Core Azure Services
This domain surveys the main Azure compute, networking, storage, and database services and the global infrastructure that hosts them. Know what each service is for at a high level.
Global infrastructure
Azure runs in regions, each a set of datacenters, grouped into geographies for data residency. Availability Zones are physically separate datacenters within a region that protect against datacenter failure, and region pairs support disaster recovery. Choosing a region affects latency, compliance, and feature availability.
Compute options
Azure Virtual Machines provide IaaS control over the OS. Azure App Service hosts web apps as PaaS. Azure Functions run event-driven serverless code billed per execution. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) orchestrates containers, and Azure Container Instances run single containers quickly.
Networking
An Azure Virtual Network (VNet) isolates and connects resources. Network security groups filter traffic, VPN Gateway and ExpressRoute connect to on-premises networks (ExpressRoute over a private connection), and Azure Load Balancer and Application Gateway distribute traffic. Azure DNS resolves names.
Storage
Azure Storage accounts offer Blob storage for unstructured objects, Files for SMB shares, Queues for messaging, and Tables for NoSQL key-value data. Access tiers (hot, cool, cold, archive) trade retrieval cost against storage cost, and redundancy options like LRS, ZRS, and GRS replicate data locally or across regions.
Databases
Azure SQL Database is a managed relational PaaS database. Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed multi-model NoSQL database with low latency. Managed instances and open-source options such as Azure Database for MySQL and PostgreSQL reduce administration compared with running a database on a VM.