Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies and Design Complete Study Guide

Exams AZ-303 and AZ-304

Benjamin Perkins, William Panek

• Editore: Sybex
• Anno: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781119559573
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Computer Science
• Categoria: Certification Guides in Computer Science

Become a proficient Microsoft Azure solutions architect

Azure certifications are critical to the millions of IT professionals Microsoft has certified as MCSE and MCSA in Windows Server in the last 20 years. All of these professionals need to certify in key Azure exams to stay current and advance in their careers. Exams AZ-303 and AZ-304 are the key solutions architect exams that experienced Windows professionals will find most useful at the intermediate and advanced points of their careers.

Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies and Design Complete Study Guide Exams AZ-303 and AZ-304 covers the two critical Microsoft Azure exams that intermediate and advanced Microsoft IT professionals will need to show proficiency as their organizations move to the Azure cloud.

• Understand Azure
• Set up your Microsoft Cloud network
• Solve real-world problems
• Get the confidence to pass the exam

By learning all of these things plus using the Study Guide review questions and practice exams, the reader will be ready to take the exam and perform the job with confidence.

Chapter 1
Gaining the Azure Solutions Architect Expert Certification

The Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification is one of the more complicated/senior certificates to earn when compared to the other currently available Azure certifications. Table 1.1 describes their level of complexity. Visualize an organization that creates a solution running on Azure. Preferably, a group of Azure Developer Associates will code and test the solution based on best-case cloud design patterns as explained and designed by the Azure Solutions Architect Expert.

TABLE 1.1 Azure Certifications

Level	Azure Certificate	Description
100	Azure Administrator Associate	Implement, monitor, and maintain Microsoft Azure solutions, focusing on security, network, compute, and storage
200	Azure Developer Associate	Design, build/code, test, and support cloud applications and services
300	Azure Solutions Architect Expert	An expert in security, network, compute, and storage for designing solutions to run on Azure
400	Azure DevOps Expert	An expert in managing processes, people, and technologies for continually delivering solutions on Azure

An Azure Solutions Architect Expert will design and likely configure the security, network, compute, and storage on the Azure platform. Once the application is coded and tested and the platform is ready to run the application, the Azure DevOps Expert will collaborate with all concerned parties and deploy the application to the platform. Any further changes will be managed by the Azure DevOps Expert through the proactive engagement of key stakeholders and the adherence and compliance to their processes and will be redeployed using several possible technologies. Finally, the Azure Administrator Associates will monitor and maintain the implemented Azure features, designed by the Azure Solutions Architect Expert, developed by the Azure Developer Associates, and deployed by the Azure DevOps Expert.

Every role plays a significant part in the overall success of the solution running on the Azure platform. The solution can be as simple as an Azure Function or as complex as a hybrid Azure VM Scale Set running across multiple virtual networks in multiple regions/data centers. To attain this higher level of Azure certification, senior IT professionals must recognize that although these are four separate certifications, they all play a distinct role toward the design, creation, deployment, and maintenance of the solution.

Let's now discuss getting on the path for Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification.

The Journey to Certification

As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” The same can be said about the approach for achieving the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification. The experiences you pick up while working with and learning Azure features are the true purpose of your goal and not necessarily the certification itself. An IT professional can be an expert at designing Azure solutions without taking the exams and earning the certification. Simply having the certification is commendable, but without the knowledge and wisdom learned along the way, how much value does it really denote?

Unlike life, where a destination is reachable with potentially an infinite number of experiences and from multiple directions, the path to the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification is simple. Previously, the exams required to become a certified Azure Solutions Architect Expert were AZ-300 and AZ-301. As you can see in Figure 1-1, those exams were retired in September of 2020. The replacement exams are AZ-303 and AZ-304.

FIGURE 1.1 Azure Solutions Architect Expert Certification path

The AZ-303 Azure Architect Technologies exam is focused on these components:

• Implement and monitor an Azure infrastructure curriculum contains designing monitoring solutions in terms of capturing diagnostics, exceptions, and performance data. Using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and Application Insights will provide a place to store and analyze that data. Data can be captured from Azure Active Directory, Networking, VMs, Azure App Services, and Data storage products, to name a few. How to configure, store, and analyze them is something you need to know.
• Implementation of management and security solutions curriculum contains designing management solutions using tools like Update Management, Azure Backup, and Azure Migrate. Once your compute, data, and security products are provisioned, you need to know how to configure and support them. Additionally, proper security implementations with Key Vault, RBAC, and network appliances like Azure Firewall, Azure Front Door, and Azure Traffic Manager are also products and use cases you need to know.
• Implementation of solutions for apps curriculum contains designing compute workloads using Azure App Service, Azure App Service Web App for Containers, Azure Functions, and Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS). You will need to know when to use these products and the benefits and constraints for choosing them.
• Implementation and management of data platforms curriculum contains designing data stores like Azure SQL, Azure Cosmos DB, and Azure SQL managed instances. Each of them store data, and you need to know when to choose which one and how to configure them...

Indice dei contenuti

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Introduction
• Answers to Assessment Test
• Chapter 1: Gaining the Azure Solutions Architect Expert Certification
• Chapter 2: Security and Identity
• Chapter 3: Networking
• Chapter 4: Compute
• Chapter 5: Data and Storage
• Chapter 6: Hybrid, Compliance, and Messaging
• Chapter 7: Developing for the Cloud
• Chapter 8: Migrate and Deploy
• Chapter 9: Monitor and Recover
• Appendix: Answers to Review Questions
• Index
• End User License Agreement