Azure cards Flashcards
(148 cards)
1
Q
What is cloud computing?
A
A service delivery model over the internet that includes compute power, storage, networking, and analytics services.
2
Q
Define scalability in cloud computing.
A
The ability to allocate and deallocate resources at any time to meet changing demand.
3
Q
What is elasticity in cloud computing?
A
The ability to scale dynamically, adjusting resources automatically in response to fluctuating workloads.
4
Q
Explain agility in the context of cloud services.
A
The ability to react quickly to changes, enabling rapid development, testing, and deployment of applications.
5
Q
What does fault tolerance mean in cloud computing?
A
The capability to maintain system uptime despite failures of components or services.
6
Q
Define disaster recovery in cloud services.
A
A process and design principle that allows a system to recover from natural or human-induced disasters.
7
Q
What is high availability in cloud computing?
A
The agreed level of operational uptime for a system, calculated as availability = uptime / (uptime + downtime).
8
Q
Describe the consumption-based model in cloud services.
A
A pricing model where customers are charged based on their actual resource usage, with no upfront costs and no charges for unused resources.
9
Q
What are the characteristics of the consumption-based model?
A
No upfront cost, no wasted resources, pay for what you need, and stop paying when you don’t need the resources.
10
Q
How does the consumption-based model benefit businesses?
A
It allows businesses to optimize costs by paying only for the resources they use, leading to more efficient budgeting and resource management.
11
Q
What is the principle of economies of scale?
A
As companies grow, they become more effective at managing shared operations, leading to cost savings and reduced price per unit for customers.
12
Q
How do larger companies achieve economies of scale?
A
By efficiently managing shared operations such as HR, taxes, accounting, internal operations, marketing, and securing better discounts through large contracts.
13
Q
Why can’t companies reduce their price per unit to zero, even with economies of scale?
A
Because some underlying infrastructure needs to run to provide services, incurring unavoidable costs.
14
Q
How does Microsoft’s scale benefit customers in terms of service pricing?
A
Due to its large scale, Microsoft can offer multiple services for free or at reduced costs, as the expense is a small fraction for them.
15
Q
What is Capital Expenditure (CapEx)?
A
Upfront investment in physical infrastructure with significant initial costs and lower ongoing expenses.
16
Q
What is Operational Expenditure (OpEx)?
A
Pay-as-you-go model with no upfront costs, where expenses are based on usage and can be terminated anytime.
17
Q
How are tax deductions handled in CapEx?
A
Tax deductions are spread over time as the value of the asset depreciates.
18
Q
How are tax deductions handled in OpEx?
A
Tax deductions occur in the same year as the expenses, reflecting the immediate costs.
19
Q
What are the maintenance implications of CapEx?
A
Significant maintenance is required to manage and update physical infrastructure.
20
Q
What are the maintenance implications of OpEx?
A
Minimal maintenance is needed, as the service provider manages the infrastructure.
21
Q
Can you terminate services early in CapEx?
A
No, since you’ve invested heavily upfront in physical assets.
22
Q
Can you terminate services early in OpEx?
A
Yes, services can be terminated anytime without significant financial penalty.
23
Q
What is the consumption-based model in cloud computing?
A
A pricing model where customers are charged based on their actual resource usage, with no upfront costs.
24
Q
List four characteristics of the consumption-based model.
A
No upfront cost, no wasted resources, pay for what you need, and stop paying when you don’t need resources.
25
How does the consumption-based model prevent wasted resources?
By ensuring customers are not charged for unused resources, leading to more efficient resource utilization.
26
Can you stop paying for resources in a consumption-based model when they're no longer needed?
Yes, you can stop paying when you don't need the resources anymore.
27
What is Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)?
A cloud service model where the provider manages physical infrastructure and virtualization, while the customer manages the operating system, applications, and data.
28
What is Platform as a Service (PaaS)?
A cloud service model where the provider manages the infrastructure, operating system, and platform software, allowing customers to focus on application development and data management.
29
What is Software as a Service (SaaS)?
A cloud service model where the provider manages all aspects, including the application, and the customer simply uses the software without managing any underlying infrastructure or platforms.
30
In which cloud service model does the customer manage applications and data but not the underlying infrastructure?
Platform as a Service (PaaS).
31
Which cloud service model requires the customer to manage the most components, including the operating system?
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
32
In which cloud service model does the provider manage everything, including the application itself?
Software as a Service (SaaS).
33
What is a Public Cloud?
A cloud deployment model where all hardware is owned and managed by a third-party provider, offering resources over the internet.
34
List two advantages of Public Cloud.
No initial capital expenditure (CapEx) and high scalability.
35
What is a Private Cloud?
A cloud deployment model where resources are exclusively used by a single organization, either hosted on-premises or by a third-party.
36
List two advantages of Private Cloud.
Enhanced security and compliance, and greater control over infrastructure.
37
What is a Hybrid Cloud?
A cloud deployment model that combines both public and private clouds, allowing data and applications to be shared between them.
38
List two advantages of Hybrid Cloud.
Flexibility in deployment options and optimized existing infrastructure investments.
39
Which cloud model offers the greatest flexibility?
Hybrid Cloud.
40
Which cloud model requires significant upfront capital expenditure?
Private Cloud.
41
Which cloud model is managed entirely by a third-party provider?
Public Cloud.
42
Which cloud model allows for legacy applications to run on dedicated infrastructure while utilizing cloud services?
Hybrid Cloud.
43
What is an Azure Data Center?
A physical facility hosting a group of networked servers with its own power, cooling, and networking infrastructure.
44
Define an Azure Region.
A geographical area containing one or more data centers connected with low-latency networks, serving as a location for deploying services.
45
What is an Availability Zone in Azure?
A grouping of physically separate facilities within a region, designed to protect applications from data center failures.
46
Explain an Azure Region Pair.
A pairing of two regions within the same geography, providing physical isolation and platform-provided replication for disaster recovery.
47
What are Azure Geographies?
Discrete markets containing two or more regions, ensuring data residency, sovereignty, resiliency, and compliance requirements are met.
48
List the four main Azure Geographies.
Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa.
49
How do Availability Zones enhance fault tolerance?
By ensuring that if one zone goes down, others continue working, protecting applications from data center-level failures.
50
Why are Region Pairs important for disaster recovery?
They provide physical isolation and synchronized updates, ensuring data residency and planned maintenance across paired regions.
51
What is an Azure Resource?
An object used to manage services in Azure, representing the service lifecycle and saved as a JSON definition.
52
What is an Azure Resource Group?
A logical grouping of related resources, organized by factors like type, lifecycle, department, billing, or location.
53
What is Azure Resource Manager (ARM)?
The management layer for all resources and resource groups, providing a unified language to control access and resources.
54
Can a resource belong to multiple resource groups?
No, each resource must be in one, and only one, resource group.
55
Can resource groups be nested within other resource groups?
No, resource groups cannot be nested.
56
Is it possible to move resources between resource groups?
Yes, resources can be moved between resource groups.
57
Do resource groups have their own location assigned?
Yes, resource groups have their own location assigned, but resources within them can reside in different locations.
58
What should be considered when organizing resource groups?
Consider factors like billing, security and access management, and application lifecycle.
59
What is an Azure Virtual Machine?
An Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering that provides total control over the operating system and software, suitable for custom software requiring specific system configurations.
60
What are Virtual Machine Scale Sets?
An IaaS feature that allows deployment and management of a set of identical VMs with built-in auto-scaling, ideal for scalable workloads like web services and batch processing.
61
Define Azure App Service.
A Platform as a Service (PaaS) designed for enterprise-grade web applications, supporting multiple programming languages and containers.
62
What are Azure Functions?
A serverless PaaS offering that enables execution of small pieces of code without managing infrastructure, suitable for micro/nano-services with consumption-based or dedicated pricing plans.
63
Describe Azure Container Instances (ACI).
A PaaS that provides the simplest and fastest way to run containers in Azure, ideal for small and simple web apps, background jobs, and scheduled scripts.
64
What is Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)?
A PaaS offering an open-source container orchestration platform for automating application deployment, scaling, and management, designed for high-scale container deployments.
65
Which Azure compute service is best suited for lift-and-shift scenarios?
Azure Virtual Machines.
66
Which service provides a serverless environment for running event-driven code?
Azure Functions.
67
For deploying a scalable web application with minimal infrastructure management, which Azure service is appropriate?
Azure App Service.
68
If you need to run a simple container without managing orchestration, which Azure service should you choose?
Azure Container Instances (ACI).
69
What is an Azure Virtual Network (VNet)?
A logically isolated network in Azure that allows Azure resources to securely communicate with each other, the internet, and on-premises networks.
70
What is the purpose of an Azure Load Balancer?
To distribute incoming network traffic evenly across multiple backend resources, ensuring high availability and reliability.
71
Define Azure VPN Gateway.
A service that enables secure connectivity between an Azure Virtual Network and on-premises networks over the public internet.
72
What is Azure Application Gateway used for?
A web traffic load balancer that provides application-level routing and features such as SSL termination, URL-based routing, and a web application firewall.
73
Explain Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN).
A distributed network of servers that delivers web content to users based on their geographic location, improving performance and user experience.
74
What are the key features of Azure Virtual Network?
Isolation, segmentation into subnets, communication between resources, internet connectivity, and on-premises connectivity through VPN or ExpressRoute.
75
How does Azure Load Balancer support high availability?
By distributing traffic across multiple resources, it ensures no single resource becomes a bottleneck, supporting both TCP and UDP applications.
76
What scenarios are ideal for using Azure VPN Gateway?
When securely connecting on-premises networks to Azure VNets over the internet or connecting multiple Azure VNets together.
77
List some features of Azure Application Gateway.
Web application firewall, SSL termination, URL-based routing, session affinity, and redirection.
78
How does Azure CDN minimize latency?
By caching content at strategically placed Points of Presence (PoPs) worldwide, delivering content to users from the nearest location.
79
What does BLOB stand for in Azure Storage?
Binary Large Object.
80
Which Azure storage service is best suited for storing application assets like photos, videos, and text files?
Azure Blob Storage.
81
Name the services that are part of the Azure Storage Account.
Azure Blob Storage, Azure File Storage, Azure Queue Storage, Azure Table Storage, and Azure Disk Storage.
82
Which two Azure storage services can provide persistent storage for Azure Virtual Machines?
Azure File Storage and Azure Disk Storage.
83
What type of data is organized in a tabular structure with a strict schema and relationships between tables?
Structured data.
84
What type of data does not fit into a strict tabular structure and may have varying properties for each entry?
Semi-structured data.
85
What type of data lacks a predefined schema and can be in any format, such as images or binary files?
Unstructured data.
86
Which Azure storage service is designed for storing messages to build scalable solutions with asynchronous messaging patterns?
Azure Queue Storage.
87
What is Azure Cosmos DB?
A globally distributed NoSQL database service that is schema-less and supports multiple APIs, designed for highly responsive, real-time applications with super low latency responses (<10ms) and multi-regional applications.
88
What is Azure SQL Database?
A relational database service in the cloud (PaaS) that provides a high-performance, reliable, fully managed, and secure database for building applications, supporting structured data with rich query capabilities using SQL.
89
List the services included in the Azure SQL product family.
Azure SQL Database, Azure Database for MySQL, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Managed Instance, Azure SQL on VM, and Azure SQL Data Warehouse (Synapse).
90
What is Azure SQL Managed Instance?
A fully managed SQL Server instance in the cloud that offers full SQL Server compatibility with all its features, minimizing management requirements.
91
What is Azure SQL Data Warehouse (Synapse)?
A massively parallel processing (MPP) version of SQL Server designed for large-scale data warehousing and big data analytics.
92
What types of data are best suited for Azure Cosmos DB?
Semi-structured data that requires schema-less storage and supports multiple APIs for various data models.
93
Which Azure database service is ideal for applications requiring relational data with rich query capabilities?
Azure SQL Database.
94
What is the key benefit of using Azure SQL Managed Instance over Azure SQL Database?
It provides full SQL Server compatibility with all its features, making it suitable for migrating existing SQL Server workloads with minimal changes.
95
Which Azure database service is designed for large-scale data warehousing and big data analytics?
Azure SQL Data Warehouse (Synapse).
96
What is the main advantage of using Azure Database for MySQL or PostgreSQL?
They offer fully managed, scalable, and secure relational database services for MySQL and PostgreSQL engines, respectively, with high availability and automated backups.
97
What is the Azure Marketplace?
An online store that offers services and solutions for the Azure platform, including templates containing one or multiple services from first and third-party vendors.
98
What types of solutions can be found in the Azure Marketplace?
Solutions leveraging all service categories like Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS).
99
Who provides the products available in the Azure Marketplace?
Both first-party (Microsoft) and third-party vendors.
100
How can developers access Azure Marketplace templates?
By navigating to the 'Create a Resource' option in the top-left menu of the Azure Portal or visiting the Azure Marketplace website.
101
What is the difference between Azure Marketplace and Microsoft AppSource?
Azure Marketplace is tailored for IT professionals and developers focusing on Azure solutions, while Microsoft AppSource offers solutions for all Microsoft platforms, including Azure.
102
What is Azure Resource Manager (ARM)?
A management layer for deploying, managing, and organizing Azure resources consistently.
103
What is the purpose of Azure Policy?
To create, assign, and manage policies that enforce rules for your resources.
104
What is an ARM template?
A JSON file defining infrastructure and configurations for deployment in Azure.
105
What is the benefit of using Azure Policy?
Ensures compliance by enforcing resource configurations automatically.
106
Can Azure Policy remediate existing non-compliant resources?
Yes, it can remediate certain non-compliances depending on the policy definition.
107
What are Azure Blueprints?
Packages of governance artifacts to quickly set up environments with policies, role assignments, and resource templates.
108
How does Azure Resource Manager ensure consistency?
By enabling declarative templates and APIs to manage resources uniformly.
109
What is Big Data?
A field of technology that deals with the extraction, processing, and analysis of information that is too large or complex for traditional software.
110
What are the three V's of Big Data?
Velocity (speed of data processing), Volume (amount of data), and Variety (types and complexity of data).
111
What is Azure Synapse Analytics?
A big data analytics platform (PaaS) that integrates multiple components like Spark, Synapse SQL, Synapse Pipelines, and Studio for a unified experience.
112
What is Azure HDInsight?
A flexible, multi-purpose big data platform (PaaS) supporting various technologies such as Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, HBase, Hive, Storm, and Machine Learning.
113
What is Azure Databricks?
A big data collaboration platform (PaaS) based on Apache Spark, offering a unified workspace for notebooks, clusters, data, access management, and collaboration.
114
Which Azure service is best suited for end-to-end data transformation with SQL and Spark?
Azure Synapse Analytics.
115
Which Azure service supports technologies like Hadoop, Spark, and Kafka?
Azure HDInsight.
116
Which Azure service provides a unified workspace for notebooks, clusters, data, access management, and collaboration?
Azure Databricks.
117
What is the primary use case for Azure Databricks?
Data transformations and collaboration based on Apache Spark.
118
How does Azure Synapse Analytics enhance big data analytics?
By providing a unified workspace that integrates SQL and Spark for comprehensive data transformation.
119
What advantage does Azure HDInsight offer for big data processing?
Flexibility to use multiple open-source analytics technologies within a managed platform.
120
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
The simulation of human intelligence and capabilities by computer software.
121
What is Machine Learning?
A subcategory of AI where computer software is taught to draw conclusions and make predictions from data.
122
What is Azure Machine Learning?
A cloud-based platform (PaaS) for creating, managing, and publishing machine learning models.
123
What is the Machine Learning Workspace in Azure?
The top-level resource in Azure Machine Learning for managing all machine learning assets.
124
What is Azure Machine Learning Studio?
A web portal for end-to-end development in Azure Machine Learning, providing tools like notebooks, automated ML, and a designer.
125
What is the purpose of the Designer feature in Azure Machine Learning Studio?
To provide a graphical interface for no-code development of machine learning models.
126
What is Automated ML in Azure Machine Learning?
A feature that runs multiple algorithm and parameter combinations to choose the best model automatically.
127
What are the key features of Azure Machine Learning Studio?
Notebooks (using Python and R), Automated ML, Designer, Data & Compute management, and Pipelines for orchestrating tasks.
128
What is the role of Pipelines in Azure Machine Learning?
To orchestrate model training, deployment, and management tasks in a repeatable and efficient manner.
129
How does Azure Machine Learning support collaboration?
By providing shared workspaces, version control, and collaborative tools within the Machine Learning Studio.
130
What is Azure Cognitive Services?
A collection of AI services and APIs that help developers build intelligent applications without having direct AI or data science skills.
131
What are the five main categories of Azure Cognitive Services?
Vision, Speech, Language, Decision, and Search.
132
What is Azure Bot Service?
A platform for creating virtual agents that can communicate intelligently with users, integrating with various channels like websites, apps, and social media.
133
What is the purpose of Azure Cognitive Services?
To provide pre-built APIs that enable developers to add AI capabilities such as vision, speech, language understanding, and decision-making to their applications.
134
How does Azure Bot Service enhance user interaction?
By enabling the creation of conversational agents that can understand and respond to user input, providing a more interactive and engaging experience.
135
Can Azure Cognitive Services be customized?
Yes, many services offer customization options to better fit specific application needs.
136
What is the benefit of using Azure Cognitive Services for developers?
It allows developers to integrate advanced AI functionalities into their applications without needing deep expertise in AI or machine learning.
137
Which Azure service would you use to add speech recognition to an application?
Azure Cognitive Services – Speech API.
138
What is the Language Understanding (LUIS) service in Azure?
A part of Azure Cognitive Services that enables applications to understand and process natural language input.
139
How can Azure Bot Service be integrated into applications?
It can be connected to various channels such as websites, mobile apps, and social media platforms to interact with users.
140
What is DevOps?
A set of practices that combine development (Dev) and operations (Ops) to shorten the development life cycle and provide continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) capabilities while ensuring high quality of deliverables.
141
What is Azure DevOps?
A collection of services for building solutions using DevOps practices, including Boards for tracking work, Pipelines for CI/CD workflows, Repos for code collaboration and versioning with Git, Test Plans for manual and exploratory testing, and Artifacts for managing project deliverables.
142
What is Azure DevTest Labs?
A service for creating sandbox environments for developers and testers, allowing quick setup of self-managed virtual machines with preconfigured templates, additional artifacts like tools and apps, lab policies for quotas and auto-shutdowns, and automation capabilities for CI/CD pipelines.
143
What services are included in Azure DevOps?
Boards, Pipelines, Repos, Test Plans, and Artifacts.
144
What are some features of Azure DevTest Labs?
Quick setup of self-managed virtual machines, preconfigured templates, additional artifacts, lab policies, and automation capabilities for CI/CD pipelines.
145
How does Azure DevOps support CI/CD?
Through Pipelines, which allow building, testing, and deploying applications in a continuous integration and delivery workflow.
146
What is the purpose of lab policies in Azure DevTest Labs?
To manage quotas, sizes, and auto-shutdowns of virtual machines to optimize resources and costs.
147
Can Azure DevTest Labs be integrated with CI/CD pipelines?
Yes, it offers plugins, APIs, and tools for CI/CD pipeline automation.
148
What is the origin of Azure DevOps?
It evolved from Team Foundation Server (TFS) through Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) to become Azure DevOps.
