📗 Study Guide for Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam (AZ-900)

This guide is intended to provide a list of pre-selected materials to help anyone starting in the cloud computing career and/or discovering Azure be ready to the AZ-900 exam.

NOTE: A version in Brazilian-Portuguese is available here

Last update on April 7, 2023

📋 Learning Path from Microsoft Learn for Exam AZ-900

• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: Describe core Azure concepts
• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: Describe core Azure services
• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: Describe core solutions and management tools on Azure
• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: Describe general security and network security features
• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: Describe identity, governance, privacy, and compliance features
• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: Describe Azure cost management and service level agreements

📝 Skills Measured - Obtained from the official link

💡 Describe cloud concepts (25–30%)

Describe cloud computing

• Define cloud computing
  • What is cloud computing?
• Describe the shared responsibility model
  • Shared responsibility in the cloud
• Define cloud models, including public, private, and hybrid
  • Different types of cloud model
• Identify appropriate use cases for each cloud model
  • What are the different types of cloud computing services?
  • Describe different cloud services
  • Building blocks of the cloud
• Describe the consumption-based model
  • Cloud computing is a consumption-based model
• Compare cloud pricing models
  • Cloud use cases: CapEx, OpEx
  • Capital expenses vs. operating expenses
  • Cloud computing is a consumption-based model

Describe the benefits of using cloud services

• Describe the benefits of high availability and scalability in the cloud
  • Describe the benefits of high availability and scalability in the cloud
• Describe the benefits of reliability and predictability in the cloud
  • Describe the benefits of reliability and predictability in the cloud
• Describe the benefits of security and governance in the cloud
  • Describe the benefits of security and governance in the cloud
• Describe the benefits of manageability in the cloud
  • Describe the benefits of manageability in the cloud

Describe cloud service types

• Describe infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
  • What is IaaS?
• Describe platform as a service (PaaS)
  • What is PaaS?
• Describe software as a service (SaaS)
  • What is SaaS?

💡 Describe Azure architecture and services (35–40%)

Describe the core architectural components of Azure

• Describe Azure regions, region pairs, and sovereign regions
  • Azure regions, availability zones, and region pairs
• Describe availability zones
  • Regions and availability zones
  • What is resiliency in Azure?
• Describe Azure datacenters
  • Azure Global Infrastructure
  • What are Azure regions and availability zones?
  • Microsoft Datacenter Virtual Tour
  • We live in Cloud
• Describe Azure resources and resource groups
  • What is an Azure resource?
  • What is an Azure resource group?
• Describe availability zone?
  • Availability zones
• Describe subscriptions
  • What is an Azure subscription?
• Describe management groups
  • Azure management groups
• Describe the hierarchy of resource groups, subscriptions, and management groups
  • Hierarchy of management groups and subscriptions
  • Management levels and hierarchy

Describe Azure compute and networking services

• Compare compute types, including container instances, virtual machines (VMs), and functions
  • Containers vs. virtual machines
  • Choose an Azure compute service
• Describe VM options, including Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets, availability sets, and Azure Virtual Desktop
  • Explore Azure compute services
  • What is an availability set?
• Describe resources required for virtual machines
  • Required resources for IaaS Virtual Machines
• Describe application hosting options, including the Web Apps feature of Azure App Service, containers, and virtual machines
  • Explore Azure compute services
• Describe virtual networking, including the purpose of Azure Virtual Networks, Azure virtual subnets, peering, Azure DNS, Azure VPN Gateway, and Azure ExpressRoute
  • Explore Azure networking services
• Define public and private endpoints
  • Difference between service endpoint and private endpoint

Describe Azure storage services

• Compare Azure storage services
  • Explore Azure Storage services
• Describe storage tiers
  • Hot, cool, and archive access tiers for blob data
  • Understand Blob access tiers
• Describe redundancy options
  • Azure storage redundancy
• Describe storage account options and storage types
  • Types of storage accounts
• Identify options for moving files, including AzCopy, Azure Storage Explorer, and Azure File Sync
  • Choose an Azure solution for data transfer
  • Transfer data with AzCopy and file storage
  • Small dataset, low to moderate network bandwidth
  • Large dataset, moderate to high network bandwidth
• Describe migration options, including Azure Migrate and Azure Data Box
  • Choose an Azure solution for data transfer
  • Azure Storage Migration Tools Comparison
  • What is Azure Data Box?

Describe Azure identity, access, and security

• Describe directory services in Azure, including Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), part of Microsoft Entra and Azure Active Directory Domain Services (Azure AD DS)
  • What is Azure Active Directory
  • Compare Active Directory to Azure Active Directory
  • How Azure subscriptions relate to Azure Active Directory
  • Azure Active Directory Tenant
  • Microsoftr Entra
  • Meet Microsoft Entra
  • What is Azure Active Directory Domain Services?
• Describe authentication methods in Azure, including single sign-on (SSO), multifactor authentication, and passwordless
  • Authentication vs. authorization
  • What authentication and verification methods are available in Azure Active Directory?
• Describe external identities and guest access in Azure
  • External Identities in Azure Active Directory
  • Guest users in Azure Active Directory
• Describe Conditional Access in Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), part of Microsoft Entra
  • What is Conditional Access?
• Describe Azure role-based access control (RBAC)
  • What is Azure role-based access control (Azure RBAC)?
• Describe the concept of Zero Trust
  • Zero Trust Security
• Describe the purpose of the defense in depth model
  • Microsoft Azure’s defense in depth approach to cloud vulnerabilities
  • Defense in depth
• Describe the purpose of Microsoft Defender for Cloud
  • What is Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

💡 Describe Azure management and governance (30–35%)

Describe cost management in Azure

• Describe factors that can affect costs in Azure
  • Azure Pricing
  • Bandwith pricing
• Compare the Pricing calculator and the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculator
  • Pricing Calculator
  • The Cost of Ownership (TCO) Calculator
• Describe the Azure Cost Management and Billing tool
  • What is Cost Management + Billing?
  • How to optimize your cloud investment with Cost Management
  • Plan to manage Azure costs
• Describe the purpose of tags
  • Use tags to organize your Azure resources and management hierarchy
  • Tagging decision guide

Describe features and tools in Azure for governance and compliance

• Describe the purpose of Azure Blueprints
  • What is Azure Blueprints
  • Introduction to Azure Blueprints
• Describe the purpose of Azure Policy
  • What is Azure Policy
  • Introduction to Azure Policy
• Describe the purpose of resource locks
  • Lock your resources to protect your infrastructure
• Describe the purpose of the Service Trust Portal
  • Get started with Microsot Service Trust Portal

Describe features and tools for managing and deploying Azure resources

• Describe the Azure portal
  • Choose the best tools for managing and configuring your Azure environment
  • What is the Azure Portal?
• Describe Azure Cloud Shell, including Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell
  • Overview of Azure Cloud Shell
  • What is the Azure CLI?
  • What is Azure PowerShell?
• Describe the purpose of Azure Arc
• Azure ARC Overview
• Describe Azure Resource Manager and Azure Resource Manager templates (ARM templates)
  • What is Azure Resource Manager?
  • What are ARM templates?
  • Deploy and manage resources in Azure by using JSON ARM templates

Describe monitoring tools in Azure

• Describe the purpose of Azure Advisor
  • Azure Advisor Overview
  • Introduction to Azure Advisor
• Describe Azure Service Health
  • What uis Azure Service Health?
  • Intro to Azure Service Health
• Describe Azure Monitor, including Log Analytics, Azure Monitor alerts, and Application Insights
  • Choose the best monitoring service for visibility, insight, and outage mitigation
  • Describe monitoring tools in Azure
  • Monitor app performance
  • Improve incident response with alerting on Azure

Extras

• AZ-900 Overview
• Certification poster
• Free Azure account sign-up
• Exam environment simulation
• Azure Infrastructure Map
• Cloud administration basics
  • Foundations of cloud computing for administrators
  • Provision and manage cloud services
  • Secure your cloud resources with access control
  • Virtualize resources in the cloud
  • Scale your cloud resources with elasticity
  • Automate cloud resource management
  • Monitor cloud resources

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