Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204) Study Guide

The Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate certification enables you to implement solutions on Azure while leveraging the tools and services available. This is an intermediate level certification, so I would recommend you to set aside some time to study for the exam and practice using some of the services related to this exam - ‘Practice makes perfect’

In this study guide, I will share with you some of the useful resources you can use to guide you during your learning path to get this certification.

Certification Path

Exam AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure

The AZ-204 has a length of two hours. There are 45+ questions and you need a minimum of 700 of 1000 points to pass the exam.

First place to go is the Microsoft Learn platform where a dedicated learning path is available, for free. Also, you should have a look to the Resources section in this study guide where you have useful resources to help you consolidate the knowledge that will help you get the exam and certification. If you prefer to watch videos, instead of read, explaining these core concepts and showing how to get prepared to the exam, then I invite you to have a look at the Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure (AZ-204) path, available on Pluralsight.

Skills measured

Develop Azure compute solutions (25-30%)

Implement IaaS solutions

• provision virtual machines (VMs) (Note: Try to provision VMs using the Azure Portal, Powershell and Azure Resource Manager templates )
• configure, validate, and deploy ARM templates
  • What are ARM templates?
  • Tutorial: Create and deploy your first ARM template
• configure container images for solutions
  • Tutorial: Create a container image for deployment to Azure Container Instances
  • Tutorial: Build and deploy container images in the cloud with Azure Container Registry Tasks
• publish an image to the Azure Container Registry
  • Push your first image to your Azure container registry using the Docker CLI
  • Azure Container Registry as an Event Grid source
• run containers by using Azure Container Instance
  • What is Azure Container Instances?
  • Tutorial: Deploy a container application to Azure Container Instances
  • Quickstart: Deploy a container instance in Azure using the Azure CLI
  • Tutorial: Create an Azure container registry and push a container image
  • Tutorial: Create a container image for deployment to Azure Container Instances

Create Azure App Service Web Apps

• create an Azure App Service Web App
  • Quickstart: Deploy an ASP.NET web app
  • Tutorial: Build an ASP.NET Core and Azure SQL Database app in Azure App Service
• enable diagnostics logging
  • Enable diagnostics logging for apps in Azure App Service
• deploy code to a web app
  • Deploy an Azure Web App
  • Provision and deploy microservices predictably in Azure
  • Deploy your app to Azure App Service with a ZIP or WAR file
• configure web app settings including SSL, API settings, and connection strings
  • Configure an App Service app in the Azure portal
  • Environment variables and app settings in Azure App Service
• implement autoscaling rules including scheduled autoscaling and autoscaling by operational or system metrics
  • Get started with Autoscale in Azure
  • Scale up an app in Azure App Service

Implement Azure functions

• create and deploy Azure Functions apps
  • Getting started with Azure Functions
  • Azure Functions developer guide
  • Quickstart: Create your first C# function in Azure using Visual Studio
  • Continuous deployment for Azure Functions
  • Best practices for performance and reliability of Azure Functions
• implement input and output bindings for a function
  • Azure Functions triggers and bindings concepts
  • Azure Functions trigger and binding example
• implement function triggers by using data operations, timers, and webhooks
  • Azure Functions HTTP trigger
  • Timer trigger for Azure Functions
• implement Azure Durable Functions
  • What are Durable Functions?
  • Create your first durable function in C#
• implement custom handlers
  • Azure Functions custom handlers

Develop for Azure storage (15-20%)

Develop solutions that use Cosmos DB storage

• select the appropriate API and SDK for a solution
  • Welcome to Azure Cosmos DB
  • Tutorial: Develop an ASP.NET Core MVC web application with Azure Cosmos DB by using .NET SDK
  • Tutorial: Query Azure Cosmos DB by using the SQL API
  • Tutorial: Build a .NET console app to manage data in Azure Cosmos DB SQL API account
  • Tutorial: Set up Azure Cosmos DB global distribution using the SQL API
• implement partitioning schemes and partition keys
  • Partitioning and horizontal scaling in Azure Cosmos DB
• perform operations on data and Cosmos DB containers
  • Azure Cosmos DB resource model
  • Provision standard (manual) throughput on an Azure Cosmos container - SQL API
• set the appropriate consistency level for operations
  • Consistency levels in Azure Cosmos DB
• manage change feed notifications
  • Change feed in Azure Cosmos DB
  • Change feed processor in Azure Cosmos DB

Develop solutions that use blob storage

• move items in Blob storage between storage accounts or containers
  • Quickstart: Create, download, and list blobs with Azure CLI
  • Use AzCopy for Azure Storage - Transfer Data
• set and retrieve properties and metadata
  • Manage container properties and metadata with .NET
• perform operations on data by using the appropriate SDK
  • Quickstart: Azure Blob Storage client library v12 for .NET
• implement storage policies, and data archiving and retention
  • Access tiers for Azure Blob Storage - hot, cool, and archive
  • Rehydrate blob data from the archive tier
  • Optimize costs by automating Azure Blob Storage access tiers

Implement Azure security (20-25%)

Implement user authentication and authorization

• authenticate and authorize users by using the Microsoft Identity platform
  • What is the Microsoft identity platform?
  • Authentication vs. authorization
  • Security tokens
• authenticate and authorize users and apps by using Azure Active Directory
  • Quickstart: Register an application with the Microsoft identity platform
  • Authentication flows and application scenarios
• create and implement shared access signatures
  • Grant limited access to Azure Storage resources using shared access signatures (SAS)

Implement secure cloud solutions

• secure app configuration data by using App Configuration Azure Key Vault
  • Azure Key Vault basic concepts
  • Use Key Vault references for App Service and Azure Functions
  • Tutorial: Use Key Vault references in an ASP.NET Core app
• develop code that uses keys, secrets, and certificates stored in Azure Key Vault
  • Azure Key Vault keys, secrets and certificates overview
  • Azure Key Vault Developer’s Guide
• implement Managed Identities for Azure resources
  • What are managed identities for Azure resources?
  • Assign a managed identity access to a resource by using the Azure portal
• implement solutions that interact with Microsoft Graph
  • Build .NET Core apps with Microsoft Graph

Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize Azure solutions (15-20%)

Integrate caching and content delivery within solutions

• configure cache and expiration policies for Azure Redis Cache
  • About Azure Cache for Redis
  • Quickstart: Use Azure Cache for Redis in .NET Core
  • Control Azure CDN caching behavior with caching rules
  • Best practices for Azure Cache for Redis
• implement secure and optimized application cache patterns including data sizing, connections, encryption, and expiration
  • What is Azure Front Door?
  • Azure CDN Documentation
  • Best practices for using content delivery networks (CDNs)
  • Caching

Instrument solutions to support monitoring and logging

• configure an app or service to use Application Insights
  • What is Application Insights?
  • Application Insights for ASP.NET Core applications
  • Quickstart: Start monitoring your website with Azure Monitor Application Insights
• analyze and troubleshoot solutions by using Azure Monitor
  • Azure Monitor overview
  • Azure Monitor Logs overview
  • Azure Monitor Metrics overview
  • Monitoring solutions in Azure Monitor
  • Find and diagnose run-time exceptions with Azure Application Insights
  • Find and diagnose performance issues with Azure Application Insights
• implement Application Insights web tests and alerts
  • Application Insights availability tests
  • Monitor availability with URL ping tests
  • Deep diagnostics for web apps and services with Application Insights

Connect to and consume Azure services and third-party services (15-20%)

Implement API Management

• create an APIM instance
  • About API Management
  • Feature-based comparison of the Azure API Management tiers
  • Quickstart: Create a new Azure API Management service instance by using the Azure portal
• configure authentication for APIs
  • How to secure APIs using client certificate authentication in API Management
• define policies for APIs
  • Policies in Azure API Management
  • API Management policies

Develop event-based solutions

• implement solutions that use Azure Event Grid
  • What is Azure Event Grid?
  • Concepts in Azure Event Grid
  • Quickstart: Route custom events to web endpoint with Azure CLI and Event Grid
  • Choose between Azure messaging services - Event Grid, Event Hubs, and Service Bus
• implement solutions that use Azure Event Hubs
  • Azure Event Hubs — A big data streaming platform and event ingestion service
  • Quickstart: Create an event hub using Azure CLI
  • Exchange events between consumers and producers that use different protocols: AMQP, Kafka, and HTTPS
  • Features and terminology in Azure Event Hubs
  • Azure Event Hubs as an Event Grid source

Develop message-based solutions

• implement solutions that use Azure Service Bus
  • What is Azure Service Bus?
  • Service Bus queues, topics, and subscriptions
  • Service Bus Premium and Standard messaging tiers
  • Send messages to and receive messages from Azure Service Bus queues (.NET)
  • Use Azure portal to create a Service Bus namespace and a queue
• implement solutions that use Azure Queue Storage queues
  • What is Azure Queue Storage?
  • Quickstart: Create a queue and add a message with the Azure portal
  • Tutorial: Work with Azure Queue Storage queues in .NET
  • Storage queues and Service Bus queues - compared and contrasted

Additional resources

Below follows the list of additional resources that you should consider and a quick note to the Microsoft Learn collection shared there. I tried to extend the learning paths you have available on the exam’s page with some extra modules that I consider relevant to the exam.

Best of Luck and share your results with the community once you get certified! 😊💪