The AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions training course is aimed at experienced Azure architects involved in designing infrastructure solutions. Participants will explore topics such as data storage, business continuity, network configuration, and security solutions. This course prepares candidates for the AZ-305 exam, crucial for achieving the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification. The curriculum is hands-on, featuring real-world scenarios and problem-solving exercises to ensure practical understanding and application.
AZ 305 Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Intermediate Level Questions
- What is Azure Resource Manager and its benefits?
- Azure Resource Manager is a deployment and management service for Azure resources that allows you to create, update, and delete resources in your Azure account. Benefits include the ability to manage resources as a group, deploy consistently, manage access control, and apply tags.
- Explain the difference between Availability Sets and Availability Zones in Azure.
- Availability Sets are a way to ensure that VMs are distributed across multiple fault domains and update domains within a data center, reducing the impact of hardware failures. Availability Zones, on the other hand, spread your resources across multiple data centers (zones) within a region, offering higher resilience and fault tolerance.
- How do you secure network access in Azure?
- Network access can be secured using Network Security Groups (NSGs) to filter traffic to and from Azure resources, Azure Firewall for more complex filtering rules, Virtual Network (VNet) peering for isolated network access between VNets, and VPN Gateway or Azure ExpressRoute for secure site-to-site connectivity.
- What is Azure Load Balancer, and when would you use it?
- Azure Load Balancer is a Layer 4 (TCP, UDP) load balancer that distributes incoming traffic among healthy instances of services defined in a load-balanced set. Use it when you need to improve the availability and reliability of your applications.
- Can you explain Azure Site Recovery?
- Azure Site Recovery provides disaster recovery for physical, VMware, and Hyper-V servers by replicating them to Azure. It allows you to failover in case of disaster and failback when the primary site is restored.
- What are Managed Disks in Azure?
- Managed Disks are block-level storage volumes managed by Azure and used with Azure Virtual Machines. They simplify disk management by handling storage account management, scaling, and resiliency improvements automatically.
- Describe the process of implementing a secure hybrid network between Azure and an on-premises environment.
- Implementing a secure hybrid network involves setting up a VPN Gateway or Azure ExpressRoute for secure connectivity, configuring NSGs or Azure Firewall for filtering, and using Azure Virtual WAN for unified network management. Properly plan IP addressing and DNS resolution across environments.
- How do you design a solution for high availability in Azure?
- Design for high availability by using Availability Sets, Availability Zones, auto-scaling, and replicating databases across regions. Also, leverage services like Azure Front Door or Traffic Manager for global load balancing and application resilience.
- What is Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and why use it?
- Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a managed container orchestration service based on Kubernetes that simplifies deploying, managing, and scaling containerized applications. Use it for its automated scaling, updates, and integrated CI/CD capabilities.
- What are the best practices for cost management in Azure?
- Best practices include utilizing reserved instances, monitoring with Azure Cost Management + Billing, optimizing resource sizes, shutting down unused resources, and using the Azure Pricing Calculator for budget planning.
- Explain Azure Active Directory and its use cases.
- Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a cloud-based identity and access management service. It enables single sign-on (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and application management. Use cases include securing access to applications, simplifying user management, and enhancing application security.
- What is Azure ExpressRoute?
- Azure ExpressRoute allows you to extend your on-premises networks into the Microsoft cloud over a private connection facilitated by a connectivity provider. It offers more reliability, faster speeds, lower latencies, and higher security than typical connections over the Internet.
- How do you automate deployments in Azure?
- Automate deployments using Azure DevOps for continuous integration and delivery pipelines, Azure Resource Manager templates for infrastructure as code, and Azure Automation for process automation.
- What are Azure Logic Apps, and when would you use them?
- Azure Logic Apps is a cloud service that helps you automate and orchestrate tasks, workflows, and business processes. Use them when you need to integrate apps, data, services, and systems across enterprises or automate business processes.
- Can you explain the concept of serverless computing in Azure?
- Serverless computing in Azure, provided by Azure Functions, allows you to run event-driven applications without having to manage infrastructure. It's ideal for microservices, real-time processing, and automation tasks.
- What is Azure Storage Encryption, and how does it work?
- Azure Storage Encryption automatically encrypts your data before persisting it to Azure's managed disks, blobs, files, tables, and queue storage. It uses Storage Service Encryption with Microsoft-managed keys or customer-managed keys in Azure Key Vault.
- How can Azure Monitor improve application performance monitoring?
- Azure Monitor collects, analyzes, and acts on telemetry from your cloud and on-premises environments. It improves application performance monitoring by delivering full-stack visibility, performance metrics, diagnostic logs, and real-time insights.
- What strategies would you use for migrating an on-premises infrastructure to Azure?
- Strategies include assessing and planning with Azure Migrate, choosing between rehosting (lift and shift), refactoring, rearchitecting, or rebuilding based on the application's needs, and implementing governance and compliance measures through Azure Policy and Blueprints.
- How does Azure ensure data is durable and available?
- Azure ensures data durability and availability through redundant storage (locally redundant storage, zone-redundant storage, geo-redundant storage), automatic replication, and robust backup and disaster recovery solutions.
- What are Azure Policies, and how do they help in governance?
Azure Policies enforce rules and effects over your resources, so those resources stay compliant with your corporate standards and service level agreements. They help in governance by ensuring resources comply with auditing, security, and regulatory standards.
AZ 305 Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Advance-Level Questions
- How do you design a highly available architecture in Azure?
- Answer: Designing high availability in Azure involves deploying resources across multiple availability zones and implementing Azure Site Recovery for failover capabilities. Using services like Azure Traffic Manager or Azure Load Balancer ensures that workloads can handle failures and maintain availability.
- Explain the steps to secure data in transit in Azure.
- Answer: Securing data in transit in Azure can be achieved by enforcing HTTPS for data transfers, using Azure VPN Gateway for encrypted connections, and implementing Azure ExpressRoute for a private, secure connection to Azure datacenters.
- What strategies would you use to manage costs in a large Azure environment?
- Answer: Effective cost management strategies include using Azure Cost Management tools, choosing the right size and type of Azure resources, leveraging reserved instances for predictable workloads, and shutting down unused resources.
- How do you ensure compliance and manage identity in Azure?
- Answer: Ensuring compliance involves implementing Azure policies and using Azure Blueprints to define and apply compliance standards across environments. Managing identity is handled through Azure Active Directory, implementing role-based access control (RBAC), and using multi-factor authentication for enhanced security.
- How do you implement and manage hybrid connectivity between Azure and on-premises environments?
- Answer: Implementing and managing hybrid connectivity can be achieved through Azure VPN Gateway for secure site-to-site connections, and Azure ExpressRoute for a more reliable, high-speed connection that doesn't traverse the public internet. Additionally, using Azure Arc can help manage services across hybrid environments by extending Azure management capabilities to on-premises servers.
- How do you implement disaster recovery for Azure applications?
- Answer: Implementing disaster recovery involves setting up geographic redundancy using Azure regions and availability zones. Azure Site Recovery should be configured for automated failover and failback processes to ensure minimal service interruption.
- What is Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and how would you use it in designing solutions?
- Answer: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a managed container orchestration service. It is used to simplify deploying, managing, and scaling containerized applications using Kubernetes. In design, it allows for microservices architecture, ensuring scalable and resilient applications.
- Discuss how you can use Azure’s AI and machine learning capabilities in infrastructure solutions.
- Answer: Azure AI and machine learning can be integrated into infrastructure solutions for predictive analytics, automated scaling, and real-time decision-making. Using Azure Machine Learning Service and Azure Cognitive Services can enhance applications with capabilities like image recognition, text analysis, and more.
- What are Azure Logic Apps and how would you integrate them into an enterprise workflow?
- Answer: Azure Logic Apps are a cloud service that helps to automate workflows and business processes. They can be integrated into an enterprise workflow to connect apps, data, and services across enterprises or to automate tasks based on triggers and conditions defined in a Logic App.
- Explain how you would use Azure Monitor and Azure Security Center to maintain an organization’s infrastructure.
- Answer: Azure Monitor can be used to collect, analyze, and act on telemetry data from Azure and on-premises environments, helping to understand performance and operational health. Azure Security Center provides unified security management and advanced threat protection across hybrid cloud workloads, allowing you to strengthen the security posture and protect against threats.