Now that AZ-302 has officially been retired, there is only one route to earn your Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert certification. That route is to sit and pass both the AZ-300 and the AZ-301 exams. Currently this is arguably the most difficult exam certification path as it is one of only two Expert level certifications for Azure. This post will cover AZ-300, here is what Microsoft have to say about it:

This exam measures your ability to accomplish the following technical tasks: deploy and configure infrastructure; implement workloads and security; create and deploy apps; implement authentication and secure data; and develop for the cloud and Azure storage.

Below I’ve put together a collection of links relevant to the sections highlighted as being part of the skills measured for this exam. As always, these are only guide links, sometimes you need to explore a topic much more deeply if you are not familiar with it. Hopefully these study materials will help guide you to successfully passing AZ-300!

If you spot something, or have a better link for a topic, get in touch! I will update this post as regularly as possible and always appreciate any feedback.

A good place to start is Microsoft Learn. there are several interactive learning paths that are free that you can work through at your own pace. I find this a great way to study and gain greater understanding of the services by actually using them.

Deploy and configure infrastructure

Analyze resource utilization and consumption

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/platform/diagnostics-extension-overview
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/platform/usage-estimated-costs
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/platform/alerts-overview
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/platform/data-platform-metrics
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/platform/action-groups
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/billing/billing-getting-started
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/log-query/get-started-queries
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/platform/alerts-unified-log

Create and configure storage accounts

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-network-security
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-account-overview
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-configure-connection-string
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/vs-azure-tools-storage-manage-with-storage-explorer
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-access-blobs-queues-portal
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-redundancy

Create and configure a Virtual Machine (VM) for Windows and Linux

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/tutorial-manage-vm (All tutorials)

Automate deployment of Virtual Machines (VMs)

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/resource-group-authoring-templates
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/ps-template

Implement solutions that use virtual machines (VM)

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/encrypt-disks
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/download-template

Create connectivity between virtual networks

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-peering-overview
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/vpn-gateway/vpn-gateway-howto-vnet-vnet-resource-manager-portal
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/network-watcher/network-watcher-monitoring-overview
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/vpn-gateway/vpn-gateway-about-vpngateways

Implement and manage virtual networking

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-networks-udr-overview
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-for-azure-services
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-ip-addresses-overview-arm
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-vnet-plan-design-arm

Manage Azure Active Directory (AD)

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/fundamentals/add-custom-domain
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/identity-protection/overview
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/devices/concept-azure-ad-join
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/authentication/concept-sspr-howitworks
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/conditional-access/overview
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/governance/access-reviews-overview

Implement and manage hybrid identities

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/hybrid/whatis-azure-ad-connect
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/azure-ad-choose-authn
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/hybrid/how-to-connect-device-writeback (All sections)

Implement workloads and security

Migrate servers to Azure

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/migrate-overview
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/tutorial-prepare-azure (All sections)

Configure serverless computing

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/logic-apps/manage-logic-apps-with-visual-studio
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/functions-how-to-use-azure-function-app-settings
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/event-grid/post-to-custom-topic (All sections)
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/service-bus-messaging/service-bus-manage-with-ps (All sections)

Implement application load balancing

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/application-gateway/overview
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/application-gateway/configuration-overview

Integrate on-premises network with Azure virtual network

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/vpn-gateway/create-routebased-vpn-gateway-portal
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/vpn-gateway/vpn-gateway-howto-site-to-site-resource-manager-portal
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/expressroute/expressroute-circuit-peerings
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/vpn-gateway/vpn-gateway-verify-connection-resource-manager

Manage role-based access control (RBAC)

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/role-based-access-control/custom-roles
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/role-based-access-control/role-assignments-portal
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/role-based-access-control/troubleshooting
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/role-based-access-control/role-definitions

Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/authentication/concept-mfa-howitworks
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/authentication/howto-mfa-mfasettings

Create and deploy apps

Create web apps by using PaaS

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-in/azure/app-service/app-service-web-get-started-dotnet
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/api-management/api-management-key-concepts
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-in/azure/app-service/app-service-web-get-started-windows-container
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-in/azure/app-service/webjobs-create
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-in/azure/app-service/overview-diagnostics

Design and develop apps that run in containers

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/containers/tutorial-custom-docker-image
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-in/azure/aks/tutorial-kubernetes-prepare-app (All sections)
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-in/azure/container-registry/container-registry-tutorial-quick-task (All sections)
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/container-instances/container-instances-quickstart-portal

Implement authentication and secure data

Implement authentication

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/develop/authentication-scenarios (All sections)
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/managed-identities-azure-resources/overview

Implement secure data solutions

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/security-azure-encryption-overview (All sections)
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-always-encrypted-azure-key-vault
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/key-vault/authentication-requests-and-responses

Develop for the cloud and for Azure storage

Develop solutions that use Cosmos DB storage

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/cassandra-introduction (All sections)
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/partitioning-overview
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/consistency-levels

Develop solutions that use a relational database

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-paas-vs-sql-server-iaas
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-elastic-pool
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-connect-query-vscode

Configure a message-based integration architecture

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/event-grid/monitor-virtual-machine-changes-event-grid-logic-app
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/service-bus-relay/relay-what-is-it
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/notification-hubs/notification-hubs-push-notification-overview

Develop for autoscaling

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/platform/autoscale-overview
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/best-practices/transient-faults