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.

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...

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...

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 – 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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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 – 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...

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...

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.

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...

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:

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...

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

• Microsoft Learn certification further information:
  • AZ-900 - Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam guide: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/az-900/
  • AZ-900 - Microsoft Azure Fundamentals study guide: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/resources/study-guides/az-900
• Microsoft Learn training further information:
  • AZ-900 - Microsoft Azure Fundamentals course: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/training/courses/az-900t00