This is the nineteenth blog in the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification Series (AZ-900) of Topic 4: Azure Pricing And Support.
You can go through my previous topic 3.4 Microsoft Azure Governance to know more about Azure Blueprints and Azure Policy.
This blog covers the topic 4.3 Azure Pricing And Support: Azure Support Options which includes Azure Support Plans & External Azure Support Options.
A production environment on the cloud is a recipe for disaster if the underlying support is not there, knowing which channels of support to access can be key to the uptime of your cloud environment.
Azure Support Plans
Every Azure subscription includes free access to billing and subscription support, Azure products and services documentation, online self-help documentation, white papers, and community support forums.
Microsoft offers four support plans that can provide you with technical support:
Basic: Available to all Microsoft Azure accounts, this is the only free plan and does not have any active support from Azure, the user has access to community forums, self-help documentation, etc, and can raise as many support tickets as required.
Developer: Best suggested for trial and non-production environments, This plan has active support from Azure in the form of access to support engineers via email during standard Business hours. The response time from Microsoft for this plan is within eight hours.
Standard: Best suggested for production workload environments, this plan is an upgrade of the developer plan and provides support in the form of 24×7 access to support engineers via email and phone. The response time from Microsoft for this plan is within one hour.
Professional Direct: Absolutely necessary for business-critical environments, this plan also offers 24/7 technical support with one-hour response time but also includes operational support, training, and proactive guidance from a ProDirect delivery manager.
If you have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft, you can purchase any of these plans except the Developer plan and the bill will be incorporated in the enterprise agreement.
Check out: Microsoft Azure provides governance features and services
Alternative Support Channels
Apart from the official support provides by Microsoft, here are a few other places that you can ask for support or look for your queries.
- Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Azure Forums
- Stack Overflow
- Server Fault
- Microsoft Azure general feedback
- @AzureSupport on Twitter.
Out of all these, Stack Overflow is the most recommended option as it is a forum created by developers, for developers.
Check Out: What is the difference between Capex and Opex. Click here
Knowledge Center
A searchable database that contains support questions and answers from a community of Azure experts, developers, customers, and users.
Read More: About Azure Resource Group Best Practices. Click here
AZ 900 Exam Questions
Here is a sample question from the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification Exam[AZ-900] that you should be able to solve after reading this blog.
Q1. Your company plans to purchase Azure. The company’s support policy states that the Azure environment must provide an option to access support engineers by phone or email. You need to recommend which support plan meets the support policy requirement.
Solution: Recommend a Professional Direct support plan. Does this meet the goal?
- Yes
- No
Correct Answer: yes
Explanation: The Basic support plan does not have any technical support for engineers. The Developer support plan has only technical support for engineers via email. The Standard, Professional Direct, and Premier support plans have technical support for engineers via email and phone.
Related/References
- Learn how to create a Free Microsoft Azure Trial Account
- [AZ-900] Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: Topic 1.1 Overview & Benefits
- Topic 2.1 Azure Architecture: Region, Availability Zone & Geography
- How to Register For [AZ-900] Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification Exam
- Topic 3.1 Microsoft Azure Secure Network Connectivity: Firewall, DDOS, & NSG
- Topic 3.2 Microsoft Azure Core Identity Services: AD & MFA
- Topic 3.3 Microsoft Azure Security Services: Security Center, Key Vault, AIP & ATP
- Official Microsoft page for AZ-90 and exam registration can be found here.
- CapEx vs OpEx Model: Understand the Difference in Cloud Computing
- AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam: Everything You Must Know
- [AZ-900] Azure Subscriptions
Next Task For You
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