Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204) Study Guide 2023

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.

Important Updates

In April 23 and August 23, some changes were made to align the Exam AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure with the Azure Developer role. Some major changes in April 23 and minor changes in August 23. I suggest you review them using the link below that enables you to access the official exam’s study guide. In this section, I will resume the changes to give you an understanding of what changed.

Updates to the AZ-204 exam

Percentage breakdown

• Develop Azure compute solutions (25–30%)
• Develop for Azure storage (15–20%)
• Implement Azure security (20–25%)
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize Azure solutions (15–20%)
• Connect to and consume Azure services and third-party services (15–20%)

Note: The good news are the percentages breakdown did not change from the previous version of the exam.

April 23

• Implement IaaS solutions section was renamed to Implement containerized solutions and some important topics were dropped and others added. Major update is adding a topic related to Azure Container Apps service.

  • Provision virtual machines (VMs) [Dropped]
  • Configure, validate and deploy ARM templates [Dropped]
  • Create and manage container images for solutions [Renamed]
  • Create solutions by using Azure Container Apps [Added]

• Implement Azure Functions

  • Implement Azure Durable Functions [Dropped]

• Develop solutions that use Azure Cosmos DB storage

  • Select the appropriate API and SDK for a solution [Dropped]
  • Implement partitioning schemes and partition keys [Dropped]

• Develop solutions that use blob storage

  • Move items in Blob storage between storage accounts or containers [Dropped]
  • Implement static site hosting [Added]

• Implement caching for solutions

  • Implement Azure CDN endpoints and profiles [Added]

There are some minor changes applied related to wording which you can review them in the official study guide, but I decided to do not include them in this list to provide a condensed list of changes.

August 23

In August, the only section that suffered minor changes is Connect to and consume Azure services and third-party services (15–20%).

• Implement API Management
  • Create and document APIs [Added]
  • Implement policies for APIs [Renamed]

So to summarize these changes, you should spend some time understanding how you can create APIs in Azure API Management and how to document those APIs using available features. Links below are available so you can explore these topics.

Certification path

Exam Name	Link
Exam AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure	Exam Details

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 containerized solutions

• Create and manage 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 solutions by using Azure Container Apps

  • Azure Container Apps overview
  • Tutorial: Deploy your first container app
  • Tutorial: Build and deploy your app to Azure Container Apps

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
  • Get started with Autoscale in Azure
  • Scale up an app in Azure App Service

Implement Azure functions

• create and configure an Azure Functions app
  • 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

Develop for Azure storage (15-20%)

Develop solutions that use Cosmos DB storage

• Perform operations on containers and items by using the SDK
  • 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
• Implement change feed notifications
  • Change feed in Azure Cosmos DB
  • Change feed processor in Azure Cosmos DB

Develop solutions that use blob storage

• 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 static site hosting
  • Static website hosting in Azure Storage
  • Host a static website in Azure Storage

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 Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), part of Microsoft Entra
  • 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 solutions that interact with Microsoft Graph
  • Use the Microsoft Graph API
  • Microsoft Graph quick start
  • Build .NET Core apps with Microsoft Graph

Implement secure cloud solutions

• Secure app configuration data by using App Configuration or 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

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

Implement caching for solutions

• Configure cache and expiration policies for Azure Cache for Redis
  • 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
• Implement Azure CDN endpoints and profiles
  • Quickstart: Create an Azure CDN profile and endpoint
  • Tutorial: Add Azure CDN to an Azure App Service web app

Troubleshoot solutions by using Application Insights

• 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
• Monitor and analyze metrics, logs, and traces
  • 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
• Create and document APIs
  • Tutorial: Import and publish your first API
  • Tutorial: Access and customize the developer portal
• configure authentication for APIs
  • How to secure APIs using client certificate authentication in API Management
• Implement 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 Hub
  • 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! 😊💪

Resource
Exam AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure
Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure (AZ-204) path
Microsoft Learn - Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate Learning Path