Following my previous 70–533 exam prep article, I will now try to cover the exam 70–534: Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions.
The main idea is to map the exam objectives to the official documentation articles, based on the updated exam in November 2016. Since that update, the exam is supposed to be based only on the Resource Manager model and the new Azure portal.
Currently few online training platforms are offering courses that have been refreshed or created recently, and are in-line with the current exam objectives. Watching videos is a great and convenient way to learn, but not really enough for the Azure exams. To reinforce your knowledge and clarify some points, you will most likely need to refer to the official documentation.
Hopefully, this article will allow you to save some time, guiding you through your study for the 70–534 exam. But please note that I didn’t find appropriate articles for all exam objectives and some links could be wrong or not the best.
Some links will bring you to a particular page, but some topics are spread on multiple pages, so always look around for related content. I will keep updating the article for a while, so feel free to comment to contribute.
Microsoft exam 70–534 overview
- Design Azure Resource Manager (ARM) networking (5–10%)
- Secure resources (20–25%)
- Design an application storage and data access strategy (5–10%)
- Design advanced applications (20–25%)
- Design Azure Web and Mobile Apps (5–10%)
- Design a management, monitoring, and business continuity strategy (20–25%)
- Architect an Azure Compute infrastructure (10–15%)
Objectives and resources mapping
Design Azure Resource Manager (ARM) networking
Design Azure virtual networks
- Extend on-premises
- leverage Azure networking services: implement load balancing using Azure Load Balancer and Azure Traffic Manager
- define DNS, DHCP, and IP addressing configuration
- define static IP reservations
- apply Network Security Groups (NSGs) and User Defined Routes (UDRs)
- deploy Azure Application Gateway
Describe Azure VPN and ExpressRoute architecture and design
- Describe Azure point-to-site (P2S) and site-to-site (S2S) VPN, leverage Azure VPN and ExpressRoute in network architecture
Secure resources
Secure resources by using managed identities
- describe the differences between Active Directory on-premises and Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
- programmatically access Azure AD using Graph API
- secure access to resources from Azure AD applications using OAuth and OpenID Connect
Secure resources by using hybrid identities
- use SAML claims to authenticate to on-premises resources
- describe AD Connect synchronization
- implement federated identities using Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)
Secure resources by using identity providers
- provide access to resources using identity providers, such as Microsoft account, Facebook, Google, and Yahoo!
- manage identity and access by using Azure AD B2C
- implement Azure AD B2B
Identify an appropriate data security solution
- identify security requirements for data in transit and data at rest
- identify security requirements using Azure services, including Azure Storage Encryption, Azure Disk Encryption, and Azure SQL Database TDE
Design a role-based access control (RBAC) strategy
- secure resource scopes, such as the ability to create VMs and Azure Web Apps
- implement Azure RBAC standard roles
- design Azure RBAC custom roles
Manage security risks by using an appropriate security solution
- Identify, assess, and mitigate security risks by using Azure Security Center, Operations Management Suite, and other services
Design an application storage and data access strategy
Design data storage
- design storage options for data, including Table Storage, SQL Database, DocumentDB (now integrated in CosmosDB), Blob Storage, MongoDB, and MySQL (link to in preview service)
- design security options for SQL Database or Azure Storage
Select the appropriate storage option
- select the appropriate storage for performance
- identify storage options for cloud services and hybrid scenarios with compute on-premises and storage on Azure
Design advanced applications
Create compute-intensive applications
- design high-performance computing (HPC) and other compute-intensive applications using Azure Services
Create long-running applications
- implement Azure Batch for scalable processing
- design stateless components to accommodate scale
- use Azure Scheduler
Integrate Azure services in a solution
- design Azure architecture using Azure services, such as Azure AD, Azure App Service, API Management, Azure Cache (Redis Cache), Azure Search, Service Bus (Service Bus Messaging and Service Bus Relay), Event Hubs, Stream Analytics, and IoT Hub
- identify the appropriate use of Azure Machine Learning, big data, Azure Media Services, and Azure Search services
Implement messaging applications
- use a queue-centric pattern for development
- select appropriate technology, such as Azure Storage Queues, Azure Service Bus queues, topics, subscriptions, and Azure Event Hubs (Storage Queues and Service Bus queues compared)
Implement applications for background processing
- implement Azure Batch for compute-intensive tasks
- use Azure WebJobs to implement background tasks
- use Azure Functions to implement event-driven actions (Functions VS WebJobs)
- leverage Azure Scheduler to run processes at preset/recurring timeslots
Design connectivity for hybrid applications
- connect to on-premises data from Azure applications using Service Bus Relay, Hybrid Connections (Hybrid Connections v2), or the Azure Web App virtual private network (VPN) capability
- identify constraints for connectivity with VPN; identify options for joining VMs to domains or cloud services
Design Azure Web and Mobile Apps
Design Web Applications
- design Azure App Service Web Apps
- design custom web API
- offload long-running applications using WebJobs
- secure Web API using Azure AD
- design Web Apps for scalability and performance
- deploy Azure Web Apps to multiple regions for high availability
- deploy Web Apps
- create App Service plans
- design Web Apps for business continuity
- configure data replication patterns
- update Azure Web Apps with minimal downtime
- back up and restore data
- design for disaster recovery
Design Mobile Applications
- design Azure Mobile Services (replaced by Mobile App, Mobile App doc)
- consume Mobile Apps from cross-platform clients
- integrate offline sync capabilities into an application
- extend Mobile Apps using custom code
- implement Mobile Apps using Microsoft .NET or Node.js
- secure Mobile Apps using Azure AD
- implement push notification services in Mobile Apps
- send push notifications to all subscribers, specific subscribers, or a segment of subscribers
Design a management, monitoring, and business continuity strategy
Design a monitoring strategy
- identify the Microsoft products and services for monitoring Azure solutions
- leverage the capabilities of Azure Operations Management Suite and Azure Application Insights for monitoring Azure solutions
- leverage built-in Azure capabilities
- identify third-party monitoring tools, including open source
- describe Azure architecture constructs, such as availability sets and update domains, and how they impact a patching strategy
- analyze logs by using the Azure Operations Management Suite
Describe Azure business continuity/disaster recovery (BC/DR) capabilities
- leverage the architectural capabilities of BC/DR
- describe Hyper-V Replica and Azure Site Recovery (ASR)
- describe use cases for Hyper-V Replica and ASR
Design a disaster recovery strategy
- design and deploy Azure Backup and other Microsoft backup solutions for Azure
- leverage use cases when StorSimple and System Center Data Protection Manager would be appropriate
- design and deploy Azure Site recovery (support matrix, links to Azure-to-Azure, look also at on-premises scenario)
Design Azure Automation and PowerShell workflows
- create a PowerShell script specific to Azure, automate tasks by using the Azure Operations Management Suite
Describe the use cases for Azure Automation configuration
- evaluate when to use Azure Automation, Chef, Puppet, PowerShell, or Desired State Configuration (DSC)
Architect an Azure Compute infrastructure
Design ARM Virtual Machines (VMs)
- design VM deployments leveraging availability sets, fault domains, and update domains in Azure
- select appropriate VM SKUs
Design ARM template deployment
- author ARM templates
- deploy ARM templates via the portal, PowerShell, and CLI
Design for availability
Useful Links
For more useful links, see my article Microsoft Azure Online Resources.
Good study and all the best passing this Microsoft exam 70–534: Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions.
