MSDEVBUILD / azure

What is Microsoft Azure?

Compute Storage AI LaptopPhoneShopSchool
Azure is Microsoft’s cloud: hundreds of services, ready whenever you need them.

😟 THE PROBLEM

A small team wants to launch an app but has no servers or datacenter.

😊 THE SOLUTION

Use Azure: hundreds of ready-made services in regions all over the world.

  • Building a datacenter is impossible for a start-up✓ Use Microsoft’s datacenters instead
  • You need web hosting, a database and storage✓ Azure has a ready service for each
  • Customers are in different countries✓ Deploy to an Azure region near them
🛠️ Solved with: Microsoft Azure
Try it yourself in the Azure simulator No Azure account needed. Your first resource group 📦 Try it ❯
Module 1: Cloud Concepts ⏱ 8 min read Updated 11 Nov 2026

Quick answer

Microsoft Azure is Microsoft's public cloud platform: a constantly growing set of more than 200 cloud services, including virtual machines, databases, storage, networking, AI and developer tools. Microsoft runs them from datacenters in regions around the world, and you use them on demand and pay for what you consume.

Exam objective: 1.1.1 Define cloud computing. (Skills measured as of July 20, 2026)

Start with a question

If you wanted to open a pizza shop, would you build your own power station, water plant and road first?

Of course not. You rent a shop, plug into the city’s electricity, connect to the water supply, and spend your energy on making great pizza.

For a long time, companies that wanted to run software had to do the equivalent of building their own power station. They bought servers, rented a server room, ran cables and hired people to keep it alive. Microsoft Azure is the “city utilities” option for software: the infrastructure is already built, and you plug into it.

Explain it like I’m 10

The technical explanation

Microsoft Azure is Microsoft’s public cloud computing platform. Microsoft first announced it in 2008 as “Windows Azure”, made it commercially available in 2010, and renamed it Microsoft Azure in 2014 to reflect that it runs far more than Windows.

Today Azure offers more than 200 services. You do not need to know them all for AZ-900. You need to recognise the main families:

FamilyExample servicesWhat they do
ComputeVirtual Machines, App Service, Azure Functions, AKSRun your code and applications
StorageBlob Storage, Azure Files, Managed DisksKeep files, images, backups and disks
NetworkingVirtual Network, VPN Gateway, ExpressRoute, Azure DNSConnect resources securely to each other and to you
DatabasesAzure SQL Database, Azure Cosmos DBManaged relational and NoSQL databases
Identity and securityMicrosoft Entra ID, Microsoft Defender for CloudSign-in, access control, threat protection
Management and governanceAzure Policy, Azure Monitor, Cost ManagementControl, monitor and pay for what you run
AI and analyticsAzure AI services, Azure Machine Learning, Microsoft FabricAdd intelligence and analyse data

Where Azure runs

Azure’s infrastructure is spread across regions: geographic areas such as “UK South” or “Southeast Asia” that contain one or more datacenters. Many regions are split into availability zones, separate datacenter groups with independent power, cooling and networking. You will meet these properly in Module 2. For now, remember that you choose where your resources run.

How you work with Azure

  1. 1 You use a tool

    Azure portal, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, an SDK, or a Bicep/Terraform file.

  2. 2 Azure Resource Manager

    Authenticates you, checks permissions and policies, and routes the request.

  3. 3 Resource provider

    The service (for example Microsoft.Compute) builds the resource.

  4. 4 Resource is ready

    Your VM, database or web app runs in the region you picked.

Every Azure request goes through Azure Resource Manager, whichever tool you use
Architect level Control plane vs data plane: a distinction that pays off in production

Every Azure service has two planes:

  • Control plane: management operations such as create a storage account, resize a VM or assign a role. These all go through Azure Resource Manager at management.azure.com, and RBAC and Azure Policy are enforced here.
  • Data plane: using the resource, such as reading a blob, querying a database or calling your web app. Requests go straight to the service endpoint.

Why it matters: an RBAC role like Contributor lets you manage a storage account but does not, by itself, let you read blob data with Entra ID auth (you need a data role such as Storage Blob Data Reader). Outages can also affect one plane and not the other. Knowing which plane a failure is in is a strong signal of seniority in an interview.

Real-world business scenario

Food delivery

A regional food delivery app

The problem
Orders spike at lunch and dinner. The team of six developers was spending weekends patching their own servers and could not expand to a new country quickly.
What they used
Azure App Service for the API, Azure SQL Database for orders, Blob Storage for menu photos, Microsoft Entra External ID for customer sign-in, and autoscale rules for meal times.
Why that choice
Managed services removed server patching, autoscale handled meal-time peaks, and a second Azure region close to the new country gave customers there fast response times.
The result
Launch in the new market took weeks instead of months, and the developers spend their time on features such as live order tracking.

Visual: Azure at a glance

Run

  • Virtual Machines
  • App Service
  • Azure Functions
  • Containers and AKS

Store

  • Blob Storage
  • Azure Files
  • Managed Disks
  • Databases

Connect

  • Virtual Networks
  • VPN Gateway
  • ExpressRoute
  • Azure DNS

Control

  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • Azure Policy
  • Azure Monitor
  • Cost Management
The building blocks you will meet throughout AZ-900

When to use it and when not to

✓ Use it when…

  • Your organisation already uses Microsoft 365, Windows Server or SQL Server and wants to reuse skills and licences.
  • You need hybrid scenarios that connect on-premises systems to the cloud.
  • You want managed platform services so your team can focus on code rather than servers.
  • You need to deploy in many countries with consistent tooling.

✕ Think twice when…

  • Your team has deep expertise and contracts on another cloud, and nothing specific requires Azure.
  • A required service or region exists only on another provider.
  • Strict rules forbid any public cloud. Consider sovereign or private options instead.

↔ Alternatives to consider

  • **Amazon Web Services (AWS)** and **Google Cloud** are the other two largest public clouds.
  • **Multi-cloud**: use more than one provider, managed together with tools such as Azure Arc.
Ready for more?The full lesson adds the technical explanation, when to use it, interview questions and revision notes.

Interview preparation

Say your answer out loud first, then open the model answer. Interviewers care more about your reasoning than the exact words.

Beginner What is Microsoft Azure, and what can a company do with it?

Model answer

Azure is Microsoft's public cloud. A company can rent virtual machines, host websites and APIs, store files and backups, run managed databases, build AI features and connect it all with secure networks, without buying hardware. It pays for what it uses and can deploy in many regions worldwide.

Interviewer follows up

How would you actually create something in Azure?

You

Through the Azure portal in a browser, the Azure CLI or PowerShell from a terminal, or as code with ARM templates, Bicep or Terraform. In real projects we prefer infrastructure as code so environments are repeatable.

Intermediate Azure, AWS and Google Cloud all offer VMs and storage. Why might a company choose Azure?

Model answer

Common reasons are an existing Microsoft relationship (Microsoft 365, Windows Server, SQL Server licences that can be reused with Azure Hybrid Benefit), identity integration with Microsoft Entra ID, strong hybrid tooling such as Azure Arc, enterprise compliance offerings, and a broad AI portfolio. The technically honest answer is that all the major clouds can run most workloads. The decision is usually about skills, licensing, existing contracts and specific services.

Experienced developer When someone says "we are on Azure", what layers of the platform are they really relying on?

Model answer

The global infrastructure (regions, availability zones, the Microsoft backbone network); the control plane, Azure Resource Manager, which every create, update and delete call goes through; the identity plane, Microsoft Entra ID, for who can do what; and the data plane of each service where the actual work happens. Thinking in those layers helps when you troubleshoot. A portal outage is a control-plane problem; your VM may still be serving traffic.

Scenario A start-up founder asks, "Do I need my own servers to launch my app on Azure?" What do you tell them?

Model answer

No. They can host the web app on a managed platform such as Azure App Service, store data in a managed database, and put images in Blob Storage. Everything is created in minutes and billed by usage, so they can start small and scale as users grow. They should set a budget alert from day one.

Test yourself with exercises

4 original practice questions in the AZ-900 style. Pick your answers, then check them. You will see why each option is right or wrong. Score 75% or more and this topic is marked complete.

Question 1

Question 1 of 4

Microsoft Azure is best described as which of the following?

Question 2

Question 2 of 4

Which tool lets you create and manage Azure resources from a web browser using a graphical interface?

Question 3

Question 3 of 4

Which operating systems can you run on Azure virtual machines?

Question 4

Question 4 of 4

Every request to create, update or delete an Azure resource, whether from the portal, CLI or PowerShell, is processed by which service?

Quick revision

Key points

  • Azure is Microsoft's public cloud platform with more than 200 services.
  • Services cover compute, storage, networking, databases, AI, security, DevOps and management.
  • Azure runs in many regions worldwide, so you can deploy close to your users.
  • You manage Azure with the portal, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell, SDKs or infrastructure as code.
  • You pay for what you use, with discounts for commitments (covered in Cloud Pricing Models).

Important terminology

Microsoft Azure
Microsoft's public cloud platform offering compute, storage, networking, databases, AI, security and management services.
Azure region
A geographic area containing one or more Azure datacenters, for example West Europe or Southeast Asia.
Azure account
The identity you sign in with to use Azure. Resources are created inside subscriptions linked to it.
Azure portal
The browser-based console at portal.azure.com for creating and managing Azure resources.

Common mistakes

  • Confusing Azure (a cloud platform) with Microsoft 365 (a SaaS productivity suite that runs on Microsoft's cloud).
  • Thinking Azure only runs Windows. A large share of Azure VMs run Linux.

Exam tips

  • Questions about "which tool to manage Azure from a browser" point to the Azure portal. Scripting points to CLI or PowerShell.
  • Remember the hierarchy words for Module 2. Resources live in resource groups, which live in subscriptions.

Five quick revision questions

  1. 1.What type of cloud is Microsoft Azure - public, private or hybrid?Show

    A public cloud, although it also supports hybrid scenarios.

  2. 2.Name three categories of Azure service.Show

    For example compute, storage, networking (also databases, AI, security, management).

  3. 3.What is the browser-based console for Azure called?Show

    The Azure portal.

  4. 4.Can Azure run Linux virtual machines?Show

    Yes. Azure supports many Linux distributions as well as Windows.

  5. 5.Why does Azure have regions all over the world?Show

    So you can run services close to users for low latency, meet data residency needs and design for resilience.

Official references

Make it stick: play a quick gameSort It, Match the Pairs, Lightning Round and Who Am I? Earn XP and badges. Play ❯

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