Azure Data Fundamentals

Azure Data Fundamentals

by Michael John Pena
Released January 2026
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9781098164737

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Book description

Learn the essential skills and concepts for working with data in the cloud using Microsoft Azure. With this practical guide, professionals new to data management and Azure will learn how to leverage Azure services such as Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Storage, Azure SQL, and Microsoft Fabric to create, store, process, analyze, and visualize data.

Author Michael John Pena, data and AI director at Playtime Solutions, also shows you how to apply security, monitoring, and optimization techniques to your data solutions in Azure. Ideal as a resource for the Azure Data Fundamentals certification, this book also provides knowledge you can apply in your daily work even after platforms evolve and new technologies emerge.

You'll gain insightful experience that will help you apply the fundamentals of data operations and engineering in the Azure ecosystem.

  • Learn core data concepts and correlating Microsoft Azure data services
  • Discover how to work with relational and nonrelational data on Azure
  • Build data analytics solutions using various Azure data services
  • Identify and describe core data workloads and data analytics workloads on Azure
  • Describe how to work with data security and privacy on Azure
  • Explain the use cases, benefits, and limitations of different Azure data services

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Table of contents

  1. Brief Table of Contents (Not Yet Final)
  2. 1. SQL and T-SQL Essentials
    1. Introduction to Relational Data
      1. Definition of relational data
      2. Key characteristics of relational data
    2. Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS)
      1. Introduction to RDBMS
      2. Role of RDBMS in managing relational data
    3. SQL
      1. Introduction to SQL
      2. Role of SQL in querying relational data
      3. SQL standards and variations
    4. T-SQL
      1. Introduction to T-SQL
      2. T-SQL as Microsoft’s implementation of SQL
      3. Key features and extensions of T-SQL
      4. Basic SQL Statements
      5. T-SQL Enhancements
      6. Querying Multiple Tables
      7. T-SQL Programming Constructs
    5. Summary
  3. 2. Azure Storage
    1. Types of Azure Storage Accounts
    2. Azure Storage Services
    3. Azure Blob Storage In Depth
      1. Types of Blob Content
      2. Operations in Azure Blob Storage
      3. Access Tiers in Azure Blob Storage
      4. Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2
      5. Performance and Scalability in Azure Blob Storage
    4. Exploring Azure File Storage
      1. Managing File Shares
      2. Performance and Pricing in Azure File Storage
    5. Unpacking Azure Table Storage
      1. Working with Azure Table Storage
      2. Performance and Pricing in Azure Table Storage
      3. Azure Storage vs. Cosmos DB
    6. Understanding Azure Queue Storage
    7. Managing Queue Messages
      1. Performance and Pricing
      2. Azure Queue Storage vs. Azure Messaging Services
    8. Azure Managed Disks
    9. Data Transfer in Azure Storage
      1. AzCopy
    10. Azure Storage Replication Options
    11. Azure CLI for Storage Accounts
      1. Creating a Storage Account
      2. Creating a Blob Storage
      3. Creating a Queue Storage
      4. Creating a Table Storage
      5. Useful Tools for Development
      6. Data Protection in Azure Storage
      7. Security Features of Azure Storage
    12. Monitoring and Diagnostics
      1. Azure Monitor
      2. Azure Storage Metrics
      3. Azure Storage Logs
    13. Summary
  4. 3. Azure AI Search
    1. AI Search Features
      1. Key Features and Benefits
      2. Use Cases
    2. Azure AI Search Architecture
      1. High-Level Architecture
      2. Data Flow
    3. Search Indexes
      1. Understanding Search Indexes
      2. Field Types
      3. Creating an Index
      4. Updating and Managing Indexes
    4. Indexers and Data Sources
      1. Understanding Indexers
      2. Creating an Indexer
      3. Configuring Data Sources
      4. Indexer Execution and Monitoring
    5. Analyzers and Text Processing
      1. Understanding Analyzers
      2. Text Transformation Techniques
      3. Language Analyzers
      4. Custom Analyzers
      5. Choosing the Right Analyzer
    6. Querying and Search Exploration
      1. Query Language
      2. Search Scores and Relevance
      3. Filters and Facets
      4. Geospatial Search
      5. Search Suggestions and Autocomplete
    7. AI Enrichment and Knowledge Mining
      1. Overview of AI Enrichment
      2. AI Enrichment Pipeline
      3. Creating an AI Enrichment Pipeline
    8. Custom Skills and Skill Extensions
    9. Knowledge Store and Downstream Processing
    10. Security and Role-Based Access Control
      1. API Key Authentication
      2. Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
      3. IP Firewall Rules
      4. Data Encryption
    11. Monitoring and Auditing
    12. Best Practices and Optimization
      1. Index Design and Management
      2. Query Optimization
      3. Scalability and Throughput
      4. Security and Compliance
      5. Cost Optimization
      6. Testing and Troubleshooting
    13. Summary
  5. About the Author

Product information

  • Title: Azure Data Fundamentals
  • Author(s): Michael John Pena
  • Release date: January 2026
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9781098164737