Solid fundamental knowledge of cloud services and how Microsoft offers these cloud services is an absolute must for every IT professional who does something with Microsoft (cloud) technology.

The Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certification may be for candidates who are just starting to work with cloud-based solutions and services or are new to Azure, but experts may also benefit from this certification. After all, to become the master, you must first master the basics.

Azure Fundamentals certification covers cloud concepts, Azure services, Azure workloads, security and privacy in Azure, as well as Azure pricing and support. Microsoft states that candidates should be familiar with the general technology concepts, including networking, storage, compute, application support, and application development.

Azure Fundamentals may be useful to prepare you for other Azure role-based or specialty certifications but is not a prerequisite for any of them. In this blog article, I share available learning materials (free and paid) that prepare you for the Azure Fundamentals exam from Microsoft, but more importantly, these learning materials provide you with the fundamental knowledge about cloud and Microsoft Azure in particular.

Before we dive into the learning materials

You want an Azure environment to build things yourself. I cannot say and emphasize this enough. Think of it as learning to drive: you can’t do that without being in a car. So, the first thing you’ll do is create your Azure environment. Via this link you can use various Azure services free of charge for 12 months.

Virtual training courses

There are various virtual training courses to follow, based on registration or on-demand. Below is an overview of the recommended virtual training events:

Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Learn provides you with free online training and learning paths for different Microsoft technologies. Here are the relevant Microsoft Learn modules and learning paths for the AZ-900 Exam:

Links to Microsoft articles on the specific topics

Below are several links to articles on topics that may come up in the exam. To prepare for the exam, you’d be wise to go through these articles and, where necessary, build the components yourself in your Azure environment.

Describe Cloud Concepts

Identify the benefits and considerations of using cloud services

Describe the differences between categories of cloud services

Describe the differences between types of cloud computing

Describe Core Azure Services

Describe the core Azure architectural components

Describe core resources available in Azure

Describe core solutions and management tools on Azure

Describe core solutions available in Azure

Describe Azure management tools

Describe general security and network security features

Describe Azure security features

Describe Azure network security

Describe identity, governance, privacy, and compliance features

Describe core Azure identity services

Describe Azure governance features

Describe privacy and compliance resources

Describe Azure cost management and Service Level Agreements

Describe methods for planning and managing costs

Describe Azure Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and service lifecycles

Books and other reading material

Due to the rapid renewal and innovative nature of cloud and Microsoft, there is no book I would advise you. Mainly because these are quickly becoming outdated and the fact that there are much better alternatives. If you still like to use a book for studying, then there is only one suitable book: the Exam Ref AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals by Jim Cheshire.

Practice exams

Practice exams are useful for getting a feel for the exam questions and topics. My personal experience with practice exams is that they are often outdated, incomplete, or that the answers marked as correct in practice exams are actually incorrect. I advise everyone not to use practice exams to memorize questions and the corresponding answers, but mainly to use them to get a feel for the real exam. Below are some practice exams for the AZ-900 exam:

Good luck!

Now that we have come to the end of this article, hopefully you have discovered enough learning materials to take the AZ-900 exam with confidence. All I can do now is wish you the best of luck. Goodluck!