Cloud track

Microsoft Azure Tutorial

Deploy and run applications on Azure: App Service, Functions, Storage, SQL, Entra ID and monitoring.

Intermediate
0/28 complete
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.

  1. 1Cloud Basics · 5 topics · Beginner
    Introduction to Cloud Computing · Azure Fundamentals · Azure Portal · Subscriptions and Resource Groups · Regions and Availability Zones
  2. 2Compute · 3 topics · Beginner → Intermediate
    Azure App Service · Azure Virtual Machines · Azure Functions
  3. 3Data · 4 topics · Intermediate
    Azure Storage · Blob Storage · Azure SQL Database · Azure Cosmos DB
  4. 4Identity & Ops · 4 topics · Intermediate
    Microsoft Entra ID · Key Vault · Azure Monitor · Application Insights
  5. 5Networking & Containers · 5 topics · Intermediate → Advanced
    Networking Fundamentals · Azure Virtual Network · Azure Container Apps · Azure Container Registry · Azure Kubernetes Service
  6. 6Delivery · 7 topics · Advanced
    Azure 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 topics
2

Compute

3 topics
  1. Azure App ServiceBeginner5m
  2. Azure Virtual MachinesBeginner5m
  3. Azure FunctionsIntermediate5m
3

Data

4 topics
  1. Azure StorageIntermediate5m
  2. Blob StorageIntermediate5m
  3. Azure SQL DatabaseIntermediate5m
  4. Azure Cosmos DBIntermediate5m
4

Identity & Ops

4 topics
  1. Microsoft Entra IDIntermediate5m
  2. Key VaultIntermediate5m
  3. Azure MonitorIntermediate5m
  4. Application InsightsIntermediate5m
5

Networking & Containers

5 topics
  1. Networking FundamentalsIntermediate5m
  2. Azure Virtual NetworkIntermediate5m
  3. Azure Container AppsIntermediate5m
  4. Azure Container RegistryAdvanced5m
  5. Azure Kubernetes ServiceAdvanced5m
6

Delivery

7 topics
  1. Azure DevOps IntegrationAdvanced5m
  2. CI/CD PipelinesAdvanced5m
  3. Deploying React ApplicationsAdvanced5m
  4. Deploying ASP.NET Core APIsAdvanced5m
  5. Cost ManagementAdvanced5m
  6. Security Best PracticesAdvanced5m
  7. Real-World ProjectsAdvanced5m

Code example

A taste of the track, from Introduction to Cloud Computing.

TextWho manages what? Illustrative
                    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
Expected output
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

Show all 28 exercises
Azure Virtual Machines

Stop (deallocate) and later start vm-web from the CLI.

Azure Functions

Change the function so it returns JSON: { message: "Hello, Asha!" }.

Azure Storage

Enable 7-day soft delete for blobs on stshop12345.

Blob Storage

Write a lifecycle rule that moves blobs under logs/ to Cool after 30 days and deletes them after 365 days.

Azure SQL Database

Restore shopdb to how it was one hour ago as a new database called shopdb-restored.

Azure Cosmos DB

Which partition key is best for orders queried by customer: /status, /country or /customerId?

Microsoft Entra ID

Give the group "shop-devs" Reader access to rg-shop-prod.

Key Vault

Read the PaymentApiKey secret value with the CLI.

Azure Monitor

Write a KQL query that shows the 10 slowest requests in the last hour from AppServiceHTTPLogs.

Application Insights

Write a KQL query listing the most common exception types in the last 24 hours.

Networking Fundamentals

How many addresses does a /26 subnet contain, and how many are usable in Azure?

Azure Virtual Network

Add an NSG rule that allows HTTPS (443) from the internet to the api subnet with priority 110.

Azure Container Apps

Send 20% of traffic to the latest revision and 80% to the previous one.

Azure Container Registry

Build the image tagged with the current Git commit SHA.

Azure Kubernetes Service

Scale shop-api to 5 replicas and watch the pods.

Azure DevOps Integration

Add a condition so the deploy step only runs on the main branch.

CI/CD Pipelines

Add a step that checks the staging slot health endpoint before swapping.

Deploying React Applications

Which values would you set in the Static Web Apps workflow for a Vite app in the repo root?

Deploying ASP.NET Core APIs

Add health checks to the API that also verify the database connection.

Cost Management

List all public IP addresses not attached to anything.

Security Best Practices

List three settings you would check on a production storage account.

Real-World Projects

For Project 2, name the trigger for the thumbnail function and where the thumbnails are stored.

Common interview questions

Frequently asked questions

Can I learn Azure for free?
Azure offers a free account with credits and always-free service tiers. Always set a budget alert before creating resources.