Microsoft Azure Fundamentals
Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform for running applications, storing data, connecting networks, and managing technology resources. You create those resources on demand while Microsoft operates the underlying datacenters and physical infrastructure.
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Don't Panic
Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: a calm map
Microsoft Azure is a cloud platform for renting the computing, storage, networking, data, identity, and management parts of an IT system instead of owning every physical layer. The catalogue is large because a datacenter has many jobs, not because every workload needs every service. Start with the workload and the responsibility it leaves with the customer. The cloud is helpful, but it has not eaten the need to know who owns the data and access.
The first useful anchor is the cloud service model. Infrastructure as a service leaves more operating work with the customer. Platform as a service runs more of the platform for you. Software as a service delivers the application itself. Responsibility moves as the model changes, but data, identities, accounts, and access management remain on the customer side of the desk. That is less exciting than a product launch, which is precisely why it prevents expensive surprises.
Azure's second anchor is its hierarchy: management group, subscription, resource group, then resource. A resource group is not a decorative folder for things that looked related on Tuesday. It gathers resources that share a lifecycle, while a subscription provides a management and billing boundary. Azure Resource Manager is the common control plane that handles management requests from the portal, command line, templates, and code. It is why scope appears everywhere, even when the portal tries very hard to look like a collection of buttons.
Location is the third anchor. A region affects latency, service availability, data location, cost, and recovery. Availability zones can tolerate supported failures inside a region; they are not a tiny, preassembled multi-region recovery plan wearing a reassuring label. Add identity, Azure RBAC, Policy, tags, locks, Monitor, and Cost Management and the map becomes practical: who can change a resource, which state is allowed, and how health and cost become visible.
Read the intro for the full map and the glossary when the names begin to multiply. Use the slides for the relationships between scopes and controls. Keep the cheatsheet nearby when comparing service models, resilience choices, and governance controls. The practice reference turns the map into a workload review, and the exercise asks you to make the tradeoffs explicit. Azure does not need to be memorized as a catalogue. It needs to be approached as a set of boundaries and decisions.
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Sources
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/microsoft-azure-fundamentals-describe-cloud-concepts/
Supports
- The Azure Fundamentals path covers cloud concepts, deployment models, shared responsibility, cloud benefits, and service types
- The path assumes only basic familiarity with IT terms and concepts
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/azure-fundamentals-describe-azure-architecture-services/
Supports
- The Azure Fundamentals path covers architecture, compute, networking, storage, identity, access, and security
- Azure services are grouped into workload-oriented capability families
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/describe-azure-management-governance/
Supports
- The Azure Fundamentals path covers cost management, governance, deployment, resource management, and monitoring
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/management/overview
Supports
- Azure Resource Manager is the Azure deployment and management service
- Management groups, subscriptions, resource groups, and resources form the four management scopes
- Higher-scope settings can apply to lower scopes
- A resource group contains related resources for an Azure solution
- A resource belongs to one resource group at a time
- Portal, CLI, PowerShell, SDK, REST, ARM template, and Bicep operations use the Resource Manager layer
- ARM templates and Bicep use declarative syntax
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/reliability/availability-zones-overview
Supports
- Availability zones are separated groups of datacenters within a region
- Zones have independent power, cooling, and networking
- Zonal and zone-redundant resources have different customer responsibilities
- Zone resilience protects against a zone failure rather than an entire regional failure
- Availability support varies by service, region, and configuration
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/shared-responsibility
Supports
- IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS move different operating responsibilities to Microsoft
- Customers always retain responsibility for data, identities, accounts, and access management
- Microsoft operates physical datacenters, physical networks, physical hosts, and hypervisors
- Azure Virtual Machines, App Service, Functions, Storage, and Azure SQL Database represent different service models
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/role-based-access-control/overview
Supports
- Azure RBAC authorizes access to Azure resources
- A role assignment combines a security principal, role definition, and scope
- RBAC scopes include management group, subscription, resource group, and resource
- Security principals include users, groups, service principals, and managed identities
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/governance/policy/overview
Supports
- Azure Policy evaluates resources and actions against organizational rules
- Policy can audit, deny, modify, deploy, or remediate based on its effect
- Azure RBAC controls user actions while Azure Policy evaluates compliance
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/fundamentals/overview
Supports
- Azure Monitor collects and analyzes metrics, logs, traces, and events
- Azure Monitor supports alerting and actions based on telemetry
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cost-management-billing/costs/overview-cost-management
Supports
- Microsoft Cost Management provides cost analysis, budgets, and optimization capabilities
- Cost tools support analysis of actual Azure spending
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/well-architected/what-is-well-architected-framework
Supports
- The five pillars are Reliability, Security, Cost Optimization, Operational Excellence, and Performance Efficiency
- The framework presents recommendations, risk considerations, and tradeoffs
- https://github.com/lukemurraynz/awesome-azure-architecture
Supports
- The curated list covers Azure architecture blogs, videos, tutorials, code, tools, and scripts
- The list includes Azure Verified Modules, PSRule for Azure, Azure Monitor Baseline Alerts, and AzAdvertizer
- https://azure.github.io/Azure-Verified-Modules/
Supports
- Azure Verified Modules publishes reusable infrastructure as code modules
- https://azure.github.io/PSRule.Rules.Azure/
Supports
- PSRule for Azure checks Azure infrastructure as code against documented guidance
- https://azure.github.io/azure-monitor-baseline-alerts/
Supports
- Azure Monitor Baseline Alerts provides alert definitions and guidance
- https://www.azadvertizer.net/
Supports
- AzAdvertizer provides searchable Azure governance definition and role metadata
- https://download.microsoft.com/download/D/6/7/D670D322-5771-409E-BF34-5B98496DEB0A/Microsoft_Press_ebook_Introducing_Azure_PDF.pdf
Supports
- Windows Azure CTP and its first SDK were announced at PDC 2008
- https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2010/02/01/windows-azure-general-availability/
Supports
- Windows Azure and SQL Azure became generally available in 21 countries on February 1, 2010
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/virtual-network-adds-new-capabilities-for-cross-premises-connectivity/
Supports
- Windows Azure Infrastructure Services and Virtual Network were generally available in April 2013
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-ca/previous-versions/azure/azure-resource-manager/management/deployment-models
Supports
- Azure introduced Resource Manager and resource groups in 2014
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/upcoming-name-change-for-windows-azure/
Supports
- Windows Azure was renamed Microsoft Azure beginning April 3, 2014
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/new-azure-management-and-cost-savings-capabilities/
Supports
- Azure Policy entered public preview in December 2017
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-availability-zones-now-available-for-the-most-comprehensive-resiliency-strategy/
Supports
- Azure Availability Zones became generally available in select regions in March 2018
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/new-capabilities-to-enable-robust-gdpr-compliance/
Supports
- Azure Policy became generally available in May 2018
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-management-groups-now-in-general-availability/
Supports
- Azure management groups became generally available in July 2018
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/bring-azure-data-services-to-your-infrastructure-with-azure-arc/
Supports
- Azure Arc was debuted in November 2019 to extend Azure services and management to infrastructure outside Azure
- https://www.microsoft.com/insidetrack/blog/implementing-microsoft-azure-cost-optimization-internally-at-microsoft/
Supports
- Microsoft Digital used centralized governance and routed Azure Advisor recommendations into service-management and delivery processes for cost optimization
- https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/advancing-resiliency-threat-modeling-for-large-distributed-systems/
Supports
- Azure service engineering teams use postmortems and resiliency threat modeling to identify and prevent outage risks
- https://azure.microsoft.com/
Supports
- Microsoft Azure is the official public cloud platform discussed in this course
- https://aws.amazon.com/
Supports
- Amazon Web Services is a public cloud platform included for comparison
- https://cloud.google.com/
Supports
- Google Cloud is a public cloud platform included for comparison
- https://www.oracle.com/cloud/
Supports
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure is a public cloud platform included for comparison
- https://www.ibm.com/cloud
Supports
- IBM Cloud is a public cloud platform included for comparison