Get Ready: Exam 70-534 Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions

I recently passed the 70-534 Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions exam, and I want to share with you tips about the exam and the resources I used to study:

Should you take the exam?

If you are a Solutions or Software Architect looking to validate your Microsoft Azure skills then this exam is for you. Also note that Microsoft expects you to:

Know the features and capabilities of Azure services to be able to design cloud solutions.

Be able to define the appropriate infrastructure and platform solutions to meet the required functional, operational and deployment requirements through the solution life cycle.

Skills measured:

Design Microsoft Azure infrastructure and networking (15-20%)

Secure resources (15-20%)

Design an application storage and data access strategy (15-20%)

Design an advanced application (15-20%)

Design websites (15-20%)

Design a management, monitoring, and business continuity strategy (15-20%)

Books:

Exam Ref 70-534 Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions as all Exam Ref books it’s an important resource for studying but it’s not a complete Training Guide so reading and practicing with other resources is important.

Microsoft Azure Essentials: Fundamentals of Azure a book you can find in the Microsoft Virtual Academy along with many other free e-books

Courses:

The Microsoft Virtual Academy is a place filled with great training material and best of all it’s free! Here is the list of courses I completed before the exam:

Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions

Get Started with Windows Azure Today Jump Start

The Microsoft Hybrid Cloud: Best Practices Guidance

Microsoft Azure IaaS Deep Dive Jump Start

Establish Microsoft Azure IaaS Technical Fundamentals

Practice tests:

Just like for any certification exam, studying with practice tests is key to success.

MesureUp 70-534 Practice Test: contains 150 questions and I really like the new online format!

Hands On:

Be sure to get some hands on experience!

For instance I can tell you that I’m not a great Powershell fan so I had to open the console and start playing and trying the commands in order to learn and understand them.

Coming from the Dev side of the world I really took time to play with Virtual Networks, ACL‘s and NSG‘s

Hope it helps!