Azure AZ-900 Fundamentals Exam

Introduction to Azure Management and Governance

Azure management and governance are essential for ensuring that your cloud resources are well-organized, secure, and cost-effective. This section covers the tools and services provided by Azure to help you manage and govern your cloud environment effectively. Understanding these tools is crucial for maintaining control over your Azure resources and ensuring they align with your organization's policies and requirements.

Azure Management Tools

Azure offers a variety of management tools to help you monitor, manage, and optimize your cloud resources. Some of the key tools include:

• Azure Portal: A web-based interface that allows you to manage your Azure resources through a graphical user interface (GUI). It provides a centralized place to create, configure, and monitor your resources.

• Azure PowerShell: A set of cmdlets for managing Azure resources directly from the command line. It is useful for automating repetitive tasks and managing resources programmatically.

• Azure CLI: A cross-platform command-line tool that enables you to manage Azure resources from your terminal. It is similar to Azure PowerShell but is designed to be more script-friendly and easier to use on different operating systems.

Azure Resource Manager (ARM)

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) is a key component of Azure management and governance. It provides a consistent management layer that allows you to create, update, and delete resources in your Azure account. ARM offers several benefits:

• Resource Grouping: ARM allows you to group related resources together, making it easier to manage and organize them. You can deploy, update, and delete resources as a group, rather than individually.

• Access Control: ARM integrates with Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to provide fine-grained access control to your resources. You can assign roles to users, groups, and applications to control who can manage specific resources.

• Tagging: ARM supports tagging, which allows you to add metadata to your resources. Tags can be used for organizing resources, tracking costs, and applying policies.

Azure Policy

Azure Policy is a service that helps you manage and enforce organizational policies across your Azure environment. It allows you to create, assign, and manage policies that enforce rules and effects over your resources. Key features of Azure Policy include:

• Policy Definitions: You can create custom policy definitions or use built-in policies provided by Azure. These policies define the rules and conditions that resources must comply with.

• Policy Assignments: Policies can be assigned to specific scopes, such as resource groups or subscriptions. This ensures that the policies are enforced consistently across your environment.

• Compliance Tracking: Azure Policy provides compliance tracking and reporting, allowing you to monitor the compliance status of your resources and take corrective actions if necessary.

Azure Blueprints

Azure Blueprints is a service that helps you define and deploy a repeatable set of Azure resources and policies. It enables you to create templates that include resource groups, policies, role assignments, and other artifacts. Key benefits of Azure Blueprints include:

• Consistency: Blueprints ensure that your deployments are consistent and adhere to your organization's standards and requirements.

• Speed: By using pre-defined blueprints, you can quickly deploy environments that meet your specific needs, reducing the time and effort required for manual configuration.

• Governance: Blueprints help you enforce governance policies and ensure that your resources are compliant with organizational standards from the start.

Conclusion

Understanding Azure management and governance is crucial for effectively managing your cloud resources. By leveraging tools like Azure Portal, Azure PowerShell, and Azure CLI, you can efficiently manage your resources. Azure Resource Manager, Azure Policy, and Azure Blueprints provide powerful capabilities for organizing, securing, and governing your environment. Mastering these tools and services will help you maintain control over your Azure resources and ensure they align with your organization's policies and requirements.