Drupal 8 on azure 7 reasons why it is a match made in heaven

https://solaceinfotech.com/blog/benefits-of-drupal-8-on-azure/
First of all, Drupal 8 is the greatest release of Drupal. It is the most widely used enterprise web content management system. Developers like it and prefer for its speed and flexibility also. The main platform of Drupal has more than 200 in built features to help businesses to create memorable digital experiences.

Drupal 8

Drupal 8 offers mobile-first approach and also supports responsive design. The content authoring in Drupal is easier. Drupal 8 helps in creating great online experiences for audiences across the globe with better globalization and multi-lingual support. Drupal 8 is being adopted twice as fast as Drupal 7 had been. Code of Drupal 8 includes object-oriented classes, interfaces, inheritance. It uses PHP standards and requires at least PHP 5.5. 

Most common question is- Which is the right platform for hosting Drupal websites? There is not a complete solution which fits it all. Drupal 8 sites on Azure gives many business benefits. 

Benefits of Drupal 8 on Azure-

Azure, the cloud platform operated by Microsoft, is an high-level hosting environment providing:

• Managed web server instances (Web Worker Role)
• Database services (SQL Azure)
• Similarly, File storage and distribution (Azure Blob Storage)
• CDN and caching for both the web server instances and the file distribution
• Simple object storage (Azure Table)
• And other related services (less useful for Drupal)

Reasons why Microsoft Azure is a good platform for Drupal hosting- 

1. Drupal Web App- 

It is very easy and also simple to migrate a Drupal website to Azure Web App. By following some easy steps, complete Drupal site can be moved within an hour. These simple steps include the creation of Azure website, the creation of MySQL database and copying it to Azure Web Apps and developing the code using version control tools such as Git BitBucket.

2. Pre-Installed Drupal Tools- 

Developers using some popular version control tools such as Git and BigBucket. Azure has made these tools available pre-installed with just only plug-and-play with its platform. By using this, developers can continue to use these tools of their choice and also improve their development workflows.

3. Ready modules for authentication, file storage-

There are various ready made modules accessible in Drupal for commonly used tasks, For eg., authentication, controlling access and likewise distributed file storage. With the use of such modules, developers can save a lot of development time and as a result influence the ready made connectivity with Azure platform. Many of these modules uses libraries of Microsoft and these are stable and scalable also. 

4. Caching tools-

Those websites having heavy content need to use caching tools. These tools are used to provide better search options for a hazard free user experience. Varnish and Memcache are caching tools and search experience enhancers like Apache Solr are popular within developers community. These tools are available as plug-ins with Microsoft Azure. It makes easy to integrate with the websites and also to increase the speed of website. 

5. Application performance management with application insights-

Application insights is most useful service for web developers. This service helps developers to monitor the performance of their live web applications. It identifies the performance issues. Similarly, it provides necessary analytics tools to help the developers to analyze issues and use of application by the end users. With the use of insights, developers can continuously improve the performance. Insights can also improves the usability of their application. Application insights is correctly hosted within Microsoft Azure. It is free to use until the application has significant use.

6. Premium Partnership-

Microsoft Azure is Premium Technology supporter for Drupal. By this partnership it is more easy and also simple for Drupal developers to instantly start using Windows and Linux Virtual Machines, apps and infrastructure within Microsoft-managed data centers around the world. Using Visual Studio tools, developers can develop and debug apps fast. Due to the features such as built-in auto-scaling and pre-minute billing, organizations that uses Drupal can save money and agile.

7. Used by industries-

Not only organizations but also educational institutes are using the combination of Drupal and Azure for their web applications. For eg.,

1. Group INSEEC- It is one of the biggest international professional training providers which delivers high-quality training not only for luxury but also for hospitality customers.

2. Shezlong- It is an Egypt-based startup which offers online psychotherapy for millions of sufferers.

3. ESADE Business School- It is one of the major international professional training providers. So it delivers high-quality training and hospitality customers. 

Final Words-

If you are searching for a hassle-free Drupal hosting, you should go with the various options provided by Microsoft Azure. It is highly secure and also offers great performance for delivering seamless digital experiences through your Drupal web application. Microsoft offers well documentation and videos for quick assistance.

Are you looking to develop a website for your business? We have a dedicated team that believes in benefits and effectiveness of hosting drupal website on azure platform. Develop a website with Solace that will help you to set you on your way to success of business. Contact us for your effective website development to stand out in the market.

Drupal 8 Is Not A CMS, It’s CMF

https://solaceinfotech.com/blog/drupal-8-is-not-a-cms-its-cmf/

Drupal is a scalable, open platform for web content and digital experiences management. It is a free platform written in PHP and distributed under the General Public License. It provides profound capabilities and endless flexibility on the web. Initially, we were also installing and configuring Drupal, creating content types, menus, views, taxonomy etc. to create not just beautiful but secured and performing websites.

When JS framework and decoupling came to the market, we coordinated AngularJS with Drupal to create more user-friendly websites. This blog is about – Drupal is CMS  or CMF? To know this, first of all see What is CMS and What is CMF?

CMS-

A content management system (CMS) is a computer program which allows publishing, editing and modifying content on a web site as well as maintenance from a central page. A content management system, should be ready to go right out of the limit- something that non-developer can easily setup to use. The main purpose of the CMS is to manage the content( For eg., WordPress).

CMF-

A content management framework (CMF) is a system that facilitates the use of reusable components or customized software for managing web content. A CMF is more like a box of Legos. It could be used to make something very simple, or in the hands of an expert, it could be used to make something VERY complicated.

One of the popular views of a CMF is that, it has to be based on MVC(Model, Views, Controller) architecture. For eg., CodeIgniter, CakePHP.

CMS vs CMF-

In about 2001 Dries Buytaert released Drupal. It began similarly as a simple forum software. However, thanks to the invention of the Node, it quickly evolved from there.

Until Version 4.6, Drupal was still a Node management system or a CMS.

But then something changed…

In Version 4.7, Drupal now had the ability of two awesome Modules called CCK and Views. This was the real turning point for Drupal. This was a point, when it stopped being a CMS and starting to become a true Framework.

This is when all these pre-defined Nodes started being replaced with “text-fields” and “date-fields” and “image-fields“. No longer were we confined to using a pre-built solution, we were instead encouraged to build our own. From few years with Drupal 8, you can see that transformation is almost complete. 

Never again will you discover Recipe Modules for download. The expectation for Drupal these days is that you will build your own content.

Compatible modules or functionality to call it a CMF-

1. Exchange of relevant data-

It is helpful to reuse the data on numerous applications, after feeding it once on a single application. Whereas the creation of content is a tedious, time-consuming and costly task. Based on the requirement, whole or sub-set of data can be exchanged within numerous applications. One of the most important benefits of Drupal for exchanging the data is Feeds. These feeds are used to import data, while Views with JSON or XML format output helps to export or provide the required data to third-party applications. Out of the box modules that integrate with various Geolocation tools, Payment Services, Social Networks, CRM, ERP and many other open standards are also available in Drupal.

2. Third party authentication-

For any application, the users’ journey begins with sign-up and login so that users can access the authorized content. 

Nowadays, where everything is available just on click, sign-up and login should be quick and easy. So, now almost each application provides a social media login or SSO so that their users can access the authorized content or sub-domain or sub-sites. This authentication process must be secure while being quick. Various authentication modules are available on Drupal like Google authentication, Social Media sign-ins etc. Apart from this, customization can also be done using Authentication API, RESTful web services API for 3rd party application sign-ins.

3. Subscription or user type based Access control-

Content authoring and publishing requires a workflow and necessary permission to access the draft or review content. An access control of data also vary based on subscription for the end user or any third-party consumer. Roles and permissions gives access control which is more than enough, however, the Workflow and Rules module can be configured for particular access requirements. Higher customization can be done if required as RESTful web services API are part of Drupal core.

4. Having large numbers of users-

If the time required to produce and give the result to the end-user is minimum, then the framework will engage more users. Also caching the result or data is the best part to solve this purpose.

Drupal provides multiple caching for blocks, pages etc. and also it is quite intelligent. Drupal has a benefit of setting the cache timer which require special access permission to the end user. For eg., About us page or most popular articles block can be cached from a few hours to days. Whereas, latest Tweets or Facebook posts to be cached only for 15 Mins to a few hours only. This can be increased using Memcache, Varnish, APC or PHP 7 opcode cache. 

5. Integration with JS Framework like Angular, React-

Drupal provides flexibility to apply animation to represent data, also have desired look and feel for the same block or change and update it whenever required.

JS framework can be integrated by using libraries and tweaking the template file. However, to make it easier now Drupal is looking to adopt React.This implies the application can use the best of both worlds. Where Drupal will provide the user, content management, and workflow. Also, by using feed, REST APIs or views (as mentioned above) the representation of data can be beautify using JS frameworks.

6. Quick turnaround for production setup-

Out of the limitations, distributions are available on Drupal to develop basic commerce or social media sites. Due to this, developing a basic commerce site would only take a few days.

Configuration Management System, Distribution (installation profiles) help for a quick turnaround along with the features, hook_install, and devel module to create dummy data (If required). As a result, this helps in creating multiple instances of the same site.

7. E2E and automated testing-

Automation also helps in test coverage, data-driven testing, and performing different types of testing such as Functional, Regression, Smoke, API, etc. – both, efficiently and effectively.

This is possible because of simpletest, an integral part of Drupal that requires the developer to write test files at the time of module writing so that any changes in the modules can be verified then and there; and is largely used for Behavior Driven Development. Thereby, saving a lot of time and cost.

Conclusion-

Considering these benefits Drupal provides, it is more than a CMS, it is a CMF.