Microsoft Azure Tutorial
Deploy and run applications on Azure: App Service, Functions, Storage, SQL, Entra ID and monitoring.
- Topics
- 28
- Full lessons
- 28
- Est. hours
- ~5
- Interview Qs
- 27
Overview
Microsoft Azure is a cloud platform offering compute, storage, databases, identity, networking and AI services.
The track focuses on what application developers need most: hosting web apps and APIs, storing data, managing secrets and identity, monitoring and controlling cost.
What you will learn
- Organise resources with subscriptions and resource groups
- Host apps on App Service, Functions and Container Apps
- Secure apps with Entra ID and Key Vault
- Monitor with Application Insights and control cost
Prerequisites
None — this track starts from the very beginning.
Learning path
The recommended sequence, from beginner to advanced. Each stage builds on the one before.
- 1Cloud Basics · 5 topics · BeginnerIntroduction to Cloud Computing · Azure Fundamentals · Azure Portal · Subscriptions and Resource Groups · Regions and Availability Zones
- 2Compute · 3 topics · Beginner → IntermediateAzure App Service · Azure Virtual Machines · Azure Functions
- 3Data · 4 topics · IntermediateAzure Storage · Blob Storage · Azure SQL Database · Azure Cosmos DB
- 4Identity & Ops · 4 topics · IntermediateMicrosoft Entra ID · Key Vault · Azure Monitor · Application Insights
- 5Networking & Containers · 5 topics · Intermediate → AdvancedNetworking Fundamentals · Azure Virtual Network · Azure Container Apps · Azure Container Registry · Azure Kubernetes Service
- 6Delivery · 7 topics · AdvancedAzure DevOps Integration · CI/CD Pipelines · Deploying React Applications · Deploying ASP.NET Core APIs · Cost Management · Security Best Practices · Real-World Projects
Complete topic list
28 topicsCloud Basics
5 topics- Introduction to Cloud ComputingBeginner5m
- Azure FundamentalsBeginner5m
- Azure PortalBeginner5m
- Subscriptions and Resource GroupsBeginner5m
- Regions and Availability ZonesBeginner5m
Compute
3 topics- Azure App ServiceBeginner5m
- Azure Virtual MachinesBeginner5m
- Azure FunctionsIntermediate5m
Data
4 topics- Azure StorageIntermediate5m
- Blob StorageIntermediate5m
- Azure SQL DatabaseIntermediate5m
- Azure Cosmos DBIntermediate5m
Identity & Ops
4 topics- Microsoft Entra IDIntermediate5m
- Key VaultIntermediate5m
- Azure MonitorIntermediate5m
- Application InsightsIntermediate5m
Networking & Containers
5 topics- Networking FundamentalsIntermediate5m
- Azure Virtual NetworkIntermediate5m
- Azure Container AppsIntermediate5m
- Azure Container RegistryAdvanced5m
- Azure Kubernetes ServiceAdvanced5m
Delivery
7 topics- Azure DevOps IntegrationAdvanced5m
- CI/CD PipelinesAdvanced5m
- Deploying React ApplicationsAdvanced5m
- Deploying ASP.NET Core APIsAdvanced5m
- Cost ManagementAdvanced5m
- Security Best PracticesAdvanced5m
- Real-World ProjectsAdvanced5m
Code example
A taste of the track, from Introduction to Cloud Computing.
On-premises IaaS (VM) PaaS (App Service) SaaS (Microsoft 365)
Data & access You You You You
Application code You You You Provider
Runtime (.NET/Node) You You Provider Provider
Operating system You You Provider Provider
Servers & network You Provider Provider Provider
Data centre You Provider Provider Provider
Moving right, you manage less and the provider manages more — but you are always responsible for your data and who can access it.
Practice exercises
Classify each as IaaS, PaaS or SaaS: Azure Virtual Machines, Azure App Service, Outlook.com, Azure SQL Database.
Create a resource group called rg-practice in South India, list your resource groups, then delete it.
In the portal, open any resource group and find its Activity log and Cost analysis.
Create rg-blog-prod with tags environment=prod and owner=you, then list its tags.
Which storage redundancy keeps copies across zones in one region: LRS, ZRS or GRS?
Add a connection string named Default to the web app using the CLI.
Show all 28 exercises
Stop (deallocate) and later start vm-web from the CLI.
Change the function so it returns JSON: { message: "Hello, Asha!" }.
Enable 7-day soft delete for blobs on stshop12345.
Write a lifecycle rule that moves blobs under logs/ to Cool after 30 days and deletes them after 365 days.
Restore shopdb to how it was one hour ago as a new database called shopdb-restored.
Which partition key is best for orders queried by customer: /status, /country or /customerId?
Give the group "shop-devs" Reader access to rg-shop-prod.
Read the PaymentApiKey secret value with the CLI.
Write a KQL query that shows the 10 slowest requests in the last hour from AppServiceHTTPLogs.
Write a KQL query listing the most common exception types in the last 24 hours.
How many addresses does a /26 subnet contain, and how many are usable in Azure?
Add an NSG rule that allows HTTPS (443) from the internet to the api subnet with priority 110.
Send 20% of traffic to the latest revision and 80% to the previous one.
Build the image tagged with the current Git commit SHA.
Scale shop-api to 5 replicas and watch the pods.
Add a condition so the deploy step only runs on the main branch.
Add a step that checks the staging slot health endpoint before swapping.
Which values would you set in the Static Web Apps workflow for a Vite app in the repo root?
Add health checks to the API that also verify the database connection.
List all public IP addresses not attached to anything.
List three settings you would check on a production storage account.
For Project 2, name the trigger for the thumbnail function and where the thumbnails are stored.
Common interview questions
- What is an App Service plan?
- IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS?
- What is a resource group?
- Regions vs availability zones?
- What is cloud computing, and what are its main benefits?
- What is the difference between a subscription, a resource group and a resource?
- What can you do in the Azure portal vs the CLI?
- When would you choose a virtual machine over App Service?
- What is an Azure Storage account?
- How should an Azure-hosted API access secrets?
- When would you use Azure Functions?
- Blob storage access tiers?
- What is a managed identity?
- What are deployment slots?
- How do you scale an App Service app?
- How do you give an app access to Azure SQL without a password?
- What is Microsoft Entra ID?
- What is Application Insights?
- What is a virtual network and why use private endpoints?
- What are Azure Container Apps?
- Azure SQL Database vs Cosmos DB?
- How do you monitor an application in Azure?
- How do you control Azure costs?
- What is AKS, and what do you still manage?
- How would you build a CI/CD pipeline for an ASP.NET Core API on Azure?
- How do you deploy a React SPA to Azure?
- What are key Azure security best practices?