Entra?

The umbrella for Microsoft's identity and network access portfolio - a family centered on Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) that secures who can sign in and what they can reach.

Read it
CLOUD · IDENTITY / LEVEL 101

What is Microsoft Entra ID?

The cloud directory that Microsoft 365 and Azure both sit on - users, groups, and applications, formerly known as Azure Active Directory.

Read it
CLOUD · IDENTITY / LEVEL 101

What is Entra External ID?

The unified identity service for everyone outside your org - consumers, business customers, and partner guests - and the successor to Azure AD B2C for new builds.

Read it
CLOUD · IDENTITY / LEVEL 101

What is Azure AD B2C?

The managed customer identity service for sign-up and sign-in on consumer apps - local, social, and enterprise providers, hosted pages, MFA, and OAuth or OIDC tokens.

Read it
CLOUD · APIs / LEVEL 101

What is Microsoft Graph?

The unified REST API for Microsoft 365, Entra, and Windows - one endpoint and one auth contract for users, mail, calendars, files, Teams, groups, and devices.

Read it
EXTERNAL · CURATED

Resources for this path

Official docs, deep dives, and videos worth bookmarking - the canonical sources behind every article.