Beginner Certification Path

AZ-900 is where cloud starts making sense.

This course turns Azure Fundamentals into something you can explain, lab, and actually use. You will cover cloud concepts, Azure architecture, identity, networking, pricing, governance, and monitoring without getting buried in jargon.

10Lessons
BeginnerLevel
30-35%Governance Domain
$165Exam Cost
See the curriculum Grab free resources
Dope Translation

Cloud concepts in plain language

The professional layer gets you exam-ready. The dope layer makes it stick.

CapEx vs OpEx

Buying your own building versus renting studio time. On-prem means you own the hardware. Cloud means you pay for what you use.

Region Pairs

Your backup studio in another city. If one region has problems, paired regions protect continuity and disaster recovery.

RBAC

The intern should not have Owner. Roles map job responsibilities to the exact access someone needs and no more.

Exam Domains

What you will master

The curriculum follows the official AZ-900 flow while staying practical for first-time learners.

☁️ Cloud concepts

Cloud benefits, deployment models, service models, resilience, elasticity, and shared responsibility.

25% of examCore foundations

🏗️ Azure architecture

Regions, availability zones, compute, storage, networking, and identity services inside Azure.

35-40% of examPortal to platform

🔐 Identity and security

Entra ID, MFA, Conditional Access, Zero Trust, RBAC, and Defender for Cloud at a fundamentals level.

Security basicsJob-relevant

📊 Management and governance

Cost management, Azure Policy, locks, management groups, Azure Monitor, and Service Health.

30-35% of examGovern like a pro
Full Curriculum

Ten lessons from zero to exam ready

Each lesson blends certification prep, professional explanation, and real-world translation.

Lesson 1: What Is Cloud Computing? 90 min + 30 min lab

Topics

  • Cloud history, public/private/hybrid/multi-cloud
  • High availability, scalability, elasticity, agility, geo-distribution
  • CapEx vs OpEx and shared responsibility
Cloud is renting the rooms you need instead of buying the whole building.
Lesson 2: Cloud Service Models 90 min + 30 min lab

Topics

  • IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and serverless
  • Use cases for VMs, App Service, and Microsoft 365 style platforms
  • Shared responsibility by service model
Lesson 3: Azure Portal, Regions, and Availability 90 min + 45 min lab

Topics

  • Azure Portal navigation
  • Regions, region pairs, availability zones, sovereign clouds
  • Azure CLI and PowerShell basics
Lesson 4: Azure Compute Services 90 min + 60 min lab

Topics

  • Virtual Machines, scale sets, availability sets
  • App Service, ACI, AKS, and Functions
  • When to choose VMs versus containers versus serverless
Lesson 5: Azure Storage Services 60 min + 45 min lab

Topics

  • Blob, Disk, File, and Queue storage
  • Hot, Cool, and Archive tiers
  • LRS, ZRS, GRS, and GZRS redundancy
Lesson 6: Azure Networking 90 min + 45 min lab

Topics

  • VNets, subnets, NSGs, VNet peering, VPN Gateway
  • ExpressRoute, Azure DNS, Load Balancer, CDN
  • Private cloud networking fundamentals
Lesson 7: Azure Identity, Access, and Security 90 min + 45 min lab

Topics

  • Entra ID, authentication vs authorization
  • MFA, Conditional Access, RBAC, Zero Trust
  • Defender for Cloud and Sentinel overview
Lesson 8: Cost Management and Pricing 75 min + 30 min lab

Topics

  • Pricing Calculator and TCO Calculator
  • Free services, reserved instances, spot VMs, hybrid benefit
  • Controlling cloud spend early
Lesson 9: Governance with Policy and Locks 75 min

Topics

  • Azure Policy, resource locks, management groups, Advisor
  • Blueprints and repeatable environments
  • Purview and governance basics
Lesson 10: Monitoring and Service Health 60 min

Topics

  • Azure Monitor metrics, logs, and alerts
  • Service Health and planned maintenance
  • Operational visibility for real environments
Monitoring is the dashboard for the show. If something breaks and you cannot see it, you cannot fix it fast.
Hands-On Labs

Practice without waiting on a bootcamp

These are the browser-first environments tied to the AZ-900 learning flow.

🧪 Microsoft Learn Sandbox

Work through official modules like cloud concepts, Azure architecture, and identity without needing your own subscription.

Open Learn

💳 Azure Free Account

Spin up a safe personal environment to test the portal, resource groups, VMs, storage, and budgets.

Start Free

🧰 KodeKloud and Killercoda

Use browser-based Linux and container labs to reinforce the compute and networking pieces behind the Azure concepts.

Open Labs

Start with fundamentals. Stack from there.

AZ-900 is the cleanest first move if you want Azure credibility before jumping into administration, architecture, security, or AI. Pair this with the free resource library and then move into AZ-104 once the basics are solid.

$297

Certification prep path

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