AZ-300: About Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies Certification Exam

The AZ-300 Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies certification exam tests and validates your expertise as an Azure Architect around Azure administration, Azure development, and DevOps; among a list of specific expertise categories within each of these. Complete details about the exam are available in the following microsoft website.

Certification Target Audience
The AZ-300 Microsoft Azure Architecture Technologies certification exam is geared towards Azure Solution Architects who advice stakeholders and translate business requirements into secure, scalable, and reliable solutions.

Candidates should have advanced experience and knowledge across various aspects of IT operations, including:

• Networking
• Virtualization
• Identity
• Security
• Business Continuity
• Disaster Recovery
• Data Management
• Budgeting
• Governance

Overall, this exam tests a cross-cutting set of expertise in the areas of Azure Administration, Azure Development, and DevOps. It is recommended to have expert-level skills in at least one of these 3 expertise areas.

Skills Measured
Here’s a very high-level list of the skills and objectives measured on this AZ-300 Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies certification exam. The percentages next to each objective area represents the number of questions on the exam in that objective area.
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Deploy and Configure Infrastructure (25-30%)

• Analyze resource utilization and consumption
  • May include but not limited to: Configure diagnostic settings on resources; create baseline for resources; create and rest alerts; analyze alerts across subscription; analyze metrics across subscription; create action groups; monitor for unused resources; monitor spend; report on spend; utilize Log Search query functions; view alerts in Log Analytics 
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Create and configure storage accounts
  • May include but not limited to: Configure network access to the storage account; create and configure storage account; generate shared access signature; install and use Azure Storage Explorer; manage access keys; monitor activity log by using Log Analytics; implement Azure storage replication
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Create and configure a Virtual Machine (VM) for Windows and Linux
  • May include but not limited to: Configure high availability; configure monitoring, networking, storage, and virtual machine size; deploy and configure scale sets
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Automate deployment of Virtual Machines (VMs)
  • May include but not limited to: Modify Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template; configure location of new VMs; configure VHD template; deploy from template; save a deployment as an ARM template; deploy Windows and Linux VMs
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Create connectivity between virtual networks
  • May include but not limited to: Create and configure VNET peering; create and configure VNET to VNET; verify virtual network connectivity; create virtual network gateway
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Implement and manage virtual networking
  • May include but not limited to: Configure private and public IP addresses, network routes, network interface, subnets, and virtual network
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Manage Azure Active Directory (AD)
  • May include but not limited to: Add custom domains; configure Azure AD Identity Protection, Azure AD Join, and Enterprise State Roaming; configure self-service password reset; implement conditional access policies; manage multiple directories; perform an access review
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Implement and manage hybrid identities
  • May include but not limited to: Install and configure Azure AD Connect; configure federation and single sign-on; manage Azure AD Connect; manage password sync and writeback
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic

Implement Workloads and Security (20-25%)

• Migrate servers to Azure
  • May include but not limited to: Migrate by using Azure Site Recovery (ASR); migrate using P2V; configure storage; create a backup vault; prepare source and target environments; backup and restore data; deploy Azure Site Recovery (ASR) agent; prepare virtual network
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Configure serverless computing
  • May include but not limited to: Create and manage objects; manage a Logic App resource; manage Azure Function app settings; manage Event Grid; manage Service Bus
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Implement application load balancing
  • May include but not limited to: Configure application gateway and load balancing rules; implement front end IP configurations; manage application load balancing
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Integrate on premises network with Azure virtual network
  • May include but not limited to: Create and configure Azure VPN Gateway; create and configure site to site VPN; configure Express Route; verify on premises connectivity; manage on-premise connectivity with Azure
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Manage role-based access control (RBAC)
  • May include but not limited to: Create a custom role; configure access to Azure resources by assigning roles; configure management access to Azure; troubleshoot RBAC; implement RBAC policies; assign RBAC roles
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • May include but not limited to: Enable MFA for an Azure tenant; configure user accounts for MFA; configure fraud alerts; configure bypass options; configure trusted IPs; configure verification methods; manage role-based access control (RBAC); implement RBAC policies; assign RBAC Roles; create a custom role; configure access to Azure resources by assigning roles; configure management access to Azure
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic

Architect Cloud Technology Solutions (5-10%)

• Select an appropriate compute solution
  • May include but not limited to: Leverage appropriate design patterns; select appropriate network connectivity options; design for hybrid topologies
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Select an appropriate integration solution
  • May include but not limited to: Address computational bottlenecks, state management, and OS requirements; provide for web hosting if applicable; evaluate minimum number of nodes
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Select an appropriate storage solution
  • May include but not limited to: Validate data storage technology capacity limitations; address durability of data; provide for appropriate throughput of data access; evaluate structure of data storage; provide for data archiving, retention, and compliance
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic

Create and Deploy Apps (5-10%)

• Create web applications by using PaaS
  • May include but not limited to: Create an Azure app service web app by using Azure CLI, PowerShell, and other tools; create documentation for the API by using open source and other tools; create an App Service Web App for containers; create an App Service background task by using WebJobs
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Create app or service that runs on Service Fabric
  • May include but not limited to: Develop a stateful Reliable Service and a stateless Reliable Service; develop an actor-based Reliable Service; write code to consume Reliable Collections in your service
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Design and develop applications that run in containers
  • May include but not limited to: Configure diagnostic settings on resources; create a container image by using a Docker file; create an Azure Container Service (ACS/AKS) cluster by using the Azure CLI and Azure Portal; publish an image to the Azure Container Registry; implement an application that runs on an Azure Container Instance; implement container instances by using Azure Container Service (ACS/AKS), Azure Service Fabric, and other tools; manage container settings by using code
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic

Implement Authentication and Secure Data (5-10%)

• Implement authentication
  • May include but not limited to: Implement authentication by using certificates, forms-based authentication, tokens, Windows-integrated authentication; implement multi-factor authentication by using Azure AD options
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Implement secure data solutions
  • May include but not limited to: Encrypt and decrypt data at rest; encrypt data with Always Encrypted; implement Azure Confidential Compute and SSL/TLS communications; manage cryptographic keys in the Azure Key Vault
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic

Develop for the Cloud (20-25%)

• Develop long-running tasks
  • May include but not limited to: Implement large-scale, parallel, and high-performance apps by using batches; implement resilient apps by using queues; implement code to address application events by using web hooks; address continuous processing tasks by using web jobs
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Configure a message-based integration architecture
  • May include but not limited to: Configure an app or service to send emails, Event Grid, and the Azure Relay Service; create and configure a Notification Hub, an Event Hub, and a Service Bus; configure queries across multiple products; configure an app or service with Microsoft Graph
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Develop for asynchronous processing
  • May include but not limited to: Implement parallelism, multithreading, processing, durable functions, Azure logic apps, interfaces with storage, interfaces to data access, and appropriate asynchronous compute models
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Develop for autoscaling
  • May include but not limited to: Implement autoscaling rules and patterns (schedule, operational/system metrics, code that addresses singleton application instances, and code that addresses transient state
  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Implement distributed transactions
  • May include but not limited to: Identify tools to implement distributed transactions (e.g., ADO.NET, elastic transactions, multi-database transactions); manage transaction scope; manage transactions across multiple databases and servers
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  • Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic
• Develop advanced cloud workloads
• May include but not limited to: Develop solutions by using intelligent algorithms that identify items from images and videos; develop solutions by using intelligent algorithms related to speech, natural language processing, Bing Search, and recommendations and decision making; create and integrate bots; integrate machine learning solutions in an app; create and implement IoT solutions
• Click here to view questions that were compiled under this topic

AZ-300 Exam Basics:

The Azure Exam AZ-300 is the part of Microsoft Certification on Azure Solutions Expert. You can expect questions in between 40 to 60 in this exam. There will be different types of question formats in this exam. The question types that can be asked in this exam includes active screen, review screen, the best answer, mark review, build list, short answer, case studies, repeated answer choices, drag & drop, multiple choice, and hot area.

There is no negative marking for incorrect answers. You simply don’t get some of or all the possible points for a question if you give a wrong answer. Before leaving the exam hall, there is also a provision to review your answers again.

Pricing

If you are living in the United States, it’ll cost $165 to take this exam. However, this pricing is subject to change with your geographic location and many other factors. You are eligible for a reduced fee if you are a Microsoft certified trainer, Microsoft Partner Network program member, or Microsoft Imagine Academy program member. Also, students can also get this kind of fee reduction if they can submit their valid educational credentials.

Exam Scoring

You’ll get your exam results indicating your pass/fail status just a few minutes after completing your exam. Anyhow, to get a complete scorecard, you may have to wait for a few days. This printed scorecard contains various elements such as your pass/fail status, overall exam score, performance in key skill areas, and the ways to interpret your results. You need a score of 700 to pass the exam. Any score greater than or equal to 700 will be marked as “pass”, otherwise “fail’.

Exam Retake Policy

If a candidate does not get a passing score on this exam in the first time, he/she must wait at least 24 hours to retake the exam. If this happens for the second time, the candidate must wait for at least 14 days to retake the exam. By this way, there is a maximum of 5 appearances allowed for an exam in a year. If a candidate has passed an exam, he/she cannot take that exam again in normal conditions. 

Exam Cancellation Policy

There are no additional charges if you cancel or reschedule your exam at least 6 days prior to your appointment. If this cancellation/rescheduling happens within 5 business days, a nominal fee will be applied. If you couldn’t appear for the exam or you didn’t cancel/reschedule your exam at least 24 hours before your appointment, you’ll forfeit your full exam fee spent on the registration of the AZ-300 exam.

Azure Solutions Architect Expert Certification

This is one of a total of 2 exams required to pass in order to earn the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification. The other exam is the AZ-301 Microsoft Azure Architect Design exam. One you pass both individual exams, then you will earn the full Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification.