AZ Landscape study plan
AZ Landscape · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Cloud concepts and the Azure architecture landscape
Define IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS and assign two Azure services to each model with a one-line justification
Describe how management groups, subscriptions, resource groups, and resources nest, and sketch the hierarchy from memory
Compare consumption-based pricing with fixed-cost pricing and calculate the break-even usage for a sample workload
Classify ten Azure services into compute, networking, storage, data, identity, or management categories without notes
Your checkpoint
A one-page architecture map showing management group > subscription > resource group > resource, with ten Azure services placed in their correct category and checked against a ten-item self-scoring checklist.
Compute services and application hosting models
Contrast virtual machines, scale sets, App Service, Container Apps, AKS, and Functions on scaling model, statefulness, and operational overhead
Select a hosting model for three written workload descriptions and defend each choice in one sentence
Explain how App Service plan tiers differ and state the conditions that justify moving to Premium or an App Service Environment
Distinguish availability sets from availability zones and predict the failure each one protects against
Your checkpoint
A decision table of six compute options across four criteria, plus written hosting-model selections for three sample workloads with the rejected alternatives named.
Identity, access, and security posture
Separate authentication from authorization and place Microsoft Entra ID, Azure RBAC, and Azure Policy in the correct layer of the control stack
Compare role assignment scopes from management group down to resource and predict effective permissions when assignments overlap
Distinguish a managed identity from a service principal and choose the correct one for two given scenarios
Map Azure Key Vault, network security groups, and Defender for Cloud onto specific defense-in-depth layers
Your checkpoint
A written RBAC scenario analysis: five role assignments spread across four scopes, the effective permission set computed for three users, and a defense-in-depth diagram with three controls placed.
Networking, connectivity, and hybrid integration
Trace how a virtual network, subnet, network interface, and network security group combine to allow or deny one specific traffic flow
Contrast VPN Gateway with ExpressRoute on bandwidth, latency, and hybrid use case
Differentiate virtual network peering, hub-and-spoke, and Virtual WAN, and select one for a stated topology requirement
Explain how private endpoints differ from service endpoints when reaching a PaaS service
Your checkpoint
A hop-by-hop packet walk from an on-premises client through ExpressRoute to a PaaS service behind a private endpoint, naming every component and control point, scored at 80% or better on a self-written five-question quiz.
Storage, data platform, and data movement options
Match blob, file, queue, table, and disk storage to the workload scenarios each one fits
Compare LRS, ZRS, GRS, and GZRS on durability, failure domain covered, and read availability during failure
Choose between AzCopy, Azure Data Factory, Azure Migrate, and Storage Mover for four data movement scenarios
Explain hot, cool, cold, and archive access tiers and calculate the early-deletion cost trade-off for one object
Your checkpoint
A storage selection worksheet resolving eight scenarios to a service, redundancy option, and access tier, with reasoning captured and a cost estimate worked for one scenario.
Analytics, AI, and integration services overview & Governance, cost management, and subscription organization
Differentiate Synapse Analytics, Databricks, Data Factory, and Microsoft Fabric at the capability level
Describe what Azure AI services, Azure OpenAI, and Azure Machine Learning each provide and who consumes them
Distinguish Logic Apps, Service Bus, and Event Grid as integration mechanisms and pick one for three messaging scenarios
Choose between Azure Policy, resource locks, and RBAC for three enforcement scenarios
Design a management group and tagging scheme that produces cost accountability across a three-subscription organization
Your checkpoint
A governance and analytics one-pager mapping ten services to the problems they solve, plus a written policy design containing two policies, one resource lock, and one tag scheme for a fictional three-subscription organization.
Monitoring, resilience, and operational lifecycle
Separate Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Application Insights, and Service Health by the signal each one surfaces
Define RTO and RPO precisely and select a disaster recovery pattern that satisfies a stated pair of targets
Compare backup, replication, and geo-redundancy for three recovery scenarios
Outline the operational lifecycle of a resource from infrastructure-as-code deployment through alerting to decommissioning
Your checkpoint
A resilience worksheet assigning an availability or DR pattern and an alert set to three workloads with stated RTO and RPO targets, plus a one-page operational runbook for one of them.
Cloud concepts and the Azure architecture landscape & Compute services and application hosting models & Networking, connectivity, and hybrid integration & Storage, data platform, and data movement options & Identity, access, and security posture & Governance, cost management, and subscription organization & Analytics, AI, and integration services overview & Monitoring, resilience, and operational lifecycle
Complete two timed full-length practice sets and close every missed item with a written root cause
Recite the service-to-category map across all eight domains without notes
Rewrite a twenty-fact cheat sheet for the two weakest domains identified by practice scores
Verify that every domain has been reviewed at least twice since week one
Your checkpoint
Two timed practice exams scored at 85% or better, accompanied by a corrections log where every missed question has a one-line root cause and a linked restudy note.
Milestones
Week 2: Score 80% or better on a 25-question self-written set covering cloud models, the resource hierarchy, and compute hosting selection; re-explain any missed item aloud without notes.
Week 4: Score 80% or better on a 40-question mixed set drawn from the completed domains (architecture, compute, identity/security, networking), with every miss logged and restudied.
Week 6: Score 85% or better on a 40-question set covering all domains studied so far, and produce the governance one-pager without consulting notes.
Week 8: Two timed full practice exams completed at 85% or better with a finished corrections log and a twenty-fact cheat sheet covering the two lowest-scoring domains.