Candidates for the Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification should have subject matter expertise in designing cloud and hybrid solutions that run on Microsoft Azure, including compute, network, storage, monitoring, and security. Responsibilities for this role include advising stakeholders and translating business requirements into designs for secure, scalable, and reliable Azure solutions. An Azure Solutions Architect partners with developers, administrators, and other roles responsible for implementing solutions on Azure. A candidate for this certification should have advanced experience and knowledge of IT operations, including networking, virtualization, identity, security, business continuity, disaster recovery, data platforms, and governance. A professional in this role should manage how decisions in each area affect an overall solution. In addition, they should have experience in Azure administration, Azure development, and DevOps processes.
Skills Measured
Design Identity, Governance, and Monitoring Solutions (25-30%)
Design a solution for logging and monitoring
design a log routing solution
recommend an appropriate level of logging
recommend monitoring tools for a solution
Design authentication and authorization solutions
recommend a solution for securing resources with role-based access control
recommend an identity management solution
recommend a solution for securing identities
Design governance
Design identities and access for applications
recommend solutions to allow applications to access Azure resources
recommend a solution that securely stores passwords and secrets recommend a solution for integrating applications into Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
recommend a user consent solution for applications
Design Data Storage Solutions (25-30%)
Design a data storage solution for relational data
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
Design data integration
Recommend a data storage solution
recommend a solution for storing relational data
recommend a solution for storing semi-structured data
recommend a solution for storing non-relational data
Design a data storage solution for non-relational data
recommend access control solutions to data storage
recommend a data storage solution to balance features, performance, and cost
design a data solution for protection and durability
Design Business Continuity Solutions (10-15%)
Design a solution for backup and disaster recovery
recommend a recovery solution for Azure, hybrid, and on-premises workloads that meets recovery objectives (Recovery Time Objective [RTO], Recovery Level Objective [RLO], Recovery Point Objective [RPO])
understand the recovery solutions for containers
recommend a backup and recovery solution for compute
recommend a backup and recovery solution for databases
recommend a backup and recovery solution for unstructured data
Design for high availability
identify the availability requirements of Azure resources
recommend a high availability solution for compute
recommend a high availability solution for non-relational data storage
recommend a high availability solution for relational data storage
Design Infrastructure Solutions (25-30%)
Design a compute solution
recommend a virtual machine-based compute solution
recommend an appropriately sized compute solution based on workload requirements
recommend a container-based compute solution
recommend a serverless-based compute solution
Design an application architecture
recommend a caching solution for applications
recommend a messaging architecture
recommend an event-driven architecture
recommend an automated deployment solution for your applications
recommend an application configuration management solution
recommend a solution for API integration
Design migrations
evaluate a migration solution that leverages the Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure
assess and interpret on-premises servers, data, and applications for migration
recommend a solution for migrating applications and virtual machines
recommend a solution for migrating databases
recommend a solution for migrating unstructured data
Design network solutions
recommend a network architecture solution based on workload requirements
recommend a connectivity solution that connects Azure resources to the internet
recommend a connectivity solution that connects Azure resources to on-premises networks
optimize network performance for applications
recommend a solution to optimize network security
recommend a load balancing and routing solution
