Candidates for this exam should have subject matter expertise in designing and implementing solutions that run on Microsoft Azure, including aspects like compute, network, storage, and security. Candidates should have intermediate-level skills for administering Azure. Candidates should understand Azure development and DevOps processes.

Responsibilities for an Azure Solution Architect include advising stakeholders and translating business requirements into secure, scalable, and reliable cloud solutions.

An Azure Solution Architect partners with cloud administrators, cloud DBAs, and clients to implement solutions.

A candidate for this exam should have advanced experience and knowledge of IT operations, including networking, virtualization, identity, security, business continuity, disaster recovery, data platform, budgeting, and governance–this role should manage how decisions in each area affect an overall solution. In addition, this role should have expert-level skills in Azure administration and have experience with Azure development and DevOps processes.

Suppose you're the network architect at a regional healthcare provider. The organization has migrated much of its infrastructure to Azure. You'd like to connect your datacenter and larger regional facilities to Azure. You need secure connectivity so that patient health information is protected while it's crossing the network. You don't currently have the bandwidth requirements for a dedicated circuit, and you're looking for a way to integrate these networks in a cost-effective way.

The virtual private network (VPN) gateway options in Azure can help your company meet these connectivity requirements. You'll see how this is done by creating and testing VPNs to securely connect sites to Azure.