About Microsoft Certified Azure Fundamentals Certification
The Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals certification is created to certify the candidates’ knowledge and skills pertaining to Azure services, Cloud concepts, security & privacy within Azure, Azure workloads, and Azure pricing & support. To get this sought-after certificate, the applicants must pass one exam that is Microsoft AZ-900.
The target audience for this certification includes the entry-level Azure professionals who have foundational knowledge and skills in the domain of Cloud services. They must be conversant with the basic concepts of technology, which include networking concepts, compute, storage, application development, and application support. They also understand how these services are offered on the platform of Microsoft Azure. There are no official prerequisites for this certificate but the applicants must understand the exam topics before sitting for the AZ-900 test.
The Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals certification acts as a good foundation for pursuing other Azure specialty or role-based certificates. However, you do not need to hold this option to go for the advanced-level options.
Exam Details
The Microsoft AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam measures the skills of the candidates in describing specific concepts. These include Cloud concepts, core solutions & management tools within Azure, core Azure services, and network security & general security features. It also covers the identity, privacy, compliance, and governance features as well as Service Level Agreements and Azure cost management. The test can be taken in English, Korean, French, Japanese, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, and German. To register for it, the students must pay the fee of $99. It applies to a single exam, which means that if you do not pass your test on the first try, you have to pay another fee to retake it. The individuals have to wait for 24 hours to retake the exam after their first attempt. After the second try, they have to wait for 14 days for every retake. Registration for this test is done through Pearson VUE and Certiport. This certification exam can include from 40 to 60 questions. The formats of questions to expect in the test include active screen, multiple choice, scenario-based, drag and drop, best answer, build list, and short answer.
To prepare for this exam, Microsoft recommends two options – instructor-led training courses and online self-paced training. The first variant covers two courses: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (1 day) and Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (2 days). Both these training options are designed to offer the learners the foundational knowledge of Azure covering the exam topics in detail. They focus on equipping the candidates with the skills on how the components of Azure are implemented. The courses also provide the answers on products and features available on Azure. The second variant consists of learning paths that cover six different tutorials with different modules. Additionally, you can explore practice tests to evaluate your level of preparedness for the actual exam. Everything you need to pass Microsoft AZ-900 can be found on the official website.
Exam Topics
To improve your performance in the certification exam, you must understand its topics. This is the first step towards preparing for any test and there is no better way to review its subject areas than going through the official webpage. This is because the topics are regularly updated to align with the latest development in the industry and the exam webpage is where you can find the up-to-date objectives. Microsoft AZ-900 covers the following domains:
Explain the Concepts of Cloud: 20-25%
- Establish the Considerations and Advantages of Utilizing Cloud Services: It includes the advantages of Cloud computing, such as high availability, agility, elasticity, scalability, and disaster recovery. It also covers your understanding between CapEx and OpEx as well as the consumption-based model.
- Explain the Major Differences between the Groups of Cloud Services: The candidates should be able to explain shared responsibility models, PaaS, IaaS, SaaS, and serverless computing.
- Explain the Differences between the Cloud Computing Types: It covers one’s understanding of Cloud computing, private Cloud, public Cloud, hybrid Cloud, and a comparison of Cloud computing types.
Explain Core Azure Services: 15-20%
- Explain the Architectural Elements of Core Azure: It covers regions & region pairs, availability zones, resource groups, management group, subscription, and Azure resource manager.
- Explain Core Resources Available within Azure: These resources include Azure App Services, Virtual Machines, Windows Virtual Desktop, ACI, and AKS. It also covers virtual networks, ExpressRoute, Virtual Network peering, and VPN Gateway as well as Container Storage, File Storage, Disk storage, and their storage tiers. They also include Cosmos DB, Azure Database for MySQL & PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database, and SQL Managed Instances.
Explain Core Solutions & Management Tools within Azure: 10-15%
- Explain Core Solutions in Azure: It requires your understanding of the Internet of Things, Azure Sphere, IoT Central, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Databrick, HDInsight, Cognitive Services & Azure Bot Service, among others.
- Explain the Network Security of Azure: It covers the individuals’ knowledge of defense-in-depth, Network Security Groups, Azure Firewall, and Azure DDoS protection.
Explain Identity, Privacy, Compliance, and Governance Features: 20-25%
- Explain Identity Services of Core Azure: It requires an understanding of authentication & authorization, Azure Active Directory, Conditional Access, Single Sign-On, and Multi-Factor Authentication.
- Explain the Features of Azure Governance: The applicants should know about Role-based Access Control, resource, tags, Azure Blueprints, Azure Policy, and Azure Cloud Adoption Framework.
- Explain Privacy & Compliance Resources: It covers the students’ understanding of Microsoft core tenets of Compliance, Privacy, and Security; Microsoft Privacy Statement, Data Protection Addendum & Product Terms site; Trust Center, Azure Sovereign Regions; Azure compliance documentation.
Explain Cost Management & Service Level Agreements in Azure: 10-15%
- Explain the Techniques for Planning & Managing Costs: It requires the learners’ understanding of the factors that affect and can minimize costs. It also covers their knowledge of Total Cost of Ownership Calculator and Pricing Calculator as well as Azure Cost Management.
- Explain Azure SLAs & Service Lifecycles: It covers an understanding of SLA and its service lifecycle.
Career Opportunities
For the professionals looking to take up the job roles in the field of Azure, the Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals certification is the best option to consider. This is especially an ideal choice if you do not have any prior experience in the industry. Earning such a certificate demonstrates to the potential employers that you can function in the entry-level and some mid-level positions. Some of the job titles that you can explore include Administrators, Developers, Technology Managers, and others. The average remuneration for these roles is $54,000 per annum.
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