AZ-900 at a Glance (2025)

AZ-900 (Microsoft Azure Fundamentals) validates core cloud knowledge—what Azure is, how it’s organized, how you secure and govern it, and how pricing/support work. It is vendor-official, beginner-friendly, and widely recognized by hiring managers in the US for roles like junior cloud analyst, technical account manager, and presales associate.

Good news: Fundamentals certifications do not expire. Once you pass, your AZ-900 stays valid.

The English version of the AZ-900 skills outline is scheduled to update on October 30, 2025. Always review the official study guide before booking.

What’s New in Azure (and the Exam) in 2025

Expect more emphasis on AI-enabled services, security by default, and cost optimization. Azure’s announcements since late 2024 center on expanding AI platforms, operational security, and hybrid consistency. For example, Azure AI Studio has been renamed and expanded as Azure AI Foundry, improving the end-to-end experience to build, customize, and deploy AI models.

Microsoft’s 2024 Ignite “Book of News” also underscored large investments in AI and secure cloud infrastructure—momentum that continues across 2025.

Cloud Concepts Refresher (High-Value Exam Topics)

Shared Responsibility Model

In the cloud you and the provider split duties. With IaaS you manage OS, apps, and data; with PaaS you focus on apps and data; with SaaS you mainly manage data and access. Azure documents this clearly—know who does what and how it shifts as you move from on-prem to SaaS.

Consumption-based Pricing

Azure charges primarily on what you use (compute hours, storage GB, outbound bandwidth), with discounts via Reservations and the Savings Plan for compute. You’ll estimate costs with the Pricing Calculator, and compare on-prem vs cloud with the TCO Calculator.

Capital vs Operational Expenditure

Cloud shifts CapEx (hardware purchases) toward OpEx (pay-as-you-go). AZ-900 expects you to explain this business benefit and tie it to elasticity and agility.

Core Azure Services You Must Know

Networking

Azure virtual networks, subnets, network security groups, and connectivity options (VPN gateways, ExpressRoute) are intro-level topics for AZ-900.

Hybrid & Edge with Azure Arc

Know that Azure Arc extends Azure management to servers, Kubernetes, data services, and SQL anywhere (on-prem or other clouds).

Security, Identity & Access (Microsoft Entra ID, RBAC)

Microsoft Entra ID is the new name for Azure AD, and it provides identity, authentication, and access policies for users, apps, and devices.

Azure RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) controls authorization to Azure resources in scopes like subscription, resource group, or resource; it’s built on Azure Resource Manager.

Security Posture & Threat Defense

• Microsoft Defender for Cloud (CNAPP) for posture management and threat protection across Azure/multicloud.
• Microsoft Sentinel (cloud-native SIEM/SOAR) for detection, investigation, and response.
• Azure Monitor to gather metrics, logs, and traces for insights and alerting.

Governance, Cost Management & Pricing

Cost Management Essentials

Use Azure Cost Management to track spend and budgets; estimate with the Pricing Calculator and compare on-prem to cloud with TCO.

Savings Plan vs Reservations (Know the Difference)

Microsoft’s docs include clear guidance to choose between them.

Free Services & Free Account

Azure offers 65+ services that are “always free” (within monthly limits) and additional 12-month free services for new accounts, plus start credit. This is often referenced in entry-level training and practice.

Reliability: Regions, Availability Zones & SLAs

Azure organizes its global footprint into regions (geographic areas with one or more datacenters). Many regions offer availability zones—separate sets of datacenters with independent power, cooling, and networking—to improve resiliency.

AZ-900 expects conceptual knowledge of zone-redundant vs zonal services and how SLAs improve when you architect for redundancy.

Monitoring, Security Operations & Incident Response

Azure Monitor provides metrics/logs, dashboards, and alerts; Defender for Cloud assesses posture and protects resources; and Microsoft Sentinel ingests telemetry for SIEM/SOAR. Understand how these complement each other in a basic SecOps workflow.

A Proven 14-Day Study Plan (with daily outcomes)

This plan assumes ~1.5–2 hours per day and leverages official resources. Reorder the days if you have prior experience.

Official study guide and Microsoft Learn modules are your primary references.

Practice Resources & Exam Experience

• Official Practice Assessment—free via Microsoft Learn; use it to sample wording and difficulty and to locate gaps.
• Question Types—familiarize yourself with drag-and-drop, hot area, case studies, etc.
• Scheduling & Retakes—you can typically retake after 24 hours (first retake) with longer waits thereafter; always confirm current policy on Learn.

Bookmark the official AZ-900 page for exam updates and scheduling: Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals.

Real-World Scenarios & Mini-Case Studies

1) Startup API on a Budget

Goal: Minimize cost while launching a web API. Choose App Service (Basic/Standard), Functions for background jobs, Storage for files, and Cosmos DB serverless for bursty traffic. Estimate monthly spend with the Pricing Calculator; consider a Savings Plan if CPU hours become consistently high.

2) Regulated SMB with Hybrid Assets

Goal: Keep some servers on-prem but manage everything centrally. Use Azure Arc to onboard servers/Kubernetes, apply Azure Policy at scale, push monitoring with Azure Monitor, and integrate security into Defender for Cloud and Sentinel for detection and response.

3) Retail Chain: Reliability First

Goal: Design for uptime across a region. Use availability zones for zonal services and choose zone-redundant options when available; test failover and review SLAs.

AZ-900 FAQ (2025 Edition)

Useful Links (Official & In-Depth)

• Official exam page (updates, scheduling): Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
• AZ-900 Study Guide (skills measured; updated outlines): AZ-900 study guide
• Free Practice Assessment: Practice Assessments
• Azure Pricing Calculator: Estimate costs
• Azure Free Services: 65+ always-free services

Attribution & Reuse