Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)
- 451 exam-style questions
- Detailed explanations and references
- Simulation and custom modes
- Custom exam settings to drill down into specific topics
- 180-day access period
- Pass or money back guarantee
What is in the package
We've trained thousands of candidates for the AZ-900, so we know how Microsoft builds this exam: which concepts appear most often, how questions are worded to create ambiguity, and which distinctions candidates often miss under pressure. Our expertise doesn't come from reading the official exam page alone. It comes from seeing candidates succeed and struggle with the same traps year after year.
What sets our question bank apart from generic practice material is the quality of the distractors. Every wrong answer in our bank is wrong for a specific, meaningful reason. It targets a real misunderstanding that a candidate might have. We don't fill answer choices with obviously wrong options. Instead, we create answers that a well-prepared candidate might actually consider, then explain exactly why that answer is incorrect. Each explanation covers not just the correct answer, but also why each incorrect answer was included and what kind of thinking it is meant to catch.
All content is based on official Microsoft documentation. When a concept is tested, our explanations connect the logic back to how Microsoft defines and distinguishes it, not just how a trainer might summarize it. This is important on an exam where being "close enough" can still lead to wrong answers.
Complete AZ-900 domains coverage
The AZ-900 has three official domains, and each contains at least one category of questions that trips up candidates who are otherwise well-prepared. Here's what to expect from each.
Cloud Concepts
The challenge in this domain isn't the definitions. Most candidates can explain what IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS mean. The real challenge is the scenario question that asks which model fits a described situation, where two answers seem equally valid. We've seen candidates who know the theory still pick the wrong answer because they rely on surface-level keyword matching rather than considering responsibility boundaries. Our questions are designed around these scenarios, so you'll face the same ambiguity before exam day, not for the first time during it.
Azure Architecture and Services
This is the largest domain, and the challenge isn't the amount of content but the level of detail. Microsoft tests the differences between closely related services, such as Azure Monitor, Azure Advisor, and Azure Service Health, as well as the differences between a resource group, a subscription, and a management group in governance. Candidates who studied broadly but not in detail often get caught here. Our questions focus on these comparisons, and our explanations make the differences clear so you aren't left guessing.
Azure Management and Governance
Cost management and compliance questions in this domain regularly surprise candidates who spent most of their preparation on the architecture content. The specific difficulty is that questions often describe a business constraint — a budget cap, a compliance requirement, a multi-region deployment — and ask which Azure tool addresses it. The services sound interchangeable until you understand exactly what each one controls. We've built our questions around these governance scenarios precisely because this is where prepared candidates unnecessarily lose marks.
CertVista's test engine replicates the actual AZ-900 exam environment with pixel-perfect accuracy. Choose between customized mode to focus on specific domains or simulation mode for full exam experience with the same 60-minute time limit and question count as the real test.
The interface matches Microsoft's official exam platform, eliminating surprises on test day. Practice with the same navigation, marking system, and review functionality you'll encounter during your actual certification exam.
The AZ-900 includes multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, hot-area, and case-study formats. Most people practice multiple-choice, but in the other formats, unprepared candidates lose points. Drag-and-drop questions require you to sequence or match concepts under time pressure, which is a different skill from picking one answer out of four. Hot-area questions ask you to click a specific part of a diagram or interface, so familiarity with Azure layouts helps. Case studies present a scenario across several questions, testing if you can apply knowledge in context. We include all these formats in the same proportions as the real exam.
Every explanation in our bank is written to do one job: close the gap between knowing the answer and understanding why. That means each explanation covers the correct answer, the reasoning behind each incorrect answer, the underlying concept being tested, the specific misunderstanding the distractor is targeting, and an exam tip for approaching similar questions. The candidates who improve fastest aren't the ones who drill more questions — they're the ones who read every explanation for every question they got wrong, including the ones they got right by guessing.
Your dashboard shows your performance by each official AZ-900 domain, so you know exactly where you stand. If you're doing well on cloud concepts but consistently losing marks in Azure management and governance, especially in cost management scenarios, you can see this clearly and focus your remaining study time where it's needed. Aggregate scores show your overall progress, while domain scores help you decide what to work on next.
What's in the AZ-900 exam
The AZ-900 tests your understanding of Microsoft Azure concepts, but "conceptual" doesn't mean superficial. Microsoft designs the questions to tell apart candidates who truly understand how cloud services work from those who just memorized terms. You'll get scenarios such as a company with specific requirements, a cost limit, a compliance need, or a hybrid setup. The question will be which Azure service or feature solves the problem. This means you need to know not just what services exist, but when and why to choose one over another.
Many candidates are surprised by how broad the exam is. It covers cloud fundamentals, Azure architecture, networking, storage, identity, security, compliance, cost management, and governance tools, all within 60 questions. There's no single topic you can skip. The architecture and services domain alone is so wide that light preparation will leave noticeable gaps on exam day.
The knowledge you gain is also genuinely useful beyond just earning the badge. Understanding how Azure subscriptions, management groups, and resource groups relate to each other, and how Role-Based Access Control manages permissions across that structure, isn't just exam trivia. It's essential for any Azure role. The AZ-900 covers these basics well, making it a solid stepping stone to the AZ-104, AZ-204, and AZ-305.
Who should take the AZ-900?
The AZ-900 makes sense for a specific set of people, and the career direction determines whether it's the right starting point. IT professionals moving into a Microsoft-heavy environment benefit from it as a baseline credential that validates fluency with Azure's architecture before pursuing a role-specific cert, such as the AZ-104 for administration or the AZ-204 for development. Developers, analysts, and project managers working alongside Azure infrastructure — without directly managing it — use the AZ-900 to establish credible cloud literacy without committing to a deeply technical path. For career changers entering the cloud from a non-technical background, it's a legitimate entry point that doesn't require programming knowledge or hands-on infrastructure experience. There are no prerequisites — Microsoft requires no prior certification or experience to sit the exam.
AZ-900 exam format and structure
The AZ-900 is a structured, time-limited exam with a fixed passing threshold. Here are the specifics:
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Exam code | AZ-900 |
| Number of questions | 40–60 |
| Time limit | 60 minutes |
| Question formats | Multiple choice, drag-and-drop, hot area, case study |
| Passing score | 700 / 1000 |
| Cost | ~$99 USD (varies by country) |
| Prerequisites | None |
| Certification validity | Does not expire |
The 700/1000 passing score is scaled, not a straight percentage of questions answered correctly. Microsoft applies a psychometric scaling model that weights questions by difficulty, which means a raw score of 70% correct doesn't reliably translate to a scaled score of 700. The practical implication: don't try to calculate how many questions you can afford to miss. Focus on genuine understanding across all three domains. At 40–60 questions in 60 minutes, time pressure is modest for most candidates — but the case study format requires careful reading, and rushing through scenarios produces careless errors on questions that weren't actually difficult.
AZ-900 domain weightings
| Domain | Weighting |
|---|---|
| Describe cloud concepts | 25–30% |
| Describe Azure architecture and services | 35–40% |
| Describe Azure management and governance | 30–35% |
The architecture and services domain carries the most marks, but in our experience it's the management and governance domain that produces the most unexpected misses. The weighting is nearly as large, candidates tend to under-prepare for it relative to its share of the exam, and the questions — particularly around cost management tools and compliance frameworks — are scenario-heavy in a way that doesn't reward memorisation. In recent exam cycles, we've also seen an increased emphasis on Azure Arc and hybrid cloud scenarios, which sit across the architecture domain and catch candidates whose preparation was Azure-native only.
How difficult is the AZ-900?
The AZ-900 is genuinely approachable, but it's not as easy as the "fundamentals" label suggests. Candidates who treat it too casually sometimes fail. Microsoft doesn't publish the pass rate, but we've seen enough results to know that underprepared candidates often don't pass.
What makes it harder than it seems is the scenario-based format. Questions don't just ask "what is Azure Policy?" Instead, they describe a governance requirement and ask which tool solves it. To answer correctly, you need to understand how Azure Policy, Azure Blueprints, and Microsoft Purview differ in scope and function, not just know their names. That difference isn't clear until you've practiced it.
What makes it approachable is that it requires no hands-on technical skill. You don't need to deploy resources, write code, or configure infrastructure. The exam tests whether you understand Azure's architecture and capabilities conceptually — which means a motivated candidate with no cloud background can prepare in two to three weeks.
Our internal benchmark is simple: if you're consistently scoring above 80% across all three domains in our practice exams, you're ready to book the real exam. If one domain is below 70%, focus on that area before scheduling. A high overall score with a weak domain is risky because the real exam will test all three areas.
AZ-900 retake policy
Microsoft's retake policy applies to all AZ-900 attempts:
- First retake: available after 24 hours from the failed attempt
- Subsequent retakes: 14-day waiting period between each attempt
- Maximum attempts: 5 within a 12-month rolling period
- Retake after passing: not permitted — you cannot resit an exam you have already passed
If you need to retake the exam, use the waiting period to prepare. Check our domain breakdown to see exactly where you lost marks, focus on those domains in the practice exam settings, and work through the explanations as well as the questions before trying again.
How does the AZ-900 compare to other certifications?
The AZ-900 sits alongside vendor-equivalent entry-level certifications and directly below the Microsoft associate-level track. Here's how it compares:
| Certification | Provider | Focus | Best suited for |
|---|---|---|---|
| AZ-900: Azure Fundamentals | Microsoft | Azure architecture, services, governance, cost management | Those entering or working within Microsoft/Azure ecosystems |
| AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) | Amazon Web Services | AWS architecture, services, billing, security basics | Those entering or working within AWS ecosystems |
| Google Cloud Digital Leader | Google Cloud | Google Cloud architecture, products, business transformation | Those entering or working within Google Cloud ecosystems |
| AZ-104: Azure Administrator | Microsoft | Azure administration, identity, networking, storage | IT professionals managing Azure environments |
If you're in a Microsoft-first organisation — or planning to pursue the AZ-104, AZ-204, or AZ-305 — the AZ-900 is the right starting point. It's not interchangeable with the AWS or Google equivalents despite covering similar conceptual ground; the Azure-specific architecture and governance content is directly applicable to the next cert in the track in a way the other vendors' entry certs aren't. If your organisation is multi-cloud or specifically AWS-heavy, the Cloud Practitioner is the more practical foundation.
Recommended study plan
For candidates with no prior cloud background, plan for two to three weeks. With prior cloud or IT experience, one to two weeks is realistic.
Week 1 — Cloud concepts and Azure architecture foundations
Work through Microsoft Learn's AZ-900 learning path. Start with "Describe cloud computing" and "Describe the benefits of using cloud services." Take your time with these, since the IaaS/PaaS/SaaS distinctions and the shared responsibility model come up often in scenario questions, and understanding the details matters. After each module, do a short domain-specific practice set from CertVista and read every explanation, even for questions you got right. On days 4 and 5, move to the Azure architecture and services modules that cover core Azure components: regions, availability zones, resource groups, subscriptions, and management groups. Draw out the hierarchy on paper, since later governance questions depend on visualizing how these fit together.
Week 2 — Services depth and governance
Work through the remaining architecture modules: networking (VNet, VPN Gateway, ExpressRoute), storage (Blob, Queue, Table, Files), and compute (VMs, App Service, Azure Functions, Containers). For each service category, use the Azure free tier to briefly interact with the service — create a storage account, browse the VM creation blade — even without deploying anything. Visual familiarity with where settings live helps with hot area questions. In the second half of the week, shift to the management and governance domain: Azure Cost Management, Azure Policy, Azure Blueprints, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, and Microsoft Purview. These are the services candidates most often underprepare. Take a full-length timed practice exam at the end of the week.
Week 3 — Targeted remediation and exam readiness (if needed)
Review your domain breakdown from the Week 2 practice exam. Any domain below 75% needs focused attention, so work through domain-specific practice sets instead of mixed exams until you improve. Take a second full-length timed exam under realistic conditions, with no interruptions or reference materials. If you're scoring above 80% in all domains, go ahead and book the exam. If not, identify your remaining weak areas and spend the last few days on those, rather than doing broad revision.
On hands-on practice: Even a brief look at the Azure portal makes scenario questions easier to handle. When a question describes an Azure Advisor recommendation or a Cost Management budget alert, candidates who have seen those interfaces answer with more confidence and accuracy than those who have only read about them. The free tier is enough; you don't need to deploy anything major.
The mistakes we see candidates make
After training thousands of students for the AZ-900, we notice the same failure patterns come up again and again. They're not random; they're predictable, and most can be avoided.
Treating "fundamentals" as equivalent to "easy"
The most common mistake we see is underpreparing because the exam is labelled 'foundational'. Candidates allocate a weekend to it, skim the Microsoft Learn modules, and walk in expecting straightforward recall questions. The scenario-based format catches them. The AZ-900 doesn't ask you to define Azure Policy — it asks whether Azure Policy, Azure Blueprints, or Microsoft Defender for Cloud is the right tool for a described compliance requirement. That requires understanding what each one does and where they differ, not just knowing they exist. We regularly speak to candidates who failed with scores in the 600s who describe themselves as "basically ready" going in.
Memorising service names without understanding service roles
Azure has a large surface area, and many candidates prepare by building a mental list of services and their one-line descriptions. That approach breaks down when the exam presents two services that are superficially similar — Azure Monitor and Azure Service Health both surface information about your Azure environment, but they answer different questions in different contexts. Candidates who memorised definitions choose the wrong one when a scenario describes a specific monitoring need. Our question bank specifically targets these paired services because that's where the marks go.
Neglecting the governance and cost management content
The management and governance domain makes up 30 to 35% of the exam, but we often see candidates who spent most of their preparation on Azure architecture and services. The governance content, like Azure Policy, management groups, RBAC, cost management tools, and compliance frameworks, requires a different way of thinking than just knowing services. It's about understanding control structures and accountability. Candidates who didn't spend enough time with Microsoft Cost Management and Azure Advisor often lose marks on questions that aren't technically hard, just underprepared.
Using brain dumps as a substitute for understanding
We see candidates who have clearly memorized answers from dump sites, but they still fail. Microsoft updates the question pool regularly, and scenario questions can't be memorized effectively, even if the question text looks familiar, because the answer choices change. More importantly, the AZ-900 is the foundation for every Azure certification above it. Passing without understanding means you'll face gaps in the AZ-104 or AZ-204, making those exams much harder. It's not worth the risk.
Skipping the non-multiple-choice formats in practice
Drag-and-drop and "hot area" questions have a different failure mode than multiple choice. In drag-and-drop, the format requires you to correctly sequence or categorise multiple items simultaneously — getting three of four right doesn't give you partial credit. Candidates who practised exclusively in a multiple-choice format encounter these on exam day without having built the specific pattern of thinking they require. We've seen candidates who scored well in practice lose meaningful marks on the day because the format itself was unfamiliar.
Not reading the question stem carefully enough
This sounds generic, but it's specific to how Microsoft writes AZ-900 questions. The scenario often contains a detail that eliminates two of the four answers before you reach the answer choices — a budget constraint that rules out a premium service, a hybrid connectivity requirement that rules out a cloud-native solution. Candidates who skim to the answer choices and reason backwards lose marks on questions they should get right. Reading the entire stem before looking at the options is a discipline that takes practice to build under time pressure. We include exam tips in every explanation, specifically to reinforce this.
Why pursue the AZ-900?
It doesn't expire. Microsoft made the AZ-900 a permanent credential, so there's no ongoing maintenance cost. You take it once, and the certification stays on your profile. For those early in their Azure journey or using it as a business credential, this permanence makes the investment simple.
It's a real foundation for the associate-level track. The AZ-900 content is not separate from the AZ-104, AZ-204, or AZ-305; it's actually a subset of those exams. Candidates who truly understand the AZ-900 material start the associate exams with the right concepts already in place. The governance structures, networking basics, and identity concepts all come up again, just in more detail. You can skip the AZ-900 and go straight to an associate exam, but those who took the AZ-900 seriously move through the associate material more quickly.
It provides credible cloud literacy for non-technical roles. Project managers, solution architects in non-technical functions, and business analysts working alongside Azure teams benefit from genuine Azure fluency even when they're not operating the infrastructure. The AZ-900 provides that fluency in a verifiable, externally recognised form — it's not a training certificate, it's a Microsoft-issued credential.
It shows commitment to the Microsoft ecosystem. For candidates in or joining Microsoft-focused organizations, the AZ-900 signals real engagement with the platform, not just general cloud knowledge. When added to a LinkedIn profile showing progress toward AZ-104 or AZ-204, it's a clear sign of your direction.
The knowledge applies beyond the exam. Azure Cost Management, Azure Policy, RBAC, and the shared responsibility model aren't exam topics that disappear once you've passed — they're the conceptual underpinning of every Azure conversation you'll have in a technical or near-technical role. The AZ-900 is worth preparing for properly, precisely because what you learn while preparing is actually useful.
Exam changelog
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| January 2024 | Increased emphasis on Azure Arc, hybrid cloud, and multi-cloud governance scenarios |
| October 2023 | Microsoft Purview content added; expanded compliance and data governance coverage |
| July 2023 | Domain restructure from 4 domains to 3; "Describe general security and network security features" merged into architecture domain |
| March 2023 | Cost management tooling questions expanded; Azure Advisor and Microsoft Cost Management scenarios added |
| November 2022 | Sustainability and Azure carbon optimisation content introduced |
We update our question bank within 30 days of any official Microsoft exam change. If you notice a discrepancy between our content and current Microsoft documentation, contact us and we'll review it immediately.
The final take
The formula for passing the AZ-900 is simple: spend two to three weeks on structured preparation, work through the official Microsoft Learn path in domain order, use practice exams to find your gaps instead of just checking what you already know, and review explanations as well as scores before moving on. Candidates who follow this approach pass.
What doesnWhat doesn't work: treating the exam as a quick weekend review, practicing only multiple-choice questions, memorizing service names without understanding their roles, or using brain dumps as a shortcut. We've seen all of these approaches fail candidates who could have passed. The exam is approachable, but it requires real preparation, not just surface familiarity.actice exams are built to remove surprises: the format is familiar before you sit the real thing, the traps are ones you've already encountered, and the explanations mean you arrive understanding the content rather than hoping it holds up under pressure.
Content maintained by the CertVista training team. Last reviewed: March 2025.
FAQ
How difficult is the AZ-900 for someone with no IT background?
It's achievable without an IT background, but the preparation time goes up. The exam is conceptual rather than technical — you don't need to configure infrastructure or write code — but it does require understanding how cloud architecture works, why organisations make specific service choices, and how Azure's governance model is structured. Complete beginners should plan for three weeks and engage with the Microsoft Learn modules sequentially, rather than jumping straight to practice exams. The biggest risk for non-technical candidates isn't the difficulty of individual questions — it's the breadth of content they need to cover. Nothing is deeply hard; quite a lot needs to be understood.
Is the AZ-900 worth it, or should I just go straight to AZ-104?
It depends on where you're starting from. If you have solid Azure or cloud experience, you can skip the AZ-900 and go directly to the AZ-104 — the prerequisite knowledge is assumed, not required. If you're newer to Azure, the AZ-900 is worth the two to three weeks because it builds the conceptual foundation that makes the AZ-104 content significantly more coherent. Associate-level exams assume you already understand management groups, RBAC, and core networking concepts. Candidates who arrive at the AZ-104 without that foundation spend time filling gaps instead of progressing. The AZ-900 is an efficient preparation for what follows.
How does the AZ-900 compare to the AWS Cloud Practitioner?
They're structurally similar — both are vendor entry-level fundamentals exams with no prerequisites, comparable cost, and scenario-based question formats. The right choice depends entirely on your ecosystem. If you're working with or toward an Azure environment, the AZ-900 is the relevant credential. If you're in an AWS environment, the Cloud Practitioner is. The content doesn't transfer between them — Azure and AWS have different architectures, governance structures, and tooling. Holding both is reasonable if you genuinely work across both platforms, but taking one as a proxy for the other doesn't work.
Can I pass the AZ-900 using brain dumps?
Candidates try this, and some pass — but the pass rate from dump-based preparation is lower than it appears, because Microsoft refreshes its question pool and changes answer choices on scenario questions regularly. More importantly, the AZ-900 is the foundation for every Azure cert above it. Passing it via memorisation means arriving at the AZ-104 or AZ-204 with gaps that compound. We've spoken to candidates who passed the AZ-900 with dumps and struggled significantly at the associate level for reasons that trace directly back to conceptual gaps from the fundamentals exam. The AZ-900 isn't the exam to cut corners on.
What score on practice exams means I'm ready to book?
We use 80% across all three domains as the readiness benchmark. An aggregate score above 80% with one domain below 70% isn't readiness — it's a signal that one domain needs more work before you book. Scenario questions on the real exam are different from the ones you practised, but the concepts they test are the same. If you understand the material well enough to score above 80% on a variety of practice questions in a domain, you'll handle new questions in that domain on exam day. If you're regularly guessing and occasionally getting lucky, that won't hold up.
How long does the AZ-900 certification last?
The AZ-900 does not expire. Microsoft made the Azure Fundamentals certification a permanent credential — unlike the associate and expert-level certifications, which require renewal every year. Once you pass, the credential remains valid on your transcript indefinitely. This is one of the specific reasons the AZ-900 is a sensible early investment: there's no ongoing renewal cost or effort. You earn it once and it stays.
Sample AZ-900 questions
Get a taste of the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam with our carefully curated sample questions below. These questions mirror the actual AZ-900 exam's style, complexity, and subject matter, giving you a realistic preview of what to expect. Each question comes with comprehensive explanations, relevant documentation references, and valuable test-taking strategies from our expert instructors.
While these sample questions provide excellent study material, we encourage you to try our free demo for the complete AZ-900 exam preparation experience. The demo features our state-of-the-art test engine that simulates the real exam environment, helping you build confidence and familiarity with the exam format. You'll experience timed testing, question marking, and review capabilities – just like the actual certification exam.
You attempt to create several managed Microsoft SQL Server instances in an Azure environment and receive a message that you must increase your Azure subscription limits.
What should you do to increase the limits?
Upgrade your support plan
Create a new support request
Modify an Azure policy
Create a service health alert
Azure subscriptions include default service quotas and limits to help prevent accidental overspending and to ensure resource availability for all customers. When you reach one of these limits, as in this scenario where you are unable to create more managed SQL Server instances, you must request an increase.
The standard process for increasing these limits is to create a new support request. Within the Azure portal, you would create a request with an issue type of "Service and subscription limits (quotas)". In the request, you specify the subscription, the type of quota you want to increase (for example, vCores for SQL Managed Instance in a specific region), and the new limit you require. The request is then reviewed, and if approved, the limit is raised for your subscription.
Upgrading your Azure support plan provides access to faster response times and higher levels of technical expertise, but it does not directly increase your subscription's resource limits. You still need to submit a quota increase request regardless of your support plan.
Azure Policy is a governance service used to enforce organizational standards and compliance. You can use policies to restrict the types or sizes of resources that can be deployed, but you cannot use them to increase the fundamental service limits set by Microsoft.
Azure Service Health helps you stay informed about the health of Azure services, planned maintenance, and health advisories. While important for operational awareness, it is not the tool used for managing your subscription's resource quotas.
For the exam, remember the specific functions of different Azure management tools. Quota increases are handled through support requests. Azure Policy is for enforcing rules (governance). Azure Service Health is for monitoring the platform's status. Differentiating these functions is key to answering questions about managing an Azure environment.
An Azure administrator plans to run a PowerShell script that creates Azure resources.
You need to recommend which computer configuration to use to run the script.
Which three computers can run the script? Each correct answer presents a complete solution.
a computer that runs Linux and has the Azure PowerShell module installed.
a computer that runs macOS and has PowerShell Core 6.0 installed.
a computer that runs Windows 10 and has the Azure PowerShell module installed.
a computer that runs Linux and has the Azure CLI tools installed.
a computer that runs Chrome OS and uses Azure Cloud Shell.
To run a PowerShell script that creates Azure resources, you have several cross-platform options. Azure PowerShell is supported on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Therefore, any computer (Windows, Linux, macOS) with the Azure PowerShell module installed is suitable. PowerShell Core 6.0 (now known as PowerShell 7) is also cross-platform and can be combined with the Azure PowerShell module to manage Azure resources from macOS. Additionally, Azure Cloud Shell is an online browser-based shell provided by Microsoft, supporting both Bash and PowerShell environments, accessible from any operating system—including Chrome OS.
A Linux computer with only the Azure CLI installed, rather than the Azure PowerShell module, would not be sufficient to run PowerShell scripts. Azure CLI commands are different from PowerShell cmdlets and typically use Bash or other shell scripting languages.
A key takeaway for the AZ-900 is that Azure provides flexibility in how you manage resources, supporting various platforms and devices for Azure administration through both local installations and cloud-hosted shells.
On the exam, focus on whether the appropriate module (Azure PowerShell) is available for running scripts and whether the environment supports PowerShell natively or through Cloud Shell.
Your company has datacenters in Los Angeles and New York. The company has a Microsoft Azure subscription.
You are configuring the two datacenters as geo-clustered sites for site resiliency. You need to recommend an Azure storage redundancy option.
You have the following data storage requirements:
- Data must be stored on multiple nodes.
- Data must be stored on nodes in separate geographic locations.
- Data can be read from the secondary location as well as from the primary location
Which of the following Azure stored redundancy options should you recommend?
Locally redundant storage
Read-only geo-redundant storage
Zone-redundant storage
Geo-redundant storage
Based on the scenario, you need to ensure data is replicated to multiple nodes across geographic locations, and you require the ability to read from the secondary location. These requirements match the features provided by Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS). RA-GRS replicates your data synchronously three times within the primary region (using locally redundant storage) and asynchronously copies it to a secondary region hundreds of miles away. Additionally, RA-GRS allows read access to the data in the secondary region, providing additional resiliency and availability.
Locally redundant storage provides replication only within a single datacenter in one region, so it doesn't satisfy the requirement for geo-replication.
Geo-redundant storage also replicates data across regions but does not provide read access to the secondary unless you use RA-GRS.
Zone-redundant storage replicates data within different availability zones in one region, not across geographically separate regions, so it doesn't provide geo-resiliency.
Carefully read requirements about geographic distribution and specifically whether read access is needed from the secondary location. Only RA-GRS provides both geo-redundancy and secondary region read access.
References:
You need to configure an Azure solution that meets the following requirements:
- Secures websites from attacks
- Generates reports that contain details of attempted attacks
What should you include in the solution?
Azure Firewall
a network security group (NSG)
DDoS protection
Azure Information Protection
To secure websites from attacks and generate detailed reports of attempted attacks, Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) is the specific service designed for this purpose. However, in the context of the answer options provided, Azure Firewall is the closest fit, as it provides centralized protection for network resources and logging capabilities. However, Azure Firewall is mostly used to control network traffic and logs network-level events, not specifically focused on application layer attacks common to websites. If 'Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF)' had been an option, that would be the optimal choice.
A network security group (NSG) is primarily used to allow or deny traffic to network interfaces or subnets, but it does not provide reporting or advanced threat protection features.
DDoS protection helps protect against volumetric distributed denial-of-service attacks but does not provide specific attack detail reports, especially at the application level.
Azure Information Protection is designed to classify, label, and protect documents and emails, not for website or network attack protection.
In practice, remember that for web applications, Azure WAF provides the targeted protection and rich reporting needed for website security scenarios.
For web security questions, look for solutions that mention 'WAF' or similar web-focused firewalls if available, as DDoS and NSG are scope-limited and Azure Information Protection is not related to network security.
Your company's Azure subscription includes a Basic support plan. They would like to request an assessment of an Azure environment's design from Microsoft. This is, however, not supported by the existing plan.
You want to make sure that the company subscribes to a support plan that allows this functionality, while keeping expenses to a minimum.
Solution: You recommend that the company subscribes to the Professional Direct support plan.
Does the solution meet the goal?
No
Yes
Microsoft offers several Azure support plans, each providing different levels of services. To request an architectural design review or assessment from Microsoft engineers, your organization needs to have either a Premier or Professional Direct support plan. The Basic support plan, which is included with all Azure subscriptions, only covers billing and subscription support. The Developer and Standard plans improve technical support access, but they do not include tailored architectural guidance. Professional Direct is the lowest-cost plan that includes access to architectural guidance and design assessments from Microsoft. This means upgrading to Professional Direct fulfills the requirement while helping control costs, as Premier is more expensive and offers broader services beyond what is needed in this scenario.
If the company needs an official design assessment from Microsoft, Professional Direct is the most cost-effective plan that provides this benefit.
To answer similar questions, be familiar with which support plans include which benefits, especially relating to architectural guidance and consultative services.
Focus on key service features each support plan provides, specifically which ones include architectural guidance. On the exam, pay attention to requirements like 'design assessment' or 'access to Azure engineering resources,' as these steer you to Professional Direct or Premier plans.
You have an Azure subscription named Subscription1. You sign in to the Azure portal and create a resource group named RG1.
From Azure documentation, you have the following command that creates a virtual machine named VM1.
az vm create --resource-group RG1 --name VM1 --image UbuntuLTS --generate-ssh-keys
You need to create VM1 in Subscription1 by using the command.
Solution: From the Azure portal, launch Azure Cloud Shell and select Bash. Run the command in Cloud Shell.
Does this meet the goal?
No
Yes
Running the given command in Azure Cloud Shell while signed in to the Azure portal is a valid method to create resources such as a virtual machine. Cloud Shell is an interactive, browser-accessible shell for managing Azure resources, and it is already authenticated to your subscription context. When you create a resource group in the portal and then launch Cloud Shell, Cloud Shell operates within the context of your current subscription unless you explicitly switch it. By running the 'az vm create' command in Cloud Shell, you can provision VM1 in the specified resource group (RG1) in Subscription1, thereby meeting the goal.
If you were to use an environment not authenticated to Azure or disconnected from your desired subscription, the command would not work or might create resources in a different context.
It's important to note that the Azure Cloud Shell can work with both Bash and PowerShell, but the 'az' commands work seamlessly with Bash.
Always check that your Cloud Shell session is using the correct subscription context. You can verify this with 'az account show' or change context with 'az account set'.
Your company plans to migrate all its data and resources to Azure. The company's migration plan states that only Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions must be used in Azure.
You need to deploy an Azure environment that meets the company migration plan.
Solution: You create Azure virtual machines, Azure SQL databases, and Azure Storage accounts.
Does this meet the goal?
No
Yes
The migration plan specifies that only Platform as a Service (PaaS) solutions are allowed. Azure SQL Database and Azure Storage accounts are examples of PaaS offerings. However, Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) are Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), not PaaS. Deploying VMs means you are responsible for managing the operating system and potentially installing your own software, which goes beyond the platform management provided by PaaS. Therefore, including VMs in your deployment does not align with the requirement to use only PaaS solutions.
Related exams
Frequently Asked Questions
It's achievable without an IT background, but the preparation time goes up. The exam is conceptual rather than technical — you don't need to configure infrastructure or write code — but it does require understanding how cloud architecture works, why organisations make specific service choices, and how Azure's governance model is structured.
Complete beginners should plan for three weeks and engage with the Microsoft Learn modules sequentially, rather than jumping straight to practice exams.
The biggest risk for non-technical candidates isn't the difficulty of individual questions — it's the breadth of content they need to cover. Nothing is deeply hard; quite a lot needs to be understood.
It depends on where you're starting from. If you have solid Azure or cloud experience, you can skip the AZ-900 and go directly to the AZ-104 — the prerequisite knowledge is assumed, not required.
If you're newer to Azure, the AZ-900 is worth the two to three weeks because it builds the conceptual foundation that makes the AZ-104 content significantly more coherent. Associate-level exams assume you already understand management groups, RBAC, and core networking concepts. Candidates who arrive at the AZ-104 without that foundation spend time filling gaps instead of progressing. The AZ-900 is an efficient preparation for what follows.
They're structurally similar — both are vendor entry-level fundamentals exams with no prerequisites, comparable cost, and scenario-based question formats. The right choice depends entirely on your ecosystem. If you're working with or toward an Azure environment, the AZ-900 is the relevant credential.
If you're in an AWS environment, the Cloud Practitioner is. The content doesn't transfer between them — Azure and AWS have different architectures, governance structures, and tooling. Holding both is reasonable if you genuinely work across both platforms, but taking one as a proxy for the other doesn't work.
Candidates try this, and some pass — but the pass rate from dump-based preparation is lower than it appears, because Microsoft refreshes its question pool and changes answer choices on scenario questions regularly. More importantly, the AZ-900 is the foundation for every Azure cert above it. Passing it via memorisation means arriving at the AZ-104 or AZ-204 with gaps that compound.
We've spoken to candidates who passed the AZ-900 with dumps and struggled significantly at the associate level for reasons that trace directly back to conceptual gaps from the fundamentals exam. The AZ-900 isn't the exam to cut corners on.
We use 80% across all three domains as the readiness benchmark. An aggregate score above 80% with one domain below 70% isn't readiness — it's a signal that one domain needs more work before you book. Scenario questions on the real exam are different from the ones you practised, but the concepts they test are the same.
If you understand the material well enough to score above 80% on a variety of practice questions in a domain, you'll handle new questions in that domain on exam day. If you're regularly guessing and occasionally getting lucky, that won't hold up.
The AZ-900 does not expire. Microsoft made the Azure Fundamentals certification a permanent credential — unlike the associate and expert-level certifications, which require renewal every year. Once you pass, the credential remains valid on your transcript indefinitely. This is one of the specific reasons the AZ-900 is a sensible early investment: there's no ongoing renewal cost or effort. You earn it once and it stays.