What Azure concepts should I put on flashcards?
Azure certification flashcards should prioritize storage tier distinctions (Hot, Cool, Cold, Archive with access costs and minimum storage days), VM series and their use cases (B-series burstable, D-series general purpose, N-series GPU), NSG rule processing order, RBAC role capabilities (Owner vs Contributor vs Reader), load balancer vs Application Gateway distinctions, and Azure AD / Entra ID concepts. These are the most commonly missed comparison questions on AZ-900, AZ-104, and AZ-305 exams.
Azure certification exams -- particularly AZ-900 and AZ-104 -- have a distinctive challenge: Microsoft offers overlapping services that serve similar but not identical purposes. Candidates who cannot instantly distinguish Azure Blob Storage from Azure Files from Azure Disk Storage, or Azure Load Balancer from Azure Application Gateway, miss several questions per exam.
Flashcards are the most effective tool for building this instant-recall distinction capability.
High-Priority Azure Flashcard Content
Storage Service Distinctions (AZ-900 and AZ-104)
Create comparison cards for each storage type:
Card: "When to use Azure Blob Storage" Answer: Unstructured object data (images, documents, backups, logs). Accessed via REST API. Three access tiers: Hot, Cool, Archive. Scalable to petabytes.
Card: "When to use Azure Files" Answer: Managed SMB or NFS file shares. Accessible from multiple VMs simultaneously. Replaces on-premises file servers. Supports Active Directory authentication.
Card: "When to use Azure Disk Storage" Answer: Persistent storage attached to a single VM. Like a virtual hard drive. Managed or unmanaged. Types: Standard HDD, Standard SSD, Premium SSD, Ultra Disk.
Card: "When to use Azure Queue Storage" Answer: Message queuing between application components. Decouples producers from consumers. Supports up to 64KB per message. Part of Azure Storage Account.
Blob Access Tier cards (one per tier):
| Tier | Card Front | Card Back |
|---|---|---|
| Hot | "Azure Blob Hot tier" | "Highest storage cost, lowest access cost. No minimum retention. Frequently accessed data." |
| Cool | "Azure Blob Cool tier" | "Lower storage cost, higher access cost. 30-day minimum retention. Infrequently accessed." |
| Cold | "Azure Blob Cold tier" | "Lower still storage cost. 90-day minimum retention. Rarely accessed data." |
| Archive | "Azure Blob Archive tier" | "Lowest storage cost, highest access cost. 180-day minimum. Offline storage; rehydration takes hours." |
Compute Service Distinctions (AZ-104)
VM Series cards:
| Card Front | Card Back |
|---|---|
| "Azure B-series VMs" | "Burstable VMs. Ideal for variable workloads (dev/test, small web servers). Earn and spend CPU credits." |
| "Azure D-series VMs" | "General purpose. Balanced CPU/memory. Most common production VM type." |
| "Azure E-series VMs" | "Memory-optimized. High memory-to-CPU ratio. SAP HANA, large databases, in-memory caching." |
| "Azure F-series VMs" | "Compute-optimized. High CPU-to-memory ratio. Gaming servers, batch processing." |
| "Azure N-series VMs" | "GPU VMs. Machine learning training, rendering, video processing." |
| "Azure M-series VMs" | "Very large memory. Up to 128+ vCPUs and TBs of RAM. SAP HANA production." |
Availability and SLA cards:
| Card Front | Card Back |
|---|---|
| "Single VM with Premium SSD SLA" | "99.9% SLA. Not HA; single point of failure." |
| "Availability Set SLA" | "99.95% SLA. Protects against hardware failure in same rack." |
| "Availability Zones SLA" | "99.99% SLA. Protects against entire datacenter failure within a region." |
Networking Distinctions (AZ-104)
Load balancer comparison card:
Card Front: "Azure Load Balancer vs Application Gateway: when to use each?"
Card Back:
- Load Balancer: Layer 4 (TCP/UDP). For non-HTTP workloads or simple VM load balancing. No content routing.
- Application Gateway: Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS). For web apps. Supports URL-path routing, SSL termination, WAF, cookie-based affinity.
NSG and Azure Firewall card:
Card Front: "NSG vs Azure Firewall" Card Back:
- NSG: Basic stateful packet filtering for subnets or NICs. Free.
- Azure Firewall: Fully managed stateful firewall service. Supports FQDN filtering, threat intelligence, centralized policy. Premium service with cost.
Identity and Governance Distinctions (AZ-104)
RBAC roles comparison (high-exam-impact):
| Card Front | Card Back |
|---|---|
| "Azure Owner role" | "Full access + can grant access to others. Can manage resources and role assignments." |
| "Azure Contributor role" | "Full access to create/manage resources. Cannot grant access to others." |
| "Azure Reader role" | "View resources but cannot create, modify, or delete." |
| "User Access Administrator role" | "Can manage role assignments only. Cannot manage resources." |
Azure Policy vs RBAC card:
- Front: "Azure Policy vs RBAC: what each controls"
- Back: "RBAC controls what USERS can do (permissions). Azure Policy controls what RESOURCES can be created (compliance standards)."
AZ-900 vs AZ-104 Flashcard Differences
| Content Area | AZ-900 Deck | AZ-104 Deck |
|---|---|---|
| Service definitions | Conceptual (what each service is) | Technical (how to configure each service) |
| Storage tiers | Access patterns and use cases | Configuration commands, lifecycle policies |
| Networking | Basic VNet and NSG concepts | NSG rule processing, routing tables, peering |
| Identity | AAD user, group, role concepts | RBAC assignment, conditional access, MFA setup |
| Monitoring | Basic Azure Monitor concepts | KQL queries, alert rules, diagnostic settings |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Azure flashcards do I need for AZ-900 vs AZ-104? AZ-900 requires fewer, broader cards -- approximately 150-250 cards covering conceptual service definitions, cloud concepts, and pricing models. AZ-104 requires 400-600 deeper technical cards covering configuration, troubleshooting, and service distinctions at an administrative level.
Should Azure flashcards include Azure CLI commands? For AZ-104, include 20-30 cards covering key Azure CLI command patterns (az vm create, az group create, az network vnet create with key parameters). AZ-104 occasionally includes CLI snippets in scenario questions. For AZ-900, CLI commands are not exam content.
How do I keep Azure flashcards current when Microsoft updates services? Review your deck against the official exam objectives PDF monthly during active preparation. When Microsoft announces exam updates on learn.microsoft.com, review the changelog and update corresponding cards. Delete cards for retired services or significantly changed features.
References
- Microsoft. (2024). Azure storage documentation. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/
- Microsoft. (2024). AZ-104 exam objectives. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/azure-administrator/
- Microsoft. (2024). Azure virtual machine types. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/sizes
- Microsoft. (2024). Azure RBAC documentation. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/role-based-access-control/
- Miles, S. (2021). Microsoft Azure Administrator Study Guide: Exam AZ-104. Sybex/Wiley.
- AnkiWeb. (2024). Microsoft Azure shared Anki decks. https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/