Azure Fundamentals training course

Lesson 1 • Cloud Deployment Models

Contrasts public, private, and hybrid cloud deployments. Enables students to match deployment models to organisational requirements.

Lesson 2 • Core Cloud Computing Concepts

Defines cloud computing, its economic drivers, and key characteristics. Anchors all subsequent Azure topics in shared vocabulary.

Lesson 3 • Cloud Service Categories

Distinguishes IaaS, PaaS and SaaS and their management boundaries. Provides the framework for categorising every Azure service encountered later.

Lesson 4 • Azure Global Infrastructure

Maps Azure regions, availability zones and data centres. Students understand how geography affects resilience and compliance.

Lesson 1 • Role-Based Access Control

Defines RBAC roles, scopes and assignment mechanics in Azure. Students apply least-privilege principles to subscriptions and resources.

Lesson 2 • Users, Groups and Licences

Covers creating and managing user accounts, groups and licence assignments. Students can provision identities for an organisation.

Lesson 3 • Azure Active Directory Overview

Explains Azure AD's purpose, tenants and relationship to on-premises AD. Establishes identity as the primary security perimeter in Azure.

Lesson 4 • Authentication Methods and MFA

Examines password policies, MFA and passwordless options. Strengthens authentication posture beyond basic credentials.

Lesson 1 • VNet Peering and Connectivity

Connects VNets and on-premises networks through peering and gateways. Enables hybrid and multi-region network architectures.

Lesson 2 • Network Security Groups and Firewalls

Controls inbound and outbound traffic with NSGs and Azure Firewall. Students enforce perimeter and micro-segmentation security policies.

Lesson 3 • DNS and Private Endpoints

Manages name resolution with Azure DNS and secures PaaS access via private endpoints. Completes the network layer with service-level isolation.

Lesson 4 • Virtual Networks and Subnets

Creates VNets, subnets and address spaces for resource isolation. Establishes the foundational network layer for all Azure deployments.

Lesson 1 • Azure Container Instances and Registry

Runs containers without orchestration using ACI and stores images in ACR. Bridges the gap between VMs and full Kubernetes deployments.

Lesson 2 • Azure App Service

Introduces PaaS web hosting for apps, APIs and mobile backends. Students deploy code without managing underlying server infrastructure.

Lesson 3 • Azure Functions and Serverless Compute

Builds event-driven, serverless workloads using Azure Functions. Students implement lightweight automation without provisioning servers.

Lesson 4 • Azure Kubernetes Service

Explains container orchestration with AKS clusters and node pools. Students understand how containerised workloads run at scale on Azure.

Lesson 1 • Azure Queue and Table Storage

Introduces message queuing and NoSQL key-value storage for lightweight workloads. Connects storage to application integration patterns.

Lesson 2 • Storage Security and Access Control

Secures storage with shared access signatures, keys and Azure AD auth. Students implement least-privilege access to storage resources.

Lesson 3 • Azure Storage Account Fundamentals

Explains storage account types, replication options and access tiers. Provides the decision framework for all storage service selections.

Lesson 4 • Azure Files and File Sync

Provides fully managed SMB and NFS file shares in the cloud. Students replace or extend on-premises file servers with Azure Files.

Lesson 1 • Azure SQL Database

Deploys fully managed relational databases with built-in HA and scaling. Students configure SQL Database for transactional application workloads.

Lesson 2 • Azure Cosmos DB

Provides globally distributed, multi-model NoSQL storage with tunable consistency. Students design low-latency, planet-scale data architectures.

Lesson 3 • Data Migration and Integration Services

Uses Azure Data Factory and Database Migration Service to move and transform data. Students plan and execute data migrations to Azure.

Lesson 4 • Azure Database for Open-Source Engines

Covers managed MySQL, PostgreSQL and MariaDB services on Azure. Students migrate or deploy open-source database workloads without managing servers.

Lesson 1 • Azure Policy and Governance

Enforces organisational standards using Azure Policy definitions and initiatives. Students build governance guardrails that prevent non-compliant deployments.

Lesson 2 • Azure Key Vault

Stores and manages secrets, keys and certificates centrally. Students integrate Key Vault into applications to eliminate hardcoded credentials.

Lesson 3 • Azure Blueprints and Management Groups

Packages policies, roles and resources into repeatable environment templates. Students govern multi-subscription environments at enterprise scale.

Lesson 4 • Microsoft Sentinel and Security Monitoring

Aggregates logs and detects threats with cloud-native SIEM capabilities. Students configure data connectors and analytic rules for incident response.

Lesson 1 • Azure Pricing and Cost Drivers

Explains how Azure meters, regions and service tiers affect billing. Students predict costs before deploying resources.

Lesson 2 • Cost Optimisation Best Practices

Identifies rightsizing, idle resource cleanup and architectural patterns that reduce waste. Students apply FinOps principles to ongoing Azure operations.

Lesson 3 • Resource Tagging and Chargeback

Applies metadata tags to resources for cost allocation and reporting. Students implement tagging strategies that support departmental chargeback.

Lesson 4 • Reserved Instances and Savings Plans

Reduces compute costs through commitment-based pricing models. Students evaluate reservation vs. savings plan trade-offs for predictable workloads.