Microsoft Azure Complete Roadmap

Course Objective:

• Build a complete understanding of Microsoft Azure from cloud fundamentals to professional-level architecture and operations.
• Learn Azure compute, networking, storage, databases, identity, security, governance, monitoring, and integration services.
• Develop practical skills with Azure Portal, CLI, PowerShell, ARM/Bicep, Terraform, Git, and Azure DevOps.
• Explore containers, Kubernetes, serverless, data engineering, AI/ML, DevOps, cloud security, and hybrid/multi-cloud concepts.
• Prepare for role-aligned Microsoft Azure certifications and real-world cloud projects.

1

Cloud Computing & Azure Fundamentals

• What is cloud computing?
• IaaS, PaaS, SaaS
• Public, private, and hybrid cloud
• Benefits and challenges of cloud adoption
• Azure global infrastructure overview
• Regions, region pairs, availability zones
• Azure subscriptions and management groups
• Resource groups and resources
• Shared responsibility model
• Azure pricing and service lifecycle basics

2

Azure Portal, CLI & PowerShell

• Azure Portal navigation
• Azure Cloud Shell
• Azure CLI fundamentals
• Azure PowerShell fundamentals
• Resource creation and management
• Subscriptions, resource groups, tags
• Azure Resource Manager concepts
• Activity logs and resource locks
• Automation basics
• Command-line troubleshooting

3

Azure Resource Management & Governance

• Azure Resource Manager (ARM)
• Management groups and subscriptions
• Resource groups and resource organization
• Azure tags and naming standards
• Resource locks
• Azure Policy
• Initiatives
• Role-based access control (RBAC)
• Budgets and cost controls
• Governance design principles

4

Azure Identity & Microsoft Entra ID

• Microsoft Entra ID fundamentals
• Users, groups, and devices
• Tenants and subscriptions
• Authentication concepts
• Multifactor authentication
• Conditional Access
• Self-service password reset
• Enterprise applications
• Managed identities
• RBAC and least privilege

5

Azure Compute & Virtual Machines

• Azure Virtual Machines
• VM sizes and pricing concepts
• Managed disks
• Images and snapshots
• Availability sets
• Availability zones
• Virtual Machine Scale Sets
• VM networking
• Extensions and automation
• Backup and disaster recovery basics

6

Azure Virtual Networking

• Virtual Networks (VNets)
• Subnets and IP addressing
• Public and private IP addresses
• Network Security Groups
• Application Security Groups
• Route tables
• VNet peering
• Private endpoints
• Azure DNS
• Network troubleshooting fundamentals

7

Azure Load Balancing & Traffic Management

• Azure Load Balancer
• Application Gateway
• Web Application Firewall
• Azure Front Door
• Traffic Manager
• Health probes
• Layer 4 vs Layer 7 load balancing
• SSL/TLS termination
• Global traffic routing
• High-availability architectures

8

Azure Storage

• Storage account architecture
• Blob Storage
• Blob containers and access tiers
• Azure Files
• Queue Storage
• Table Storage
• Redundancy options
• Shared access signatures
• Lifecycle management
• Storage security and encryption

9

Azure Databases

• Azure SQL Database
• Azure SQL Managed Instance
• SQL Server on Azure VMs
• Azure Database for PostgreSQL
• Azure Cosmos DB
• Relational vs NoSQL databases
• Database availability and scaling
• Backup and recovery
• Database security
• Choosing the right Azure database service

10

Azure App Services & Web Applications

• Azure App Service fundamentals
• Web Apps
• Deployment slots
• App Service configuration
• Application settings
• Custom domains and certificates
• Autoscaling
• Managed identity integration
• Deployment methods
• Production web application architecture

11

Azure Containers & Kubernetes

• Container fundamentals
• Docker concepts
• Azure Container Registry
• Azure Container Instances
• Azure Container Apps
• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
• Pods, deployments, services
• Ingress and networking
• AKS scaling and upgrades
• Kubernetes security and monitoring

12

Azure Serverless & Event-Driven Services

• Azure Functions
• Triggers and bindings
• Durable Functions overview
• Logic Apps
• Event Grid
• Service Bus
• Event Hubs
• Queues and topics
• Retry and dead-letter concepts
• Event-driven architecture patterns

13

Azure Infrastructure as Code

• Infrastructure as Code concepts
• ARM templates
• Bicep fundamentals
• Parameters and variables
• Modules and reusable templates
• Resource dependencies
• Terraform fundamentals
• Terraform state
• Plan, apply, and destroy workflows
• IaC security and version control

14

Azure DevOps & CI/CD

• Git fundamentals
• Azure Repos
• Azure Boards
• Azure Pipelines
• Build pipelines
• Release and deployment pipelines
• YAML pipelines
• Environments and approvals
• Artifacts
• CI/CD best practices

15

Azure Monitoring & Operations

• Azure Monitor
• Metrics and logs
• Log Analytics workspaces
• Application Insights
• Alerts and action groups
• Workbooks
• Network monitoring
• VM monitoring
• Application performance monitoring
• Operational troubleshooting

16

Azure Security

• Azure security fundamentals
• Microsoft Defender for Cloud
• Security posture management
• Cloud workload protection
• Microsoft Sentinel overview
• Key Vault
• Secrets, keys, and certificates
• Encryption at rest and in transit
• Network security
• Zero Trust concepts

17

Azure Governance, Compliance & Cost Management

• Azure Policy and compliance
• Microsoft Purview overview
• Resource governance
• Azure Cost Management
• Budgets and cost alerts
• Reservations and savings concepts
• Pricing Calculator
• Cloud adoption governance
• Compliance standards overview
• FinOps fundamentals

18

Azure Backup, Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity

• Backup concepts
• Azure Backup
• Recovery Services vaults
• Azure Site Recovery
• Recovery objectives
• Availability and resiliency
• Disaster recovery architecture
• Cross-region recovery concepts
• Backup policies
• Business continuity planning

19

Azure Data Engineering

• Data engineering fundamentals
• Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2
• Azure Data Factory
• Data pipelines
• Linked services and datasets
• Data integration patterns
• Azure Synapse Analytics overview
• Batch and streaming concepts
• Data governance
• Build an end-to-end data pipeline

20

Azure AI & Machine Learning

• AI and machine learning fundamentals
• Azure Machine Learning
• Workspaces and compute
• Datasets and data assets
• Model training concepts
• Model deployment
• Machine learning endpoints
• Azure AI services overview
• Generative AI concepts
• Responsible AI principles

21

Azure Integration & API Management

• API fundamentals
• Azure API Management
• APIs, products, and subscriptions
• Policies and transformations
• Authentication and authorization
• Logic Apps integration
• Service Bus integration
• Event-driven integration
• Hybrid connectivity concepts
• Enterprise integration patterns

22

Hybrid Cloud & Advanced Networking

• Hybrid cloud architecture
• Azure VPN Gateway
• ExpressRoute concepts
• Hub-and-spoke networking
• Virtual WAN overview
• Azure Firewall
• Network security architecture
• Private DNS
• Private Link
• Enterprise network design

23

Azure Migration & Cloud Adoption

• Cloud adoption strategy
• Migration assessment
• Azure Migrate overview
• Server and workload migration
• Database migration concepts
• Application modernization
• Rehost, refactor, rearchitect, rebuild, replace
• Landing zones
• Migration waves
• Post-migration optimization

24

Azure Architecture & Well-Architected Design

• Cloud architecture principles
• Azure Well-Architected Framework
• Reliability and resilience
• Security architecture
• Cost optimization
• Operational excellence
• Performance efficiency
• Scalability and elasticity
• Reference architectures
• Architecture decision records

25

Advanced Azure Administration

• Enterprise subscription design
• Management group hierarchy
• Advanced RBAC
• Policy at scale
• Automation with CLI and PowerShell
• Azure Automation
• Update management concepts
• Operational runbooks
• Large-scale monitoring
• Production incident management

26

Cloud-Native Application Development

• Cloud-native principles
• Microservices architecture
• REST APIs
• Containerized applications
• Azure App Service and Functions
• Managed identity
• Configuration and secrets
• Event-driven applications
• Observability
• Design for scalability and resilience

27

Hands-on Projects & Portfolio

• Deploy a secure Azure web application
• Build a multi-tier application
• Create a VNet with segmented subnets
• Deploy and secure an Azure VM
• Build a serverless application
• Deploy a containerized application
• Create an AKS project
• Build a CI/CD pipeline
• Implement monitoring and alerts
• Document architecture, costs, security, and lessons learned

28

Certification & Interview Preparation

• Choose a role-aligned Microsoft certification path
• Azure Fundamentals concepts
• Azure Administrator topics
• Azure Developer topics
• Azure Solutions Architect topics
• Azure Security topics
• Azure Data and AI topics
• Scenario-based interview questions
• Architecture case studies
• Resume, portfolio, and project walkthrough preparation

29

Professional-Level Azure Specialization

• Choose a primary Azure career track
• Azure Administrator
• Azure Developer
• Azure Solutions Architect
• Azure DevOps Engineer
• Azure Security Engineer
• Azure Data Engineer
• Azure AI Engineer
• Cloud infrastructure and platform engineering
• Cross-service architecture and production operations

Skills You'll Gain:

• Strong understanding of cloud computing and Microsoft Azure architecture.
• Ability to deploy and manage compute, networking, storage, databases, and application services.
• Practical identity, access management, security, governance, monitoring, and cost-management skills.
• Experience with Azure CLI, PowerShell, Infrastructure as Code, Git, CI/CD, and Azure DevOps.
• Foundational-to-advanced knowledge of containers, Kubernetes, serverless, data engineering, and AI/ML.
• Ability to design resilient, secure, scalable, and cost-aware Azure solutions.
• A portfolio of hands-on cloud projects suitable for technical discussions and interviews.

Duration:

Typically 6 months for a broad Azure foundation and role-focused practice. Reaching professional-level capability depends on your chosen Azure track, hands-on lab access, project complexity, and prior IT experience.

Certification:

Choose a current Microsoft certification aligned with your target Azure role. Microsoft changes certification names, exams, and requirements over time, so verify the current official exam scope and availability before registering. Certification should complement hands-on Azure practice.