AZ-303 Exam Study Guide (Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies)

AZ-303 Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies Certificate Study Guide

How to Prepare for the AZ-303 Exam?

Preparing for the AZ-303 Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies exam? Don’t know where to start? This post is the AZ-303 Study Guide, which helps you to achieve the Microsoft Azure Certified Solutions Architect expert certification.

Note: You also need to clear AZ-304 to achieve this certification.

This post contains a curated list of articles from Microsoft documentation for each objective of the AZ-303 exam. Please share the post within your circles so it helps them to prepare for the exam.

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AZ-303 Microsoft Azure Architect Online Course

Pluralsight Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies
LinkedIn Learning (Free trial) Exam Tips: Azure Architect Technologies
Skylines Academy NEW Course: Azure Architect Technologies
Udemy Exam Preparation for Microsoft Architect Role

AZ-303 Microsoft Azure Architect Practice Test

Whizlabs Exam Questions Azure Architect: 3 Practice Tests (165 Q & A)
Udemy Practice Tests Microsoft Azure Architect Practice Tests

AZ-303 Azure Architect Other Training Materials

Labs Practice for AZ-303Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies [Labs]
Amazon e-book (PDF) Exam Ref Azure Architect Technologies

AZ-303 Sample Practice Exam Questions

AZ-303 Microsoft Azure Architect Exam Certificate Practice test

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Implement and Monitor an Azure Infrastructure (50-55%)

Implement Cloud Infrastructure Monitoring

Monitor security

Visualize and monitor your data

What is Azure Security Center?

What is Azure Sentinel?

Monitor performance

Configure diagnostic settings on resources

Linkedin Learning: Configure Diagnostic Setting (check with a free trial)

Create a performance baseline for resources

LinkedIn: Performance Baseline (Check with a free trial)

Monitor for unused resources

Finding Unused Resources Impacting Azure Costs

Monitor performance capacity

How to chart performance with Azure Monitor for VMs

Visualize diagnostics data using Azure Monitor

Visualizing data from Azure Monitor

Monitor health and availability

Monitor cost

Configure advanced logging

Implement and configure Azure Monitor insights, including App Insights, Networks, Containers

Overview of Insights in Azure Monitor

Configure a Log Analytics workspace

Create a Log Analytics workspace in the Azure portal

Log Analytics Workspace

Configure and manage advanced alerts

Collect alerts and metrics across multiple subscriptions

Azure Monitor alerting just got better!

View Alerts in Azure Monitor logs

Create, view & manage activity log alerts using Azure Monitor

Azure certification Frequently Asked Questions

Implement Storage Accounts

Select storage account options based on a use case

Introduction to the core Azure Storage services

Configure Azure Files and blob storage

Create an Azure file share

Configure network access to the storage account

Configure Azure Storage firewalls & virtual networks

Implement Shared Access Signatures and access policies

Grant limited access to Azure Storage resources using SAS

Define a stored access policy

Implement Azure AD authentication for storage

Azure Active Directory (AD) based access control

Authorize access to blobs & queues using Azure AD

Manage access keys

Manage storage account access keys

Implement Azure storage replication

The explanation for Azure storage replication

Implement Azure storage account failover

Disaster recovery & storage account failover

Initiate a storage account failover

Implement VMs for Windows and Linux

Configure High Availability

Create & deploy highly available VMs with Azure PowerShell

Configure storage for VMs

Introduction to Azure managed disks

Select virtual machine size

Sizes for virtual machines in Azure

Implement Azure Dedicated Hosts

Deploy VMs to dedicated hosts using the portal

Deploy and configure scale sets

Creating VM scale sets in the Azure portal

Configure Azure Disk Encryption

Create & encrypt a Windows VM with the Azure portal

Automate Deployment and Configuration of Resources

Save a deployment as an Azure Resource Manager template

Download the template for a VM

Modify Azure Resource Manager template

Updating resources in an Azure Resource Manager template

Evaluate the location of new resources

Set resource location in the ARM template

Configure a VHD template

Deploy Azure virtual machines from VHD templates

Deploy from a template

Create a Windows VM from a Resource Manager template

Manage an image library

Shared Image Galleries

Create an Azure Shared Image Gallery

Create and execute an automation runbook

Deploy an ARM template in a PowerShell runbook

Implement Virtual Networking

Implement VNet to VNet connections

VNet-to-VNet VPN gateway connection using PowerShell

Implement VNet peering

YouTube video: VNet Peering demo

Implement Microsoft Azure Architech Technologies Exam Prep az-303

Amazon link (affiliate)

Implement Azure Active Directory

Add custom domains

Add your custom domain name using the Azure AD portal

Configure Azure AD Identity Protection

Configure notifications in Azure AD Identity Protection

Configure the Azure MFA registration policy

Implement self-service password reset

Using Azure AD self-service password reset

Implement Conditional Access including MFA

Conditional Access: MFA for all users

Configure fraud alerts

Fraud alert feature

Configure verification methods

Verification methods in Azure MFA

Implement and manage guest accounts

Add guest users to your directory in the Azure portal

Manage guest access with Azure AD access reviews

Manage multiple directories

Understand how multiple Azure AD organizations interact

Implement and Manage Hybrid Identities

Install and configure Azure AD Connect

Getting started with Azure AD Connect using express settings

Identity synchronization options

Objects and credentials in an Azure AD DS

Configure and manage password sync and password writeback

Implement password hash synchronization with Azure AD Connect sync

Azure Azure AD self-service password reset

Configure single sign-on

Using Azure AD as your Identity & Access Management

Configure Azure AD Connect cloud sync

What is Azure AD Connect cloud sync?

Use Azure AD Connect Health

Azure AD Connect Health: Monitoring the sync engine

Implement Management and Security Solutions (25-30%)

Manage Workloads in Azure

Migrate workloads using Azure Migrate

Assess infrastructure

Assess VMware VMs for migration to Azure VMs

Select a migration method

Select a VMware migration option

Prepare the on-premises for migration

Prepare on-premises machines for migration to Azure

Recommend target infrastructure

Pluralsight: Target environment (Free trial)

Implement Azure Backup for Azure workloads

Back up an Azure VM from the VM settings

Implement disaster recovery

Set up disaster recovery for Azure VMs

Implement Azure Automation Update Management

Update Management overview

Enable Update Management from Azure portal

Implement Load Balancing and Network Security

Implement Azure Load Balancer

Load balance internet traffic to VMs using the Azure portal

Implement an Azure application gateway

Using Azure PowerShell to create an application gateway

Implement a Web Application Firewall

Using the Azure portal to create an Application Gateway with a WAF

Implement Azure Firewall

Deploy & configure Azure Firewall using the Azure portal

Implement Azure Firewall Manager

Secure your virtual hub using Azure Firewall Manager

Implement Azure Front Door

Use the Azure Front Door – Redirect HTTP to HTTPS

Implement Azure Traffic Manager

Create a Traffic Manager profile using the Azure portal

Implement Network Security Groups and Application Security Groups

Create, change, or delete a network security group

Application security groups

Implement Bastion

Connect to a VM using a private IP address & Azure Bastion

AZ-303 Exam Details and Tips

Implement and Manage Azure Governance Solutions

Create and manage hierarchical structure that contains management groups, subscriptions, and resource groups

Create a management group

Assign RBAC roles

Grant a user access to Azure resources by Azure portal

Create a custom RBAC role

Create an Azure custom role using Azure PowerShell

Configure access to Azure resources by assigning roles

Add a role assignment

Configure management access to Azure

Best practices for Azure RBAC

Interpret effective permissions

View the access a user has to Azure resources

Set up and perform an access review

What are Azure AD access reviews?

Implement and configure an Azure Policy

Create & manage policies to enforce compliance

Implement and configure Azure Blueprints

Working with Azure Blueprints

Manage Security for Applications

Implement and configure Key Vault

Pluralsight course on Azure Key Vault (Free trial)

Implement and configure Managed Identities

Windows VM system-assigned managed identity to access ARM

Register and manage applications in Azure AD

Register an application with the Microsoft identity platform

Implement Solutions for Apps (10-15%)

Implement an Application Infrastructure

Create and configure Azure App Service

Create an ASP.NET Core web app in Azure

Create an App Service Web App for Containers

Run a custom container in Azure

Create and configure an App Service plan

Azure App Service plan overview

Configure an App Service

Configure an App Service app in the Azure portal

Configure networking for an App Service

Integrate your app with an Azure virtual network

Create and manage deployment slots

Set up staging environments in Azure App Service

YouTube video: Deployment slots

Implement Logic Apps

Azure Logic Apps for schedule-based & recurring automation workflows

Implement Azure Functions

Create a function in Azure that’s triggered by Blob storage

Implement Container-based Applications

Create a container image

Build & deploy container images in the cloud with ACR Tasks

Configure Azure Kubernetes Service

Deploy an AKS cluster using the Azure portal

Publish and automate image management by using the Azure Container Registry

Private Docker container registry using the Docker CLI

Automate container image builds & maintenance with ACR Tasks

Deploy a solution on an Azure Container Instance

Deploy a container instance in Azure using the Azure portal

Implement and Manage Data Platforms (10-15%)

Implement NoSQL Databases

Configure Azure storage account tables

Create an Azure Storage table in the Azure portal

Create a table dynamically with the .NET SDK (Table API)

Notes:

Don’t get confused with the Table API in Cosmos DB and Azure Table storage. They both share the same data model and expose similar query operations through their SDKs.

But, Table API in Cosmos DB has premium capabilities like global distribution, throughput & high availability. So, you should look to migrate your existing app to Table API, given a chance.

Select appropriate CosmosDB APIs

Review the Learning Path: Choose the appropriate API for Azure Cosmos DB

Notes:

Cosmos DB is a Multi-Model Database Service. It means that you can build any of the NoSQL database models with the following APIs:

1. Gremlin (Graph) API – To describe the relationship between entities.

2. Azure Table API – use only to migrate applications using Azure Table Storage to Cosmos DB. Else just avoid.

3. MongoDB API – If your project is already using MongoDB, use this API. Migration is as simple as just updating the connection string.

4. Cassandra API – If your team already uses Cassandra DB / skillful of Cassandra Query Language (CQL), use this API.

5. Core SQL API – For all other cases & for new projects, use SQL API. Superior in functionality to other APIs. When in doubt, use Core SQL.

Set up replicas in CosmosDB

A Pluralsight module on understanding global distribution & replication

Add/remove regions from your Cosmos DB account

Configure Multiple write-regions

Configure Multi-master in your app (To write to the nearest write location)

Notes:

a. Why data replication is important in Azure Cosmos DB?

1. To reduce the latency of your application. If you have a global audience, then the users farther from the database may experience high latency (time duration between request & response). By enabling Cosmos DB replication, you direct the request to the nearest data center. The SDK will make sure of that.

2. Replication enables Business Continuity. If there is a natural disaster in a data center, you know the data is safe elsewhere.

b. In addition, to read replication, you can set up multi-region writes. But why? Same reason! To reduce write latency. But, this may cause conflicts as the data is updated in different regions.

Implement Azure SQL Databases

Configure Azure SQL database settings

Configure Server-level IP firewall rules

Configure security features of Azure SQL Database like:

Notes:

You need to open port 1433 if you try to connect the Azure SQL database from your system (with a client tool like SSMS).

You can create Server-level firewall rules in the Azure portal and T-SQL (with SSMS). Database-level firewall rules can be configured with only T-SQL statements.

Server-level firewall rules apply to all the databases in the server & they are created in the master database. The rules for the database-level firewall are stored in the individual database making them easily portable.

Implement Azure SQL Database managed instances

Getting started with Azure SQL Managed Instance

Creating an Azure SQL Database Managed Instance

Notes:

Best used for migrating existing on-premises applications with minimal effort (lift-and-shift). Provides the latest stable DB engine version.

Azure SQL Managed Instance = Best of Azure SQL Database + Best of SQL Server on Azure VM

AZ-303 MICROSOFT AZURE ARCHITECT TECHNOLOGIES Managed Instance (MI)

Configure HA for an Azure SQL database

High-availability for Azure SQL Database

Notes:

What High Availability ensures for Azure SQL Database?

  • That data is immune to failures.
  • SQL, Windows maintenance operations do not impact the workload.
Az-303 Azure Architect Tech - High Availability Azure SQL Database

High-availability models available:

Standard: Basic, Standard & General Purpose tiers use the standard model: Two layers – a stateless compute layer & a stateful data layer (the .mdf & .ldf files) stored in Azure premium storage (built-in high availability). In the case of failure, Azure Service Fabric kickstarts another stateless compute node. Not suitable for a heavy workload, as the new compute node does not have any files (cold cache).

Premium (leveraged by Premium & Business Critical service tiers): Unlike the previous model, both the compute and the storage is in the same node. This node is replicated 3-4 times (others are secondary nodes) to provide high availability (implemented with Always On availability groups). 

Additional benefits of Premium availability model: 

Read Scale-Out: You can redirect read operations to the secondary nodes

Availability Zones: You can place the databases in availability zones so the data is replicated across data centers in a region. Although the data is immune to data center-specific failures, you may observe network latency (due to distance between data centers) as transactions are committed across availability zones.

Deploy an Azure SQL database

Different ways to publish updates to Azure SQL Database

Example: Deploy a data-driven app with App Service & Azure SQL Database

This brings us to the end of the AZ-303 Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies 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 about how your preparation is going on!

In case you are preparing for other Azure certification exams, check out the Azure study guide for those exams.

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23 Comments

  1. Hello Ravi Kiran, Can I use this link for preparing AZ-303 now as the chats from 6 months old? I have gone through certification path (MS), lots of stuff. I am overwhelmed by the content. What is the best way to crack AZ-303 and 304, should I just use your links about for each category and practice? Any other suggestions? Appreciate it.

    Thanks
    Venkat

    1. Yes, Venkat, AZ-303 is truly overwhelming. Even using links on my blog will blow your mind. The best way I found is using a combination of materials. MS Learn, Practice Tests, Azure Hands-on, video course etc., That way I always found something interesting to learn.

      1. Thanks Ravi, your links are really nice just pointing to correct information rather than getting distracted. one more quick question. When you say MS learn – is it referring to docs.microsoft.com or the learning path (certification path – which has online and self based collections) – with 9 modules – Architect for network infrastructure, compute infrastructure and so on..(about 56 modules). Appreciate your response.

        I am using your links, MS recommended 56 modules and practice tests and of course, Az account with practice. Will that be sufficient? Seems like never ending…

        Thanks again,
        Venkat

        1. Yea, it is never-ending. The best way would be to time-box your preparation. Give yourself a month or a 2 to prepare. And then go for one of those exam replays, where you can give another attempt, in case you fail. Sometimes you would be surprised to know how little your preparation is, but, nevertheless good enough to clear the exam.

  2. Hi Ravi, Your blog is really helpful for any IT professional to be guided for his/her prospective career. Thanks for your effort and continuous responsibilities. Can you advise me to explain the below issue?

    I want to run an ERP solution from both in the server on the office premise and any public cloud (Azure) simultinously. The database is SQL server and must be synchronized with each other (between the server in office and clod). Is it possible? If possible please refer to any article or link. Thanks

    Regards
    Bashar

  3. Hi Ravi, can you tell me which azure course I need to know to appear for this exam, i feel this is advance level.

  4. Thank you for such a great contect!
    Is this exam still in Beta mode? (26th of Sept).
    The official exam page does not say Beta anymore!

  5. This note is amazing. Thanks a lot for your work. May I know whether you have taken AZ-303 or not? Do you think skylines course is sufficient to pass it?

    1. No, I am still writing notes while preparing for it. I have not taken their course but yes, Nick’s content generally gets rave reviews.

  6. Hello Ravi, thanks much for the consolidated links for each category. Can you please share if you know of any training site (like PluralSight) that has a complete definitive course on AZ-303 and AZ-304 yet.