Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure AZ-204 Exam Guide

Build a thorough understanding of the technology, concepts, and development patterns used in building applications in Azure, through detailed explanations, hands-on exercises, and downloadable code samples

Key Features

• Written by two Microsoft technical trainers to help you explore the exam topics in a structured way
• Understand the “why”, and not just “how” behind design and solution decisions
• Follow along examples with downloadable code samples to help cement each topic’s learning objective

Book Description

With the prevalence of cloud technologies and DevOps ways of working, the industry demands developers who can build cloud solutions and monitor them throughout their life cycle. Becoming a Microsoft-certified Azure developer can differentiate developers from the competition, but with such a plethora of information available, it can be difficult to structure learning in an effective way to obtain certification.

Through easy-to-understand explanations and exercises, this book will provide a more palatable learning experience than what you may expect from an exam preparation book. You’ll start off with a recap of some important cloud concepts, such as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. From there, you’ll learn about each relevant solution area, with use cases. The chapters also cover different implementation methodologies, both manual and programmatic – ranging from compute resources such as App Service and serverless applications to storage, database, security, monitoring solutions, and connecting to third-party services.

By the end of this book, you’ll have learned everything you need to pass the AZ-204 certification exam and have a handy, on-the-job reference guide.

What you will learn

• Develop Azure compute solutions
• Discover tips and tricks from Azure experts for interactive learning
• Use Cosmos DB storage and blob storage for developing solutions
• Develop secure cloud solutions for Azure
• Use optimization, monitoring, and troubleshooting for Azure solutions
• Develop Azure solutions connected to third-party services

Who this book is for

This book is for Azure developers looking to improve their Azure development knowledge to pass the AZ-204 exam. This book assumes at least one year of professional development experience with Azure, with the ability to program in at least one language supported by Azure. Existing Azure CLI and PowerShell skills will also be useful.

Table of Contents

1. Azure and Cloud Fundamentals
2. Implementing IaaS Solutions
3. Creating Azure App Service Web Apps
4. Implementing Azure Functions
5. Developing Solutions That Use Cosmos DB Storage
6. Developing Solutions That Use Azure Blob Storage
7. Implementing User Authentication and Authorization
8. Implementing Secure Cloud Solutions
9. Integrating Caching and Content Delivery within Solutions
10. Troubleshooting Solutions by Using Metrics and Log Data
11. Implementing API Management
12. Developing Event-Based Solutions
13. Developing Message-Based Solutions
14. Mock Exam Questions

Review

“One of my duties as a sales engineer is to know how different public clouds work and how to leverage their internal features. The growth in Azure in the last few years has been impressive. So, it’s the right moment to start exploring, architecting, leveraging, and being certified on Azure, and this book is the right companion for this path! It is concise, practical, and full of examples and exercises!”

Christian Ferranti, Technical Sales Engineer, GlobalDots

“Exam AZ-204 tests a wide range of topics and is the most challenging exam in the entire Azure portfolio.

To pass this exam, not only do you need to have a basic understanding of how to create and manage resources in Azure, but you also need to understand how to develop applications that use those resources.

This book can help you prepare for the exam because it covers both the theoretical and practical aspects of the exam.

The book’s chapters cover all the modules of the certification, and in every chapter, you can find a theoretical part, code examples, and questions.

The book is easy to read and has many ideas to study the subject further and even use in your daily work. Generally, books become obsolete in a short time, but I think this one can be used even after you’ve taken the exam.”

Massimo Bonanni, Technical Speaker, Microsoft

Key Features

1. Written by Microsoft technical trainers, to help you explore exam topics in a structured way
2. Understand the “why”, and not just “how” behind design and solution decisions
3. Learn Azure development principles with online exam preparation materials

Book Description

Get ready to delve into Microsoft Azure and build efficient cloud-based solutions with this updated second edition. Authored by seasoned Microsoft trainers, Paul Ivey and Alex Ivanov, this book offers a structured approach to mastering the AZ-204 exam topics while focusing on the intricacies of Azure development.

You’ll familiarize yourself with cloud fundamentals, understanding the core concepts of Azure and various cloud models. Next, you’ll gain insights into Azure App Service web apps, containers and container-related services in Azure, Azure Functions, and solutions using Cosmos DB and Azure Blob Storage. Later, you’ll learn how to secure your cloud solutions effectively as well as how to implement message- and event-based solutions and caching. You’ll also explore how to monitor and troubleshoot your solutions effectively. To build on your skills, you’ll get hands-on with monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimizing Azure applications, ensuring peak performance and reliability. Moving ahead, you’ll be able to connect seamlessly to third-party services, harnessing the power of API management, event-based solutions, and message-based solutions.

By the end of this MS Azure book, you’ll not only be well-prepared to pass the AZ-204 exam but also be equipped with practical skills to excel in Azure development projects.

What you will learn

1. Identify cloud models and services in Azure
2. Develop secure Azure web apps and host containerized solutions in Azure
3. Implement serverless solutions with Azure Functions
4. Utilize Cosmos DB for scalable data storage
5. Optimize Azure Blob storage for efficiency
6. Securely store secrets and configuration settings centrally
7. Ensure web application security with Microsoft Entra ID authentication
8. Monitor and troubleshoot Azure solutions

Who this book is for

Whether you’re looking to validate your existing skills or enhance your Azure knowledge, this comprehensive guide offers a structured approach to mastering key concepts and passing the AZ-204 certification exam. It will be beneficial to have at least one year of Azure development experience and proficiency in at least one Azure-supported programming language to get the most out of this book. Additionally, familiarity with Azure CLI and PowerShell will also be helpful.

About the Authors

Paul Ivey is a Microsoft Technical Trainer delivering Microsoft exam preparation courses on a regular basis. Prior to that, he became an expert in on-premises Microsoft infrastructure and Windows technologies before changing focus to cloud technologies and application development, where he was an App Innovation Customer Engineer. As an App Innovation Customer Engineer at Microsoft, Paul worked with many enterprises to help them modernize their development practices and help them on their digital transformation journey into the cloud. Paul has also coached many of Microsoft’s DevOps OpenHack events over the years. Originally from Sidmouth, Devon, Paul currently lives in Cheltenham within the beautiful Cotswolds area of the UK.

Alex Ivanov is an experienced cloud engineer with a primary focus of supporting companies in their journey to adopt Azure services. He has been working for Microsoft for 8 years as a Cloud Support Engineer and 4 years as an Azure Technical Trainer. He became an expert in software engineering and digital transformation that helped customers to migrate their solutions to Azure. His experience helped him achieve multiple certifications in Software Development, AI, and Data platforms. As a professional trainer, Alex has already educated thousands of clients and helped them to prepare and pass the Azure certification exams. In his free time while not being jumped on by his 3 kids, he enjoys camping, boating, running, and building yachts models.