Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) Course Notes

Jul 2, 2024

Notes from Andrew Brown's AZ-900 Course Lecture

Introduction

  • AZ-900: Azure Fundamentals Certification for Microsoft Azure.
  • Ideal for beginners to cloud computing.
  • Course covers account setup, core services, and fundamental concepts.
  • Feedback encouraged via Twitter or LinkedIn using hashtag #AzureCertified.

Overview of AZ-900

  • Entry-level cloud certification known as Azure Fundamentals.
  • Focus: Azure core services, fundamentals of cloud computing, hands-on experience with Azure portal.
  • Role-based roadmap: Fundamental, Associate, Expert, Specialty.
    • Fundamentals: AZ-900
    • Associate: Administrator, Developer, AI Engineer, Data Scientist, Data Engineer (DP-200, DP-201), Security (optional)
    • Expert: Solution Architect (two exams), DevOps Engineer
    • Specialty: Azure for SAP Workloads, IoT Developer

Why Get Certified?

  • Sales/management: Understand reasons to adopt Azure.
  • Developers: Demonstrate familiarity with cloud concepts.
  • Focus on security and business-centric concepts like TCO calculators and SLAs.

Value of AZ-900

  • Not a strong resume tool for developers alone.
  • Useful for cross-cloud knowledge demonstration.
  • Builds confidence and familiarity with the exam process.

Study Time Recommendations

  • Junior to mid developers: ~8 hours
  • Bootcamp grads: ~15 hours
  • Sales/management: ~20 hours
  • Study 1-3 hours daily for a week.

Exam Locations

  • Partnered with Pearson VUE for in-person or proctored at-home exams.

Study Components

  1. Video Lectures: Memorize key information.
  2. Hands-on Labs: Follow along with your Azure account setup.
  3. Practice Exams: Use paid practice exams to simulate the real test environment.

Exam Guide Breakdown

  • Domains: Cloud concepts, Azure core services, Security/privacy/compliance/trust, Pricing/support.
  • Scoring: 70% to pass, aim for 75%+ due to scaled scoring.
  • Format: Multiple choice, multiple answer, drag and drop, hot area (dropdowns).
  • 40-60 questions, variable.
  • Duration: 60 minutes (90 minutes including instruction time).
  • Validity: 24 months
  • Skills Measured: Cloud terms (availability, scalability), EC (economy of scale), Cloud models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), Core services, Security tools, Governance, Compliance, Pricing (TCO calculators), SLAs.

Cloud Computing Introduction

  • Definition: Using remote servers on the internet for data storage, management, and processing instead of local servers.
  • Cloud benefits: Cost-effective, global reach, secure, reliable, scalable, elastic, always current.
  • Cloud Types: IaaS (infrastructure), PaaS (platform), SaaS (software).
  • Responsibilities: Differentiated among on-premises, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS.

Cloud Models

  • Public Cloud: Built on the cloud service provider's infrastructure, fully remote.
  • Private Cloud: Built on the company's own data centers, or on-premise.
  • Hybrid Cloud: Combination of on-premises and cloud, connected (e.g., Express Route).
  • Cross Cloud: Using multiple cloud providers, also known as multi-cloud or hybrid cloud, managed via tools like Azure Arc.

Economy of Scale

  • Capex vs. Opex: Capital Expenditures (CapEx) for physical infrastructure vs. Operational Expenditures (OpEx) for cloud services.
  • Moving to cloud generally results in 75% cost savings due to reduced costs in implementation, security, hardware, IT personnel, and maintenance.

Core Services

  • Compute: Virtual Machines, Containers (Docker), Kubernetes, Functions, Batch.
  • Storage: Blob Storage, Disk Storage, File Storage, Table Storage, Data Box, Archive Storage, Data Lake Storage.
  • Database: Cosmos DB, SQL Database, MySQL, Postgres, MongoDB, SQL Server on VMs, Synapse Analytics, Database Migration Service, Cache for Redis.
  • Networking: Virtual Networks, DNS, Load Balancers (Transport, Application), Network Security Groups, Express Route, VPN Gateway.
  • Application Integration: Notifications Hub, API Apps, Service Bus, Stream Analytics, Logic Apps, API Management, Queue Storage.

Developer and Mobile Tools

  • Azure Functions: Serverless functions for small amounts of code.
  • Azure App Service: Deploy and scale web apps.
  • Visual Studio Code: Popular source code editor.
  • Xamarin: Framework for building mobile applications.

DevOps Services

  • Boards: Kanban board for project management.
  • Pipelines: Build and deploy CI/CD pipelines.
  • Repos: Code repository (like GitHub).
  • Test Plans: Setup manual and automated test environments.
  • Artifacts: Manage Azure packages.
  • Dev Test Labs: Create easy-to-manage test environments.

Security and Compliance Tools

  • Security Center: Infrastructure security management system.
  • Key Vault: Manage secrets, keys, and certificates.
  • DDoS Protection: Basic and Standard plans to protect against attacks.
  • Firewall: Managed cloud-based network security.

Certification Exam Tips

  • Focus on key concepts: cloud types, core services, governance, deployment, monitoring, SLAs, pricing, cost management.
  • Use all available study resources: videos, labs, practice tests.
  • Schedule through Pearson VUE for flexibility in exam locations.
  • Maintain a steady study pace for constant learning and retention.