AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals in a Weekend

Explore cloud fundamentals, why enterprises move from data centers to the cloud, and the advantages of cloud through a step-by-step visual approach with enterprise examples.

Explore why enterprises rely on thousands of servers to scale apps, avoid a single point of failure, and host services in data centers, from web to email and databases.

Explore the challenges of owning data centers, including high upfront costs and peak load provisioning. See how cloud provides instant access to servers.

Understand how cloud computing mirrors electricity by renting infrastructure instead of owning it, with on-demand access, elasticity, and pay-as-you-go. Identify cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

Discover how cloud advantages unlock value through pay-for-use and opex, stop guessing capacity, and go global in minutes with economies of scale, elastic resources, and reduced undifferentiated heavy lifting.

Recall elasticity, agility, and global reach that allow resources to adjust quickly to demand. Understand latency, availability, and cloud cost terms like CapEx, OpEx, pay-as-you-go, and economies of scale.

Explore cloud concepts through scenarios showing elasticity to scale with demand, applying pay-as-you-go OpEx, and leveraging agility, availability, geo-distribution, low latency, economies of scale, and avoiding undifferentiated heavy lifting.

Discover how Azure evolved from Windows Azure to a Linux-friendly platform embracing open source, Kubernetes, and containers, with a global reach and core pillars.

Discover a structured, step-by-step path to learning cloud services across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, using a global, hands-on cloud account with free beginner credits.

Create an Azure account with a free trial, verify email and phone, enter card details, and access the portal to use the $200 credit for 30 days.

Increase learning efficiency by using playback speed to save time, while prioritizing comprehension over speed and gradually progressing from 1x to higher speeds.

Explore regions and availability zones across the globe to reduce latency and boost high availability by deploying multiple data centers in regions like London and Mumbai.

Choose the right region by balancing compliance, data remains local, latency, service availability, and pricing to optimize performance and cost when deploying your application.

Deploy across multiple regions to reduce latency and serve users faster, expanding globally while meeting data residency rules and ensuring high availability with disaster recovery.

Explore how availability zones within a single region provide high availability and fault tolerance through independent power, network, and connectivity across zones A, B, and C in London.

Understand regions and zones to enable disaster recovery, data residency, and low latency, and plan multi-zone deployments within regions or across multiple regions.

Explore Azure regions and availability zones across East US, West Europe, Southeast Asia, Brazil South, and West Central US, and learn how multi-zone deployment improves availability and latency.

Learn to deploy applications in the cloud with Azure virtual machines, create and connect to VMs, install nginx, and scale with availability sets, scale sets, load balancing.

Understand virtualization: a hypervisor enables multiple virtual machines on a single physical server. Improve resource utilization and flexibility; this underpins cloud computing and services like Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud.

Explore Azure Virtual Machines to provision virtual servers, manage lifecycle, scale with load balancing and auto scaling, attach storage, and configure network connectivity including public IP addresses.

Learn to create your first azure virtual machine in the portal by configuring resource groups, region, image, size, and inbound ports, then handle SSH keys and deployment.

Connect to the created Azure virtual machine via SSH using Azure CLI, then run basic Linux commands to verify the user identity and Python version.

Choose an image to select the operating system and software, pick a VM family and size to match workload, and attach boot and data disks as block storage.

Learn to install nginx on a virtual machine and serve a simple web page, focusing on high-level concepts rather than memorizing complex commands, with commands provided to copy.

Install nginx on an Azure virtual machine and verify the web server via the public IP using http. Customize the page to show hello world and the VM name.

Configure cloud-init with custom data to run a startup script that installs nginx on a new Azure VM, using the existing SSH key and simplifying deployment.

Increase Azure VMs' availability by distributing VMs across fault and update domains in an availability set, and achieve up to 99.99% by using availability zones.

Create and manage up to 1000 virtual machines with a virtual machine scale set, enabling high availability, load balancing across availability zones, and both manual and auto scaling.

Explore scaling and load balancing with Azure VM scale sets by deleting existing VMs, configuring a two-instance scale set with uniform orchestration, a load balancer, and nginx via cloud init.

Learn how VM scale sets provide high availability with a load balancer, distribute traffic across multiple instances, and support manual and auto scaling across availability zones.

Delete the scale set and its load balancer, then create a second virtual machine using an existing SSH key, enabling HTTP and SSH ports and configuring custom data.

Explore Azure virtual machines, including static versus dynamic public IPs, Azure Monitor metrics, and options to reduce costs with dedicated hosts, Spot VMs, and reserved instances.

Design good solutions with Azure VMs by balancing availability and scalability through vertical and horizontal scaling, scale sets, load balancers, auto scaling, resilience, disaster recovery, and security.

Explore practical scenarios for Azure virtual machines, including auto scaling with scale sets, deploying across availability zones for resilience, and cost optimization using Pricing Calculator and reserved or spot instances.

Take notes when you learn and review them regularly to strengthen long-term memory, a strategy that helps you master programming languages, frameworks, and cloud platforms.

Explore the fundamentals of Azure managed compute services, including infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service, plus App Service, containers, and serverless.

Compare infrastructure as a service and platform as a service, detailing who handles the operating system, runtime, load balancing, and auto-scaling, with examples like virtual machines and Azure App Service.

Discover Azure App Service, a fully managed platform to build, deploy, and scale web apps, rest APIs, and mobile back ends with App Service plans.

Create your first Azure web app with App Service, choosing a unique name, Linux in Central US, and a basic B1 plan, deploying NGINX via a Docker container or code.

Deploy and monitor an Azure app service, then scale out by adding instances or scale up by changing the app service plan, including production and auto-scaling options.

Discover how containers enable microservices by packaging each service into a Docker image with runtime and dependencies, offering lightweight isolation across environments and cloud-neutral deployment.

Explore Azure container instances, a simple paas to run container-based apps without managing virtual machines, start containers in seconds, view logs and metrics, and note limitations in orchestration.

Explore container orchestration with Azure AKS and Service Fabric, deploying microservices to clusters and leveraging auto-scaling, service discovery, load balancing, health checks, and zero downtime deployments.

Discover the essentials of serverless computing—focus on code while the cloud handles infrastructure, scaling, and availability, with pay-per-use via AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, and Google Functions.

Explore Azure Functions, a serverless platform that auto-scales and bills only for requests, duration, and memory. Create HTTP-triggered functions and deploy a function app in Node.js or other supported languages.

Explore software as a service (SaaS) models with cloud-hosted apps like Gmail and Office 365, where users log in and configure software while providers manage hosting and upgrades.

Explore the shared responsibility model across on-prem, IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS in Azure, detailing who owns data, identity, and security versus cloud provider controls.

Explore Azure cloud service categories through practical scenarios for IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and serverless, including virtual machines, App Service, configuration, and auto-scaling considerations.

Review Azure compute options, including VMs (IaaS) with full control, App Service (PaaS) with auto-scaling, container instances, Kubernetes Service, Service Fabric, and serverless functions.

Delete the resource group to remove all underlying resources and manage their lifecycle, then recreate them when you resume the course.

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Discover Azure storage fundamentals, including block, file, and object storage, plus queues and tables. Learn how storage accounts enable durability and multi-region redundancy with LRS, ZRS, GRS, and GZRS.

Explore read access storage redundancy options, including GRS, GTS, SES, and RA-GRS and RA-GZRS, to read from secondary regions with the '-secondary' URL suffix.

Explore region pairs such as East US and West US to enable cross-region replication for high availability and durability with geo-redundant storage and seamless failover.

Understand premium storage accounts for high performance workloads, delivering low latency and high throughput with SSDs, while offering fewer redundancy options and supporting premium block blobs and premium file shares.

Explore Azure disk storage options, including standard HDD, standard SSD, premium SSD, and ultra disk, with zone redundant storage and locally redundant storage, plus managed versus unmanaged disks.

Learn to use Azure Files for shared storage across cloud and on-prem devices, accessible by Windows, Linux, and macOS, via SMB and NFS, and how to create a storage account.

Create file shares in Azure storage, set a quota up to 5000 GiB, and connect from Windows, Linux, or macOS to share and manage files across devices.

Explore azure file sync as a bridge from on-premises file shares to azure files, offering Windows file server connectivity and SMB, NFS, FTPS support with optional local copy or cache.

Explore Azure blob storage access tiers hot, cool, cold, and archive, and learn how minimum retention periods—archive 30 days, cold 90 days—alongside data access patterns drive cost decisions.

Manage Azure Storage Explorer resources from your desktop; upload, download, set permissions, and use extensions like Azure Data Factory to move data from AWS S3 to Azure.

Explore globally unique names in Azure, including storage account names used in blob, dfs, and file URLs, and note that SQL, Cosmos DB, and App Service names are globally unique.

Explore Azure storage scenarios, including disks for virtual machines, file sync for on-premises integration, data lake storage for big data analytics, premium storage for low latency, archive storage for retention.

Meet your instructor, Ranga Karanam, founder of in28minutes, with two decades of programming experience in Java, Python, and JavaScript; certified on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, he makes technology simple.

Explore the fundamentals of databases, including availability, durability, and consistency, then examine relational and NoSQL options and Azure's database services.

Explore databases that provide organized, persistent storage and learn how to choose among database types by comparing availability, durability, RTO, RPO, consistency, and transactions.

Examine database fundamentals by using hourly snapshots and transaction logs to protect data, then implement a master database with a standby database and synchronous replication to ensure availability and performance.

Learn the differences between database availability and durability, interpret uptime metrics like 99.99% and 99.999%, and understand why high durability prevents data loss.

Increase database availability by distributing the database across multiple standbys, zones, and regions. Boost durability with multiple copies—standbys, snapshots, transaction logs, and replicas—while addressing data consistency challenges.

Explore RTO and RPO in database design. Compare hot and warm standby, snapshots and transaction logs, and understand trade-offs between data loss, downtime, and availability.

Understand data consistency across database replicas, comparing strong consistency with synchronous replication, eventual consistency with asynchronous replication, and read-after-write behavior for social media versus banking scenarios.

Explore database categories including relational, NoSQL types, OLTP and OLAP, and learn how schema, transaction properties, latency, and data volume influence database choices.

Explore relational databases, defined schemas with tables and relationships, a primary key, and strong multi-table transactions for OLTP and OLAP use cases like web transactions, data warehouse, and analytics.

Explore relational databases for OLTP in Azure, including Azure SQL Database, Azure Database for MySQL, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL. Discover 99.99% availability, automatic updates, backups, and serverless compute options.

Explore OLAP relational databases with Azure Synapse Analytics, a petabyte-scale data warehouse enabling massively parallel processing, columnar storage, and end-to-end analytics across diverse data sources.

Explore NoSQL databases and the Azure Cosmos DB managed service. Learn about flexible schema, global replication, single-digit millisecond responses, a serverless option, and API support for MongoDB, Cassandra, and Gremlin.

Create an Azure Cosmos DB account with the MongoDB API, use the data explorer to build collections and documents, and learn serverless vs server-based deployment.

Use Azure Cache for Redis to enable in-memory databases with low latency and memory persistence. Cache data, sessions, and leaderboards, and enable geo-replication and availability zones for scalable, geospatial applications.

Review Azure databases by type: relational oltp with Azure SQL Database, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB; olap with Azure Synapse Analytics; nosql with CosmosDB; and in-memory Redis via Azure Cache for Redis.

Explore Azure databases through scenarios: Cosmos DB for evolving schemas and apps, OLTP options like Azure SQL Database, MySQL, and PostgreSQL for transactional workloads, plus Redis caching and Synapse analytics.

Delete unused resource groups to remove associated resources in Azure, including databases-rg, DefaultResourceGroup-CUS, and storage-rg, ensuring Cosmos DB, MySQL server, and storage accounts are removed.

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Explore networking in Azure by learning about virtual networks, subnets, and security services such as Azure DDoS, Firewall, Network Security Groups, Private Link, Private Endpoint, and Bastion Host.

Discover how Azure virtual network creates an isolated, region-bound private network to control traffic between compute, storage, and databases, keeping resources unseen from the internet.

Explain why subnets in a virtual network separate public and private resources, using a load balancer, virtual machines, and databases to control internet access.

Create and configure an Azure virtual network with IPv4 address space, subnets (private and public), and a resource group, then attach a virtual machine to the chosen subnet.

Understand key Azure virtual network concepts: every VM has a private IP by default with optional public IPs; peering enables private IP communication across networks and regions.

Learn how Azure protects applications from DDoS attacks with basic protection by default and an optional standard protection offering analytics, alerts, and rapid response.

Explore Azure firewall, a stateful, managed network security service that controls traffic in and out of Azure virtual networks with centralized configuration across multiple virtual networks and subscriptions.

Learn how network security groups inside a virtual network act as an internal firewall, configuring inbound and outbound rules by source, destination, protocol, and port to protect VMs and subnets.

Understand Azure Private Link and Private Endpoints to connect your VNet to Azure PaaS services, using private endpoints and private IPs to keep traffic on the Microsoft network.

Explore how a bastion host acts as a gateway to provide secure, monitored access to private VMs from external networks across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud IAP.

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Compare public, private, and hybrid cloud models, noting pay-as-you-go economics, owned hardware by Azure, and on-premises control, while highlighting security trade-offs and integration challenges such as single sign-on.

Explore connecting on premises to Azure with encrypted VPN over the internet and Azure Express route for private, high-bandwidth connectivity. Compare site-to-site VPN and point-to-site VPN, noting on-premises device requirements.

Explore creating site-to-site vpn and expressroute connections to link on-premises networks with Azure virtual networks, using vpn gateway or expressroute circuit.

Explore VMware and virtualization, showing how a single physical server runs multiple virtual machines to optimize resources, with hypervisor control, isolation, and cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

Explore how Azure Arc enables centralized management of multi-cloud and on-premise infrastructure, including Kubernetes clusters, VMware resources, SQL Server, and on-premise virtual machines.

Explore Azure resource hierarchy across management groups, subscriptions, and resource groups to organize resources and manage costs; learn how policies apply across subscriptions and why resource groups have no hierarchy.

Explore Azure resource hierarchy in the portal, including subscriptions (free trial and pay-as-you-go), cost tracking, and management groups for centralized policy and compliance across resources.

Explore how resource groups, subscriptions, and management groups organize Azure resources, enforce permissions, manage costs, and apply policies across subscriptions, regions, and Azure AD tenants.

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