Azure Administration Course

Lesson 1 • Cloud Computing Core Concepts

Defines IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS models and contrasts public, private, and hybrid clouds. Establishes the conceptual baseline for all Azure services covered in this course.

Lesson 2 • Azure Global Infrastructure Overview

Maps Azure regions, availability zones, and edge locations to real-world redundancy needs. Connects infrastructure geography to high-availability design decisions.

Lesson 3 • Azure Account and Subscription Setup

Walks through creating an Azure account, configuring subscriptions, and understanding billing scopes. Prepares students to manage costs and access from day one.

Lesson 4 • Navigating the Azure Portal

Covers portal layout, dashboard customization, and resource search. Enables efficient day-to-day administration without relying solely on command-line tools.

Lesson 1 • Role-Based Access Control

Covers built-in and custom RBAC roles, scope levels, and role assignments. Students apply least-privilege principles to subscriptions, resource groups, and resources.

Lesson 2 • Managed Identities and Service Principals

Demonstrates how applications authenticate to Azure services without stored credentials. Enables secure service-to-service communication used in automation and DevOps.

Lesson 3 • Multi-Factor Authentication and Conditional Access

Configures MFA policies and conditional access rules to enforce context-aware security. Reduces identity-based attack surface without degrading user experience.

Lesson 4 • Azure Active Directory Essentials

Explains Azure AD tenants, users, and groups as the identity backbone of Azure. Connects directory structure to access control decisions made throughout the course.

Lesson 1 • VNet Peering and Connectivity

Establishes VNet peering, VPN gateways, and ExpressRoute for cross-network communication. Enables hybrid and multi-VNet architectures required in enterprise environments.

Lesson 2 • Network Security Groups and Firewalls

Configures NSG inbound and outbound rules and compares NSGs with Azure Firewall. Students control traffic flow at the subnet and NIC level.

Lesson 3 • Virtual Networks and Subnets

Creates VNets and subnets with correct address spaces and explains IP allocation. Provides the network foundation on which all Azure compute and storage resources depend.

Lesson 4 • Azure DNS and Name Resolution

Configures Azure DNS zones, records, and private DNS for internal name resolution. Ensures reliable service discovery across VNets and hybrid environments.

Lesson 1 • Azure Functions and Serverless Compute

Creates event-driven functions with triggers, bindings, and consumption-based scaling. Introduces serverless patterns that complement VM and container workloads.

Lesson 2 • VM Scale Sets and Auto-Scaling

Configures VM scale sets with auto-scale rules based on metrics and schedules. Enables elastic compute capacity for variable workloads without manual intervention.

Lesson 3 • Azure Kubernetes Service Basics

Introduces AKS cluster creation, node pools, and basic workload deployment. Bridges container fundamentals to managed Kubernetes administration in Azure.

Lesson 4 • Azure App Service and Web Apps

Deploys web applications using App Service plans and configures deployment slots. Provides a PaaS compute option that reduces OS management overhead.

Lesson 1 • Storage Security and Access Control

Configures shared access signatures, storage firewalls, and encryption settings. Ensures data at rest and in transit meets organizational security requirements.

Lesson 2 • Storage Monitoring and Cost Optimization

Uses Azure Monitor metrics and Storage Analytics to track usage and diagnose issues. Applies lifecycle policies and tier selection to reduce storage costs.

Lesson 3 • Storage Account Fundamentals

Creates storage accounts, selects performance tiers, and configures redundancy options. Establishes the storage foundation that all other storage services build upon.

Lesson 4 • Azure Blob Storage

Manages containers, uploads blobs, and configures lifecycle management policies. Covers the most widely used Azure storage service for unstructured data.

Lesson 1 • Log Analytics and KQL Queries

Creates Log Analytics workspaces and writes KQL queries to extract operational insights. Enables data-driven troubleshooting and compliance reporting.

Lesson 2 • Application Insights

Instruments applications with Application Insights for performance and failure tracking. Extends monitoring beyond infrastructure to application-level telemetry.

Lesson 3 • Azure Dashboards and Workbooks

Builds shared dashboards and Azure Monitor Workbooks for operational visibility. Delivers role-appropriate views of health and performance data to stakeholders.

Lesson 4 • Azure Monitor Architecture

Explains the Azure Monitor data pipeline: metrics, logs, and traces from sources to sinks. Provides the conceptual map for all monitoring tools introduced in this chapter.

Lesson 1 • Security Information and Event Management

Connects Azure resources to Microsoft Sentinel for SIEM and SOAR capabilities. Enables centralized threat detection and automated response at enterprise scale.

Lesson 2 • Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Enables Defender for Cloud, interprets Secure Score, and remediates recommendations. Provides a unified security management plane across subscriptions and workloads.

Lesson 3 • Azure Key Vault

Stores and retrieves secrets, keys, and certificates using Key Vault with access policies. Eliminates hardcoded credentials from applications and infrastructure code.

Lesson 4 • Network Security and DDoS Protection

Configures Azure DDoS Protection plans and reviews network security best practices. Complements identity and policy controls with infrastructure-level threat mitigation.

Lesson 1 • Azure Cost Management and Budgets

Analyzes spending with Cost Analysis, sets budgets, and configures cost alerts. Enables proactive financial governance before bills exceed acceptable thresholds.

Lesson 2 • Azure Automation and Runbooks

Creates PowerShell and Python runbooks in Azure Automation for scheduled operations. Automates repetitive administrative tasks such as patching and resource cleanup.

Lesson 3 • Azure Resource Locks and Change Tracking

Applies read-only and delete locks to critical resources and enables change tracking. Prevents accidental modifications and provides an audit trail for compliance.

Lesson 4 • Resource Organization and Tagging

Designs management group and resource group hierarchies and enforces tagging strategies. Creates the organizational structure that enables cost allocation and policy targeting.