AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions Study Guide
Exam Overview
Certification: Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert
Exam Code: AZ-305
Target Audience: Solution architects designing cloud and hybrid solutions on Azure
Experience Required: Advanced experience in IT operations, networking, virtualization, identity, security, business continuity, disaster recovery, data platforms, and governance
Prerequisites
One of the following associate-level certifications:
Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)
Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204)
Skills Measured (as of October 18, 2024)
1. Design Identity, Governance, and Monitoring Solutions (25-30%)
Design Solutions for Logging and Monitoring
Recommend a logging solution
Recommend a solution for routing logs
Recommend a monitoring solution
Design Authentication and Authorization Solutions
Recommend an authentication solution
Recommend an identity management solution
Recommend a solution for authorizing access to Azure resources
Recommend a solution for authorizing access to on-premises resources
Recommend a solution to manage secrets, certificates, and keys
Design Governance
Recommend a structure for management groups, subscriptions, and resource groups
Recommend a strategy for resource tagging
Recommend a solution for managing compliance
Recommend a solution for identity governance
2. Design Data Storage Solutions (20-25%)
Design Data Storage Solutions for Relational Data
Recommend a solution for storing relational data
Recommend a database service tier and compute tier
Recommend a solution for database scalability
Recommend a solution for data protection
Design Data Storage Solutions for Semi-structured and Unstructured Data
Recommend a solution for storing semi-structured data
Recommend a solution for storing unstructured data
Recommend a data storage solution to balance features, performance, and costs
Recommend a data solution for protection and durability
Design Data Integration
Recommend a solution for data integration
Recommend a solution for data analysis
3. Design Business Continuity Solutions (15-20%)
Design Solutions for Backup and Disaster Recovery
Recommend a recovery solution for Azure and hybrid workloads that meets recovery objectives
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
Recommend a high availability solution for compute
Recommend a high availability solution for relational data
Recommend a high availability solution for semi-structured and unstructured data
4. Design Infrastructure Solutions (30-35%)
Design Compute Solutions
Specify components of a compute solution based on workload requirements
Recommend a virtual machine-based solution
Recommend a container-based solution
Recommend a serverless-based solution
Recommend a compute solution for batch processing
Design an Application Architecture
Recommend a messaging architecture
Recommend an event-driven architecture
Recommend a solution for API integration
Recommend a caching solution for applications
Recommend an application configuration management solution
Recommend an automated deployment solution for applications
Design Migrations
Evaluate a migration solution leveraging Microsoft Cloud Adoption Framework
Evaluate on-premises servers, data, and applications for migration
Recommend a solution for migrating workloads to IaaS and PaaS
Recommend a solution for migrating databases
Recommend a solution for migrating unstructured data
Design Network Solutions
Recommend connectivity solution connecting Azure resources to internet
Recommend connectivity solution connecting Azure resources to on-premises
Recommend a solution to optimize network performance
Recommend a solution to optimize network security
Recommend a load-balancing and routing solution
Key Study Resources
Official Microsoft Learn Paths
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions
Design business continuity solutions
Design data storage solutions
Design infrastructure solutions
Architect infrastructure operations in Azure
Reference Architecture
Azure Architecture Center
Azure Architecture Framework
Well-Architected Framework
Cloud Adoption Framework
Practice Resources
Free Practice Assessment on Microsoft Learn
Azure Architecture Center case studies
Reference architectures and design patterns
Exam Details
Passing Score: 700
Question Format: Case studies, multiple choice, drag-and-drop, hot area
Exam Duration: 120 minutes (150 minutes for non-native English speakers)
Languages Available: Multiple languages including English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Exam Cost: $165 USD (varies by region)
Preparation Tips
Recommended Study Time
4-6 months for those new to architecture role
2-3 months for experienced architects new to Azure
1-2 months for experienced Azure professionals
Key Areas to Focus On
Azure Well-Architected Framework pillars
High availability and disaster recovery patterns
Identity and access management architectures
Data platform architectures
Hybrid and multi-cloud connectivity
Migration strategies and tools
Critical Design Considerations
Identity and Security
Zero Trust architecture
Defense in depth strategy
Key Vault integration patterns
Conditional Access and PIM
Data Architecture
Data lake vs data warehouse patterns
Polybase and data integration
Database scaling strategies
Data protection and compliance
High Availability
RPO and RTO requirements
Multi-region architectures
Active-passive vs active-active patterns
Database replication strategies
Networking
Hub-spoke topology
ExpressRoute vs VPN
Azure Firewall vs third-party NVAs
Application Gateway vs Front Door
Private endpoints architecture
Migration
Cloud Adoption Framework phases
5 Rs of migration
Azure Migrate capabilities
Database migration strategies
Important Architectural Patterns
Compute Patterns
N-tier architecture
Microservices
Serverless architectures
Big compute and HPC
Web-queue-worker
Data Patterns
CQRS (Command Query Responsibility Segregation)
Event sourcing
Sharding
Cache-aside pattern
Materialized view pattern
Reliability Patterns
Retry pattern
Circuit breaker
Bulkhead isolation
Compensating transaction
Health endpoint monitoring
Security Patterns
Federated identity
Gatekeeper
Valet key pattern
Throttling
Queue-based load leveling
Case Study Approach
Read requirements thoroughly
Identify technical and business constraints
Consider cost optimization
Design for scalability and growth
Document assumptions
Validate against Well-Architected Framework
Certification Path
Prerequisites: AZ-104 or AZ-204 required
Renewal: Required every 12 months through Microsoft Learn