Use these free Microsoft study guides to build Azure knowledge through learning paths, administration notes, practical examples and original exercises. Choose the area that matches your goal, then explore the relevant Premium PDFs for additional preparation material.
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Microsoft exam-specific study guides
Choose a detailed exam guide for topic comparisons, practical study activities and matching Premium PDF resources.
- AZ-900 Study Guide — Microsoft Azure Fundamentals: topic map, original practice scenarios and a four-week revision plan.
- AZ-104 Study Guide — Microsoft Azure Administrator: administration preparation and related PDF resources.
Choose a learning path that matches your goals
| Learning path | Topics to develop | Practical activity | Premium resource |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure fundamentals | Cloud models, terminology, service choices and governance concepts | Compare two hosting options for a fictional internal application. | Azure Fundamentals AZ-900 |
| Azure administration | Identity, governance, storage, compute, networking and monitoring | Write a deployment checklist and verify an example access requirement. | Azure Administrator AZ-104 |
| Data learning | Information storage, access requirements and data workflows | Draw a data pipeline and identify the responsibility at each stage. | Browse the Microsoft Premium directory for your target. |
| Application development | Application identity, deployment, dependencies and error handling | Explain how an application accesses a resource without broad permissions. | Browse the Microsoft Premium directory for your target. |
| Security and operations | Access review, event investigation, configuration and recovery | Build an event timeline and compare observed behaviour with a baseline. | Match your intended exam with a listed resource. |
Plan around your role and exact exam
The learning paths above help you choose a starting area. Check the current study guide for your target exam before treating any list as a complete set of objectives. Azure administration study includes identity and governance, storage, compute, networking and monitoring. Give each relevant area space in your plan rather than studying only the feature you already use most often.
Create a version-aware resource index with the file name, date, product area and topics to verify. Older references can still explain useful principles, but interfaces, terms and features may change. Note any mismatch with your lab and investigate its meaning before copying the configuration.
Azure fundamentals: connect concepts to a business need
Consider a business that needs to host a small internal application. Explain the difference between using computing infrastructure, an application platform and a ready-to-use service. Compare the management work involved rather than assuming one model is always best. Identify who manages the application, operating system and information in each option.
Write a short glossary for subscription, resource group, region and identity. Use an example to explain what each term represents. Grouping resources for management is different from deciding who can access them. Being able to describe that distinction is more useful than memorising a list without context.
Administration notes: identity and resource access
Separate authentication from authorisation. Authentication establishes an identity; authorisation determines what that identity can do. In an original scenario, a colleague might be able to sign in successfully but still lack permission to manage a resource. Diagnose the access requirement before changing permissions.
Describe three fictional job roles and the resources each role needs to manage. Assign only the necessary access in your written plan. Record how you would verify the outcome and remove access when it is no longer needed. This exercise helps connect identity concepts with day-to-day administration.
Networking and operational troubleshooting
For a connectivity issue, record the source, destination, expected protocol and observed behaviour. Draw the path before changing settings. Check addressing, name resolution, routing and access controls systematically. A diagram helps you distinguish a missing route from an application problem.
For an operational issue, identify what evidence would help: a metric, an event, a configuration change or an application log. Explain what the evidence does and does not show. Monitoring can reveal a symptom, while troubleshooting needs a reasoned sequence of checks to locate the cause.
Original Microsoft learning activities
Activity: a user can sign in but cannot edit a resource. Which distinction should you investigate? Discussion: successful authentication does not establish permission to perform every operation; review the required authorisation.
Activity: a team groups related resources but still needs different access for two staff members. Are organisation and access the same decision? Discussion: no; describe resource organisation and access assignments separately.
Activity: an application cannot reach a remote endpoint. Write down your first three checks before suggesting a fix. Discussion: define the intended path and inspect addressing, resolution and connectivity evidence. These are original learning activities, not live exam questions.
Understand resource organisation and governance
Draw a fictional organisation with two teams and two applications. Identify how subscriptions and resource groups can organise resources, then write the management responsibilities separately. Resource organisation helps describe ownership and lifecycle, but it does not by itself explain every access decision.
List the controls the organisation needs. These might include consistent naming, required tags, controlled locations and a process for removing test resources. Describe why each control exists and what evidence would show it is working. A governance rule should support a clear requirement, such as tracking ownership or reducing unreviewed changes.
For an exercise, compare a temporary lab resource with a business application resource. Who may create it, who maintains it and when should it be removed? Write a lifecycle note for both. This links cloud terminology with everyday administration and helps you recognise the consequences of leaving ownership unclear.
Identity and access: practise scope rather than broad permissions
Give a fictional reader, operator and administrator different tasks. List the resources and actions each role needs. Explain why a reader should not receive the same scope as a person responsible for configuration. Successful authentication establishes identity, while the allowed actions still depend on the relevant authorisation.
Consider a user who can sign in but cannot perform the expected task. Record the exact operation, target resource and observed error. Compare the requirement with the assigned access before granting anything broader. A narrow, explained adjustment is easier to review than making the user an administrator to see whether the error disappears.
Keep human and application access separate in your written examples. An application may need to retrieve a specific dataset without managing the whole environment. State the required actions and resource scope, then explain how you would verify both successful access and the absence of unrelated privileges.
Storage and compute: match configuration to the workload
Begin with the information the application stores and how users work with it. Identify the expected access pattern, data sensitivity, retention and recovery needs. Compare options against those requirements. A resource that is easy to create may still be unsuitable for the application’s reliability or operational expectations.
For compute, explain the team’s responsibility for configuration, updates, application deployment and monitoring. Compare a design with more direct infrastructure control against a managed approach. Write down the work the team still owns in each option rather than assuming a managed platform removes all administration.
Use a recovery example where a user accidentally deletes a business record. Identify the restoration mechanism, permissions and checks needed. Then consider an unavailable application component as a separate case. Keeping an application accessible and recovering information are related responsibilities with different tests.
Networking: investigate a connection in stages
Draw a user, an application resource and a data resource. Record the source, destination, naming requirement, intended path and applicable access controls. Trace the reply too. If the application cannot read its data, a successful user connection to the application does not establish that the second connection is healthy.
Compare an address-based test with a hostname-based test. A difference may point towards name resolution, but you still need evidence before changing settings. Define the expected behaviour and the exact test performed. This gives another administrator a useful explanation of what worked and what remains uncertain.
In a lab, introduce one controlled fault at a time. Preserve the baseline, predict the symptom and verify the prediction. Restore the baseline before trying another fault. This routine helps you learn why a setting matters and avoids a confusing collection of unrelated changes.
Azure concepts to keep separate
| Concept | Useful distinction | Practice question |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication and authorisation | Signing in differs from having permission for an operation. | Which action needs access, and at what scope? |
| Resource organisation and access control | Grouping resources differs from deciding who may manage them. | What role does each team need for these resources? |
| Availability and backup | Keeping service accessible differs from recovering information. | What happens after an outage and after accidental deletion? |
| Metric and log | A measured quantity and an event record answer different questions. | Which evidence helps locate this particular failure? |
| Configuration success and business outcome | Deployment completion differs from a working user task. | Can the intended user complete the full operation? |
A six-week Microsoft and Azure practice plan
| Stage | Learning focus | Practical work | Expected output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Role, exam scope and foundations | Build a topic tracker and explain cloud models. | A resource index and a short terminology guide. |
| Week 2 | Identity and governance | Create a fictional role matrix and lifecycle rules. | A clear ownership and access plan. |
| Week 3 | Storage and compute | Compare application hosting and recovery needs. | A justified resource proposal. |
| Week 4 | Networking | Trace application connections and isolate a fault. | A diagram with verification evidence. |
| Week 5 | Monitoring and maintenance | Investigate a fictional incident and plan a change. | An event timeline and a rollback approach. |
| Week 6 | Mixed scenarios | Review weak topics and explain unfamiliar situations. | An updated error log and complete acceptance tests. |
Azure troubleshooting practice checklist
| Symptom | Evidence to collect | Question to answer |
|---|---|---|
| User signs in but cannot change a resource | Target resource, requested operation and access scope | Does the assigned authorisation match the task? |
| Application fails to reach a dependency | Destination, expected path, access conditions and error | Which connection stage has not been verified? |
| Resource is deployed but the service fails | Configuration, application state and complete user test | Did deployment success get mistaken for application success? |
| Unexpected spending continues after a lab | Active resources, usage and dependencies | Which resources remain necessary, and which can be cleaned up? |
| Alert appears after a change | Change timeline, metrics, logs and previous baseline | What evidence connects the change with the symptom? |
Create a practical Azure administration notebook
Include a diagram, requirement, planned configuration and acceptance tests for each exercise. Record the observed result in plain language. If a test fails, explain what the evidence rules out and what you will check next. This structure turns a lab into a resource you can review later.
Create three small projects: a role and access matrix, an application hosting proposal and an incident investigation. Each project should state its assumptions and include a test that should fail as well as a test that should succeed. Revisit the projects as you learn more and improve the reasoning rather than simply adding more screenshots.
If you use a live Azure environment, check the applicable charges and permissions before creating resources. Remove unneeded test resources afterwards and keep a note of what remains. Start with offline scenarios if a live lab is unavailable. You can still practise requirements, traffic paths and verification logic without deploying a complex environment.
A simple review routine that turns reading into practice
Choose one topic and explain it without reading your notes. Complete a small activity, then record the evidence and the reason for the result. If you cannot explain the outcome, return to the principle behind it before repeating the same task. This makes review active rather than a second reading of familiar paragraphs.
Use an error log with the scenario, incorrect assumption, supporting evidence and lesson learned. Create a fresh example with different details to check that the principle is understood. Review the log every week and use it to choose the next topic that needs attention.
The six-week plan is a flexible example. Extend a stage when your experience or available practice time requires it. Readiness depends on what you can explain and apply, not simply the number of days spent studying. Keep matching your plan to the current objectives for your intended exam.
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Related Premium PDFs: Azure Fundamentals AZ-900 · Azure Administrator AZ-104. Select your exam to explore the Premium PDF.
Frequently asked questions
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Choose according to your experience and goals. Fundamentals study can build terminology; administration preparation requires deeper understanding of configuration and operations.
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