Skip to content

🔷 Azure Cloud Documentation

Complete Azure Solution Architect Learning Path - From Fundamentals to Advanced

📚 Table of Contents

  1. Getting Started
  2. Core Services
  3. Learning Path
  4. Service Categories
  5. Hands-On Tasks
  6. Quick Reference

🚀 Getting Started

What is Azure?

Microsoft Azure is a comprehensive cloud computing platform offering 200+ services including compute, storage, databases, networking, AI/ML, and more. It's one of the top 3 cloud providers alongside AWS and Google Cloud.

Documentation Structure

CLOUD/AZURE/
├── README.md                           # This file - main navigation
├── 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md            # Service categories overview
├── 0-AZURE-SERVICE-cleaned.md         # Complete service comparison with AWS
├── AZURE-DOTNET-ROADMAP.md            # .NET development on Azure
├── Azure-Learning-Architecture-Task-Based.md  # Task-based learning
│
├── SERVICES/                           # Detailed service documentation
│   ├── RESOURCE-GROUPS/               # Resource management
│   ├── AZURE-STATIC-WEB-APP/          # Static web hosting
│   ├── AZURE-WEB-APP-SERVICE/         # App Service (PaaS)
│   ├── AZURE VM/                      # Virtual Machines
│   ├── MICROSOFT-INTRA-ID/            # Identity & Access Management
│   ├── Networking Services/           # VNet, NSG, Load Balancers, etc.
│   └── Hybrid & Multicloud/           # Azure Arc, Hybrid solutions
│
└── Docs/                              # Topic-based documentation
    ├── 1-Resource-groups/             # Resource organization
    ├── 2-IAM-Security/                # Identity & Security
    ├── 3-CLI/                         # Azure CLI
    ├── 4-PaaS/                        # Platform as a Service
    ├── 5-DB/                          # Databases
    ├── 6-Storage/                     # Storage solutions
    ├── 7-Networking/                  # Networking deep dive
    └── 8-Virtual-Machines/            # VM management

🎯 Core Services

Compute Services

Service Purpose AWS Equivalent Documentation
Virtual Machines IaaS compute EC2 SERVICES/AZURE VM/
App Service PaaS web hosting Elastic Beanstalk SERVICES/AZURE-WEB-APP-SERVICE/
Static Web Apps Static site hosting Amplify/S3+CloudFront SERVICES/AZURE-STATIC-WEB-APP/
AKS Managed Kubernetes EKS 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md
Functions Serverless compute Lambda 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md
Container Instances Serverless containers Fargate 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md

Storage & Databases

Service Purpose AWS Equivalent Documentation
Blob Storage Object storage S3 Docs/6-Storage/
Azure Files File shares EFS Docs/6-Storage/
Disk Storage Block storage EBS Docs/6-Storage/
SQL Database Managed SQL RDS Docs/5-DB/
Cosmos DB NoSQL database DynamoDB Docs/5-DB/
PostgreSQL Managed PostgreSQL RDS PostgreSQL Docs/5-DB/

Networking

Service Purpose AWS Equivalent Documentation
Virtual Network (VNet) Isolated network VPC SERVICES/Networking Services/Azure-VNet.md
NSG Network security Security Groups SERVICES/Networking Services/NSG.md
ASG Application security Security Groups SERVICES/Networking Services/ASG.md
Load Balancer L4 load balancing NLB SERVICES/Networking Services/Azure-Load-Balancer.md
Application Gateway L7 load balancing + WAF ALB + WAF SERVICES/Networking Services/Azure-Application-Gateway-WAF.md
Azure Firewall Managed firewall Network Firewall SERVICES/Networking Services/Azure-Firewall.md
VPN Gateway Site-to-Site VPN VPN Gateway SERVICES/Networking Services/Azure-VPN-Gateway.md
Azure DNS DNS management Route 53 SERVICES/Networking Services/Azure-DNS.md
VNet Peering VNet connectivity VPC Peering SERVICES/Networking Services/VNet-Peering.md

Identity & Security

Service Purpose AWS Equivalent Documentation
Microsoft Entra ID Identity management IAM SERVICES/MICROSOFT-INTRA-ID/
Key Vault Secrets management Secrets Manager + KMS Docs/2-IAM-Security/
RBAC Role-based access IAM Roles Docs/2-IAM-Security/
Managed Identity Service authentication IAM Roles Docs/2-IAM-Security/

Management & Governance

Service Purpose AWS Equivalent Documentation
Resource Groups Resource organization Resource Groups SERVICES/RESOURCE-GROUPS/
Azure CLI Command-line tool AWS CLI Docs/3-CLI/
Azure Monitor Monitoring & logging CloudWatch 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md
Azure Policy Governance Config Rules 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md

📖 Learning Path

Beginner (0-3 months)

Goal: Understand Azure fundamentals and core services

  1. Start Here:
  2. Read 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md - Service overview

  3. Read 0-AZURE-SERVICE-cleaned.md - AWS comparison

  4. Core Concepts:

  5. Resource Groups - Resource organization
  6. Azure CLI - Command-line basics

  7. IAM & Security - Identity management

  8. First Services:

  9. Static Web Apps - Deploy a static site
  10. Storage - Blob storage basics

  11. Virtual Network - Networking fundamentals

  12. Hands-On Tasks:

  13. ✅ Create Resource Group
  14. ✅ Deploy Static Web App
  15. ✅ Create Storage Account
  16. ✅ Set up Virtual Network

Intermediate (3-6 months)

Goal: Deploy and manage applications

  1. Application Platform:
  2. App Service - PaaS hosting
  3. Virtual Machines - IaaS compute

  4. Databases - SQL & NoSQL

  5. Networking:

  6. NSG & ASG - Network security
  7. Load Balancer - Traffic distribution

  8. VPN Gateway - Hybrid connectivity

  9. Security:

  10. Microsoft Entra ID - Advanced IAM
  11. Key Vault - Secrets management

  12. Managed Identity - Service authentication

  13. Hands-On Tasks:

  14. ✅ Deploy App Service with CI/CD
  15. ✅ Configure PostgreSQL database
  16. ✅ Set up VNet with subnets
  17. ✅ Implement NSG rules
  18. ✅ Configure Key Vault

Advanced (6-12 months)

Goal: Architect enterprise solutions

  1. Advanced Networking:
  2. Hub-Spoke topology
  3. Azure Firewall
  4. Application Gateway + WAF

  5. VNet Peering

  6. High Availability:

  7. Multi-region deployment
  8. Traffic Manager
  9. Site Recovery

  10. Backup strategies

  11. Containers & Kubernetes:

  12. AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service)
  13. Container Registry

  14. Service Mesh

  15. Hybrid & Multicloud:

  16. Azure Arc
  17. Site-to-Site VPN

  18. ExpressRoute

  19. Infrastructure as Code:

  20. Bicep templates
  21. Terraform on Azure

  22. CI/CD pipelines

  23. Hands-On Tasks:

  24. ✅ Design multi-region architecture
  25. ✅ Implement Hub-Spoke network
  26. ✅ Deploy AKS cluster
  27. ✅ Configure Azure Arc
  28. ✅ Build IaC with Bicep/Terraform

🗂️ Service Categories

1. Compute

  • Virtual Machines (IaaS)
  • App Service (PaaS)
  • Static Web Apps
  • Azure Functions (Serverless)
  • AKS (Kubernetes)
  • Container Instances

Documentation: 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md

2. Storage & Databases

  • Blob Storage (Object)
  • Azure Files (File shares)
  • Disk Storage (Block)
  • SQL Database
  • Cosmos DB (NoSQL)
  • PostgreSQL/MySQL

Documentation: 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md

3. Networking

  • Virtual Network (VNet)
  • NSG & ASG
  • Load Balancer
  • Application Gateway + WAF
  • Azure Firewall
  • VPN Gateway
  • Azure DNS

Documentation: 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md

4. Identity & Security

  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • Key Vault
  • RBAC
  • Managed Identity
  • Azure Policy

Documentation: 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md

5. Monitoring & Logging

  • Azure Monitor
  • Log Analytics
  • Application Insights
  • Azure Alerts

Documentation: 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md

6. CI/CD & DevOps

  • Azure DevOps
  • GitHub Actions
  • Container Registry
  • Bicep/ARM Templates

Documentation: 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md

7. Hybrid & Multicloud

  • Azure Arc
  • Azure Lighthouse
  • Site-to-Site VPN
  • ExpressRoute

Documentation: 0-AZURE-CLOUD-TOPICS.md

✅ Hands-On Tasks

Task Checklist

Complete hands-on tasks to build practical Azure skills. Track your progress:

1. Application Platform

  • [x] Create Resource Group
  • [x] Deploy Static Web App
  • [x] Configure App Service
  • [x] Set up CI/CD with GitHub Actions
  • [x] Configure custom domain
  • [x] Enable authentication

2. Database & Storage

  • [x] Create PostgreSQL Flexible Server
  • [x] Configure private endpoint
  • [x] Create Cosmos DB
  • [x] Set up Blob Storage
  • [x] Configure lifecycle policies

3. Networking

  • [x] Create Hub VNet
  • [x] Create Spoke VNets
  • [x] Configure VNet peering
  • [x] Set up NSGs
  • [x] Create Azure Firewall
  • [ ] Configure Application Gateway

4. Security

  • [x] Configure Entra ID
  • [x] Create Key Vault
  • [x] Enable Managed Identity
  • [x] Configure RBAC
  • [x] Set up Conditional Access

5. Compute

  • [ ] Create Linux VM
  • [ ] Configure VM Scale Set
  • [ ] Set up autoscaling
  • [ ] Deploy AKS cluster

6. Monitoring

  • [ ] Set up Log Analytics
  • [ ] Create dashboards
  • [ ] Configure alerts
  • [ ] Enable Application Insights

7. Infrastructure as Code

  • [ ] Write Bicep templates
  • [ ] Deploy with Terraform
  • [ ] Set up CI/CD pipeline
  • [ ] Implement GitOps

Full Task List: Azure-Learning-Architecture-Task-Based.md

🔍 Quick Reference

Common Azure CLI Commands

# Login
az login

# List subscriptions
az account list --output table

# Set subscription
az account set --subscription "subscription-name"

# Create resource group
az group create --name myResourceGroup --location eastus

# List resources
az resource list --resource-group myResourceGroup

# Delete resource group
az group delete --name myResourceGroup

Resource Naming Convention

<resource-type>-<app-name>-<environment>-<region>-<instance>

Examples:
- rg-webapp-prod-eastus-01      (Resource Group)
- vm-webserver-dev-westus-01    (Virtual Machine)
- st-data-prod-eastus-01        (Storage Account)
- vnet-hub-prod-eastus-01       (Virtual Network)

Azure Regions

US Regions: - East US, East US 2 - West US, West US 2, West US 3 - Central US, North Central US, South Central US

Europe: - North Europe (Ireland) - West Europe (Netherlands) - UK South, UK West

Asia Pacific: - Southeast Asia (Singapore) - East Asia (Hong Kong) - Japan East, Japan West

📊 Azure vs AWS Service Comparison

For detailed service-by-service comparison with AWS, see: - 0-AZURE-SERVICE-cleaned.md - Complete comparison table

Quick Comparison

Category Azure AWS
Compute Virtual Machines, App Service, AKS EC2, Elastic Beanstalk, EKS
Storage Blob Storage, Files, Disks S3, EFS, EBS
Database SQL Database, Cosmos DB RDS, DynamoDB
Networking VNet, NSG, Load Balancer VPC, Security Groups, ELB
Identity Entra ID, RBAC IAM
Serverless Functions, Logic Apps Lambda, Step Functions
Containers AKS, Container Instances EKS, Fargate
Monitoring Azure Monitor CloudWatch

🎓 Certification Path

Fundamentals

  • AZ-900 - Azure Fundamentals

Associate Level

  • AZ-104 - Azure Administrator
  • AZ-204 - Azure Developer
  • AZ-400 - DevOps Engineer

Expert Level

  • AZ-305 - Azure Solutions Architect Expert

📚 Additional Resources

Official Documentation

Learning Resources

Tools

📈 Documentation Statistics

  • Total Service Categories: 10+
  • Core Services Documented: 50+
  • Hands-On Tasks: 60+
  • Networking Services: 9 detailed guides
  • Coverage: Fundamentals to Solution Architect level

Last Updated: January 5, 2026
Status: ✅ Complete Azure learning path
Level: Beginner to Solution Architect
Focus: Hands-on, task-based learning

Ready to start your Azure journey! ☁️