Recently, we launched the first session of our Microsoft Azure AZ-104 training program. The response we received was very positive and highly motivating. We covered Module 1 – Azure Fundamentals in this session. We Cover az 104 summary.
Training Agenda
- Module 1: Azure Administration
- Module 2: Governance and Compliance
- Module 3: Virtual Networking
- Module 4: Intersite Connectivity
- Module 5: Network Traffic Management
- Module 6: Azure Virtual Machines
- Module 7: Azure Storage
- Module 8: Identities
- Module 9: Monitoring
- Module 10: Data Protection
- Module 11: Serverless Computing
- Module 12: Azure PowerShell, Cloud Shell, CLI, and ARM templates
Availability Zones, Regions, Peering, and Domains
The trainer started with the Introduction of Azure Architectural Components such as Fault Domain, Update Domain, Availability Zone, Availability Region, Geography, Peering region, etc.
- Azure Data Centre – RACK, ToRS (Top Of The Rack Switch) to Supply power to Rack
- Each Server Rack (identified as Fault Domain) contains 24 Servers (20 for Customer and 4 for Microsoft for maintenance)
The trainer also resolved all the doubts asked by the students parallelly, in a stupendous way. Also, Eva and Atul left no stones unturned while explaining to the students their queries. For more information on how these Architectural Components impact virtual machines, refer here.
How to choose a Region?
An elaborate explanation was given on Region pairs and why they’re paired like that. Apart from that, there are various factors upon which a region is chosen, such as:
- Cost – Price based on Region (slight difference)
- Customer Location
- Data Center Location
- Available Services – not all services are available in all regions
- Compliance – Regional Region, GDPR, HIPPA
Cloud Models
Then the instructor chose the topic, Cloud models. Various cloud models such as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS were explained in great detail. Also, the difference between them was unfolded in a lucid way. Various examples were also given of each cloud model which helped people apprehend them much faster. Additionally, the shared responsibility model was also discussed in which points were drawn out between Customer Managed and Microsoft Managed services.
Also read: Complete Guide on AZ 104 Exam
Working of Domains
The session also gave a hands-on experience by helping us visualize the steps while signing up for Azure Cloud. It included Enterprise Agreement, Resellers, Solution Partners, PAYG, Students, Free Trial, and Sponsorship. So, how can we interact with Azure Datacenter? And what actually happens in Fault and Update Domains when we access Azure? Answers to questions like these were unraveled. Here are a few key points about them from the session:
- Each Fault Domain (FD) has a Fabric Controller which watches servers in that Fault Domain
- All Fabric Controller connects to Orchestrator
- Orchestrator is also responsible for ATN & ATZ
The next topic to cross from the checklist was How to Microsoft Azure Administrator administer Azure? This included several things such as Azure Portal, PowerShell, Cloud Shell, Resource Manager, and ARM templates. An outline of these rudimentary topics was sketched. A proper run-through of how things worked was captured and explained by the trainer.
Subscription, Resource Group, Resources, and Tags
After that, we covered different topics like subscriptions, resource groups, resources, and Tags.
Here are a few key points from the session:
- A logical collection of resources can be called a Resource Group.
- A resource is associated with Resource Group.
- Resource Group is inside a Subscription that in turn belongs to a Management Group.
Check out: This post will cover the roles and responsibilities of Microsoft Azure DevOps Engineer and will cater to various questions and doubts you may have regarding the same.
Virtual Machine Planning & Sizing
This session also covered what a virtual machine is and its configurations. Furthermore, it includes how you should decide what type of Virtual Machine you should deploy. Here are some key concepts from the session of Microsoft Azure Administrator:
- Planning Virtual Machine
- How to decide what VM type to provision:
- Is it for test/dev or production?
- Is this for hosting a website?
- What is the purpose of VM?
- Start with Resource Group, decide a network, name of VM, Location of VM (Region, AZ, FD), Size of VM (aks SKU), Pricing Model, Storage attached to VM (O.S. Disk & Data Disk), O.S. (Linux, Windows, etc)
- VM Series (A Series, B & D Series, H Series for HPC, N Series, etc.)
Azure-Oracle Similarities
There are several similarities between Oracle and Azure which were also covered in this session:
- Different types of VMs in Oracle Cloud similar to Azure
- A compartment in OCI is similar to Resource Group in Azure
- Policy & Tags are also available in Oracle & Azure.
- VCN in OCI is the same as Virtual net in Azure
- FastConnect (Oracle) to Express Route (Azure)
Virtual Machine Disks
In this part, the trainer covered what type of disks we can use in our virtual machines.
- Three different types of disks:
- O.S. Disks
- Temporary Disk for a short time
- Data Disk with SCSI driver
- Another option is Storage Account
- Disk Option: Standard Hard Drive Disk (HDD), Standard Solid State Disk (SSD), Premium Solid State Disk
- Managed & Unmanaged Disk (We’ll look more into Storage Module)
- Supported O.S. Windows, Red Hat Linux, Ubuntu, Suse Linux
Create Virtual Machine using Azure Portal
- Demo creating VM using Azure Portal
- Availability Options: No Redundancy, Availability Zone or Availability Set
- Disks: O.S. Disk & Data Disk
- Networking
- Management
- VM Extension: Backups, Antivirus, CI/CD
We also learned how to connect our Windows Server using RDP & assign web server roles.
Course Outline and topic-wise weightage
A basic overview of the Course Outline was provided. Furthermore, the topic-wise weightage was discussed too which was as follows:
- Manage Azure identities and governance (15-20%)
- Implement and manage storage (15-20%)
- Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (20-25%)
- Configure and manage virtual networking (25-30%)
- Monitor and back up Azure resources (10-15%)
The duration of the exam will be 2 hours (120 minutes). Also, the exam will comprise 40-50% practical questions, 60-50% theoretical questions. And the catch is that in each part, you need to score at least 70%.
In the end, a recap of Day 1 was provided by Atul on these topics: Cloud Vendors, Service Model, Deployment Model, Resource, Resource Group, Subscription, etc. To conclude, it was a very involving and interesting session and we got great feedback.
Related/Further Readings:
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[AZ-104] Microsoft Azure Administrator Certification Exam: Everything You Need To Know
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[AZ-104] Microsoft Azure Administrator Training: Step By Step Activity Guides/Hands-On Lab Exercise
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[AZ-104] Azure Administrator Roles and Responsibilities 2022
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Top 30+ Microsoft Azure Administrator Interview Questions and Answers
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[AZ-104] Create And Connect An Ubuntu Virtual Machine In Azure
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