Stage 7 · Master
AZ-900 — Azure Fundamentals
Azure Architecture & Services (35%)
Regions, compute, networking, storage, and databases — the largest AZ-900 domain.
Regions and Availability Zones
Azure regions are geographic areas containing one or more data centers. Each region has multiple Availability Zones — physically separate locations with independent power, networking, and cooling.
- Region pairs — Two regions paired for disaster recovery (e.g., East US + West US).
- Availability Zones — 3+ zones per region for high availability.
- Resource Groups — Logical containers for organizing and managing resources.
- Azure Resource Manager (ARM) — The deployment and management service for Azure.
Azure pairs regions for disaster recovery. When you deploy across region pairs, Azure ensures that planned maintenance happens in only one region at a time. This provides recovery time objectives (RTO) for business continuity.
Compute Services
| Service | Description | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Azure VMs | IaaS virtual machines | Full OS control, legacy apps |
| App Service | PaaS web app hosting | Web apps, APIs, mobile backends |
| Azure Functions | Serverless compute | Event-driven, short-lived tasks |
| Azure Container Instances | Serverless containers | Quick container workloads |
| Azure Kubernetes Service | Managed Kubernetes | Container orchestration at scale |
| Azure Batch | Large-scale parallel computing | Rendering, simulation, HPC |
Networking Services
- Virtual Network (VNet) — Isolated network in Azure for your resources.
- Load Balancer — Distributes traffic across multiple VMs.
- Application Gateway — Layer 7 load balancer with SSL termination.
- VPN Gateway — Connect on-premises networks to Azure via VPN.
- ExpressRoute — Private, dedicated connections to Azure.
- Azure DNS — Host your DNS domains in Azure.
- Content Delivery Network (CDN) — Cache content at edge locations.
Storage Services
| Service | Description | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Blob Storage | Object storage for unstructured data | Images, videos, backups, logs |
| File Storage | Managed file shares (SMB/NFS) | Lift-and-shift file shares |
| Queue Storage | Message queuing | Decoupling application components |
| Table Storage | NoSQL key-value store | Structured, non-relational data |
| Disk Storage | Managed disks for VMs | OS and data disks |
Know the difference between Hot, Cool, and Archive access tiers. Hot is for frequently accessed data. Cool is for infrequently accessed data (30+ days). Archive is for rarely accessed data (180+ days) with offline retrieval.
Database Services
| Service | Type | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Azure SQL Database | Managed relational (SQL) | Enterprise SQL workloads |
| Azure Cosmos DB | Multi-model NoSQL | Global distribution, low latency |
| Azure Database for MySQL | Managed MySQL | MySQL workloads |
| Azure Database for PostgreSQL | Managed PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL workloads |
| Azure Cache for Redis | In-memory cache | Session caching, API caching |
Key Terms to Memorize
- Azure Resource Manager (ARM) — The management layer for all Azure resources.
- ARM templates — Infrastructure as Code for Azure deployments.
- Azure Marketplace — Third-party applications and services for Azure.
- Azure Advisor — Personalized recommendations for Azure resources.
- Azure Well-Architected Framework — Five pillars: cost, security, reliability, operational excellence, performance.
Useful Commands
# Install Azure CLI
curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLI | bash
# Login
az login
# List resource groups
az group list --output table
# List VMs
az vm list --output table
# List storage accounts
az storage account list --output table
# Create a resource group
az group create --name my-rg --location eastusThe Azure CLI (az) is the command-line tool for managing Azure resources. You do not need to know CLI commands for the AZ-900 exam, but understanding them helps with hands-on practice.
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