This book provides you with an introduction to the Microsoft automation solutions: Azure Automation and Service Management Automation. Throughout the chapters, the text explores these tools and how they can be used to meet the automation needs of your Microsoft Azure cloud solutions or your enterprise datacenter environments. We provide considerations on the features of each solution, and how they can be architected to fit your needs. Next, the text explores the interfaces you will use to interact with the solutions, including the web-based portals, Windows PowerShell command-line interaction, and programmatic access via the web services. The text then covers how you implement and manage automation using runbooks, assets, and Integration Modules, along with how you can use a source control system to manage runbook content. Finally, some examples of automation scenarios are discussed, providing you with samples that can be used to speed development in your own solution.