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The AZ-305 Exam

The Test

  • Exam code: AZ-305
  • Exam name: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
  • Duration: 150 minutes
  • Number of questions: 40-60
  • Passing score: 700/1000

Question types

Includes a case study with 4-5 questions.

  • Multiple choice
  • multiple response
  • problem statement (would this meet the requirement or not?) - cannot go back on these
  • drag and drop,
  • build list

Note: No trick questions, not going to hide things in the answers. Try to eliminate obviously wrong answers. Then, narrow it down to how you would architect it.

Services Covered​

Compute​

  • Azure Virtual Machines (VM)
  • Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS)
  • Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
  • Azure Container Instances (ACI)
  • Azure App Service
  • Azure Functions
  • Azure Batch

Storage​

  • Azure Storage Accounts (Blob, Queue, Table)
  • Azure Blob Storage
  • Azure Files / Azure File Sync
  • Azure Managed Disks
  • Azure NetApp Files
  • Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

Databases & Analytics​

  • Azure SQL Database
  • Azure SQL Managed Instance
  • Azure Synapse Analytics
  • Azure Synapse Link
  • Azure Cosmos DB
  • Azure Database for MySQL
  • Azure Database for PostgreSQL
  • Azure Database for MariaDB
  • Azure Cache for Redis

Integration & Messaging​

  • Azure Service Bus
  • Azure Event Grid
  • Azure Event Hubs
  • Azure Logic Apps
  • Azure API Management
  • Azure Data Factory

Networking & Delivery​

  • Azure Virtual Network (VNet)
  • Network Security Groups (NSG)
  • Azure Load Balancer
  • Azure Application Gateway (incl. WAF)
  • Azure Front Door
  • Azure Traffic Manager
  • Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN)
  • Azure VPN Gateway
  • Azure ExpressRoute
  • Azure Virtual WAN
  • Azure Route Server
  • Azure Bastion
  • Azure DDoS Protection
  • Azure Firewall
  • Azure Private Link / Service Endpoints

Identity, Access & Security​

  • Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
  • Azure AD Domain Services (AAD DS)
  • Conditional Access / PIM
  • Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
  • Azure Key Vault
  • Microsoft Defender for Cloud (Security Center)
  • Microsoft Sentinel
  • Azure Policy / Blueprints

Observability & Monitoring​

  • Azure Monitor
  • Log Analytics
  • Application Insights
  • Network Watcher

Backup, Recovery & Resilience​

  • Azure Backup
  • Azure Site Recovery

Management, Governance & DevOps​

  • Azure Resource Manager (ARM)
  • Azure Automation
  • Azure Advisor
  • Azure Cost Management
  • Azure DevOps / GitHub (CI/CD)
  • Azure Blueprints
  • Azure Lighthouse

Containers & Registry​

  • Azure Container Registry (ACR)

Other platform services​

  • Azure App Configuration
  • Azure SignalR Service
  • Azure Managed Identities
  • Azure Policy Insights

Skill Breakdown

  • Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions (25–30%)
  • Design data storage solutions (20–25%)
  • Design business continuity solutions (15–20%)
  • Design infrastructure solutions (30–35%)

Design Areas

Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions (25–30%)​

  • Design solutions for logging and monitoring
  • Recommend a logging solution
  • Recommend a solution for routing logs
  • Recommend a monitoring solution

Design authentication and authorization solutions​

  • Recommend an authentication solution
  • Recommend an identity management solution
  • Recommend a solution for authorizing access to Azure resources
  • Recommend a solution for authorizing access to on-premises resources
  • Recommend a solution to manage secrets, certificates, and keys

Design governance​

  • Recommend a structure for management groups, subscriptions, and resource groups, and a strategy for resource tagging
  • Recommend a solution for managing compliance
  • Recommend a solution for identity governance

Design data storage solutions (20–25%)​

Design data storage solutions for relational data​

  • Recommend a solution for storing relational data
  • Recommend a database service tier and compute tier
  • Recommend a solution for database scalability
  • Recommend a solution for data protection

Design data storage solutions for semi-structured and unstructured data​

  • Recommend a solution for storing semi-structured data
  • Recommend a solution for storing unstructured data
  • Recommend a data storage solution to balance features, performance, and costs
  • Recommend a data solution for protection and durability

Design data integration​

  • Recommend a solution for data integration
  • Recommend a solution for data analysis

Design business continuity solutions (15–20%)​

Design solutions for backup and disaster recovery​

  • Recommend a recovery solution for Azure and hybrid workloads that meets recovery objectives
  • Recommend a backup and recovery solution for compute
  • Recommend a backup and recovery solution for databases
  • Recommend a backup and recovery solution for unstructured data

Design for high availability​

  • Recommend a high availability solution for compute
  • Recommend a high availability solution for relational data
  • Recommend a high availability solution for semi-structured and unstructured data

Design infrastructure solutions (30–35%)​

Design compute solutions​

  • Specify components of a compute solution based on workload requirements
  • Recommend a virtual machine-based solution
  • Recommend a container-based solution
  • Recommend a serverless-based solution
  • Recommend a compute solution for batch processing

Design an application architecture​

  • Recommend a messaging architecture
  • Recommend an event-driven architecture
  • Recommend a solution for API integration
  • Recommend a caching solution for applications
  • Recommend an application configuration management solution
  • Recommend an automated deployment solution for applications

Design migrations​

  • Evaluate a migration solution that leverages the Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure
  • Evaluate on-premises servers, data, and applications for migration
  • Recommend a solution for migrating workloads to IaaS and PaaS
  • Recommend a solution for migrating databases
  • Recommend a solution for migrating unstructured data

Design network solutions​

  • Recommend a connectivity solution that connects Azure resources to the internet
  • Recommend a connectivity solution that connects Azure resources to on-premises networks
  • Recommend a solution to optimize network performance
  • Recommend a solution to optimize network security
  • Recommend a load-balancing and routing solution

Documentation

Azure SQL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/?view=azuresql

Services

Compute​

  • Azure Virtual Machines (VM)
  • Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS)
  • Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
  • Azure Container Instances (ACI)
  • Azure App Service
  • Azure Functions
  • Azure Batch

Storage​

  • Azure Storage Accounts (Blob, Queue, Table)
  • Azure Blob Storage
  • Azure Files / Azure File Sync
  • Azure Managed Disks
  • Azure NetApp Files
  • Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

Databases & Analytics​

Azure SQL Database​

Azure SQL Managed Instance​

Azure Synapse Analytics​

Azure Cosmos DB​

Azure Database for MySQL​

Azure Database for PostgreSQL​

Azure Database for MariaDB​

Azure Cache for Redis​

Azure Databricks​

Azure Data Factory​

Used for integrating data from one place to another.

  • Collect/Ingest data from various sources
  • Store
  • Transform
  • Publish
  • Monitor data pipelines and data flows

ETL - Extract, Transform, Load

Integration & Messaging​

  • Azure Service Bus
  • Azure Event Grid
  • Azure Event Hubs
  • Azure Logic Apps
  • Azure API Management
  • Azure Data Factory

Networking & Delivery​

  • Azure Virtual Network (VNet)
  • Network Security Groups (NSG)
  • Azure Load Balancer
  • Azure Application Gateway (incl. WAF)
  • Azure Front Door
  • Azure Traffic Manager
  • Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN)
  • Azure VPN Gateway
  • Azure ExpressRoute
  • Azure Virtual WAN
  • Azure Route Server
  • Azure Bastion
  • Azure DDoS Protection
  • Azure Firewall
  • Azure Private Link / Service Endpoints

Identity, Access & Security​

  • Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
  • Azure AD Domain Services (AAD DS)
  • Conditional Access / PIM
  • Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
  • Azure Key Vault
  • Microsoft Defender for Cloud (Security Center)
  • Microsoft Sentinel
  • Azure Policy / Blueprints

Observability & Monitoring​

  • Azure Monitor
  • Log Analytics
  • Application Insights
  • Network Watcher

Backup, Recovery & Resilience​

  • Azure Backup
  • Azure Site Recovery

Management, Governance & DevOps​

  • Azure Resource Manager (ARM)
  • Azure Automation
  • Azure Advisor
  • Azure Cost Management
  • Azure DevOps / GitHub (CI/CD)
  • Azure Blueprints
  • Azure Lighthouse

Containers & Registry​

  • Azure Container Registry (ACR)

Other platform services​

  • Azure App Configuration
  • Azure SignalR Service
  • Azure Managed Identities
  • Azure Policy Insights