AZ-304: Microsoft Azure Architect Design
Log in to EnrollSummary
- advanced
- azure
Candidates for this exam should have subject matter expertise in designing and implementing solutions that run on Microsoft Azure, including aspects like compute, network, storage, and security. Candidates should have intermediate-level skills for administering Azure. Candidates should understand Azure development and DevOps processes.
Responsibilities for an Azure Solution Architect include advising stakeholders and translating business requirements into secure, scalable, and reliable cloud solutions.
An Azure Solution Architect partners with cloud administrators, cloud DBAs, and clients to implement solutions.
A candidate for this exam should have advanced experience and knowledge of IT operations, including networking, virtualization, identity, security, business continuity, disaster recovery, data platform, budgeting, and governance–this role should manage how decisions in each area affect an overall solution. In addition, this role should have expert-level skills in Azure administration and have experience with Azure development and DevOps processes.
Learning paths
Modules in this learning path
-
Store and share files in your application with Azure Files
7 Units51 minAzure Files provides a cloud-based file share for storing and sharing files to applications. Whether it’s an application hosted in Azure App Service, an Azure VM, or an on-premises app, Azure Files can store and share file access between one or more applications and systems in a secure and failure-resilient manner.
-
Choose a data storage approach in Azure
6 Units30 minLearn how using Azure Storage, Azure SQL Database, and Azure Cosmos DB – or a combination of them – for your business scenario is the best way to get the most performant solution.
-
Create an Azure Storage account
7 Units30 minCreate an Azure Storage account with the correct options for your business needs.
-
Connect an app to Azure Storage
12 Units1 hr 15 minCreate a simple application and add configuration, client library references, and code to connect it to Azure Storage.
-
Secure your Azure Storage account
8 Units45 minLearn how Azure Storage provides multilayered security to protect your data. Find out how to use access keys, to secure networks, and to use Advanced Threat Protection to proactively monitor your system.
-
Make your application storage highly available with read-access geo-redundant storage
6 Units34 minIn this module, you learn how to make your application storage highly available by ensuring that you can fail over resources if there’s an Azure region failure.
-
Choose the right disk storage for your virtual machine workload
5 Units24 minAzure provides a variety of disk storage options for virtual machine workloads. Identify the features of capabilities of each type to ensure your application performs optimally.
-
Monitor, diagnose, and troubleshoot your Azure storage
7 Units41 minDiscover the tools available to detect and correct problems with your Azure Storage to enable your cloud storage infrastructure to operate at peak performance.
-
Upload, download, and manage data with Azure Storage Explorer
6 Units37 minAzure Storage Explorer allows you to quickly view all the storage services under your account and navigate, read, and edit data stored in those services through a user-friendly graphical interface.
Modules in this learning path
-
Explore Azure compute services
9 Units52 minLearn about the different services that are available in Azure Compute.
-
Core Cloud Services – Azure compute options
7 Units38 minReview the Azure compute services and explore how they can solve common business needs.
-
Manage virtual machines with the Azure CLI
9 Units51 minLearn how to use the cross-platform Azure CLI to create, start, stop, and perform other management tasks related to virtual machines in Azure.
-
Choose a compute provisioning solution for your application
6 Units50 minDiscover the services and tools available to automate the deployment and configuration of your Azure infrastructure.
-
Build Azure Resource Manager templates
7 Units37 minLearn how Resource Manager templates express your deployments as code, enabling you to deploy faster and more reliably.
-
Deploy Azure virtual machines from VHD templates
6 Units39 minStandardize and automate your virtual machine deployments to minimize manual configuration, variance, and errors.
-
Build a scalable application with virtual machine scale sets
8 Units57 minEnable your application to automatically adjust to changes in load while minimizing costs with virtual machine scale sets.
-
Choose the best Azure service to automate your business processes
7 Units44 minMicrosoft Azure provides several different ways to host and execute code or workflows without using Virtual Machines (VMs) including Azure Functions, Microsoft Flow, Azure Logic Apps, and Azure WebJobs. In this module, you will learn about these technologies and how to choose the right one for a given scenario.
-
Introduction to high-performance computing (HPC) on Azure
6 Units50 minDiscover the services available on Azure for your high-performance computing workloads.
-
Run parallel tasks in Azure Batch with the Azure CLI
9 Units45 minAzure Batch is an Azure service that enables you to run large-scale parallel and high-performance computing (HPC) applications efficiently in the cloud. There’s no need to manage or configure infrastructure. Just schedule the job, allocate the resources you need, and let Batch take care of the rest.
Modules in this learning path
-
Expose multiple Azure Function apps as a consistent API by using Azure API Management
6 Units41 minCombine multiple Azure Functions apps into a unified interface by importing them into a single Azure API Management instance.
-
Publish and manage your APIs with Azure API Management
8 Units38 minUse API management to control who uses your APIs, to enforce usage policies, and to present a professional front-end to developers using the API.
-
Improve the performance of an API by adding a caching policy in Azure API Management
6 Units47 minAPI Management policies are configurable modules that you can add to APIs to change
their behaviors. Policies can do things like cache responses, transform documents and values,
call webhooks for notification or audit purposes, and retry requests after transient
failures. This module will use policies to enable caching in order to improve API performance
under load. -
Protect your APIs on Azure API Management
8 Units43 minProtect your back-end APIs from information exposure and implement throttling to prevent resource exhaustion with policies in Azure API Management.
-
Control authentication for your APIs with Azure API Management
7 Units55 minDiscover how to protect your APIs from unauthorized use with API keys and client certificate authentication.
Modules in this learning path
-
Design a holistic monitoring strategy on Azure
8 Units57 minUse monitoring services on Azure to bring operational excellence to your applications and infrastructure.
-
Apply and monitor infrastructure standards with Azure Policy
8 Units46 minLearn about governance and management in Azure services.
-
Control and organize Azure resources with Azure Resource Manager
8 Units46 minUse Azure Resource Manager to organize resources, enforce standards, and protect critical assets from deletion.
-
Analyze your Azure infrastructure by using Azure Monitor logs
5 Units34 minUse Azure Monitor logs to extract valuable information about your infrastructure from log data.
-
Improve incident response with alerting on Azure
9 Units53 minRespond to incidents and activities in your infrastructure through alerting capabilities in Azure Monitor.
-
Build a cloud governance strategy on Azure
12 Units48 minLearn how to access policies, resource locks, and tags, as well as how Azure services such as Azure Policy and Azure Blueprints can help you build a comprehensive cloud governance strategy.
Modules in this learning path
-
Run a background task in an App Service Web App with WebJobs
7 Units39 minAutomate a task for a Web App that should run in the background without affecting the performance of the Web App.
-
Work with mutable and partial data in Azure Cache for Redis
8 Units1 hr 5 minUse Azure Cache for Redis to store frequently accessed data. Learn how to create transactions, manage memory, and use the cache-aside pattern.
-
Build a containerized web application with Docker
8 Units57 minPackage a web app so that it can be deployed as a Docker image and run from an Azure Container Instance.
-
Build and store container images with Azure Container Registry
6 Units49 minAzure Container Registry is a managed Docker registry service based on the open-source Docker Registry 2.0. Container Registry is private, hosted in Azure, and allows you to build, store, and manage images for all types of container deployments. Learn how to build and store container images with Azure Container Registry.
-
Run Docker containers with Azure Container Instances
7 Units48 minLearn how to run containerized apps using Docker containers with Azure Container Instances (ACI).
-
Deploy and run a containerized web app with Azure App Service
8 Units46 minCreate a Docker image and store it in a repository in Azure Container Registry. Use Azure App Service to deploy a web application based on the Docker image. Configure continuous deployment for the web app by using a webhook that monitors the Docker image for changes.
-
Introduction to Azure Kubernetes Service
6 Units25 minDetermine the types of business problems that can be solved using Azure Kubernetes Service. Describe the benefits of container orchestration with features like deployment management, automatic updates, and self-healing.
-
Host a web application with Azure App service
8 Units1 hr 5 minAzure App Service enables you to build and host web applications in the programming language of your choice without managing infrastructure. Learn how to create a website through the hosted web app platform in Azure App Service.
Modules in this learning path
-
Migrate your relational data stored in SQL Server to Azure SQL Database
8 Units1 hr 24 minPlan and implement the migration of relational data from SQL Server to Azure SQL Database. Select the appropriate migration strategy for your database, and then use Data Migration Assistant to do the assessment and the migration.
-
Create an Azure Cosmos DB database built to scale
7 Units27 minLearn how to create an Azure Cosmos DB account, database, and container built to scale as your application grows.
-
Distribute your data globally with Azure Cosmos DB
6 Units31 minDistribute your data globally with Azure Cosmos DB
-
Insert and query data in your Azure Cosmos DB database
8 Units58 minLearn how to add data to your database and query NoSQL data in Azure Cosmos DB.
-
Explore Azure database and analytics services
10 Units39 minLearn about the database services that are available on Microsoft Azure, such as Azure Cosmos DB, Azure SQL, Azure Database for MySQL, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, as well as big data and analytics.
-
Design a data warehouse with Azure Synapse Analytics
8 Units47 minLearn how to create a data warehouse in Azure Synapse Analytics in minutes to take advantage of massively parallel processing (MPP) and run complex queries at petabyte scale quickly.
-
Import data into Azure Synapse Analytics by using PolyBase
8 Units1 hr 6 minLoad petabytes of data into an Azure Synapse Analytics database in minutes by using PolyBase.
-
Provision an Azure SQL database to store application data
5 Units50 minUse the Azure Portal and Cloud Shell to provision, connect, and manage Azure SQL databases.
-
Scale multiple Azure SQL Databases with SQL elastic pools
7 Units39 minSQL elastic pools allow you to manage performance and cost for a collection of SQL databases.
-
Develop and configure an ASP.NET application that queries an Azure SQL database
6 Units50 minCreate a database on Azure SQL Database to store data for an application, and create an ASP.NET application to query data from the database.
-
Core Cloud Services – Azure data storage options
6 Units25 minIn this module, we’ll explore the benefits of Azure data storage versus on-premises storage.
Modules in this learning path
-
Design your migration to Azure
6 Units44 minMinimize the time and resources required to migrate your on-premises environment to Azure. Assess your current systems with Azure Migrate, and migrate them with Azure Site Recovery and Azure Database Migration Service.
-
Protect your on-premises infrastructure from disasters with Azure Site Recovery
6 Units33 minProvide disaster recovery for your on-premises infrastructure by managing and orchestrating replication, failover, and failback of VMware virtual machines, Hyper-V virtual machines, and physical servers with Azure Site Recovery.
-
Protect your Azure infrastructure with Azure Site Recovery
9 Units59 minProvide disaster recovery for your Azure infrastructure by managing and orchestrating replication, failover, and failback of Azure virtual machines with Azure Site Recovery.
-
Protect your virtual machines by using Azure Backup
7 Units35 minUse Azure Backup to help protect the data for on-premises servers, virtual machines, virtualized workloads, SQL Server, Azure Files, and more.
-
Back up and restore your Azure SQL database
8 Units41 minProtect the data in your Azure SQL database and recover from data loss or corruption with backup and restore.
-
Dynamically meet changing web app performance requirements with autoscale rules
8 Units47 minRespond to periods of high activity by incrementally adding resources, and then removing these resources when activity drops, to reduce costs.
-
Design a geographically distributed application
6 Units34 minBuild an application that spans multiple geographic locations for high availability and resiliency.
-
Build a scalable application with virtual machine scale sets
8 Units57 minEnable your application to automatically adjust to changes in load while minimizing costs with virtual machine scale sets.
-
Scale an App Service web app to efficiently meet demand with App Service scale up and scale out
6 Units46 minRespond to periods of increased activity by incrementally increasing the resources available and then, to reduce costs, decreasing these resources when activity drops.
Modules in this learning path
-
React to state changes in your Azure services by using Event Grid
6 Units33 minBuild a serverless application architecture, automate your operations, and integrate applications by handling Azure events with Event Grid.
-
Expose hybrid services securely with Azure Relay
6 Units44 minSecurely expose services that run in your on-premises network to clients in the cloud, without having to open a port on your firewall or make intrusive changes to your corporate network infrastructure.
-
Route and process data automatically using Logic Apps
9 Units56 minDefine a workflow using built-in triggers, actions, and conditional operators. Your workflow will run automatically when data is available, process the data in the cloud, record results in a database, and send email notifications.
-
Choose a messaging model in Azure to loosely connect your services
6 Units45 minWhen you have an application that consists of components running on different computers, servers, and mobile devices, reliable communications between those components can be difficult and unreliable. Azure provides several technologies that you can use to communicate more reliably, including Storage queues, Event Hubs, Event Grid, and Service Bus. This module shows you how to choose the best technology for your communication task.
-
Implement message-based communication workflows with Azure Service Bus
8 Units54 minWrite C# code in a custom application that sends and receives messages using Azure Service Bus topics and queues.
-
Communicate between applications with Azure Queue storage
9 Units56 minImplement the publish-subscribe pattern in the cloud using Azure Queue storage.
-
Enable reliable messaging for Big Data applications using Azure Event Hubs
8 Units56 minConnect sending and receiving applications with Event Hubs so you can handle extremely high loads without losing data.
-
Create serverless logic with Azure Functions
6 Units36 minAzure Functions allow developers to host business logic that can be executed without managing or provisioning infrastructure.
Modules in this learning path
-
Connect your on-premises network to Azure with VPN Gateway
5 Units39 minVPN Gateway in Azure provides secure connectivity between your on-premises networks and clients.
-
Connect your on-premises network to the Microsoft global network by using ExpressRoute
5 Units40 minConnect your on-premises systems and users to Azure and Office 365 by using ExpressRoute for private, dedicated, and guaranteed throughput connectivity.
-
Distribute your services across Azure virtual networks and integrate them by using virtual network peering
6 Units42 minUse virtual network peering to enable communication across virtual networks in a way that’s secure and minimally complex.
-
Enhance your service availability and data locality by using Azure Traffic Manager
6 Units29 minAzure Traffic Manager provides DNS load balancing to your application, so you improve your ability to distribute your application around the world. Use Traffic Manager to improve the performance and availability of your application.
-
Improve application scalability and resiliency by using Azure Load Balancer
6 Units47 minDiscuss the different load balancers in Azure and how to choose the right Azure load balancer solution to meet your requirements.
-
Load balance your web service traffic with Application Gateway
7 Units1 hr 32 minImprove application resilience by distributing load across multiple servers and use path-based routing to direct web traffic.
-
Manage and control traffic flow in your Azure deployment with routes
7 Units50 minLearn how to control Azure virtual network traffic by implementing custom routes.
-
Design an IP addressing schema for your Azure deployment
6 Units37 minA good Azure IP addressing schema provides flexibility, room for growth, and integration with on-premises networks. The schema ensures that communication works for deployed resources, minimizes public exposure of systems, and gives the organization flexibility in its network. If not properly designed, systems might not be able to communicate, and additional work will be required to remediate.
-
Design a hybrid network architecture on Azure
6 Units47 minYou have a traditional on-premises infrastructure that you need to connect to resources in Azure. In this module, you learn how to select a connectivity method for your use cases that balances functionality, cost, and security.
-
Centralize your core services by using hub and spoke Azure virtual network architecture
6 Units36 minDesign a network architecture in Azure that allows for growth and flexibility, secure isolation of critical resources, low administrative overhead, and communication with on-premises network resources.
-
Secure and isolate access to Azure resources by using network security groups and service endpoints
6 Units43 minNetwork security groups and service endpoints help you secure your virtual machines and Azure services from unauthorized network access.
-
Monitor and troubleshoot your end-to-end Azure network infrastructure by using network monitoring tools
6 Units37 minUse Network Watcher tools, diagnostics, and logs to help find and fix networking issues in your Azure infrastructure.