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 MS-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 practice questions, interactive flashcards, and exam tips, to help you work on your exam readiness from now till your test day.

Before You Proceed

You need to unlock these resources before you start using them. Unlocking takes less than 10 minutes, can be done from any device, and needs to be done only once. Head over to the start of Chapter 9, Describe the Threat Protection Solutions of Microsoft 365 in this book for instructions on how to unlock them.

Figure 1.1: Dashboard Interface Of MS-900 Practice Resources...

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is everywhere. You probably use some cloud services regularly on a personal level. Maybe you stream shows or music on services such as Netflix or Spotify. Perhaps you share pictures with your friends and family on Facebook or Flickr. Maybe you’ve arranged for a transportation company to pick up a package from your house or use Yahoo! email to talk to your friends from college. You might even subscribe to a service such as Xbox Live or PlayStation Plus to stream games to your handheld devices and video game consoles. Each of these things is an example of a type of cloud service.

Enterprises also use cloud services regularly—many of them for the same types of tasks that you do on a personal level—just at a larger scale.

By the end of this chapter, you’ll be able to clearly identify cloud computing services and provide some real-life examples. But, before we get too deep, let’s talk about cloud computing...

Describe Microsoft SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS Concepts

Cloud computing allows users to access applications and data quickly and efficiently using a service provider’s data storage space and computing power. When a service provider builds out a network of computing devices, storage, or applications, a customer can pay to use these resources instead of having to build an infrastructure of their own. You could say that it is like the customer renting these resources from the service provider.

Infrastructure as a Service

Microsoft Azure is an example of infrastructure as a service (IaaS), where customers can design and build entire computing environments using the service provider’s hardware, software, network, and storage resources.

Once built, a user can access these resources from anywhere, using any supported internet-connected device. Cloud computing allows organizations to outsource operational tasks such as updating servers and maintaining storage to service providers...

Describe the Differences between Office 365 and Microsoft 365

When Microsoft originally entered the marketplace with its cloud-based offerings in 2007, only core services such as identity (Azure Active Directory), email (Exchange Online), and collaboration (SharePoint Online) were available.

Each of these services could be purchased separately or they could be purchased together in a bundle—originally referred to as Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). BPOS was later rebranded as Office 365. The Office 365 product family grew to include the traditional Office application suite (familiar applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook) as well as instant messaging and telephony features (Skype for Business).

The Microsoft 365 suite was introduced to include additional subscription-based components, such as Windows and the Enterprise Mobility + Security suite (Microsoft Intune and Azure Active Directory Premium) security features.

Today, both Office 365...

Summary

This chapter explained the core concepts of cloud computing. Cloud computing allows you to access data—either personal or business—from any device, including your phone, tablet, or computer. You looked at the benefits of storing information this way and linked these benefits to a variety of popular use cases.

You also learned the differences between various types of cloud computing concepts, such as software as a service, platform as a service, and infrastructure as a service. While Microsoft has services that fit into all of those computing categories, the core focus for the MS-900 exam will be the Microsoft 365 SaaS offering.

Finally, you learned some of the core differences between the various Office 365 and Microsoft 365 services.

In the next chapter, you will continue exploring basic cloud architecture concepts with a discussion on the different types of clouds, including public and private clouds, as well as the advantages and use cases of each...

Exam Readiness Drill - Chapter Review Questions

Benchmark Score: 75%

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’s 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.

Before You Proceed

You need to unlock these resources before you start using them. Unlocking takes less than 10 minutes, can be done from any device, and needs to be done only once. Head over to the start of Chapter 9, Describe the Threat Protection Solutions of Microsoft 365 in this book for instructions on how to unlock them.

To open the Chapter Review Questions for this chapter, click the following link: https://packt...