The AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam is Coming

In late 2018, Microsoft will make the AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam live.

While most Microsoft exams are technical in nature, the AZ-900 exam is not.  The AZ-900 Azure exam is, instead, designed for individuals who are interested in being able to demonstrate a foundational level knowledge of cloud services and how they relate Microsoft Azure.

Those who would benefit most from the AZ-900 Azure exam are those individuals with non-technical backgrounds, including individuals who are involved in selling or purchasing cloud solutions such as Azure.  Individuals who need to validate their foundational level knowledge around cloud services such as Azure will also benefit from the AZ-900 exam. Although technical experience isn’t necessary to prepare for and pass the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam, some general IT knowledge or experience wouldn’t hurt.

The AZ-900 exam should be viewed as a first step in the learning process regarding cloud services.  However, taking this exam is not considered a pre-requisite for any other Azure-based certifications.

AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals learning objectives are broken down into four distinct groups:

• Understanding Cloud Concepts
• Understanding Core Azure Services
• Understand Security, Privacy, Compliance, and Trust
• Understand Azure Pricing and Support

To prepare for the learning objectives covered in Understanding Cloud Concepts, individuals should take a course like this one so that they can effectively describe the benefits and considerations of using cloud services, describe the differences between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.  Individuals preparing for the AZ-900 exam should also be able to describe the differences between Public, Private, and Hybrid cloud models.

Individuals will be expected to understand key terms, including High Availability, Scalability, Elasticity, Agility, Fault Tolerance, and Disaster Recovery.  They will also need to understand the principles of economies of scale and the differences between CapEx and OpEx.

Lastly, those preparing for AZ-900 should be able to describe the differences between Public, Private, and Hybrid cloud models.

In my next article, I’ll discuss the AZ-900 exam objectives that are covered in the Understanding Core Azure Services section.  Until then, be sure to check out my first batch of free AZ-900 practice questions.