The short version
This is a review sheet, not a course. Use it in the last week to check that the pairs, hierarchies, and decision rules are in your head. It follows the skills measured as of July 20, 2026, and it does not claim to cover everything on the exam. Microsoft’s study guide is the authority.
Exam facts at a glance
| Item | Fact (Microsoft Learn, checked October 22, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Exam | AZ-900, Microsoft Azure Fundamentals |
| Level | Beginner |
| Exam time | 45 minutes |
| Pass mark | 700 on a scale of 1 to 1,000 (scaled, not 70%) |
| Wrong answers | No penalty for guessing |
| Domains | Cloud concepts 25-30%, Azure architecture and services 35-40%, management and governance 30-35% |
| Retake | 24 hours after the first failure, then 14 days, five attempts in 12 months |
| Expiry | Fundamentals certifications do not expire |
Domain 1: Cloud concepts (25-30%)
Key ideas
- Shared responsibility. The provider always owns the physical datacenter. You always own your data and who can access it. The rest moves with the service type.
- Cloud models. Public (provider’s shared infrastructure), private (one organization’s), hybrid (a mix of both).
- Consumption-based model. You pay for what you use instead of buying hardware up front. It turns large one-time costs into usage costs.
- Service types. IaaS gives you virtual machines and networks to manage. PaaS gives you a platform so you manage only apps and data. SaaS is finished software you simply use.
Look-alike pairs
- High availability is about staying up. Scalability is about changing capacity. Reliability is about recovering from failure. Predictability is about knowing performance and cost.
- Serverless means you do not manage the servers, not that none exist.
Decision rules
- If the scenario wants to avoid managing operating systems, think PaaS or SaaS.
- If it wants full control of the operating system, think IaaS.
- If it wants capacity to grow and shrink with demand, think scalability and the consumption model.
Domain 2: Azure architecture and services (35-40%)
The hierarchy. Management groups contain subscriptions. Subscriptions contain resource groups. Resource groups contain resources. Policies and access set higher up flow down.
Geography. A region is a set of datacenters. Availability zones are separate locations within a region. A region pair is two regions in the same geography. Sovereign regions are special regions for compliance needs.
Compute
- Virtual machine: you manage the operating system. Scale sets: a group of identical, scalable VMs. Availability sets: spread VMs across failure groups in a datacenter.
- Containers package an app with its dependencies. Functions run small pieces of code on events, with no servers to manage.
Networking pairs
| Term | Think of it as |
|---|---|
| VPN Gateway | Encrypted traffic over the public internet |
| ExpressRoute | A private connection that does not use the public internet |
| Virtual network peering | Connecting two virtual networks |
| Public endpoint | Reachable from the internet |
| Private endpoint | A private address in your network for a service |
Storage redundancy ladder (lowest to highest protection)
- LRS: copies within one datacenter.
- ZRS: copies across availability zones in one region.
- GRS: LRS in the primary region plus a copy in a paired region.
- GZRS: zone-redundant in the primary region plus a copy in a paired region.
Storage tiers. Hot is for frequent access, cool and cold are for infrequent access, and archive is the cheapest to store but slow to read. The cooler the tier, the lower the storage cost and the higher the cost and delay to read.
Identity pairs
- Authentication proves who you are. Authorization decides what you can do.
- Microsoft Entra ID is the cloud directory. Azure RBAC grants permissions to Azure resources.
- Conditional Access applies rules about when and how users sign in.
- Zero Trust: never trust, always verify. Defense in depth: several layers of protection.
Decision rules
- Needs to survive a datacenter failure but stay in one region: ZRS.
- Needs to survive a regional disaster: GRS or GZRS.
- Needs a dedicated, private line to Azure: ExpressRoute.
- Needs to move files to Azure with a command line tool: AzCopy. With a graphical tool: Storage Explorer.
Domain 3: Management and governance (30-35%)
Cost
- The pricing calculator estimates costs before you deploy.
- Cost Management shows and analyzes what you spend.
- Tags are labels for grouping and reporting. They enforce nothing by themselves.
Governance pairs
| Term | Use it to |
|---|---|
| Azure Policy | Check that resources follow your rules, and flag or deny those that do not |
| Resource lock | Stop accidental deletion or change |
| Microsoft Purview | Govern and protect data across your estate |
Tools
- Azure portal: browser interface. Cloud Shell: a browser-based command line. CLI and PowerShell: scripts and commands.
- Azure Arc: extends Azure management to resources outside Azure.
- Infrastructure as code describes resources in files. ARM templates are Azure’s JSON-based version, and Azure Resource Manager is the layer all deployment methods go through.
Monitoring pairs
- Advisor gives recommendations.
- Service Health tells you about Azure problems that affect your services.
- Monitor collects data and alerts from your own resources, with Log Analytics for queries and Application Insights for applications.
Common traps
- Choosing the plausible answer instead of the one that matches the one deciding phrase, such as “must stay in the region”.
- Mixing up policy (rules for resources) with RBAC (rules for people).
- Treating tags as enforcement.
- Remembering a service by an old name. Check the current study guide.
- Spending too long on one hard item. Mark it, move on, and answer everything: there is no penalty for wrong answers.
Last-day checklist
- Recite the hierarchy from management group down to resource.
- Say the redundancy ladder and the tier order out loud.
- Write one “use this when…” line for each tool in the monitoring and governance lists.
- Check your booking, ID, and technical setup. Our exam day guide has the list.
- Do one short timed set, not a marathon.
More guides for AZ-900
- AZ-900 Exam Format, Scoring and Retakes
- AZ-900 Study Plan: 4-Week and 8-Week
- Is AZ-900 Hard? An Honest Look
- AZ-900 Prerequisites: What to Know First
- AZ-900 Renewal and Retakes Explained
- Is AZ-900 Worth It? An Honest Look
- AZ-900 vs AI-901: Which First?
- AZ-900 vs SC-900: Which Exam First?
Next step
Use this sheet with the domains explained page and the sample questions, then test yourself with our AZ-900 practice tests. Back to the AZ-900 overview.