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Azure AZ-900 Architecture and Services Guide

Study Azure AZ-900 Architecture and Services: key concepts, common traps, and exam decision cues.

This is the biggest AZ-900 chapter because Microsoft wants you to recognize the major Azure building blocks and service families. The exam still stays conceptual. It is testing whether you know which layer a service belongs to, what job it is meant to solve, and which terms are hierarchy terms rather than products.

Current weight in the study guide

Microsoft currently weights Azure architecture and services at 35-40% of the exam.

Work this skill area in order

Lesson Focus
2.1 Core Architectural Components Learn Regions, region pairs, sovereign regions, resources, resource groups, subscriptions, and management groups.
2.2 Compute & Networking Services Learn compute options, hosting choices, networking basics, and connectivity paths.
2.3 Storage Services Learn Azure storage types, tiers, redundancy, file movement, and migration basics.
2.4 Identity, Access & Security Learn Microsoft Entra, authentication methods, Conditional Access, RBAC, Zero Trust, and Defender for Cloud.

What strong answers usually do

  • separate architectural hierarchy from service-family choice
  • keep compute, networking, storage, and identity in distinct lanes
  • choose the broader Azure category when the question is still conceptual
  • avoid diving into administrator-level configuration detail too early

The most common confusion pairs in this chapter

If you keep mixing… Reopen first
region, availability zone, and region pair 2.1 Core Architectural Components
VMs, Functions, and App Service 2.2 Compute & Networking Services
Blob Storage, Azure Files, disks, and databases 2.3 Storage Services
Entra ID, Conditional Access, RBAC, and Defender for Cloud 2.4 Identity, Access & Security

In this section

Revised on Sunday, May 10, 2026