Preface

Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing platform; it provides organizations on-demand access to compute, storage, networking, and many other resources to meet their needs.

The content of this book is intended to provide complete coverage of the skills measured exam requirements to prepare you for the Microsoft certification exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals; it also aims to go beyond the exam objectives, providing an extra depth of knowledge with demonstrable hands-on skills to master, which will be of value in a day-to-day Azure-focused role.

Each chapter provides thought exercises and hands-on exercises where appropriate to assist in learning the topics covered for every exam objective's skills measured area; each chapter then closes with a skills check, further reinforcing the learning of the skills covered.

The book closes with an exam preparation test.

It is important to note that some Microsoft Security Services have been renamed in November 2021. These are renamed as follows:

• Azure Security Center and Azure Defender are now called Microsoft Defender for Cloud
• Azure Defender plans to Microsoft Defender plans
• Azure Sentinel is now called Microsoft Sentinel
• Azure Defender for IoT is now called Microsoft Defender for IoT
• Azure Defender for SQL is now called Microsoft Defender for SQL
• Microsoft Cloud App Security is now called Microsoft Defender for Cloud App
• Microsoft Defender for Business is introduced as a new Service SKU

You can learn more about the update to Microsoft security services at this url: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/defender-for-cloud-introduction

Who this book is for

This book is for those in commercial, operational, or technical roles looking to pass the Microsoft certification exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals. The exam is intended for candidates who are just beginning to work with cloud-based solutions and services or are new to Azure. Anyone who already has the certification and is looking to see the hands-on practical side of the Azure services can also benefit from this book.

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.

To get the most out of this book

This book's content is intended for candidates who are just beginning to work with cloud-based solutions and services or are new to Azure; no specific knowledge is assumed or required.

To carry out the exercises in this book, you will require the following:

• Access to an internet browser.
• A Microsoft account. If you do not have a Microsoft account, you can create a free account at https://account.microsoft.com/account.
• An Azure subscription that has access to create and delete resources in the subscription. If you do not have an Azure subscription, you can create a free Azure account at https://azure.microsoft.com/free.
• You can alternatively use the Azure desktop app: https://portal.azure.com/App/Download.

Download the color images

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots and diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: https://static.packt-cdn.com/downloads/9781801073301_ColorImages.pdf.

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

Code in text: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: "In the search bar, type management groups."

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

$PSVersionTable.PSVersion

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in bold. Here is an example: "Click on Management groups from the list of services shown."

Tips or important notes

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Get in touch

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