Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate Exam Preparation (AZ-204) Training Course

About This Course

This course is designed to equip participants with the skills necessary to design and develop services that access local and remote data from various sources. Participants will also learn how to develop and deploy these services to hybrid environments, including on-premises servers and Microsoft Azure, tailored for government use.

Audience Profile

Primary: .NET developers who are interested in learning how to develop and deploy services to hybrid environments.
Secondary: .NET developers with experience in web application development who are considering the development of new applications or the migration of existing applications to Microsoft Azure.

At Course Completion

Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the fundamental concepts of service development and data access strategies using the .NET platform.
• Provide an overview of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, including its compute, data, and application hosting capabilities.
• Design and develop a data-centric application using Visual Studio 2017 and Entity Framework Core.
• Create and consume HTTP services using ASP.NET Core.
• Enhance HTTP services with advanced features using ASP.NET Core.
• Host services both on-premises and in Microsoft Azure, ensuring compliance with government standards.
• Deploy services to on-premises and cloud environments while managing interfaces and policies for their services.
• Select appropriate data storage solutions, implement caching, distribute, and synchronize data effectively.
• Monitor, log, and troubleshoot services to ensure reliability and performance.
• Understand claim-based identity concepts and standards, and implement authentication and authorization using Azure Active Directory.
• Create scalable service applications that meet the needs of government operations.

In this whiteboard design session, participants will learn how to design a solution that integrates Azure Resource Manager templates and Azure DevOps to facilitate continuous delivery using multiple Azure PaaS services.

By the end of this workshop, attendees will be better equipped to develop templates for automating cloud infrastructure and minimizing error-prone manual processes. Additionally, participants will create an Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template to deploy Azure resources, configure continuous delivery with Azure DevOps, integrate Application Insights into an application, and establish an Azure DevOps project and Git repository, all tailored for government use.

About This Course

This course provides an introduction to fundamental concepts related to artificial intelligence (AI) and the services available in Microsoft Azure that can be utilized to develop AI solutions. It is designed to enhance awareness of common AI workloads and to equip participants with the ability to identify appropriate Azure services to support these workloads. The course is structured as a blended learning experience, combining instructor-led training with online resources from the Microsoft Learn platform (https://azure.com/learn). Hands-on exercises are based on modules from Learn, and students are encouraged to use this content as reference material to reinforce their understanding and explore topics in greater depth.

Audience Profile

The Azure AI Fundamentals course is intended for individuals interested in learning about the types of solutions artificial intelligence (AI) can enable, as well as the services available on Microsoft Azure to create these solutions. No prior experience with Microsoft Azure is required, but a basic understanding of computer technology and the Internet is assumed. Some concepts covered in the course require a fundamental grasp of mathematics, such as the ability to interpret charts. The course includes hands-on activities involving data manipulation and code execution, so a foundational knowledge of programming principles will be beneficial.

At Course Completion

Upon completing this course, you will be able to:

• Describe AI workloads and considerations for government applications.
• Explain the fundamental principles of machine learning on Azure.
• Identify features of computer vision workloads on Azure.
• Understand the capabilities of Natural Language Processing (NLP) workloads on Azure.
• Describe the characteristics of conversational AI workloads on Azure.

About This Course

This two-day course is designed for AWS SysOps administrators who are interested in understanding how Azure differs from AWS and how it is managed. The course covers key topics such as Azure Administration, Azure Networking, Azure Compute, Azure Storage, and Azure Governance. The training combines lectures with hands-on practical exercises and discussions to reinforce learning. Participants will build an end-to-end architecture that demonstrates the main features discussed in the course.

Audience Profile

The target audience for this course includes AWS SysOps Administrator Associates or individuals with equivalent experience. These professionals typically have one to two years of experience in AWS deployment, management, and operations. Students taking this course are interested in learning how Azure differs from AWS and how it is administered. They may also be preparing to take the AZ-103 Microsoft Azure Administrator certification exam or the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam for government use.

About This Course

This three-day course is designed to equip AWS (Amazon Web Services) developers with the skills needed to prepare end-to-end solutions in Microsoft Azure. Throughout the course, participants will construct Azure App Service Web App solutions and Azure Functions, utilize blob or Cosmos DB storage, implement secure cloud solutions that include user authentication and authorization, manage API operations, develop event- and message-based solutions, and monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize their Azure solutions. The curriculum focuses on how developers can leverage Azure services, with a particular emphasis on features and tasks that differ from AWS, ensuring participants understand the implications for developing applications hosted in Azure environments.

Audience Profile

This course is tailored for experienced AWS developers who are interested in expanding their skills to include Azure development. It is designed to support professionals in transitioning their expertise to meet the evolving needs of cloud solutions for government and other public sector organizations.

This course provides IT professionals with the skills necessary to manage their Azure subscriptions effectively, secure identities, administer infrastructure, configure virtual networking, connect Azure and on-premises sites, manage network traffic, implement storage solutions, create and scale virtual machines, deploy web apps and containers, back up and share data, and monitor the overall solution.

This course is designed for Azure Administrators who are responsible for implementing, managing, and monitoring identity, governance, storage, compute, and virtual networks in a cloud environment. The Azure Administrator will be equipped to provision, size, monitor, and adjust resources as required, ensuring optimal performance and security for government operations.

About This Course

This course is designed to equip developers with the skills needed to create comprehensive end-to-end solutions in Microsoft Azure. Participants will gain knowledge on implementing Azure compute solutions, developing Azure Functions, managing and deploying web applications, utilizing Azure storage options, and integrating authentication and authorization mechanisms. The curriculum also covers securing solutions using KeyVault and Managed Identities, connecting to and consuming both Azure services and third-party services, and incorporating event- and message-based models into their solutions. Additionally, the course provides insights into monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimizing Azure solutions for government.

Audience Profile

• This course is intended for developers interested in Azure development or those preparing to take the Microsoft Azure Developer Associate certification exam.

This course provides the knowledge and skills necessary to design and implement DevOps processes and practices for government. Participants will learn how to plan for DevOps, use source control, scale Git for an enterprise, consolidate artifacts, develop a dependency management strategy, manage secrets, implement continuous integration, establish a container build strategy, design a release strategy, set up a release management workflow, implement deployment patterns, and optimize feedback mechanisms.

Audience Profile

This course is designed for individuals interested in designing and implementing DevOps processes or preparing to pass the Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions certification exam.

Job Role: DevOps Engineer

Preparation for Exam: AZ-400

Skills Gained

• Plan for transformation with shared goals and timelines
• Select a project and identify project metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Create a team and an agile organizational structure
• Design a tool integration strategy
• Develop a license management strategy (e.g., Azure DevOps and GitHub users)
• Design a strategy for end-to-end traceability from work items to working software
• Develop an authentication and access strategy
• Design a strategy for integrating on-premises and cloud resources
• Describe the benefits of using Source Control
• Explain Azure Repos and GitHub
• Migrate from TFVC to Git
• Manage code quality, including technical debt with tools like SonarCloud
• Build organizational knowledge on code quality
• Explain how to structure Git repositories
• Describe Git branching workflows
• Leverage pull requests for collaboration and code reviews
• Leverage Git hooks for automation
• Use Git to foster inner source across the organization
• Explain the role of Azure Pipelines and its components
• Configure agents for use in Azure Pipelines
• Explain the importance of continuous integration
• Implement continuous integration using Azure Pipelines
• Define Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
• Design processes to measure end-user satisfaction and analyze user feedback
• Design processes to automate application analytics
• Manage alerts and reduce meaningless and non-actionable alerts
• Conduct blameless retrospectives and create a just culture
• Define an infrastructure and configuration strategy and appropriate toolset for a release pipeline and application infrastructure
• Implement compliance and security in your application infrastructure
• Describe the potential challenges with integrating open-source software
• Inspect open-source software packages for security and license compliance
• Manage organizational security and compliance policies
• Integrate license and vulnerability scans into build and deployment pipelines
• Configure build pipelines to access package security and license ratings

This course equips IT Security Professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to implement security controls, maintain an organization’s security posture, and identify and remediate security vulnerabilities. It covers security for identity and access management, platform protection, data and applications, and security operations, tailored specifically for government.

Audience Profile

This course is designed for Azure Security Engineers who are preparing to take the associated certification exam or who are currently performing security tasks in their day-to-day job. It will also be beneficial for engineers looking to specialize in providing security for Azure-based digital platforms and play a critical role in protecting an organization's data, particularly within the public sector.

Skills Gained

• Implement enterprise governance strategies, including role-based access control, Azure policies, and resource locks, for government environments.
• Set up an Azure AD infrastructure, including users, groups, and multi-factor authentication.
• Deploy Azure AD Identity Protection, incorporating risk policies, conditional access, and access reviews.
• Utilize Azure AD Privileged Identity Management to manage Azure AD roles and Azure resources effectively.
• Configure Azure AD Connect for various authentication methods and on-premises directory synchronization.
• Develop perimeter security strategies using Azure Firewall.
• Implement network security measures, including Network Security Groups and Application Security Groups.
• Enforce host security practices, such as endpoint protection, remote access management, update management, and disk encryption.
• Secure container environments with Azure Container Instances, Azure Container Registry, and Azure Kubernetes.
• Manage secrets and keys using Azure Key Vault.
• Implement application security strategies, including app registration, managed identities, and service endpoints.
• Apply storage security measures, such as shared access signatures, blob retention policies, and Azure Files authentication.
• Enforce database security practices, including authentication, data classification, dynamic data masking, and always encrypted features.
• Utilize Azure Monitor to manage connected sources, log analytics, and alerts.
• Implement Azure Security Center for policy management, recommendations, and just-in-time virtual machine access control.
• Leverage Azure Sentinel for incident response, using workbooks, incidents, and playbooks.

About This Course

This course is designed to equip participants with a comprehensive understanding of Azure SQL Database and the necessary knowledge to migrate MySQL and PostgreSQL workloads to Azure SQL Database.

Audience Profile

The primary audience for this course is database developers who are planning to transition their MySQL or PostgreSQL workloads to Azure SQL Database. The secondary audience includes MySQL/PostgreSQL administrators, who will gain insight into the features and benefits of Azure SQL Database for government use.

At Course Completion

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Migrate on-premises MySQL databases to Azure SQL Database for MySQL
• Migrate on-premises PostgreSQL databases to Azure SQL Database for PostgreSQL

About This Course

This course is designed to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of database concepts within a cloud environment, foundational skills in cloud data services, and essential knowledge of Microsoft Azure's cloud data services. Participants will learn to identify and describe core data concepts such as relational, non-relational, big data, and analytics, and explore how these technologies are implemented using Microsoft Azure. They will delve into the roles, tasks, and responsibilities within the data field. The course covers relational data offerings, including provisioning and deploying relational databases and querying relational data through cloud solutions with Microsoft Azure. It also explores non-relational data offerings, such as provisioning and deploying non-relational databases and data stores with Microsoft Azure. Participants will gain insights into processing options available for building data analytics solutions in Azure, including Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Databricks, and Azure HDInsight. Additionally, they will learn about Power BI, its components, and how these elements work together to enhance data visualization and analysis.

Audience Profile

This course is tailored for individuals who seek to gain a foundational understanding of database concepts in a cloud environment, acquire basic skills in cloud data services, and build their knowledge of Microsoft Azure's cloud data services. It is particularly relevant for government employees and professionals looking to enhance their capabilities in managing and analyzing data within the public sector.

At Course Completion

Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:

• Describe core data concepts in Azure for government use
• Explain the principles of relational data in Azure
• Understand non-relational data concepts in Azure
• Identify components of a modern data warehouse in Azure

This instructor-led, live training in US Empire (online or onsite) is designed to assist participants in preparing for the Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) certification exam for government. The course covers the essential skills required to manage Azure resources, including Azure virtual machines, storage solutions, and network management, ensuring alignment with public sector workflows and governance.

This instructor-led, live training in US Empire (online or onsite) is designed to assist participants in preparing for the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) certification exam.

The course covers fundamental concepts of cloud computing and Azure services. It offers a thorough introduction to Azure, including its architecture, pricing and support models, and an overview of the most frequently utilized Azure services. This training is tailored to enhance the skills needed for government professionals to effectively utilize cloud technologies in their roles.

This three-day course is designed primarily for IT Professionals with experience in managing on-premises Windows Server environments. The course aims to equip professionals with the skills necessary for planning, implementing, and managing environments that incorporate Azure IaaS-hosted Windows Server-based workloads. It covers leveraging the hybrid capabilities of Azure, migrating virtual and physical server workloads to Azure IaaS, and managing and securing Azure VMs running Windows Server 2019. This training is tailored to enhance technical proficiency for government IT teams.