Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-303)

Microsoft Earned: October 2021

Overview

The Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification validates advanced skills in designing and implementing solutions on Microsoft Azure. This certification demonstrates expertise in compute, network, storage, and security.

Skills Validated

Implement and monitor Azure infrastructure
Implement management and security solutions
Implement solutions for apps
Implement and manage data platforms

Key Areas

Compute

Virtual Machines and availability
App Services and containers
Azure Kubernetes Service
Serverless computing with Functions

Storage

Storage accounts and redundancy
Blob storage and lifecycle management
Azure Files and File Sync
Backup and disaster recovery

Networking

Virtual Networks and subnets
VPN Gateway and ExpressRoute
Load Balancing and Application Gateway
Network Security Groups

Identity and Security

Azure Active Directory
Managed identities
Key Vault for secrets management
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Databases

Azure SQL Database
Cosmos DB multi-model database
Database migration services
High availability configurations

Exam Details

Exam Code: AZ-303 (now replaced by AZ-305)
Format: Multiple choice and case studies
Duration: 150 minutes
Cost: $165 USD
Passing Score: 700/1000

My Experience

I documented my preparation journey and exam tips in this blog post. Key takeaways:

Focus heavily on Azure AD authentication methods
Understand different VM series for specific workloads
Master networking concepts (VPN, ExpressRoute, peering)
Know the PowerShell commands for common operations

Important Topics

Azure AD Authentication

Password Hash Synchronization
Pass-through Authentication
ADFS (Active Directory Federation Services)
Licensing tiers (Free, P1, P2)

Migration Scenarios

Hyper-V limitations (2GB OS disk, 4TB data disk)
VMware limitations (2GB OS disk, 32TB data disk)
Azure Migrate assessment and migration

High Availability

Availability Sets vs Availability Zones
Load Balancer vs Application Gateway vs Front Door
Traffic Manager for global routing

Resources

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