The AZ-204 certification exam measures your ability to develop and implement Azure solutions, as well as monitor, optimize, and troubleshoot Azure applications. As you get ready for this examination, it’s important to grasp various concepts and tools associated with Azure development. These encompass Azure services, Azure Storage, Azure Functions, Azure DevOps, and various other components.
To help you prepare for the AZ-204 exam and ensure that you pass with flying colors, we have created a comprehensive cheat sheet that covers all the essential topics and concepts that you need to know. Our cheat sheet is designed to be an easy-to-use, quick reference guide that you can refer to anytime during your exam preparation.
In this blog post, we’ll give you an outline of the subjects discussed in our AZ-204 cheat sheet and explain why it’s a vital resource for your exam readiness. Regardless of whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned developer, our cheat sheet will assist you in revisiting vital concepts and maintaining concentration on the key aspects of exam preparation. So, let’s get started!
About Microsoft Azure (AZ-204) Exam
The Microsoft Azure AZ-204 Exam demands that you become well-acquainted with various tasks. Initially, this involves activities such as creating Azure compute solutions, developing for Azure storage, and implementing Azure security. Moreover, the scope extends to encompass tasks like monitoring, diagnosing issues, and enhancing the efficiency of Azure solutions, as well as utilizing Azure services and third-party services. However, when discussing the fundamental responsibilities of an Azure Developer, these are crucial.
- Firstly, they participate in all phases of cloud development from defining the requirements and designing.
- Secondly, they work together with development, deployment, maintenance, performance tuning, and monitoring.
- Lastly, Azure Developers partner with cloud solution architects, cloud DBAs, cloud administrators, and clients for implementing the solutions.
During your preparation, you must know that the Microsoft Azure AZ-204 certification exam regulates the ability to accomplish various technical tasks. Moreover, after passing the Microsoft Azure (Beta) AZ-204 you will receive the Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate certification.
Glossary for Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure (AZ-204)
- Azure: Microsoft’s cloud computing platform provides a comprehensive array of services for constructing, deploying, and overseeing applications and services.
- Azure Active Directory (Azure AD): Microsoft’s cloud-based identity and access management service, which provides a way for organizations to manage user identities and access to resources in the cloud and on-premises.
- Azure App Service: A fully managed platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering in Azure that enables developers to build and deploy web, mobile, and API applications.
- Azure Blob Storage: A fully managed cloud-based storage service that provides unstructured data storage for text and binary data.
- Azure Cosmos DB: A database service distributed worldwide, supporting multiple data models, allowing developers to store and retrieve data through SQL, MongoDB, Cassandra, Azure Table Storage, or Gremlin APIs.
- Azure Functions: A serverless compute service in Azure that enables developers to run event-driven code without the need to manage infrastructure.
- Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS): A fully managed service in Azure that simplifies the deployment, management, and scaling of containerized applications using Kubernetes.
- Azure Resource Manager (ARM): An Azure management service that empowers users to deploy, oversee, and structure Azure resources consistently and repetitively.
- Azure Service Bus: A messaging service in Azure that enables reliable communication between applications and services using a publish/subscribe or queue-based messaging pattern.
- Azure SQL Database: An Azure fully managed relational database service that offers high availability, automated patching and backups, and is compatible with various SQL Server workloads.
- Azure Virtual Machines (VMs): A fully customizable infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offering in Azure that enables users to run virtual machines in the cloud.
- DevOps: A collection of methods that merges software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) to facilitate more frequent and dependable software deployments.
- Git: A decentralized version control system that allows developers to monitor code changes and collaborate on software development initiatives.
- OAuth: An openly accepted authorization standard that permits users to authorize access to their resources without revealing their credentials. This standard is commonly employed to facilitate third-party applications in accessing web APIs.
- OpenID Connect: An identity layer on top of OAuth 2.0 that provides authentication for web applications and APIs, enabling users to authenticate using their existing social media or corporate identities.
- REST API: A web API architecture that uses HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) to interact with resources over the web.
- Serverless computing: A cloud computing model where cloud providers manage the infrastructure needed to run and scale applications, allowing developers to focus on writing code.
- Visual Studio Code: A lightweight, cross-platform source code editor developed by Microsoft that supports a wide range of programming languages and integrates with Azure services.
- YAML: A human-readable data serialization format commonly used for configuration files, particularly in cloud computing environments.
Exam preparation resources for Microsoft Azure (AZ-204)
Here are some official resources from Microsoft that can help you prepare for the Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure (AZ-204) exam:
- Exam page: The official exam page provides an overview of the exam, its objectives, and the skills measured. It also provides information on exam registration and format. You can find it here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/az-204.
- Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Learn is an online learning platform that provides free training and tutorials on various Azure topics. The platform offers several learning paths and modules that align with the exam objectives. You can find the AZ-204 learning path here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/az-204.
- Microsoft Documentation: Microsoft documentation provides comprehensive technical documentation on Azure services and features. It covers topics like Azure architecture, security, deployment, and more. You can find Azure documentation here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/.
- Microsoft Azure YouTube channel: The Microsoft Azure YouTube channel offers a variety of video tutorials on Azure services, features, and use cases. You can find the channel here: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftAzure.
- Azure Samples: The Azure Samples repository on GitHub provides sample code and applications that demonstrate how to use various Azure services and features. You can find the repository here: https://github.com/Azure-Samples.
- Microsoft Azure Blog: The Microsoft Azure Blog provides news, updates, and insights on Azure services and features. It covers topics like new features, use cases, best practices, and more. You can find the blog here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/.
Knowledge Requirement for the exam
For Microsoft AZ-204 exam, there are eligibility requirements that you have to fulfill before applying for the exam.
- Firstly, it is essential to possess a minimum of 1-2 years of professional development experience, along with practical familiarity with Microsoft Azure.
- Secondly, proficiency in programming using a language supported by Azure, and competence in Azure SDKs, Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, data storage choices, data connections, APIs, application authentication, and authorization, as well as compute and container deployment, debugging, performance optimization, and monitoring, is required.
- Lastly, one must demonstrate expertise in designing, constructing, testing, and managing cloud applications and services on Microsoft Azure.
Quick Cheat Sheet for Microsoft Azure AZ-204 Exam
Choosing the best exam preparation resources is very crucial to crack any certification exam. And, when it comes to the AZ-204 Exam preparation, it is important that revise everything well and head towards a successful, and rewarding career in the development field. So let’s begin with the preparation.
Review the AZ-204 Exam Topics
Understanding and getting familiar with the main objectives of the Microsoft Azure AZ-204 Exam is very important. Knowing the exam objectives will provide you with an insight into the exam. Moreover, an analysis of the exam guide will let you align yourself more deeply with the major objectives of the exam. And, you will also be able to review and mark the sections and topics you find difficult.
1. Develop Azure compute solutions (25-30%)
1.1 Implement containerized solutions
- Create and manage container images for solutions (Microsoft Documentation: Build and deploy container images)
- Publish an image to Azure Container Registry (Microsoft Documentation: Push image to Azure Container Registry)
- Run containers by using Azure Container Instance
- Create solutions by using Azure Container Apps (Microsoft Documentation: Deploy a container application to Azure Container Instances)
1.2 Implement Azure App Service Web Apps
- Create an Azure App Service Web App (Microsoft Documentation: Create an ASP.NET Core web app in Azure)
- Enable diagnostics logging (Microsoft Documentation: Enable diagnostics logging for apps in Azure App Service)
- Deploy code to a web app (Microsoft Documentation: Deploy your app to Azure App Service with a ZIP or WAR file)
- Configure web app settings including Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), API settings, and connection strings (Microsoft Documentation: Configuring web app settings with SSL, Configuring web app settings with connection strings and Host Restful APIs in Azure App Service)
- Implement autoscaling
1.3 Implement Azure functions
- Create and deploy Azure Functions apps
- Implement input and output bindings (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Functions triggers and bindings concepts)
- Implement function triggers by using data operations, timers, and webhooks (Microsoft Documentation: Timer trigger for Azure Functions)
2. Develop for Azure storage (15-20%)
2.1 Develop solutions that use Azure Cosmos DB storage
- Perform operations on containers and items by using the SDK
- Set the appropriate consistency level for operations (Microsoft Documentation: Choose the right consistency level)
- Manage change feed notifications Change feed in Azure Cosmos DB)
2.2 Develop solutions that use blob storage
- Set and retrieve properties and metadata (Microsoft Documentation: Setting properties and metadata during the import process)
- Perform operations on data by using the appropriate SDK (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Blob storage client library v12 for .NET)
- Implement storage policies and data lifecycle management
- Implement static site hosting
3. Implement Azure security (20-25%)
3.1 Implement user authentication and authorization
- Authenticate and authorize users by using the Microsoft Identity platform (Microsoft Documentation: Microsoft identity platform)
- Authenticate and authorize users and apps by using Microsoft Entra ID (Microsoft Documentation: Configure your App Service or Azure Functions)
- Create and implement shared access signatures (Microsoft Documentation: Grant limited access to Azure Storage resources using shared access signatures (SAS))
- Implement solutions that interact with Microsoft Graph
3.2 Implement secure Azure solutions
- Secure app configuration data by using the App Configuration and Azure Key Vault (Microsoft Documentation: Securely save secret application settings for a web application)
- Develop code that uses keys, secrets, and certificates stored in Azure Key Vault (Microsoft Documentation: Configure and manage secrets in Azure Key Vault)
- Implement Managed Identities for Azure resources (Microsoft Documentation: Use a Windows VM system-assigned managed identity to access Resource Manager)
4. Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize Azure solutions (15-20%)
4.1 Implement caching for solutions
- Configure cache and expiration policies for Azure Cache for Redis configure Azure Cache for Redis)
- Implement secure and optimized application cache patterns including data sizing, connections, encryption, and expiration Caching guidance)
- Implement Azure Content Delivery Network endpoints and profiles
4.2 Troubleshoot solutions by using metrics and log data
- Configure an app or service to use Application Insights Application Insights overview)
- Monitor and analyze metrics, logs, and traces Azure Monitor Metrics overview)
- Implement Application Insights Web Test and Alerts (Microsoft Documentation: Creating an Application Insights Web Test and Alert Programmatically)
5. Connect to and consume Azure services and third-party services (15-20%)
5.1 Implement API Management
- Create an Azure API Management instance (Microsoft Documentation: Create a new Azure API Management service instance)
- Create and document APIs
- Configure access to APIs
- Implement policies for APIs
5.3 Develop event-based solutions
- Implement solutions that use Azure Event Grid (Microsoft Documentation: Automate resizing uploaded images using Event Grid)
- Implement solutions that use Azure Event Hub (Microsoft Documentation: Visualize data anomalies in real-time events sent to Azure Event Hubs)
5.4 Develop message-based solutions
- Implement solutions that use Azure Service Bus (Microsoft Documentation: Update inventory using PowerShell and topics/subscriptions)
- Implement solutions that use Azure Queue Storage queues (Microsoft Documentation: Work with Azure storage queues)
Create the Blueprint
Developing an exam blueprint is a productive method to initiate your preparation for AZ-204. By doing this, you can organize your study materials and create a roadmap that distinguishes between challenging and straightforward sections, facilitating last-minute revisions. Alternatively, you can obtain a downloadable copy of the exam blueprint, which provides the exam objectives and pertinent details for your preparation.
Prepare for Microsoft Azure AZ-204 using the study guide!
Training Program by Microsoft
Microsoft offers training courses that come with expert direction by subject matter experts. Furthermore, you can learn and understand all exam topics using tutorial videos with practical demonstrations. By following the modules included in Microsoft Azure AZ-204 training courses, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the Azure services and functions relevant to the AZ-204 exam. Moreover, these courses offer practical hands-on labs that enhance your skills in tackling technical challenges encountered in certification exams. In preparation for AZ-204, Microsoft provides two courses that can significantly enhance your readiness. These are:
Reference Books For AZ-204 Exam
If you are dedicated to passing the exam then, you must know the importance of books during the time of preparation. This will help you highlight the part of the topic you find difficult or you want to study later. Moreover, it can be helpful in understanding the core concepts of Azure. However, some of the AZ-204 exam books include:
- Firstly, Microsoft Azure Cloud – Complete Practical Guide for Ultimate Beginners: Step By Step Azure Cloud Lab Manual by ProTechGurus
- Secondly, Learn Microsoft Azure: Build, manage, and scale cloud applications using the Azure ecosystem by Mohamed Wali
Evaluate yourself with Practice Tests
Engaging in a practice test is an excellent method to evaluate your study approach and ensure optimal performance in the actual exam. It helps in pinpointing your areas of weakness, enabling you to focus on improvement. Additionally, utilizing AZ-204 exam practice tests will enhance your comprehension of question patterns and refine your answering abilities. Furthermore, it offers the advantage of honing your time management and rapid thinking skills.
