Study Guide to become a Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect with AZ-304 certification exam – Part 2

In the previous post, we learned about implementing Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies with the AZ-303 certification exam. Today we are going to learn about the Microsoft Azure Architect Design certification exam, AZ-304.

To become a certified Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert, candidates need to pass two certification exams: AZ-300 and AZ-301. However, both AZ-300 and AZ-301 certifications got replaced with their latest versions AZ-303 and AZ-304, respectively.

1. Introduction:
   

   The Microsoft certified Azure solution architect is a three-star certificate and expert level certification exam. You should have subject matter expertise in designing and implementing solutions, running on Microsoft Azure and aspects like compute, network, storage, and security. Azure Solution Architects use the Azure Portal and as they become more adept, they use the Command Line Interface.

2. What to expect from this article?
   

   Anything and everything you need to know about becoming a certified Microsoft Azure Solutions architect i.e., to take the and AZ-304 Microsoft Azure Architect Design certification exam is made available for you. I will walk you through the topics that are covered, exam patterns, study material, and references to become an Azure expert and support your learning to progress your career to newer heights.

3. Prerequisites:
   

   To become a Microsoft Certified Azure Solution Architect, you need to pass. The first is Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies AZ-303 and the second one is Microsoft Azure Architect Design AZ-304. After completing each exam, you will be awarded respective badges and upon completion of both exams, you will be awarded the Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect certificate. AZ-104 and AZ-204 will be recommended. (click here for respective blog).
   The Microsoft Azure fundamentals certification exam AZ-900 is highly recommended as a prerequisite, but it is not mandatory.

4. Key Benefits:

   • On average, certified professionals earn 15% higher package and are 20% more productive than the rest.
   • Microsoft Azure certified professionals are in high demand for developing cloud applications and managing cloud infrastructure.
   • Solve business problems as an Azure administrator, architect, developer, AI Engineer, DevOps practitioner, or security engineer.
   • Get an edge in the job market as a certified Microsoft Azure Security Associate Engineer with a coveted Microsoft badge.

5. Exam Pattern: 

   
   * Microsoft judges candidates between 100-1000 marks and the popular pattern seen that the passing marks are between 700-750.

6. Percentage of questions for all the modules for AZ-304:

   • Design Monitoring (10-15%)

   From this module, you can expect questions for cost optimization, designing logging and monitoring solutions, integrating monitoring tools including Azure Monitor and Azure Sentinel.

   • Design Identity and Security (25-30%)

   From this module, you can expect questions based on designing authentication solutions, single sign-on solutions, B2B integration solution, access management solution including RBAC policies, access, reviews, role assignments, Privileged Identity Management (PIM), Azure AD Protection, and Just In Time (JIT) access.

   • Design Data Storage (15-20%)

   From this module expect questions on designing solutions for databases, data integration including Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Bricks, Azure Data Lake, Azure Synapse Analytics.

   • Design Business Continuity (10-15%)

   To support businesses in times of disaster, business continuity protocols are used for backup and recovery. Expect scenario-based questions on recovery solution for Azure hybrid and on-premise workloads, Azure site recovery solution, Azure backup management, and design high availability solutions for application and workload redundancy, including compute, database, and storage.

   • Design Infrastructure (25-30%)

   From this module, expect questions mainly on designing compute technologies including virtual machines, App Services, Service Fabric, Azure Functions, Windows Virtual Desktop, Batch, HPC, containers, and solutions for automatic compute management. Network solutions designing include network provisioning, private Link, firewalls, gateways, network segmentation, automatic network management, and load balancing, and traffic routing.

7. Study Material and References:

   There are various ways to prepare for this certification:

   • Microsoft Official Courseware (MOC) is provided by CloudThat upon enrolment for the course.
   • Practice labs provided by CloudThat.
   • Microsoft Learning Path
   • Microsoft Documentation
   • Case studies for understanding customer requirement
   • Instructor lead training is available, which can help you learn the Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies with a structured approach.
   • CloudThat also provides Test Prep for anyone attempting this course where unlimited access is provided to our library for Azure, MCQs, and performance tracker.
   • Enroll in the Microsoft Azure Architect Design AZ-304 exam course

8. Tips and Tricks:

   • Due to the pandemic, the hands-on lab is not there for any of the certification exams for now but Microsoft may reintroduce them in the future. However, the AZ-304 exam may not have any hands-on labs.
   • Go through the implementation of Azure solutions thoroughly and practice more on case studies, scenario-based questions.
   • Do not hesitate to refer to Microsoft Docs whenever in doubt.
   • Make sure you practice thoroughly with the CloudThat Testprep. 

9. Get Certified Now:

   It is always great to get the right source of learning to Move Up. At CloudThat we have a course aimed at preparing participants/candidates for the AZ-304 Microsoft Azure Architect Design certification exam. You can register by visiting the Microsoft website.

   If you have just begun your Microsoft Azure journey related to data in the cloud, then the Study Guide for Microsoft Azure Fundamentals AZ-900 Certification Exam will be a good place to get started.

   Join the Azure revolution along with 100+ fortune 500 companies and CloudThat will be there to support your career growth.

WRITTEN BY Anusha Shanbhag

Anusha Shanbhag is an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Technical Content Writer specializing in technical content strategizing with over 10+ years of professional experience in technical content writing, process documentation, tech blog writing, and end-to-end case studies publishing, catering to consulting and marketing requirements for B2B and B2C audiences. She is a public speaker and ex-president of the corporate Toastmaster club.