Microsoft Azure Architect Design (AZ-304)

The Microsoft Azure Architect Design (AZ-304) Exam covers the following topics –

1. Design Monitoring (10-15%)

1.1 Design for cost optimization

1.2 Design a solution for logging and monitoring

determine levels and storage locations for logs
plan for integration with monitoring tools including Azure Monitor and Azure Sentinel
recommend appropriate monitoring tool(s) for a solution choose a mechanism for event routing and escalation
recommend a logging solution for compliance requirements

2. Design Identity and Security (25-30%)

2.1 Design authentication

recommend a solution for single-sign-on
recommend a solution for authentication
recommend a solution for Conditional Access, including multi-factor authentication
recommend a solution for network access authentication
recommend a solution for a hybrid identity including Azure AD Connect and Azure AD

2.2 Connect Health

2.3 Design authorization

choose an authorization approach
recommend a hierarchical structure that includes management groups, subscriptions and resource groups
recommend an access management solution including RBAC policies, access reviews, role assignments, Privileged Identity Management (PIM), Azure AD Identity Protection, Just In Time (JIT) access

2.4 Design governance

2.5 Design security for applications

3. Design Data Storage (15-20%)

3.1 Design a solution for databases

select an appropriate data platform based on requirements
recommend database service tier sizing
recommend a solution for database scalability
recommend a solution for encrypting data at rest, data in transmission, and data in use

3.2 Design data integration

recommend a data flow to meet business requirements
recommend a solution for data integration, including Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Bricks, Azure Data Lake, Azure Synapse Analytics

3.3 Select an appropriate storage account

4. Design Business Continuity (10-15%)

4.1 Design a solution for backup and recovery

recommend a recovery solution for Azure hybrid and on-premises workloads that meets recovery objectives (RTO, RLO, RPO)
design and Azure Site Recovery solution
recommend a site recovery replication policy
recommend a solution for site recovery capacity
recommend a solution for site failover and failback (planned/unplanned)
recommend a solution for the site recovery network
recommend a solution for recovery in different regions
recommend a solution for geo-redundancy of workloads
recommend a solution for Azure Backup management
design a solution for data archiving and retention
recommend storage types and methodology for data archiving
identify business compliance requirements for data archiving
identify requirements for data archiving
identify SLA(s) for data archiving
recommend a data retention policy

4.2 Design for high availability

recommend a solution for application and workload redundancy, including compute,
database, and storage
recommend a solution for autoscaling
identify resources that require high availability
identify storage types for high availability

5. Design Infrastructure (25-30%)

5.1 Design a compute solution

recommend a solution for compute provisioning
determine appropriate compute technologies, including virtual machines, App Services, Service Fabric, Azure Functions, Windows Virtual Desktop, Batch, HPC and containers
recommend a solution for containers
AKS versus ACI and the configuration of each one
recommend a solution for automating compute management

5.2 Design a network solution

recommend a network architecture (hub and spoke, Virtual WAN)
recommend a solution for network addressing and name resolution
recommend a solution for network provisioning
recommend a solution for network security including
private link
firewalls
gateways
network segmentation (perimeter networks?DMZs/NVAs
recommend a solution for network connectivity to the Internet, on-premises networks, and other Azure virtual networks
recommend a solution for automating network management
recommend a solution for load balancing and traffic routing

5.3 Design an application architecture

recommend a microservices architecture including Event Grid, Event Hubs, Service Bus, Storage Queues, Logic Apps, Azure Functions, Service Fabric, AKS, Azure App Configuration and webhooks
recommend an orchestration solution for deployment and maintenance of applications including ARM templates, Azure Automation, Azure Pipelines, Logic Apps, or Azure Functions
select an automation method
choose which resources or lifecycle steps will be automated
design integration with other sources such as an ITSM solution
recommend a solution for monitoring automation
recommend a solution for API integration
design an API gateway strategy
determine policies for internal and external consumption of APIs
recommend a hosting structure for API management
recommend when and how to use API Keys

5.4 Design migrations

assess and interpret on-premises servers, data, and applications for migration
recommend a solution for migrating applications and VMs
recommend a solution for migration of databases
determine migration scope, including redundant, related, trivial, and outdated data
recommend a solution for migrating data (Storage Migration Service, Azure Data Box, Azure File Sync-based migration to hybrid file server)