AZ-203 Study Guide (Developing Solutions for MS Azure)

Preparing for AZ-203 Azure Developer exam? Don’t know where to start? This post is the AZ-203 Certification Study Guide (with links to each exam objective).

I have curated a list of articles from Microsoft documentation for each objective of AZ-203 exam. I hope this article will be your AZ-203 Certification Study Guide. Also, please share the post within your circles so it helps them to prepare for the exam.

AZ-203 Video Preparation Options

Pluralsight (Free trial)	Developing Solutions for Azure (AZ-203) Path
LinkedIn Learning (Free trial)	Preparing for AZ-203 Developing Solutions for Azure
Udemy (with practice tests)	AZ-203 Developing Solutions for Azure Exam Prep

AZ-203 Practice Tests

Whizlabs Practice Tests	5 Practice Tests for AZ-203 (275 questions)
Udemy Practice Tests	AZ-203 (Practice Tests + Labs + Case Study)

AZ-203 Exam Reference books (PDF)

Amazon India	Exam Ref Book AZ-203
Amazon (Other Countries)	Exam Ref Book AZ-203

To view other Azure certificate study guides, click here

Full disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. I some commission if you purchase through them. This way you can support my blog at not extra cost to you!

Develop Azure Infrastructure as a Service Compute Solutions (10-15%)

Implement Solutions That Use Virtual Machines (VM)

Provision VMs

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/quick-create-powershell

Create ARM templates

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/resource-manager-quickstart-create-templates-use-the-portal

Configure Azure Disk Encryption for VMs

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/azure-security-disk-encryption-windows

Implement Batch Jobs by Using Azure Batch Services

Manage batch jobs by using Batch Service API

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/batchservice/

Run a batch job by using Azure CLI, Azure portal, and other tools

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/batch/quick-create-cli

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/batch/quick-create-portal

Write code to run an Azure Batch Services batch job

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/batch/quick-run-dotnet

Create Containerized Solutions

Create an Azure Managed Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/tutorial-kubernetes-deploy-cluster

Create container images for solutions

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/tutorial-kubernetes-prepare-acr

Publish an image to the Azure Container Registry

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/tutorial-kubernetes-prepare-acr

Run containers by using Azure Container Instance or AKS

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/tutorial-kubernetes-deploy-application

Develop Azure Platform as a Service Compute Solutions (20-25%)

Create Azure App Service Web Apps

Create an Azure App Service Web App

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/app-service-web-get-started-dotnet

Create an Azure App Service background task by using WebJobs

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/webjobs-create

Enable diagnostics logging

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/troubleshoot-diagnostic-logs

Create Azure App Service Mobile Apps

Add push notifications for mobile apps

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service-mobile/app-service-mobile-android-get-started-push

Enable offline sync for mobile app

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service-mobile/app-service-mobile-android-get-started-offline-data

Implement a remote instrumentation strategy for mobile devices

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/intune/teamviewer-support

Create Azure App Service API Apps

Create an Azure App Service API app

Pluralsight: Azure App Service API App

Create documentation for the API by using open source and other tools

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/functions-openapi-definition

Implement Azure Functions

Implement input and output bindings for a function

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/functions-triggers-bindings

Implement function triggers by using data operations, timers, and webhooks

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/functions-bindings-timer

Pluralsight:Implementing Web Hook Triggers

Implement Azure Durable Functions

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/durable/durable-functions-create-portal

Create Azure Function apps by using Visual Studio

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/functions-create-your-first-function-visual-studio

Develop for Azure Storage (15-20%)

Develop Solutions That Use Storage Tables

Design and implement policies for tables

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/storageservices/establishing-a-stored-access-policy

Query table storage by using code

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/tutorial-query-sql-api

Implement partitioning schemes

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/partition-data

Develop Solutions That Use Cosmos DB Storage

Create, read, update, and delete data by using appropriate APIs

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/cosmos-db/documents

Implement partitioning schemes

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/how-to-model-partition-example

Set the appropriate consistency level for operations

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/consistency-levels-choosing

Develop Solutions That Use a Relational Database

Provision relational databases

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-single-database-get-started

Configure relational databases

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-server-level-firewall-rule

Configure elastic pools for Azure SQL Database

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-elastic-pool

Create, read, update, and delete data tables by using code

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-connect-query-dotnet-core

Develop Solutions That Use Blob Storage

Move items in blob storage between storage accounts or containers

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/copy-blobs-from-command-line-and-code/3-move-blobs-using-cli

Set and retrieve properties and metadata

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-import-export-tool-setting-properties-metadata-import-v1

Implement blob leasing

LinkedIn Learning: Working with a lease

Implement data archiving and retention

Pluralsight: Archiving a blob

Implement Azure security (10-15%)

Implement Authentication

Implement authentication by using certificates

https://github.com/Azure-Samples/active-directory-dotnetcore-daemon-v2

Implement forms-based authentication

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/web-api/overview/security/forms-authentication

Implement Token-based authentication

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/overview-authentication-authorization

Windows-integrated authentication

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/web-api/overview/security/integrated-windows-authentication

Implement multi-factor authentication by using Azure AD

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/authentication/tutorial-mfa-applications

Implement OAuth2 authentication

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/develop/tutorial-v2-asp-webapp

Implement Managed Service Identity (MSI)/Service Principal authentication

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/managed-identities-azure-resources/tutorial-windows-vm-access-arm

Implement Access Control

Implement CBAC (Claims-Based Access Control) authorization

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/azure/azure-services/gg185907

Implement RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) authorization

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/azure/azure-services/gg185914

Create shared access signatures

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-dotnet-shared-access-signature-part-1

Tip: Check out the (FAQs) on Azure Certification

Implement Secure Data Solutions

Encrypt and decrypt data at rest and in transit

https://cloudacademy.com/blog/how-does-azure-encrypt-data/

Create, read, update, and delete keys using the KeyVault API

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/keyvault/createkey/createkey

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/keyvault/getkey/getkey

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/keyvault/updatekey/updatekey

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/keyvault/deletekey/deletekey

Create, read, update, and delete secrets using the KeyVault API

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/keyvault/setsecret/setsecret

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/keyvault/getsecret/getsecret

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/keyvault/updatesecret/updatesecret

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/keyvault/deletesecret/deletesecret

Create, read, update, and delete certificates by using the KeyVault API

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/keyvault/createcertificate/create

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/keyvault/getcertificate/get

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/keyvault/updatecertificate/update

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/keyvault/deletecertificate/delete

Monitor, Troubleshoot, and Optimize Solutions (10-15%)

Develop Code to Support Scalability of Apps and Services

Implement autoscaling rules and patterns (schedule, operational/system metrics)

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/platform/autoscale-get-started

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/platform/autoscale-common-scale-patterns

Implement autoscaling rules and patterns (code that addresses singleton application instances)

Check the entire module (Writing Code to Handle Singleton Application Instances) with a free trial

Implement code that addresses the transient state

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/best-practices/retry-service-specific

Integrate Caching and Content Delivery within Solutions

Store and retrieve data in Azure Redis cache

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-cache-for-redis/cache-web-app-howto

Develop code to implement CDNs in solutions

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cdn/cdn-app-dev-net

Invalidate cache content (CDN or Redis)

Refer to the 2 videos: ‘Implementing a Cache Validation Policy’ and ‘Demo: Implementing a Cache Validation Policy’

Instrument Solutions to Support Monitoring and Logging

Configure instrumentation in an app or service by using Application Insights

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/learn/dotnetcore-quick-start

Analyze and troubleshoot solutions by using Azure Monitor

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/app/asp-net-troubleshoot-no-data

Implement Application Insights Web Test and Alerts

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/blog/creating-a-web-test-alert-programmatically-with-application-insights/

Connect to and Consume Azure and Third-party Services (20-25%)

Develop an App Service Logic App

Create a Logic App

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/logic-apps/quickstart-create-first-logic-app-workflow

Create a custom connector for Logic Apps

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/custom-connectors/define-blank

Create a custom template for Logic Apps

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/logic-apps/logic-apps-create-azure-resource-manager-templates

Integrate Azure Search within Solutions

Create an Azure Search index

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/search/search-get-started-portal

Import searchable data

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/search/search-import-data-portal

Query the Azure Search index

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/search/search-query-overview

Establish API Gateways

Create an APIM instance

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-management/get-started-create-service-instance

Configure authentication for APIs

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-management/api-management-howto-mutual-certificates-for-clients

Define policies for APIs

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-management/set-edit-policies

Develop Event-based Solutions

Implement solutions that use Azure Event Grid

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/event-grid/resize-images-on-storage-blob-upload-event?tabs=dotnet

Implement solutions that use Azure Notification Hubs

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/notification-hubs/notification-hubs-windows-store-dotnet-get-started-wns-push-notification

Implement solutions that use Azure Event Hub

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/event-hubs/event-hubs-tutorial-visualize-anomalies

Develop Message-based Solutions

Implement solutions that use Azure Service Bus

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/service-bus-messaging/service-bus-tutorial-topics-subscriptions-powershell

Implement solutions that use Azure Queue Storage queues

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/queues/storage-tutorial-queues

This brings us to the end of AZ-203 Study Guide

What do you think? Let me know in the Comments section if I have missed out on anything. Also, I love to hear from you how your preparation is going on!

In case you are looking for other Azure certification exams check out this page

Want to be notified as soon as I post? Subscribe to RSS feed / leave your email address in the subscribe section. Share the article to your social networks with the below links so it can benefit others.