Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources Syllabus

From where can the Custom Script Extension retrieve its scripts?

From Azure Storage (blob), GitHub, or any public/accessible location via URL; the script and arguments can also be provided inline.

Name three common Azure VM extensions besides Custom Script Extension.

Desired State Configuration (DSC) extension, Azure Diagnostics/Monitor agent (Log Analytics agent), and anti-malware/security extensions (e.g., Microsoft Antimalware). (Also network watcher, dependency agent.)

What default ports do RDP and SSH use to connect to Azure VMs?

RDP uses TCP port 3389; SSH uses TCP port 22.

Which connection method (RDP vs SSH) is typically used for Windows versus Linux VMs?

RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) for Windows VMs; SSH (Secure Shell) for Linux VMs.

What is Azure Bastion and what problem does it solve?

A fully managed PaaS service that provides secure RDP/SSH connectivity to VMs directly through the Azure portal over TLS, without exposing the VMs to public IP addresses or opening RDP/SSH ports to the internet.

Through which port and protocol does a user reach a VM when using Azure Bastion?

The user connects over HTTPS (TCP 443) through the browser/portal; Bastion then reaches the VM over its private IP using RDP (3389) or SSH (22) internally.

What is required in a virtual network to deploy Azure Bastion?

A dedicated subnet named AzureBastionSubnet with a minimum size of /27 (or larger), within the same VNet as the target VMs (or a peered VNet).

What authentication method is more secure than passwords for SSH access to Linux VMs?

SSH public/private key pairs (key-based authentication); the public key is stored on the VM and the private key stays with the user.

What is a Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS)?

An Azure service that lets you create and manage a group of identical, load-balanced VMs that can automatically scale the number of instances up or down based on demand or a schedule.

What are the two orchestration modes of a VM Scale Set?

Uniform orchestration (identical VM instances managed via a scale set model, optimized for large-scale stateless workloads) and Flexible orchestration (manages heterogeneous VMs, gives fault-domain control and more individual VM management).

What is autoscaling in a VM Scale Set?

Automatically increasing (scale out) or decreasing (scale in) the number of VM instances based on metrics (like CPU usage) or a schedule, to match load while controlling cost.

What is the difference between scaling out and scaling up?

Scaling out (horizontal) adds more instances/VMs; scaling up (vertical) increases the size/resources of an existing instance. VM Scale Sets primarily scale out/in.

What is an ARM template?

A JSON file that declaratively defines the infrastructure and configuration for an Azure deployment, enabling repeatable, idempotent infrastructure-as-code deployments.

What does 'declarative' and 'idempotent' mean in the context of ARM templates?

Declarative means you describe the desired end state (what to deploy) rather than the steps; idempotent means deploying the same template repeatedly produces the same result without creating duplicates.

What is Bicep and how does it relate to ARM templates?

Bicep is a domain-specific language (DSL) that provides a cleaner, more concise syntax for authoring infrastructure-as-code. Bicep code transpiles (compiles) down to ARM JSON templates, which Azure ultimately deploys.

Name two advantages of Bicep over raw ARM JSON templates.

Simpler, more readable syntax (less verbose, no complex JSON); modularity and reusability; automatic dependency management; type safety and better tooling/IntelliSense; no state file to manage.

What are the main sections of an ARM template?

$schema, contentVersion, parameters, variables, functions, resources, and outputs.

What command-line tools deploy ARM/Bicep templates to Azure?

Azure CLI (az deployment group create) and Azure PowerShell (New-AzResourceGroupDeployment).

Why use a VM Scale Set or multiple zones/availability sets for availability planning at scale?

To eliminate single points of failure, provide redundancy across hardware and datacenters, enable automatic scaling under load, and meet higher uptime SLAs while distributing traffic via a load balancer.

What is Azure Container Instances (ACI)?

A serverless service that runs containers on-demand in Azure without managing any underlying VMs or orchestrators—the fastest, simplest way to run a single container or container group.

What is a 'container group' in Azure Container Instances?

A collection of containers scheduled on the same host machine that share a lifecycle, resources, local network, and storage volumes (similar to a Kubernetes pod).

For what type of workloads is Azure Container Instances best suited?

Short-lived, simple, burst, or task-based workloads—batch jobs, build agents, simple apps—where you don't need full orchestration, auto-scaling, or complex networking.

What is Azure Container Apps and what does it abstract away?

A serverless container platform for running microservices and containerized apps; it is built on Kubernetes/KEDA/Dapr/Envoy but abstracts away the cluster management, giving auto-scaling (including scale-to-zero) without you managing infrastructure.

What scaling capability distinguishes Azure Container Apps, including a cost-saving feature?

Event-driven autoscaling via KEDA, including scale-to-zero (no instances and no charge when there is no traffic), scaling out based on HTTP traffic, CPU/memory, or event sources.

Compare Azure Container Instances and Azure Container Apps.

ACI runs individual containers/groups with no built-in orchestration or autoscaling (simple, single tasks). Container Apps is a managed, serverless microservices platform with autoscaling (incl. scale-to-zero), traffic splitting, revisions, and Dapr—better for production microservices.

What is an Azure App Service plan?

A definition of the compute resources (region, VM size/SKU, instance count, and pricing tier) that host one or more App Service web apps; apps in the same plan share its resources and cost.

List the main Azure App Service plan pricing tiers/categories.

Free and Shared (F1/D1, dev/test, shared compute), Basic (B), Standard (S), Premium (P/Pv2/Pv3), and Isolated (I/Iv2, dedicated environment/ASE).

Which App Service plan tiers support autoscaling and custom domains with SSL, and which do not?

Standard, Premium, and Isolated tiers support autoscale, staging slots, and custom domains/SSL. Free and Shared tiers run on shared compute and do not support autoscale, custom SSL, or always-on; Basic supports manual scale and custom SSL but not autoscale.

In App Service web app configuration, what are deployment slots used for?

Live app environments (e.g., staging) where you can deploy and validate a new version, then swap it into production with no downtime—and swap back (roll back) if needed. Available in Standard tier and above.

What are App Settings (application settings) in an App Service web app and how are they treated?

Key-value pairs injected as environment variables into the running app at startup; they override settings in config files and (for slots) can be marked as deployment slot settings that stay with the slot during a swap.