INTRODUCTION – Introduction to Azure Fundamentals skills
This module will introduce you to the principles of cloud computing and the Microsoft Azure platform in-depth. The key terms present in this module will take you into the heart of cloud computing’s principles and benefits.
Furthermore, this module discusses the steps to be followed for starting up on Azure, such as the creation and management of Azure subscriptions and accounts. By this, at the conclusion of this module, you will have built a sound an understanding of cloud computing, and you’ll be equipped to use some diversified services and features offered by the Azure platform.
Learning Outcomes:
- State the basic concepts of cloud computing.
- Differentiate between various methods of creating an Azure subscription.
- Assess if Azure matches your business needs.
KNOWLEDGE CHECK
1. Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services using a pay-as-you-go pricing model.
Which of the following statements are true of the pay-as-you-go pricing model? Select all options that apply.
- You must pay a fixed fee in advance for all Cloud services.
- You rent compute power and storage from someone else’s datacenter. (CORRECT)
- You can immediately stop paying for resources that are no longer needed. (CORRECT)
- You rent physical hardware such as compute power and storage and maintain them within your own datacenter.
Correct: Cloud computing lets you rent CPU and storage resources as you need rather than owning and maintaining them in your datacenter. The cloud provider handles the maintenance and management of the underlying infrastructure.
Correct: Resources in the cloud can be used by an organization such as the organization is using its own resources located in its own data center. It releases its resources as soon as they are consumed. It charges for resources used.
2. Cloud Computing provides several benefits over a physical environment. Which of the following are benefits of cloud computing?
Select all options that apply.
- High availability (CORRECT)
- Agility (CORRECT)
- Elasticity (CORRECT)
- Full control
Correct: In accordance with the service-level agreement selected, not only can your cloud applications thus ensure an undisturbed user experience without announcing failure or error so immediately, but they can also quite seamlessly carry on under such circumstances.
Correct: At this time, cloud-based resources can be deployed and configured on-the-fly according to the changing application requirements.
Correct: Setup in a cloud-based application can be defined by an autoscaling feature, making it possible to ensure that at all times, your applications will have just enough resources to tackle variable workloads.
3. Which of the following options is not defined as a type of cloud deployment model?
- Public cloud
- Private cloud
- Distributed cloud (CORRECT)
- Hybrid cloud
Correct: Distributed cloud is not a type of cloud computing but distributed computing means breaking a single task into multiple parts and giving the task to several connected computers to be done more quickly and efficiently.
4. True or False?
The Azure Portal updates continuously and requires no downtime for maintenance activities.
- True (CORRECT)
- False
Correct: Since there is no maintenance downtime, it is always kept in an up-to-date version for changes. The effect of that design makes the portal survive failures of an individual datacenter. The possible slowdowns in networks also reduce due to geographic proximity to users.
5. True or False? Serverless computing enables developers to build applications faster by eliminating the need for them to manage infrastructure.
- True (CORRECT)
- False
Correct: Serverless computing eliminates the need for infrastructures, allowing developers to work faster for application building.
In serverless applications, all the provisioning, scaling, and infrastructure management required for the execution of code is taken care of by the cloud service provider, thus allowing developers to concentrate solely on writing application logic.
6. True or False?
The Azure Marketplace is a service on Azure specific to Microsoft Products.
- True
- False (CORRECT)
Correct: This service provides an interface between an end user and offerings from Microsoft partners, ISVs, and startups, which provide solutions and services tailored to Azure, through Azure Marketplace.
With Azure Marketplace, customers can find, try, buy, and provision applications and services across hundreds of certified service providers aligned to run seamlessly on Azure.
7. Azure provides four main types of storage services. One of these services Azure Blob storage provides for which of the following.
- Storage service for very large objects such as video files or bitmaps. (CORRECT)
- A data store for queuing and reliably delivering messages between applications.
- File shares that you can access and manage like a file server.
- A NoSQL store that hosts unstructured data independent of any schema
Correct: Azure Blob Storage is a service that connects great storage soft objects, like having video files or images, and it can store any kind of unstructured data. The storage service can accommodate large-size objects as it suits very well circular applications like that of media storage, backup storage, and data archives.
8. Which tool can you use to assist in creating custom Dashboards that will help in graphically organizing your resources in Azure?
- Azure Portal (CORRECT)
- Azure Marketplace
Correct: Azure Portal is where you would do all of the organizing, managing, and monitoring between basic web apps and very elaborate implementations of cloud resources. You could even want to build custom dashboards so that you could see your resources in a more organized way or set up other accessibility options.
9. True or False?
To create and use Azure services, you need an Azure subscription.
- True (CORRECT)
- False
Correct: To create and use Azure services, you must have an Azure subscription to use the resources and services available within the Azure cloud platform.
10. Cloud computing provides computing services over the internet using a pay-as-you-go pricing model. With this model you typically only pay for the cloud services you use. Which of the following are benefits of the pay-as-you-go pricing model?
Select all that apply.
- Lower operating costs. (CORRECT)
- You can run your infrastructure more efficiently. (CORRECT)
- You can scale as your business needs to change. (CORRECT)
Correct: However, that is partially true. A major characteristic of cloud services is that you generally pay as you go, which makes it possible to scale up or down on operating costs, based on demand.
Correct: It is somewhat correct. Efficiency and dynamic scaling of the resources based on changing business needs without compromise on the cost are another of the key features of cloud services.
Correct: That’s only partially correct. A significant aspect of cloud services is adapting resources to the upswing or downturn in business requirements so flexibility and efficiency are maintained in resource management.
11. You have been given the task to determine what solutions or services best suit your business needs. You need to provision end-to-end solutions quickly and reliably, hosted in your own Azure environment.
Which Azure solution would best suit your business goal?
- Azure Portal
- Azure Marketplace (CORRECT)
- Azure Virtual Machines
Correct: You can discover, try, buy, and deploy software and services for creating new solutions and managing your cloud infrastructure in the Azure Marketplace. You can provision whole solutions quickly and reliably from within your own Azure environment.
TEST PREP
1. In your opinion which of the following statements is true?
- You need to create an Azure subscription and an account will be created for you. Once you’ve created an Azure subscription you are free to create additional Accounts.
- You need to create an Azure account, and a subscription will be created for you. Once you’ve created an Azure account, you are free to create additional subscriptions. (CORRECT)
Correct: Once you have created an Azure account, an immediately autogenerated subscription is created for you. You can then create subsequent subscriptions according to your needs to manage resources, billing, and access control in your Azure environment.
2. Microsoft offers an Azure Free Account to allow customers to test out various features of their cloud services. To sign up for a free account you are required to provide which of the following?
Select all options that apply.
- Phone number (CORRECT)
- GitHub or Microsoft account username (CORRECT)
- A valid credit card (CORRECT)
- A non-refundable deposit
Correct: This is because a telephone number has been a requirement to sign up for a free Azure account and is part of identity verification and fraud prevention during the account set-up process.
Correct: To register for a free Azure account, you need either your GitHub or Microsoft account username. With this information, you’ll manage your Azure account and gain access to Azure services.
Correct: To sign up for a free Azure account, you need to present a valid credit card. This is used for verification and to charge if you exceed the limits of a free account, which will not be charged until you upgrade or exceed your free usage.
3. Cloud computing provides computing services over the internet using a pay-as-you-go pricing model. Typically, you only pay for the cloud services you use. This pricing model can benefit a company in which of the following ways?
Select all the options that apply.
- Provides a guaranteed annual fixed cost
- Dynamically scale as your business requirement change (CORRECT)
- Lower their operating costs (CORRECT)
- Operate a more efficient infrastructure (CORRECT)
Correct: This means that you can hire a cloud computing service at very affordable rates. Pay as you go! It means that you have access to these resources based on your requirements. And you can easily increase or decrease the amount based on business. This is such a wonderful facility in these pay-as-you-go models that not only manage cost optimally but also make processes extremely flexible.
Correct: In cloud computing, you typically pay only for the services that you actually use, which obviously reduces your holdings expenses.”
Correct: Pay as you go for the services that you use in cloud computing; it helps in improving the effectiveness of your infrastructure.
CONCLUSION – Introduction to Azure Fundamentals
It broadly equips you about the understanding of integration with fundamentals regarding cloud computing as well as with Azure Platform. It provides insights about the core principles in providing the explicit steps of setting up Azure account and subscriptions, which would allow you to realize the full potential of Azure services. As it is designed to be a stepping stone that would allow you to delve deeper into obtaining advanced knowledge of cloud computing, it is aimed at allowing you to use Azure efficiently and confidently for your project and organization needs.