Chapter 4: Core Azure Resources

In Chapter 3, Core Azure Architectural Components, you learned how to describe the core architectural physical components available, such as data centers, networks, regions, availability sets, availability zones, and describe the core architectural, logical components such as subscriptions, management groups, resource managers, and resource groups.

This chapter will outline the core services available in Azure, including compute, storage, networking, and databases, and will also cover the Azure Marketplace, which you can use to create these and other services.

This chapter aims to provide complete coverage of the Describe Core Azure Services AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals Skills Measured section.

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to do the following:

• Explain Azure resources and describe the benefits and usage of Azure Marketplace.
• Describe the benefits and usage of compute services, including virtual machines (VMs), Azure App...

Technical requirements

To carry out the hands-on labs in this chapter, you will need the following:

• An Azure subscription so that you can create and delete resources in the subscription. If you do not have an Azure subscription, you can create a free Azure account from this URL: https://azure.microsoft.com/free.
• Access to an internet browser; you will be logging into the Azure portal at https://portal.azure.com.

Alternatively, you can use the Azure desktop app: https://portal.azure.com/App/Download.

Azure resources

In the previous chapter, we covered resource groups and learned that they are a logical grouping of Azure resources; but what is a resource in Azure?

An Azure resource is an Azure entity that can be managed; these resources are the building block components combined to create services, and it is these services we use to provide solutions.

These services and resources can be broken down into more manageable identities and categories, almost like a service catalog of Azure services you can browse through and select to build your solution. There are approximately 200 unique services within the Azure services catalog that can be used to create solutions, which can be made up of several thousand individual resources.

To build a solution, we know we need some compute resources, networking services, storage services, data services, management services, security and identity services, and so on. You can then browse through the categories and view all the options available...

Azure Marketplace

The Azure Marketplace is a searchable service catalog that allows you to find software and services that have been optimized and, more importantly, certified to run on Azure. Not only can you find all the available Microsoft services, but the real benefit and value is that you can find the thousands of solutions and services available from many third-party vendors and other partners where, besides Azure resources, several also offer consulting services for hire as part of the Marketplace offering.

Apart from being able to browse by category to search for a certified firewall appliance to run in Azure, for example, you also have the option to create the actual service directly from the Marketplace; all the services will be deployed using ARM templates. The service creator creates these so that the deployments can be fully automated, and then creates the ARM templates in the background. When executed by you clicking Create, a set of parameters will be provided for...

Azure compute services

Compute services are one of the core building block services we will be looking at in this chapter. The term compute can be described simply as a platform to execute code on; it's what runs your software and processes your data.

You must understand the following compute services since they are outlined in the exam's Skills Measured section; that is, Describe Core Azure Services:

• VM: A software version of a physical computer
• Azure App Service: A Microsoft-managed application hosting service
• ACI: A Microsoft-managed container hosting service
• AKS: A Microsoft-managed container orchestration service
• Virtual Desktop: A Microsoft-managed desktop and app virtualization service

This section introduced the available Azure compute services that can be used to build a solution. In the next section, we will look at the VM compute service.

Virtual machines

This section will introduce VMs, a compute service that you must understand...

Azure network services

Azure provides a range of network services that you can use to communicate with Azure resources.

You must understand the following network services, as outlined in the Core Azure Services exam:

• Virtual network
• Virtual network peering
• Virtual private network gateway
• ExpressRoute

Azure network services provides the following capabilities:

• Allow communication between Azure resources: Communication paths between Azure resources, such as VMs, are provided through VNets; communication between VNets is enabled by using VNet peering (within the same region and across regions). Additionally, service endpoints are used to connect PaaS resources such as storage services and database services.
• Allow communication with on-premises resources: You can extend your local on-premises networks into Azure through virtual private networks, which provide encrypted connections over the internet, or ExpressRoute, which allows private, low-latency...

Azure storage services

Azure provides a range of storage services to cater to many differing storage solution needs, each providing different capabilities and features to best match their intended purpose and usage pattern.

You must understand the following Azure storage services since they are outlined in the Describe Core Azure Services exam:

• Storage accounts, tiers, and replication
• Data stores
• Disk, file, and container (Blob) storage

The content in this section will take your knowledge beyond the exam's objectives so that you are prepared for a real-world, day-to-day Azure-focused role. In the next section, we will look at storage accounts.

Storage accounts

Storage accounts are resources that need to be created to store your data objects; they can be thought of as control panels for your data stores and provide management pane resources.

From a storage account, you can view all your different storage objects, configure security and network...

Azure database services

Database services are one of the core building block services we will be looking at in this chapter.

You must understand the following database services since they are outlined in the Describe Core Azure Services exam:

• Azure SQL Managed Instance (Azure SQL MI): An Azure-hosted Microsoft SQL Server instance, fully managed as a PaaS service
• Azure SQL Database: An Azure-hosted relational database service built on the Microsoft SQL Server database engine; provides single database instances
• Azure Database for MySQL: An Azure-hosted relational database service built on the MySQL Community Edition database engine
• Azure Database for PostgreSQL: An Azure-hosted relational database service built on the Postgres database engine
• Cosmos DB: A NoSQL globally distributed, elastic, and scalable database service

This section introduced the core database services that can be used to build a data-driven solution in Azure. In the next section...

Hands-on exercises

To support your learning with some practical skills, we will learn how to create some of the resources that we looked at in this chapter.

We will look at the following exercises:

• Exercise 1 – creating a VNet
• Exercise 2 – creating a storage account
• Exercise 3 – creating a VM
• Exercise 4 – creating an Azure container instance
• Exercise 5 – creating an Azure web app

Getting started

To get started with these hands-on exercises, you must create a free Azure account at https://azure.microsoft.com/free.

This free Azure account provides the following:

• 12 months of free services
• $200 credit to explore Azure for 30 days
• 25+ services that are always free

Let's move on to the first exercise.

Exercise 1 – creating a VNet

In this section, we will look at how to create a VNet.

Follow these steps to create a VNet:

1. Log into the Azure portal at https://portal...

Summary

This chapter provided complete coverage of the Describe Core Azure Services AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam skills area.

In this chapter, you learned about various skills that will provide you with the confidence to explain and discuss numerous aspects of the core Azure services with a business or technical audience. This includes describing the benefits and usage of Azure Marketplace, as well as Azure resources such as compute, storage, network, and data.

Knowledge beyond the exam's content was also provided to help you prepare for a real-world, day-to-day Azure-focused role.

The chapter concluded by providing some hands-on exercises that brought all the skill areas that were covered in this chapter together. The next chapter will outline the core resources available in Azure, such as compute, network, storage, and data. We will also look at the Azure Marketplace.

Additional information and study references

The following are some links to additional exam information and study references:

• Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/certifications/exams/az-900
• Exam AZ-900: skills outlined: https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE3VwUY
• Microsoft Learn: Azure Fundamentals – Describe Core Azure Services: https://docs.microsoft.com/learn/modules/azure-architecture-fundamentals

Skill check

Challenge yourself regarding what you have learned in this chapter:

1. Explain what an Azure resource is.
2. Explain the Azure Marketplace and how it can be used.
3. Define the term compute.
4. List four Azure compute services.
5. When are VMs the best choice for a compute service?
6. When using VMs, what are you still responsible for?
7. Explain the differences between a traditional physical server approach and virtualization for delivering applications.
8. Explain the different VM family series.
9. List four additional VM resources that should be considered.
10. List a minimum of five additional elements to consider when deploying VMs into a solution.
11. Explain the difference between the virtualization and containerization approaches.
12. Explain the difference between ACI and AKS.
13. Explain Azure App Service and how it differs from VMs.
14. Explain the Virtual Desktop service.
15. Explain what Azure Virtual Network is.
16. Explain VPNs and ExpressRoute...