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Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond
Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond: A complete AZ-900 exam guide with online mock exams, flashcards, and hands-on activities , Second Edition

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Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond

Introduction to Cloud Computing

This is the digital and cloud era, with one of the leading cloud computing platforms being Microsoft Azure. Now, more than ever, it is important to know how cloud computing platforms function and how the different services and resources they provide can be utilized by an organization to meet their needs.

This book provides a solid grip on the cloud concepts and the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. By the end of this book, you will have a thorough and complete knowledge of cloud concepts and Azure fundamentals, enabling you to pass the AZ-900 certification exam confidently and easily.

This chapter primarily focuses on the Describe cloud concepts module from the Skills Measured section of the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam.

Note

You can find a detailed AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam skills area in the Appendix, Assessing AZ-900 Exam Skills of this book.

Making the Most Out of this Book – Your Certification and Beyond

This book and its accompanying online resources are designed to be a complete preparation tool for your AZ-900 exam.

The book is written in a way that you can apply everything you’ve learned here even after your certification. The online practice resources that come with this book (Figure 1.1) are designed to improve your test-taking skills. They are loaded with timed mock exams, hands-on activities, interactive flashcards, and exam tips to help you work on your exam readiness from now till your test day.

Before You Proceed

To learn how to access these resources, head over to Chapter 11, Accessing the Online Practice Resources, at the end of the book.

Figure 1.1: Dashboard interface of the online practice resources

Here are some tips on how to make the most out of this book so that you can clear your certification and retain your knowledge beyond your exam:

  1. Read...

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is something of a misnomer; it is a marketing term for a technology model that may be adopted to consume computing resources and services.

As a technology platform, the cloud can benefit many audiences, addressing a need to access self-service, on-demand computing resources and services that are secure, governed, automated, elastic, and scalable, allowing the platform to cater to demand.

The value of a cloud provider platform is as an enabler of digital transformation and innovation. It provides quicker time to market and value and economies of scale, with an operating model that is governed, elastic, agile, and combined with a flexible cost model.

These abilities provide choices in how computing resources and services can be provided and consumed to suit an organization’s needs and operating model most appropriately.

Microsoft, Amazon, Alibaba, and Google are the largest cloud platform providers. The public cloud operating...

Evolution of the Cloud Computing Model

Cloud computing is the evolution of the traditional computing platform and a significant shift in the IT industry; it is another model for delivering computing resources and services to an organization. Figure 1.2 illustrates this evolution:

Figure 1.2: The image shows the comparison of cloud computing evolution to human evolution

Figure 1.2 – Evolution of cloud computing

You may have evolved from physical hardware to virtualization that is run from your facilities or somebody else’s to virtual machines to containers. The next stage in this evolution is the leap to serverless, where the business logic layer is the new scale unit.

Now, when dealing with various types of computing, you need to know the key difference between public cloud computing and edge computing.

The key difference between public cloud computing and edge computing is where the data processing happens. The public cloud is based on a “centralized” data collection, processing, and analysis approach. In contrast...

Why Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing adoption is often driven more by its business and operational model’s advantages and benefits than its “technology” or “location” factors.

The benefit of the cloud computing model is that it gives another option and more choice in how computing resources can be provided and consumed by a business to suit its operating model most appropriately.

Cloud computing-based resources can be hybrid, so they can be located in the cloud platform provider’s or customer’s facilities. In the case of the Azure Stack portfolio (HCI, Edge, and Hub), the cloud provider platform can offer the control plane and operations platform elements.

Adopting cloud computing also does not have to be a binary decision between a fully public cloud or a more traditional on-premises computing model. Your compute resources and data may remain on-premises, and you may use the “cloud” for the control and operations...

Cloud Computing’s Target Audience

Cloud computing can mean different things to different people depending on their perspective and their role or function. A business leader will have one idea of what cloud computing needs to deliver, which may be very different from a technology leader and may be very different from a developer, a database admin, or a data scientist. They all have specific wants and needs, so cloud computing as a model must almost be all things to everyone.

Azure typically provides the following high-level categorization of services to a business:

  • Hosted infrastructure platform
  • Application development platform
  • Data, AI, and analytics platform
  • Monitoring and management platform
  • Hybrid and multi-cloud control plane platform
  • Security operations platform
  • Identity and compliance platform

In the context of Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, these different functions are well catered for, making it relevant...

Cloud Computing’s Hierarchy of Needs

The IT services delivery model can draw parallels to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This comes from a psychology theory, often represented in a hierarchical pyramid.

In this model, the “lower-level needs” add no value or benefit, but each lower-level need must be met before the “next-level needs” can be met, leading to “dependencies” on the lower levels.

The challenge is a delicate balance in that any change in the lower levels affects the chances of success or failure of the required outcome (higher levels); in this theory, the outcome to be achieved is “self-actualization.”

This theory can be applied to the IT services delivery model. In this model, the typical technology stack provides the outcome that needs to be met, such as an app, code, or function…

  • …must exist on a lower layer of software
  • …needs to live on a lower layer of compute...

What Is the Shared Responsibility Model?

The shared responsibility model is a governance and control model that is critically important to grasp when operating resources and services within a public or hybrid cloud environment.

You should know when it is your responsibility to provide the appropriate level of control and where it is not your responsibility but that of the cloud service provider. This responsibility level may dictate what cloud computing service models you decide to deploy, such as IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS, to determine how much control and responsibility you must have or hand off to the cloud service provider.

There are three levels of responsibility to be considered. They are as follows:

  • Responsibilities that the consumer of the cloud services always retains
  • Responsibilities that vary by resource type
  • Responsibilities that will transfer to the cloud service provider

Figure 1.6 aims to visually set out the division or separation of responsibilities...

What Are the Cloud Computing Delivery Models?

Cloud computing generally has three delivery models: public, private, and hybrid. They are detailed as follows:

  • Public cloud: This is a shared entity (multi-tenant) computing model. Hardware and resources, such as compute, storage, and networking, are owned by the cloud provider and shared with other tenants on the platform, in a system that is also known as multi-tenant or multi-tenancy; you may have a share in the control of the resources in the environment.
Think of this as an apartment block, where you are a tenant who shares the building with other tenants and pays rent to a landlord for your apartment. In cloud computing, the landlord is the service provider.
  • Private cloud: This is a dedicated entity (single-tenant) computing model. Hardware and resources, such as compute, storage, and networking, are dedicated to your organization’s use only; you remain in complete control of the resources in the environment...

What Are Cloud Computing Service Models?

Cloud computing is generally considered to have four service models; these are also referred to as categories. These service models are as follows:

  • IaaS
  • PaaS
  • Function as a Service (FaaS)/serverless
  • SaaS

Figure 1.9 shows the relationship between these service models. Every cloud computing resource will fit into one of these categories; a solution will comprise one or more resources from each of these categories, and you select the resources from each category based on each solution’s needs, taking a mix-and-match approach to tailoring a set of technology resources to map to business needs.

Figure 1.9: The image shows the positioning of IaaS, PaaS, FaaS, and SaaS cloud service models

Figure 1.9 – Cloud computing service models

In this next section, you will cover quite a lot of ground as there are many concepts and aspects to present information on, not only for the exam but for knowledge beyond. You will look closely at each service model and compare and contrast the...

Comparing the Cloud Computing Service Models

Each service model has its characteristics. The most appropriate model is defined by how much you want or need to control, secure, and manage your resources, for example, your apps, code, data, networks, and security. In the last section, you learned about the service models. In this section, you will look at the characteristics of each model in more detail to know when you may choose one service model over the other.

Characteristics of IaaS

In a nutshell, IaaS is a model where you can host your virtual machines and infrastructure services on hardware provided for you and shared with other tenants.

The cloud provider is responsible for providing all layers up to and including the hardware. You are responsible for providing all layers above the hardware layer (refer to Figure 1.12).

The following are the characteristics of IaaS:

  • You create the Virtual Machine (VM) (installing the OS and software), storage, and computing...

Summary

This chapter included complete coverage of the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam skills area: Describe cloud concepts.

In this chapter, you learned how to define cloud computing; describe the shared responsibility model; define cloud models, including public, private, and hybrid; identify appropriate use cases for each cloud model; describe the consumption-based model; describe IaaS; describe PaaS; describe SaaS; and identify appropriate use cases for each cloud service (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS).

Further knowledge beyond the required exam content was provided to prepare you for a real-world, day-to-day, Azure-focused role. In the next chapter, you will look at the benefits of using cloud services.

Exam Readiness Drill – Chapter Review Questions

Apart from a solid understanding of key concepts, being able to think quickly under time pressure is a skill that will help you ace your certification exam. That is why working on these skills early on in your learning journey is key.

Chapter review questions are designed to improve your test-taking skills progressively with each chapter you learn and review your understanding of key concepts in the chapter at the same time. You’ll find these at the end of each chapter.

How To Access These Resources

To learn how to access these resources, head over to the chapter titled Chapter 11, Accessing the Online Resources.

To open the Chapter Review Questions for this chapter, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the link – https://packt.link/AZ900E2_CH01.

Alternatively, you can scan the following QR code (Figure 1.13):

Figure 1.13 – QR code that opens Chapter Review Questions...

Working On Timing

Target: Your aim is to keep the score the same while trying to answer these questions as quickly as possible. Here’s an example of how your next attempts should look like:

Attempt

Score

Time Taken

Attempt 5

77%

21 mins 30 seconds

Attempt 6

78%

18 mins 34 seconds

Attempt 7

76%

14 mins 44 seconds

Table 1.1 – Sample timing practice drills on the online platform

Note

The time limits shown in the above table are just examples. Set your own time limits with each attempt based on the time limit of the quiz on the website.

With each new attempt, your score should stay above 75% while your “time taken...

Additional Information and Study References

This section provides links to additional exam information and study references:

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Key benefits

  • Comprehensive guide to Azure fundamentals, covering core compute, network, and storage services in detail
  • In-depth explanations of security, governance, and administrative tools essential for managing Azure environments effectively
  • Access to mobile-friendly website with practice exams, interactive flashcards, and real-time assessments to reinforce learning anytime, anywhere

Description

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond, Second Edition, combines the comprehensive cloud fundamentals book with Packt’s powerful exam training platform, offering a holistic learning experience designed to help you not just ace the AZ-900 exam but also apply that knowledge to excel in your career. Covering essential topics such as cloud computing principles, Azure architecture, services, management, and governance, this guide offers clear explanations and real-world insights to help you build confidence in working with Microsoft Azure. It also includes access to an interactive online training platform, which features practice exams, exam-like timers, interactive flashcards, and detailed explanations to reinforce learning and assess exam readiness. By engaging with the concepts in this book and the accompanying online resources, you will gain a solid foundation in Azure fundamentals, enabling you to approach the AZ-900 certification exam with confidence and take the next step in your cloud computing journey.

Who is this book for?

This book is for individuals preparing for the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) certification exam and those looking to build a strong foundation in cloud computing with Azure. It is suitable for IT professionals, students, and business users seeking to understand Azure services, architecture, and management. No prior cloud experience is required, making it ideal for beginners, while those with some technical background can use it to reinforce their knowledge and prepare for certification.

What you will learn

  • Core cloud computing concepts and how they apply to Azure
  • Azure's key services, deployment methods, and management tools
  • Implementation of security concepts, identity management, and governance features
  • Resource deployment, monitoring, and compliance best practices
  • Skills to manage and optimize Azure environments effectively

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Jan 25, 2024
Length: 284 pages
Edition : 2nd
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781837630592
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Product Details

Publication date : Jan 25, 2024
Length: 284 pages
Edition : 2nd
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781837630592
Tools :

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Table of Contents

13 Chapters
Chapter 1: Introduction to Cloud Computing Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 2: Benefits of Using Cloud Services Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 3: Azure Core Architectural Components Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 4: Azure Core Resources Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 5: Azure Identity and Access Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 6: Azure Security Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 7: Azure Cost Management Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 8: Azure Governance and Compliance Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 9: Azure Resource Deployment and Management Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 10: Azure Monitoring and Tools Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Chapter 11: Accessing the Online Practice Resources Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Assessing AZ-900 Exam Skills Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

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deepak Apr 11, 2024
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A very well structured and well thought written book. You can definitely own it.
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LA-Listing Apr 18, 2024
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification and Beyond - Second Edition" is an invaluable resource for anyone aiming to master Azure fundamentals and excel in cloud computing. With its comprehensive exploration of compute, network, and storage services, coupled with essential tools for securing and administering Azure effectively, this book offers a holistic learning experience. The inclusion of web-based tools like mock exams and interactive activities enhances the learning journey, ensuring that readers are well-prepared pass the AZ-900 exam and also to apply their knowledge confidently in real-world scenarios, making it a must-have for anyone looking to advance their career in cloud computing.
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Joseph C. Seroski Feb 05, 2024
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This book is a great overview on the AZ-900 exam. I feel prepared after going through the book and reading about the concepts. The book is definitely an overview and won't go in depth, but that is its purpose. I am looking forward to passing the exam thanks to the help of this book.
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Aaron Guilmette Mar 19, 2024
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I hadn’t taken an Azure exam since Az-533 and Az-534 back when they were in beta. While I felt pretty competent in the overall concepts, the key piece with any Microsoft exam is getting alignment with the current acronyms, terminology, and best practices (as all of those are subject to change regularly).From the basics of how the Azure architecture and resources are laid out through sections dedicated to each type of resource (compute, storage, networking, containers) and best practices around cloud security posture, Steve does a great job laying out the content in a way that gets you from crawling to running in no time.
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ImBradW Sep 11, 2024
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Have enjoyed this book. A mess of information.
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