Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure AZ-204 Exam Guide

Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure AZ-204 Exam Guide

by Paul Ivey, Alex Ivanov
Released October 2022
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781803237060

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Book description

Build a thorough understanding of the technology, concepts, and development patterns used in building applications in Azure, through detailed explanations, hands-on exercises, and downloadable code samples

Key Features

  • Written by two Microsoft technical trainers to help you explore the exam topics in a structured way
  • Understand the “why”, and not just “how” behind design and solution decisions
  • Follow along examples with downloadable code samples to help cement each topic’s learning objective

Book Description

With the prevalence of cloud technologies and DevOps ways of working, the industry demands developers who can build cloud solutions and monitor them throughout their life cycle. Becoming a Microsoft-certified Azure developer can differentiate developers from the competition, but with such a plethora of information available, it can be difficult to structure learning in an effective way to obtain certification.

Through easy-to-understand explanations and exercises, this book will provide a more palatable learning experience than what you may expect from an exam preparation book. You’ll start off with a recap of some important cloud concepts, such as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. From there, you’ll learn about each relevant solution area, with use cases. The chapters also cover different implementation methodologies, both manual and programmatic – ranging from compute resources such as App Service and serverless applications to storage, database, security, monitoring solutions, and connecting to third-party services.

By the end of this book, you'll have learned everything you need to pass the AZ-204 certification exam and have a handy, on-the-job reference guide.

What you will learn

  • Develop Azure compute solutions
  • Discover tips and tricks from Azure experts for interactive learning
  • Use Cosmos DB storage and blob storage for developing solutions
  • Develop secure cloud solutions for Azure
  • Use optimization, monitoring, and troubleshooting for Azure solutions
  • Develop Azure solutions connected to third-party services

Who this book is for

This book is for Azure developers looking to improve their Azure development knowledge to pass the AZ-204 exam. This book assumes at least one year of professional development experience with Azure, with the ability to program in at least one language supported by Azure. Existing Azure CLI and PowerShell skills will also be useful.

Table of contents

  1. Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure AZ-204 
Exam Guide
  2. Contributors
  3. About the authors
  4. About the reviewer
  5. Preface
    1. Who this book is for
    2. What this book covers
    3. To get the most out of this book
    4. Download the example code files
    5. Code in Action
    6. Download the color images
    7. Conventions used
    8. Get in touch
    9. Share Your Thoughts
  6. Part 1: Developing Compute Solutions in Azure
  7. Chapter 1: Azure and Cloud Fundamentals
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding the benefits of cloud computing
    3. Reviewing cloud deployment models
    4. Examining cloud service models
    5. Exploring the core concepts of Azure
      1. Regions and availability zones
      2. Azure Resource Manager
      3. Resource providers and resource types
      4. Resource definitions
      5. Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
    8. Further reading
  8. Chapter 2: Implementing IaaS Solutions
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Provisioning VMs in Azure
      1. Availability
      2. Disks
      3. Limits
      4. Location
      5. Naming
      6. Operating system image
      7. Post-provision configuration
      8. Size
      9. Pricing model
      10. Creating a VM
    3. Exploring ARM templates
      1. ARM template structure
      2. Deploying multiple resources
    4. Understanding containers
      1. Docker
    5. Managing container images in Azure Container Registry
      1. Docker build and push
      2. ACR tasks
    6. Running container images in ACI
      1. Creating a simple container instance
      2. Mounting volumes to containers
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
    9. Further reading
  9. Chapter 3: Creating Azure App Service Web Apps
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Exploring Azure App Service
      1. App Service plans
      2. App Service web apps
      3. Authentication and authorization
      4. Networking features
    3. Configuring app settings and logging
      1. Application settings
      2. Logging
    4. Scaling App Service apps
    5. Leveraging deployment slots
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
    8. Further reading
  10. Chapter 4: Implementing Azure Functions
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Exploring Azure Functions
      1. Hosting options
      2. Scaling Azure Functions
      3. Triggers and bindings
    3. Developing, testing, and deploying Azure Functions
      1. The data operation trigger
      2. Timers
      3. Webhooks
    4. Discovering stateful durable functions
      1. Types of durable function
      2. Durable function patterns
      3. Developing within VS Code
      4. Task hubs
      5. Controlling timing
      6. Waiting for and sending events
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  11. Part 2: Developing for Azure Storage
  12. Chapter 5: Developing Solutions That Use Cosmos DB Storage
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding the benefits of NoSQL databases
    3. Exploring Azure NoSQL platforms
    4. Developing a solution for Azure Table Storage
      1. The structure of an Azure Table Storage account
      2. Provisioning Azure Table Storage with the Azure CLI
      3. Querying Azure Table Storage with a RESTful interface
      4. Summary of Azure Table Storage
    5. Developing a solution for Azure Cosmos DB
      1. Exploring Cosmos DB APIs
      2. Provisioning
      3. High availability
      4. Indexing
      5. Time to live
      6. Inserting and querying documents
      7. User-defined functions
      8. Stored procedures
      9. Triggers
      10. Leveraging a trigger validation from code
      11. The Cosmos DB REST API
      12. Optimistic concurrency
      13. Networking settings
      14. Encryption settings
      15. Backups and recovery
      16. Partitioning in Cosmos DB
      17. Leveraging a change feed for app integration
      18. Consistency levels
      19. Optimizing database performance and costs
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
    8. Further reading
  13. Chapter 6: Developing Solutions That Use Azure Blob Storage
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Exploring Azure Blob Storage
      1. Provisioning an Azure storage account
      2. The structure of Azure Blob Storage
      3. High availability and durability
      4. Performance levels
      5. Pricing models
      6. Storage access tiers
      7. Blob types
      8. Leveraging the Azure CLI to provision an Azure storage account
      9. Data protection
      10. Static websites
    3. Manipulation with blobs and containers
      1. Leveraging AzCopy for data transfer between storage accounts
      2. Implementing basic operations from C# code
    4. Managing metadata and security settings for storage accounts
      1. Encryption
      2. Firewalls
      3. Metadata and tags
      4. Retrieving metadata by using C# code
      5. Life cycle management and optimizing costs
      6. Cost savings
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  14. Part 3: Implementing Azure Security
  15. Chapter 7: Implementing User Authentication and Authorization
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding the Microsoft identity platform
      1. Service principals
      2. Permission and consent types
      3. Conditional access
    3. Implementing authentication with the Microsoft Authentication Library
      1. Authentication flows
      2. Client applications
    4. Discovering Microsoft Graph
      1. Graph Explorer
      2. Graph SDKs
    5. Using shared access signatures
      1. The SAS token structure
      2. SAS types
      3. Stored access policies
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
    8. Further reading
  16. Chapter 8: Implementing Secure Cloud Solutions
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Securing secrets with Azure Key Vault
      1. Authorization
      2. Authentication
    3. Implementing managed identities
    4. Exploring Azure App Configuration
      1. App Configuration in code
      2. Feature flags
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  17. Part 4: Implementing Monitoring, Troubleshooting, and Optimization Solutions in Azure
  18. Chapter 9: Integrating Caching and Content Delivery within Solutions
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Introducing caching patterns
    3. Exploring Azure Cache for Redis
      1. Provisioning Azure Cache for Redis from the Azure CLI
      2. Advanced configuration
      3. Implementing basic operations with cached data
      4. Leveraging Azure Cache for persisting web sessions
      5. How to cache your data effectively
    4. Exploring Azure Content Delivery Network
      1. Azure Front Door
      2. Dynamic site acceleration
      3. Provisioning Azure CDN
      4. Advanced CDN configuration
      5. Manipulating a CDN instance from code
    5. Summary
    6. Questions
    7. Further reading
  19. Chapter 10: Troubleshooting Solutions by Using Metrics and Log Data
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Monitoring and logging solutions in Azure
    3. Analyzing performance issues with Azure Monitor
      1. Provisioning cloud solutions to explore monitoring features
      2. Exploring Azure App Service diagnostic settings
      3. Azure Monitor for Azure Web Apps
      4. Azure Service Health
      5. Configuring Azure alerts
    4. Exploring Application Insights
      1. Provisioning and configuration
      2. Instrumenting code to use Application Insights
      3. Charting and dashboards
      4. Instrumenting the code
    5. Using KQL for Log Analytics queries
    6. Discovering Monitor workbooks
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
    9. Further reading
  20. Part 5: Connecting to and Consuming Azure and Third-Party Services
  21. Chapter 11: Implementing API Management
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Discovering APIM services
      1. Provisioning a web API
      2. Discovering OpenAPI documentation
      3. Provisioning APIM
    3. Connecting existing web APIs to APIM
    4. Exploring APIM configuration options
      1. Products and subscriptions
      2. Authentication
      3. User accounts
      4. Networking
      5. The dev portal
      6. Self-hosted gateways
      7. External cache
      8. Repository integration
      9. Monitoring and troubleshooting
    5. Using advanced policies
      1. Mocking API responses
      2. Caching an API response
      3. Throttling requests
      4. Controlling flow
    6. Summary
    7. Questions
    8. Further reading
  22. Chapter 12: Developing Event-Based Solutions
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding the role of event-driven solutions
    3. Discovering Azure Event Hubs
      1. Provisioning namespaces
      2. Pricing model
      3. Scaling
      4. Leveraging partitions
      5. Provisioning Azure Event Hubs
      6. Capturing events
      7. Consumer groups
      8. Connections with SAS tokens
      9. Event consumption services
      10. Developing applications for Event Hubs
    4. Consuming event streams with Azure IoT Hub
      1. Pricing model
      2. Device registration
      3. Azure IoT Edge
      4. Provisioning Azure IoT Hub
      5. Developing applications for Azure IoT Hub
    5. Exploring Azure Event Grid
      1. Event sources and handlers
      2. Schema formats
      3. Access management
      4. Event Grid event domains
      5. Delivery retries
      6. Filters
      7. Pricing model
      8. Provisioning Azure Event Grid
      9. Developing applications for custom event handling
    6. Comparing Azure event-based services
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
    9. Further reading
  23. Chapter 13: Developing Message-Based Solutions
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding messaging patterns
      1. The message broker and decoupling
      2. Load balancing
      3. Competing consumers
    3. Exploring Azure Queue Storage
      1. Provisioning Azure Queue Storage
      2. Messaging from the code
    4. Exploring Azure Service Bus
      1. Pricing tiers
      2. Scaling
      3. Connectivity
      4. Advanced features
      5. Provisioning Azure Service Bus
      6. Developing for Service Bus queues
      7. Developing for Service Bus topics
      8. Exploring relays
    5. Comparing Azure message-based services
    6. Discovering DevOps
      1. What is DevOps?
      2. DevOps practices
    7. Summary
    8. Questions
    9. Further reading
  24. Part 6: Exam Preparation
  25. Chapter 14: Mock Exam Questions
    1. Implementing IaaS solutions
    2. Creating Azure App Service web apps
    3. Implementing Azure Functions
    4. Developing solutions that use Cosmos DB storage
    5. Developing solutions that use Azure Blob Storage
    6. Implementing user authentication and authorization
    7. Implementing secure cloud solutions
    8. Integrating caching and content delivery within solutions
    9. Instrumenting solutions to support monitoring and logging
    10. Implementing API Management
    11. Developing event-based solutions
    12. Developing message-based solutions
  26. Mock Exam Answers
    1. Implementing IaaS solutions
      1. Creating Azure App Service web apps
      2. Implementing Azure Functions
      3. Developing solutions that use Cosmos DB storage
      4. Developing solutions that use Azure Blob storage
      5. Implementing user authentication and authorization
      6. Implementing secure cloud solutions
      7. Integrating caching and content delivery within solutions
      8. Instrumenting solutions to support monitoring and logging
      9. Implementing API Management
      10. Developing event-based solutions
      11. Developing message-based solutions
  27. Assessments
    1. Chapter 1
    2. Chapter 2
    3. Chapter 3
    4. Chapter 4
    5. Chapter 5
    6. Chapter 6
    7. Chapter 7
    8. Chapter 8
    9. Chapter 9
    10. Chapter 10
    11. Chapter 11
    12. Chapter 12
    13. Chapter 13
  28. Index
    1. Why subscribe?
  29. Other Books You May Enjoy
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Product information

  • Title: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure AZ-204 Exam Guide
  • Author(s): Paul Ivey, Alex Ivanov
  • Release date: October 2022
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781803237060