Preface

This book is the successor of Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies – Exam Guide AZ-300. The new exam, AZ-303, is mostly the same; however, Microsoft has shifted the focus away from much of the theory AZ-300 covered and is now more practical. An example of this is the removal of the messaging architecture requirement; this has instead been moved to the AZ-304 exam, which is more focused on the choice of technologies.

As Azure is an ever-developing platform, with new services being continually introduced and enhanced, the AZ-303 update also includes the requirement to understand services such as Azure Bastion, Azure Blueprints, and Azure Front Door. These were relatively new, or in preview, when AZ-300 was first released and are now generally available.

This book will therefore prepare you for the updated AZ-303 exam, which is the most practical exam of the Azure Architect Expert series. By reading this book, you will get updated on all the new functionalities, features, and resources. This book will cover all the exam objectives, giving you a complete overview of the objectives that are covered in the exam.

This book will start with implementing and monitoring infrastructure in Azure. You will learn how to analyze resource utilization and consumption. You will learn about storage accounts, Azure Virtual Network, Azure Active Directory (AD), and integrating on-premise directories. Next, you will learn about implementing management and security in Azure and how to implement governance. The focus of this book will then switch to implementing web-based solutions with Azure native technologies such as Web Apps, Functions, and Logic Apps. Finally, we look at how to develop data solutions for the cloud using SQL and NoSQL technologies.

Each chapter concludes with a Further reading section, which is an integral part of the book because it will give you extra, and sometimes crucial, information for passing the AZ-303 exam. As the exam questions will change slightly over time, and this book will eventually become outdated, the Further reading section will be the place that provides access to all the updates.