Whether you’re new to the field or a seasoned professional, mastering the basics in Microsoft Azure can help you jump-start your career and prepare you to dive deeper into the many technical opportunities Azure offers.
The certification validates your basic knowledge of cloud services and how those services are provided with Azure. Candidates should be able to demonstrate a fundamental knowledge of cloud concepts, along with Azure services, workloads, security, privacy, pricing, and support.
| Certification | Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals |
| Required Exam | AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals |
This study guide steps through the exam objectives; directs you to Microsoft and third-party documentation; on and off-line training courses to help you prepare. If you have a must have resource that you think should be added please add a comment below.
Audience Profile
Candidates for this exam should have foundational knowledge of cloud services and how those services are provided with Microsoft Azure. The exam is intended for candidates who are just beginning to work with cloud-based solutions and services or are new to Azure.
Azure Fundamentals exam is an opportunity to prove knowledge of cloud concepts, Azure services, Azure workloads, security and privacy in Azure, as well as Azure pricing and support. Candidates should be familiar with the general technology concepts, including concepts of networking, storage, compute, application support, and application development.
Azure Fundamentals can be used to prepare for other Azure role-based or specialty certifications, but it is not a prerequisite for any of them.
Skills Outline
Describe Cloud Concepts (20-25%)
Identify the benefits and considerations of using cloud services
- identify the benefits of cloud computing, such as High Availability, Scalability, Elasticity, Agility, and Disaster Recovery
- Architecting for resiliency and availability – Azure Architecture Center | Microsoft Docs
- Overview of the reliability pillar – Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework | Microsoft Docs
- Design for scaling – Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework | Microsoft Docs
- What is Elastic Computing – Definition | Microsoft Azure
- Examples of agility outcomes – Cloud Adoption Framework | Microsoft Docs
- identify the differences between Capital Expenditure (CapEx) and Operational Expenditure (OpEx)
- describe the consumption-based model
Describe the differences between categories of cloud services
- describe the shared responsibility model
- describe Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS),
- describe Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
- describe serverless computing
- describe Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
- identify a service type based on a use case
Describe the differences between types of cloud computing
- define cloud computing
- describe Public cloud
- describe Private cloud
- describe Hybrid cloud
- compare and contrast the three types of cloud computing
Describe Core Azure Services (15-20%)
Describe the core Azure architectural components
- describe the benefits and usage of Regions and Region Pairs
- describe the benefits and usage of Availability Zones
- describe the benefits and usage of Resource Groups
- describe the benefits and usage of Subscriptions
- describe the benefits and usage of Management Groups
- describe the benefits and usage of Azure Resource Manager
- explain Azure resources
Describe core resources available in Azure
- describe the benefits and usage of Virtual Machines, Azure App Services, Azure Container Instances (ACI), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and Azure VirtualDesktop
- Azure Compute—Virtualization and Scalability | Microsoft Azure
- Virtual Machines (VMs) for Linux and Windows | Microsoft Azure
- Overview of Windows VMs in Azure – Azure Virtual Machines | Microsoft Docs
- Overview of Linux VMs in Azure – Azure Virtual Machines | Microsoft Docs
- App Service — Build & Host Web Apps | Microsoft Azure
- Overview – Azure App Service | Microsoft Docs
- Azure App Service documentation – Azure App Service | Microsoft Docs
- Azure Container Instances | Microsoft Azure
- Serverless containers in Azure – Azure Container Instances | Microsoft Docs
- Managed Kubernetes Service (AKS) | Microsoft Azure
- Introduction to Azure Kubernetes Service – Azure Kubernetes Service | Microsoft Docs
- Azure Virtual Desktop | Microsoft Azure
- What is Azure Virtual Desktop? – Azure | Microsoft Docs
- describe the benefits and usage of Virtual Networks, VPN Gateway, Virtual Network peering, and ExpressRoute
- Networking | Microsoft Azure
- Virtual Network – Virtual Private Cloud | Microsoft Azure
- Azure Virtual Network | Microsoft Docs
- Azure Virtual Network FAQ | Microsoft Docs
- VPN Gateway – virtual networks | Microsoft Azure
- About Azure VPN Gateway | Microsoft Docs
- Azure Virtual Network peering | Microsoft Docs
- ExpressRoute – Virtual Private Cloud Connections | Microsoft Azure
- Azure ExpressRoute Overview: Connect over a private connection | Microsoft Docs
- FAQ – Azure ExpressRoute | Microsoft Docs
- describe the benefits and usage of Container (Blob) Storage, Disk Storage, File Storage, and storage tiers
- Container (Blob) Storage
- Disk Storage
- File Storage
- Storage Tiers
- describe the benefits and usage of Cosmos DB, Azure SQL Database, Azure Database for MySQL, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, and Azure SQL Managed Instance
- Cosmos DB
- Azure SQL Database
- Azure Database for MySQL
- Azure Database for PostgreSQL
- Azure SQL Managed Instance
- describe the benefits and usage of Azure Marketplace
Describe core solutions and management tools on Azure (10-15%)
Describe core solutions available in Azure
- describe the benefits and usage of Internet of Things (IoT) Hub, IoT Central, and Azure Sphere
- describe the benefits and usage of Azure Synapse Analytics, HDInsight, and Azure Databricks
- describe the benefits and usage of Azure Machine Learning, Cognitive Services and Azure Bot Service
- describe the benefits and usage of serverless computing solutions that include Azure Functions and Logic Apps
- describe the benefits and usage of Azure DevOps, GitHub, GitHub Actions, and Azure DevTest Labs
Describe Azure management tools
- describe the functionality and usage of the Azure Portal, Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, Cloud Shell, and Azure Mobile App
- describe the functionality and usage of Azure Advisor
- describe the functionality and usage of Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates
- describe the functionality and usage of Azure Monitor
- describe the functionality and usage of Azure Service Health
Describe general security and network security features (10-15%)
Describe Azure security features
- describe basic features of Azure Security Center, including policy compliance, security alerts, secure score, and resource hygiene
- Introduction to Azure security | Microsoft Docs
- Microsoft Defender for Cloud – an introduction | Microsoft Docs
- Get policy compliance data – Azure Policy | Microsoft Docs
- Security alerts and incidents in Microsoft Defender for Cloud | Microsoft Docs
- Security posture for Microsoft Defender for Cloud | Microsoft Docs
- Introducing the redesigned Security Center Overview dashboard | Azure blog and updates | Microsoft Azure
- describe the functionality and usage of Azure Key Vault
- describe the functionality and usage of AzureSentinel
- describe the functionality and usage of Azure Dedicated Hosts
Describe Azure network security
- describe the concept of defense in depth
- describe the functionality and usage of Network Security Groups (NSG)
- describe the functionality and usage of Azure Firewall
- describe the functionality and usage of Azure DDoS protection
Describe identity, governance, privacy, and compliance features (15-20%)
Describe core Azure identity services
- explain the difference between authentication and authorization
- define Azure Active Directory
- describe the functionality and usage of Azure Active Directory
- describe the functionality and usage of Conditional Access, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and Single Sign-On (SSO)
Describe Azure governance features
- describe the functionality and usage of Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
- describe the functionality and usage of resource locks
- describe the functionality and usage of tags
- describe the functionality and usage of Azure Policy
- describe the functionality and usage of Azure Blueprints
- describe the Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure
Describe privacy and compliance resources
- describe the Microsoft core tenets of Security, Privacy, and Compliance
Describe Azure cost management and Service Level Agreements (10-15%)
Describe methods for planning and managing costs
- identify factors that can affect costs (resource types, services, locations, ingress and egress traffic)
- identify factors that can reduce costs (reserved instances, reserved capacity, hybrid use benefit, spot pricing)
- describe the functionality and usage of the Pricing calculator and the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculator
- describe the functionality and usage of Azure Cost Management
Describe Azure Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and service lifecycles
- describe the purpose of an Azure Service Level Agreement (SLA)
- identify actions that can impact an SLA (i.e. Availability Zones)
- describe the service lifecycle in Azure (Public Preview and General Availability)
Microsoft Learn – Master the basics of Azure: Fundamentals training series
The ever-growing Microsoft Learn has a whole series of training modules related to AZ-900
- Azure Fundamentals part 1: Describe core Azure concepts
- Azure Fundamentals part 2: Describe core Azure services
- Azure Fundamentals part 3: Describe core solutions and management tools on Azure
- Azure Fundamentals part 4: Describe general security and network security features
- Azure Fundamentals part 5: Describe identity, governance, privacy, and compliance features
- Azure Fundamentals part 6: Describe Azure cost management and service level agreements
Microsoft Azure Virtual Training Day: Fundamentals with a free Exam Voucher
Microsoft Azure Virtual Training Day: Fundamentals event, including the exam upon completing the event, is open to the public and offered at no cost. You’ll also learn the basics of infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS) as well as the key Azure pillars of security, privacy, compliance, and trust.
https://mvtd.events.microsoft.com/Azure
Video Tutorials
Of course, the wonderful John Savile has a whole series of videos that are invaluable for preparing for AZ-900
- John Savile – AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals Certification Course – YouTube
- John Savile – AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals Study Cram – 2022 Edition!
Other AZ-900 Preparation Materials
- Microsoft Azure Virtual Training Day: Fundamentals (includes free AZ-900 Exam Voucher)
- Course AZ-900T00–A: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (2 Day)
- Microsoft Official AZ-900 Sample Questions
- Mindhub: AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Microsoft Official Practice Test
I hope this resource helps you in your preparation for this exam. Let me know how the exam goes or any other resources you find in the comments below.
