Now the time has come for a guide on how to succeed in the Azure Administrator Associate exam

I managed to succeed this one on Ignite 2019 where the possibility to do exams the whole week free! There was though based on the amount of attendees a limit of one (1) per person.

Skills measured:

• Manage Azure subscriptions and resources (15-20%)
• Implement and manage storage (15-20%)
• Deploy and manage virtual machines (VMs) (15-20%)
• Configure and manage virtual networks (30-35%)
• Manage identities (15-20%)

As you might see on the cert page there is a transition now happening and as the content have changed quite a bit there is a good idea to do the AZ-104 instead to be future proof!

Learning resources:

I used some different resources for preparing me, I have already the 70-533 in the bagage so I did have some understanding of the administrator exams..

First of all the Microsoft learn have a learning path that covers a great deal of the required skills.

Secondly I used a book from Packt written by Sjoukje Zaal that was very good and got me even more prepared.

The book goes through the different skills required in a structured way and helps in the learning process.

What you learn from the book:

• Configure Azure subscription policies and manage resource groups
• Monitor activity log by using Log Analytics
• Modify and deploy Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates
• Protect your data with Azure Site Recovery
• Learn how to manage identities in Azure
• Monitor and troubleshoot virtual network connectivity
• Manage Azure Active Directory Connect, password sync, and password writeback

Good luck in your preparations and hope you will be as successful as me!

Last year I took the exams AZ-900, AZ-103 and AZ-301 and wanted to give you an insight into how I studied and what you need to do to have a successful shot at the exams.

AZ – 900

In this first post I will go through the resources for AZ-900. The exam page on Microsoft Learn takes you to the exam registration and also a detailed list on what you need to know!

Skills measured

• Understand cloud concepts (15-20%)
• Understand core Azure services (30-35%)
• Understand security, privacy, compliance, and trust (25-30%)
• Understand Azure pricing and support (20-25%)

Resources:

I used two different resources for preparing for the exam. That being said I have been working with Azure for some years so maybe if you are new to the Microsoft cloud you might need to do some more studying!

First I used Openedx but their AZ-900 course have been closed down. Microsoft Partner site have an alternative that you can utilize, it is a virtual course that is recorded. Secondly I used Microsoft Learn that has a learning path that is really good!

• AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals
• Microsoft Learn: Azure Fundamentals learning path

Good luck on your Azure adventure!

There is a new preview of a Azure Portal App that lets you use the Azure Portal without any other browser available, this is a great thing if you have a Windows Server as your main go-to jumpbox that you do things in and as we know it is by default not possible to run Edge browser in Windows Server and you are stuck with Internet Explorer and that alone makes you go bananas and also that browser is some serious legacy thingy.

First you go to https://preview.portal.azure.com/app/Download

once downloaded and installed you can then sign into your azure account to start utilizing the app and manage your cloud resources

As you can see it is like any other browser experience of the Azure portal and you can of course also start an cloud shell.

Of course the option to install chrome or firefox also works as an alternative, although some companies have restrictions on third party software being installed within their server environments…

I found this free ebook that can help you if you are new to Microsoft Azure. It is written in the format that you can study during a month of lunches or just at any time when it fits.

This book is a rock solid 356 pages of Azure learnings and can be good even for an experienced dude.

After reading it you can pursue to take the exam AZ-900 Azure fundamentals!

I am right now digesting the full and exciting last week and wanted to update you on the top 10 sessions of all that I attended in person. We are all different and have different taste and here you can see what I picked out.

I had like 50 sessions in my schedule that I did not manage to attend but will try to find time to watch the recordings and I will do another follow up post with the top sessions of all from Ignite later!

GS001 – An end-to-end tour of the Microsoft developer platform

Allthough I am more of an Operations guy I did not attend the infrastructure foundation session with Corey Sanders and I am happy I went for the Scott Hanselmans instead and have an insight into how the total developer experience now is within the Microsoft space and it was a great session that i can highly recommend you check out the recording of.  

DT1001 – Voices from the top: Leaders get real on building inclusive work cultures

This year the  Ignite conference had a track on Diversity and Tech and the first day I attended this lunch-session and being a nerd-techi and attending a non-technical session was great! This session gave me some great insight on how we as an industry that is very much still male-focused and need to work on our culture values to be able to get more people in.

BRK2215 – Real World architecture considerations for Azure: how to succeed and what to avoid

This first session on the Tuesday morning gave some insights from the Fasttrack team on how to do best practices when setting up environments within Azure.

BRK3062 – Architecting Security and Governance Across your Azure Subscriptions

On this session we got a high level overview on governance work within Azure and very valuable insights in the releases that had been announced regarding policys, resource graph, cost, management groups and blueprints. Also we got an insight into the in-guestvm policy work that Michael Greene with the powershell team have enabled.

BRK2269 – WinOps: Lessons learned from Enterprise devops with Microsoft technologies

Avesome session on how to apply devops thinking within the Microsoft Technologies and IT Pro space by the DevopsGuys Stephen Thair. He had some great valuable points and case studies where devops principles had been successfully implemented.

DT1003 – Service degraded: Recognizing mental burnout in your colleagues and yourself

Another great session from the Diversity track and this time it was Sonia Cuff (Azure Ops Advocate) that presented on the health topic and how to get into control of signs of burnout within yourselves or your colleagues. She did a splendid job and I did really value being here and not in Snovers PowerShell session that this one collided with in the schedule (Some sessions can be saved for later via the recording)

BRK1094 – Accelerating your IT career

Thursday morning and the room was almost full with the one and only Ned Pyle talk about how to survive in the changing landscape and how to see and work on your career. He had several tips on how to succed. The four pillars of success that included Discipline, Technical powerhouse, Communication, Legacy.

BRK2362 – The SRE role: An unexpected journey

I have not heard Jared talk before but this was a great session on the path for him and Microsoft adopting SRE (Site Reliability Engineers) practices that Facebook, Netflix and Google have been utilizing for years. It was fun analogies and his story going from being a server hugger to a cattle farmer made most of the crowd to recognise themselves.

BRK3085 – Deep dive into Implementing governance at scale through Azure Policy

Last session before the Microsoft Ignite celebration party but the room was full and everyone wanted to get more insigt into the work with Azure Policy, Azure Resource Graph and Azure Blueprints. Always a deep dive gives that extra layer of understanding and this time was no exclusion  having the product team presenting their stuff gives that extra nudge.

DT1005 – In conversation – raising the next generation of IT pros as diversity and inclusion champions

The final day I listened to this panel that talked on an interesting topic that I can truly recommend you to watch the recording. Among the people on stage was Donovan Brown talking about the struggle to hire the right staff as a People Manager.