What this book covers

Chapter 1, Introduction to Cloud Computing, defines cloud computing and describes public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud; compares and contrasts the three types of cloud computing; describes Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and serverless|Functions-as-a-Service (FaaS); and identifies a service type based on a use case.

Chapter 2, Benefits of Cloud Computing, identifies the benefits of cloud computing and Microsoft Azure; describes scalability, elasticity, agility, high availability, and disaster recovery; describes the consumption-based model; and identifies the differences between capital expenditure (CapEx) and operational expenditure (OpEx).

Chapter 3, Core Azure Architectural Components, describes the core architectural physical components, such as data centers, networks, Regions, Availability Sets, and Availability Zones, and describes the core architectural, logical components, such as subscriptions, management groups, resource manager, and resource groups.

Chapter 4, Core Azure Resources, explains Azure resources; describes the benefits and usage of Azure Marketplace; describes the benefits and usage of compute services such as Azure Virtual Machines, Azure App Service, Azure Container Instances (ACI), Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Logic Apps/Functions, and Virtual Desktop; describes the benefits and usage of storage services such as blob storage, disk storage, file storage, and storage tiers; describes the benefits and usage of network services such as Virtual Networks, VPN Gateway, virtual network peering, and ExpressRoute; and describes the benefits and usage of database services such as Cosmos DB, Azure SQL Database, Azure Database for MySQL, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, and SQL managed instances.

Chapter 5, Core Azure Solutions, describes serverless computing solutions, including Azure Functions and Logic Apps, Azure Machine Learning, Cognitive Services, Azure Bot Service, Internet of Things (IoT) Hub, IoT Central, Azure Sphere, Azure Synapse Analytics, HDInsight, Azure Databricks, Azure DevOps, GitHub, GitHub Actions, and Azure DevTest Labs.

Chapter 6, Azure Management Tools, describes the functionality and usage of the Azure portal, Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, Cloud Shell, the Azure mobile app, Azure Advisor, Azure Monitor, and Azure Service Health.

Chapter 7, Azure Security, describes threat modeling, the concept of defense in depth; the functionality and usage of Key Vault and Azure dedicated hosts; the functionality and usage of network security groups (NSGs), Azure Firewall, and Azure DDoS Protection; and the functionality and usage of Azure Security Center and Azure Sentinel.

Chapter 8, Azure Identity Services, defines Azure Active Directory; describes the functionality and usage of Azure Active Directory and explains the difference between authentication and authorization; and describes the functionality and usage of Conditional Access, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and single sign-on (SSO).

Chapter 9, Azure Governance, describes the functionality and usage of resource tags, resource locks, role-based access control, Azure Policy, and Blueprints, and describes the Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure.

Chapter 10, Azure Privacy and Compliance, describes the core Microsoft tenets of security, privacy, and compliance, and describes the purpose of the Trust Center, Microsoft Privacy Statement, the Product Terms site, Data Protection Addendum (DPA), Azure compliance documentation, Azure Sovereign Regions, Azure Government cloud services, and Azure China cloud services.

Chapter 11, Azure Cost Planning and Management, covers factors impacting the cost of resources and options for cost control and reduction and explains Azure Cost Management. It also covers the Azure pricing calculator and the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculator.

Chapter 12, Azure Service-Level Agreements, describes the purpose of an Azure service-level agreement (SLA) and identifies actions that can impact an SLA, positively or negatively, such as Availability Zones or composite SLAs. It also describes the service life cycle in Azure, such as development, private and public preview, and general availability (GA).

Chapter 13, Exam Preparation Practice Tests, provides exam preparation tests for key skills measured from the exam objectives.