Azure Developer Associate - D306

IaaS

Infrastructure as a Service model provides more granular control but requires maintenance and budget for support infrastructure.

PaaS

Platform as a Service model reduces infrastructure requirements, allowing focus solely on the code, but offers less control.

VMs

Virtual Machines are used when requiring more control over application elements, involving management of OS-related admin tasks like upgrades and patches.

Azure Portal

Web-based interface for managing Azure services, allowing users to create, monitor, and manage resources.

Resource Group

A logical container for grouping Azure resources that share the same lifecycle, permissions, and policies.

ARM Templates

Azure Resource Manager Templates are JSON files used to define the resources needed for an application deployment in a consistent structure.

ContentVersion

An internal version number in ARM Templates that changes if there are significant alterations to the template.

Parameters

Elements in ARM Templates that allow setting values provided to the Resource Manager for deployment.

Variables

In ARM Templates, variables improve readability and usability by storing values for reuse throughout the template.

Functions

In ARM Templates, functions are optional elements that improve code readability, usability, and debugging.

Outputs

Optional elements in ARM Templates that define values the Resource Manager should return after deployment.

dependsOn Element

In ARM Templates, specifies dependencies for the resource type, ensuring resources are deployed in the correct order.

Azure Cloud Shell

Browser-accessible shell for managing Azure resources, providing a command-line interface with built-in tools.

Azure CLI

Command-line interface for managing Azure resources, allowing users to script operations using commands in the terminal.

REST API

Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface allows interaction with Azure services over HTTP.

Resource Provider

In ARM Templates, a service that offers specific Azure resources, such as Microsoft.Compute for VM resources.

Resource Manager

Azure service for managing and organizing resources, enabling consistent deployment and management through ARM Templates.

Resource

In Azure, a manageable item that is provisioned or updated through Azure Resource Manager.

Resource Group Deployment

Type of deployment in ARM Templates that targets resources within a specific resource group.

Subscription Deployment

Type of deployment in ARM Templates that targets resources within an Azure subscription.

Child Elements vs Dependencies

In ARM Templates, child elements and dependencies are not the same; dependencies are defined using the dependsOn element to ensure correct deployment order.

Public IP

Internet Protocol address that can be accessed over the public internet, available as static or dynamic.

NSG

Network Security Group in Azure that acts as a virtual firewall to control inbound and outbound traffic to Azure resources.

container

piece of software that groups code and dependencies into a single package that can be run from the computer environment

Docker Containers

most widely used container technology

orchestration solutions for automatically scaling/deploying containers

Docker Swarm, DC/OS, Kubernetes

container image

package containing code, libraries, environment variables, and configuration files needed to run applications

Docker Compose

used to define and run multiple containers

ACR

Azure Container Registry - Microsoft's implementation of a Docker registry service

Azure App Service

PaaS solution based on HTTP assisting with developing apps, mobile application back-end, and REST APIs

Azure App Service plan

requires providing region of deployment, number and size of instances, and OS platform (Windows/Linux)

VNet Integration

allows integration with virtual network, available only with Standard, Premium, Premium V2 pricing tiers

Hybrid connections

depends on Azure Service Bus Relay, enables traffic between specific TCP host/port combinations

Isolated pricing tier

offers dedicated VMs running on dedicated virtual networks

Web Server diagnostics

includes Detailed error logging, Failed Request tracing, and Web Server logging

Application Diagnostics

sending log messages from code to log system

Deployment Diagnostics

automatically enabled for troubleshooting during deployment process

deployment slots

require Standard pricing tier or better, each with its own host name settings

Kudu

platform responsible for Git deployments in Azure App Service

ARM templates

used for deploying resources consistently and repeatedly

Application Settings

configure environment variables passed to your code

Connection Strings

configure connection strings for the database your code relies on

Stack Settings

options include .NET, .NET Core, Java, PHP, Python

Platform Settings

configures platform, managed pipeline version, FTP state, HTTP version, Web Sockets, Always On, ARR Affinity

Debugging

enables remote debugging options, automatically turns off after 48 hours

Default Documents

configures which web page is displayed at root URL

Path Mappings

depend on OS selection

Handler Mapping

custom script processors for different file extensions

Virtual Applications and Directories

for adding to your App Service

Implement autoscaling rules

automatically adding/removing resources based on defined rules

Vertically scaling

scaling up/down by adding more computing power, requires stopping the system while VM is resizing

Azure Cloud Services

Has built-in autoscaling capabilities.

Profile condition

Defines the rule for adding or removing resources and can set default, max, and min allowed instances.

Binding

Uses Azure Functions to connect functions to external resources without hard-coding connections.

Triggers

Events that cause a function to execute.

CRON expression

A string compound of six fields specifying a schedule for triggers, including seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and days of the week.

Range of values

Used in CRON expressions to specify a range of values for a trigger.

Interval of values

Used in CRON expressions to specify when a function is executed based on the divisibility of a field value.

TimeSpan expressions

Strings with format hh:mm:ss used to configure schedules for triggers.

Webhooks

Used to run functions based on HTTP requests or external webhooks.

HTTPTrigger parameter attribute

Configures authorization key, methods, route, and WebHookType for accessing functions via HTTP triggers.

WebHookType

Specifies the type of webhook trigger, such as genericJson, GitHub, Slack, or webhook.

Application Insight integration

Enables viewing log messages from functions by integrating with Application Insights.

Azure Functions Version

Differentiates between versions 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, with compatibility and development platform distinctions.

Admin endpoints

Automatically exposed by deployed Azure Function Apps for programmatically accessing app aspects, protected by access codes or authentication keys.

host key

Authorization key shared by all functions deployed in a Function App; allows access to any function in the host

function key

Authorization key that only protects the functions where they are defined; takes precedence over host key when they have the same name

_master

A particular host key used when needing access to admin endpoints and setting the admin value to the AuthLevel trigger configuration parameter

Azure Functions

Stateless functions where the state of created objects during function execution is not maintained if the virtual machine is recycled or rebooted

Azure Durable Functions

An extension of Azure Functions providing stateful workflow capabilities in a serverless environment, easing the implementation of complex stateful coordination requirements

Chaining

The process of one function calling other functions in a sequence

Orchestrator

In Durable Functions, defines the actions of the workflow; each instance has an instance identifier that can be created manually or generated dynamically

Client

The entry point of a workflow that creates instances of orchestrator functions by sending an orchestrator trigger

Orchestration Trigger

A trigger used in Durable Functions that is single-threaded and focuses on calling activity functions in the correct order

Activity Trigger

A trigger used in Durable Functions for writing activity functions, allowing communication between orchestration and activity functions; multi-threaded with no restrictions on threading or I/O operations

Patterns for showing how orchestration and activity functions interact

Include Chaining, Fan out/fan in, Async HTTP APIs, Monitor, Human Interaction, and Aggregator

Binding mechanism

Mechanism in Durable Functions to pass information between different functions in the workflow

Cosmos DB

premium storage service that provides a globally-distributed, low-latency, highly responsive, and always-online database service

Key-Value

approach for storing data in Cosmos DB

Column-Family

approach for storing data in Cosmos DB

Documents

approach for storing data in Cosmos DB

Graph

approach for storing data in Cosmos DB

SQL

the core and default API for accessing data in a Cosmos DB account; allows querying of JSON objects with SQL syntax

Table

evolution of the Azure Table Storage service; allows defining indexes in tables and storing information based on documents

Cassandra

column-based database that stores information using a key-value approach; Cosmos DB implements the wire protocol for Apache Cassandra

MongoDB

NoSQL database that allows storing application information in a document-based structure; Cosmos DB implements the wire protocol compatible with MongoDB 3.2

Gremlin

API based on the Apache TinkerPop graph traversal language; allows storing information in Cosmos DB with a graph structure

Vertices

entities in a graph structure stored in Cosmos DB

Edges

relationships between vertices in a graph structure stored in Cosmos DB

Properties

attributes assignable to vertices or edges in a graph structure stored in Cosmos DB

Logical partitions

divisions based on user-defined criteria in Cosmos DB; all items share the same partition key

Partition keys

immutable keys used for partitioning data in Cosmos DB; critical for distributing data across logical partitions

Hot partition

occurs when the partition key in Cosmos DB is not specific enough, leading to most requests and reaching throughput/storage limits

Synthetic partition key

a key compound of two concatenated properties used for partitioning data in Cosmos DB

Physical partitions

group of replicas of data physically stored on servers in Cosmos DB; automatically managed by Azure

SDKs

software development kits offered by Azure for working with different APIs to connect to Cosmos DB

Consistency level

configurable level in Cosmos DB for data replication across regions; affects the consistency of data

Strong consistency

level in Cosmos DB where read operations are guaranteed to return the latest committed write, offering a linearizability guarantee

Bounded Staleness

level in Cosmos DB where reads are guaranteed consistent within a preconfigured lag

Lag

Can consist of K (number of most recent versions) and T (a time interval)