35 Azure Interview Questions and Answers You Must Prepare

With over 98% of organizations utilizing the cloud in diverse ways, cloud jobs, such as Azure Administrator, Developer, Solution Architect, and others, are rising in demand. Currently, you will find over 21,000 Azure-related jobs listed on Glassdoor. Thus, it indicates that cloud expertise, especially in Microsoft Azure, is a coveted skill.

Stepping forward into cloud-based interviews like Azure necessarily requires practicing interview questions thoroughly. To assist you, here are Azure interview questions for beginner, intermediate, and experienced-level candidates.

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Microsoft Azure Overview 

Azure from Microsoft is a cloud platform for building, deploying, and managing business solutions. It is a cost- and time-efficient solution that facilitates the simultaneous management of cloud and on-premise infrastructure through a hybrid cloud environment. This cloud computing platform allows computation, analysis, storage, and networking through an array of services and solutions. 

Beginner Microsoft Azure Interview Questions

The Azure interview questions and answers around fundamental topics for beginner-level candidates are as follows:

1. What is Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform offering over 200 products and services across 60+ regions. It promises top-notch security. Due to its scalability and cost-effectiveness, Azure meets the business needs of small, medium, and enterprise-scale businesses.

2. How does Azure differ from traditional on-premises IT infrastructure?

Azure has certain perks. It differs from traditional on-premises IT infrastructure by offering ease of scalability, high availability, and less downtime compared to conventional solutions. It also provides rapid deployment. Moreover, it comes with a pay-as-you-go model. Azure is adaptable and has built-in redundancy with disaster recovery features.

3. What are the core services provided by Microsoft Azure?

Azure offers four categories of services: computing, storage, networking, and database. 

• Azure computing services offer computing power for networking, memory, operating systems, and similar processes. The services include Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Azure App Service
• Azure storage services, such as disk storage and data objects, are scalable and available on demand. The services include Azure Files, Azure Tables, Azure Blobs, and others
• Azure networking services enable connectivity through virtual WANs, VNETs, Virtual Network NAT Gateway, and other services
• Azure database services offer both relational and non-relational databases through services such as Azure Cosmos DB, SQL Database, and Azure Databricks, among others

4. What is an Azure Virtual Machine (VM)?

Azure Virtual Machine is an on-demand computing service provided by Azure. It is scalable and preferred due to better control over the computing environment. VM also offers the flexibility to choose and shut down virtual machines as needed. Uses include application development, testing, and networking within the organization.

5. What is an Azure Resource Group?

An Azure Resource Group is the container for managing and modifying related resources in an Azure solution. A resource group can include multiple resources that share a common lifecycle, such as deployment, updates, and deletion. At the same time, many resources can be moved between resource groups; not all support this operation.

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6. What is the Azure Virtual Network (VNet)?

Azure Virtual Network is the core networking service. It provides the basic building blocks to develop a private network in Azure. VNet allows connections between databases or Azure resources, such as virtual machines, the Internet, and companies' on-premises networks. It also filters and routes network traffic and integrates with Azure services for private access.

7. What is Azure Active Directory (AAD)?

Azure Active Directory (AAD) is now called Microsoft Entra ID. It is an Identity and Access Management solution from Azure that helps safeguard and manage the organization. It offers a user-friendly experience with high security, further achieved through strong authentication and risk-based conditional access policies. The services encompass app integrations, single sign-on (SSO), multifactor authentication, privileged identity management, and end-user self-service. 

8. What is Azure App Service?

Azure App Service is the application hosting platform for web apps, REST APIs, and mobile backends. It is an HTTP-based service that supports app development in various languages, such as .NET Core, .NET, Java, Python, Node.js or PHP. 

Azure App Service-based applications run and scale easily on widely used operating systems, such as Windows and Linux. They also allow containerization, Docker, integration with DevOps workflows, SaaS platform integration, and much more. 

9. What are Azure Functions?

Azure Functions is a serverless solution that simplifies app building. They enable app development with minimal infrastructure, reduced code, and a cost-effective approach. The cloud infrastructure further facilitates app deployment and server maintenance. Azure Functions are commonly used during file uploads, to run AI inference, to build serverless workflows, to respond to database changes, and more. 

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10. What is Azure Key Vault?

Azure Key Vault is a cloud service that allows storage and access to sensitive data. Commonly safeguarded data includes API keys, certificates, passwords, or cryptographic keys. The service offers users two types of containers: vaults and managed hardware security modules (HSMs). While vaults support a variety of storage software, sensitive information (secrets), and certificates, both types of containers support HSM-backed keys.

11. How does Azure Scaling work?

Azure Scaling is possible with the autoscaling feature, allowing automatic resource scaling. The feature encourages both addition and removal based on application load. Autoscaling deletes resources during low load to achieve cost efficiency and vice versa; addition is further possible according to queue length, CPU usage, schedule, and available memory. 

12. What are the different types of scaling options?

Azure autoscaling enables both horizontal and predictive autoscaling. Horizontal autoscaling, or scaling in and out, increases or decreases the number of resources. Predictive autoscaling using Machine Learning allows increasing and managing virtual machine scale sets with cyclical workload patterns. Autoscaling is typically horizontal, but manual vertical scaling is possible. Moreover, the vertical scaling does not influence the resources but increases the capacity. It is limited based on hardware size. 

13. How does Azure's load balancing work?

Load balancing in an Azure load balancer involves distributing incoming network traffic across backend pool instances, such as virtual machine scale sets (VMSS) or virtual machines (VMs). The solution operates at layer four and distributes inbound flow from the front end to the mentioned backend pool instances according to load balancing rules and health probes. Organizations can use a public or private load balancer, depending on their networking and application requirements. 

14. What are the different types of load balancers available?

The different types of Azure load balancers or load balancing services available are: 

• Azure Front Door offers a global load-balancing and site-acceleration service 
• Traffic manager offers traffic distribution across global Azure regions 
• Application Gateway offers layer seven load balancing capabilities and a web application firewall. 
• Load balancer is an ultra-low latency and high-performance service for all TCP and UDP protocols. 

15. How does Azure Monitor help in managing cloud resources?

Azure Monitor allows cloud resource management through data collection, analysis, and responses to cloud and on-premises data. It offers insights into application performance and issue identification and allows the generation of programmed responses to system events. Azure Monitor integrates with other Microsoft and non-Microsoft tools.

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Intermediate Microsoft Azure Interview Questions

The following are Azure cloud interview questions for a more in-depth assessment:

16. What are the differences between Azure Virtual Network and Azure VPN Gateway?

Azure VNet peering connects Azure virtual networks both within the same Azure region and across global Azure regions. VPN Gateway is a virtual network gateway that enables secure communication between an Azure VNet and an on-premises network. VNet peering provides a low-latency, high-bandwidth connection. 

It offers high security as it does not involve the public internet but Azure’s private backbone network. VPN Gateways offer encrypted connections over the public internet. They typically have lower bandwidth compared to VNet peering.

17. How does Azure Networking work regarding VNET peering and subnetting?

VNet peering enables the connection of Azure virtual networks using Microsoft's backbone infrastructure, providing low latency, high bandwidth, and secure communication. There are two types of VNet peering: Virtual Network Peering for connectivity within the same Azure region and Global VNet Peering for connectivity across multiple Azure regions. 

Subnetting allows the division of a virtual network into smaller, manageable segments for better resource isolation and traffic control. 

18. How does Azure Key Vault manage secrets, and what are the use cases?

The secrets in Azure Key Vault include sensitive data such as passwords, cryptographic keys, and other confidential information. It manages secrets by storing them as octet sequences with a maximum size of 25k bytes each. The stored data is retrieved through a secret identifier (ID) rather than semantics. 

Moreover, highly sensitive data can be further secured by incorporating encryption and protection keys before storing them in the Key Vault. Azure Key Vault's use cases include managing secrets, keys, and certificates. It protects infrastructure development and offers a compliant solution for storing the blueprint of AI healthcare solutions.

19. What are Azure Availability Zones and Availability Sets?

Availability zones refer to the physically separate locations in an Azure region. Each zone comprises one or more data centers with independent power, cooling, and networking. They ensure the deployment of virtual machines across different data centers, thereby achieving high availability and fault tolerance. The availability zones offer a 99.99% Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Availability sets logically group two or more virtual machines across fault and update domains within a data center. They enhance application availability by offering at least one virtual machine hosted on Azure in the event of downtime, which is the reason behind the 99.95% SLA.

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20. What are the steps to configure an Azure SQL Database?

Configuring the Azure SQL database requires creating one first and then setting up the connections. Here is how to go:

• Head to the Azure SQL page and then reach the SQL deployment option page 
• Choose a single database in ‘Resource type’ and click on ‘Create’
• Proceed to ‘Project details,’ then ‘Basics tab,’ and choose the desired Azure subscription
• For the Resource group, choose ‘Create new’ followed by entering the desired name, and click on ‘OK’
• Enter the desired database name accordingly
• To generate a server, click ‘Create new’ and fill in the ‘New server’ form. It will require details such as server name, location, authentication method, server admin login, and password, and finalize them by selecting ‘OK’
• Set ‘Want to use SQL elastic pool’ to ‘No’
• Opt between the development or production workload environment based on the requirements
• Head to ‘Compute + Storage’ and choose Configure database
• Set ‘Service tier’ to General Purpose (Most budget-friendly, serverless computing) and set ‘Compute tier’ to Serverless. Click on ‘Apply’
• Select the redundancy option in ‘Backup storage redundancy’
• Now, click on ‘Select Next: Networking’ at the end of the page
• Head to ‘Networking,’ then ‘Connectivity method,’ followed by ‘Public endpoint’
• Configure Firewall rules by setting ‘Add current client IP address’ to Yes and ‘Allow Azure services and resources to access this server’ to ‘No’
• Further, configure the ‘Connection policy’ by choosing the default option and setting the Minimum TLS version to the default of TLS 1.2
• Choose ‘Next: Security’ at the bottom to reach the Security configuration page
• Here, configure ledger, managed identities, and Azure SQL transparent data encryption with a customer-managed key if needed, and then proceed to click ‘Next: Additional Settings’
• Choose 'Sample' in the Data Source section to use existing data. This will create a sample database and, if desired, further configure the database collation and maintenance window
• Choose ‘Review + create,’ then review, and click ‘Create’

21. What is the difference between a Managed Disk and an Unmanaged Disk in Azure?

Unmanaged disks require users to manage account storage, performance, and capacity, whereas managed disks do this on the user's behalf. The unmanaged ones require creating a storage account in the resources to hold disks for users’ VMs. They offer a choice in disk size, while managed disks have a fixed size. 

22. What is Azure DevOps, and how does it integrate with other Azure services?

Azure DevOps is a service designed to facilitate collaboration among project managers, developers, and contributors and streamline tasks. It accelerates product quality improvement compared to traditional software development approaches and integrates with other Azure services to ensure improved production.

It does so through service hooks and service connections. The integration requires basic or token-based authentication, knowledge of APIs, data mapping, and proper network and connectivity configurations. 

23. How do you implement load balancing and auto-scaling in Azure?

Implementing load balancing and autoscaling in Azure requires following these steps: 

• Select ‘All services’ in the Azure portal, followed by the ‘Virtual Machine’ section. Once the section is opened, click on ‘Create a Virtual Machine’ 
• Select the appropriate ‘Resource group’ where you want to locate the virtual machine (ensure Availability sets are supported in resource choice) 
• Now, click on ‘Browse OS image’ and choose the appropriate OS based on business logic 
• Select ‘Availability’ followed by choosing the ‘Availability set’ from the option list 
• Now, a new field labeled 'Availability' will be added to the screen. Click on ‘Create new’ to select a maximum of 3 fault domains and a maximum of 20 update domains
• Go to the search bar, type ‘Load Balancer,’ and click on the result. Once the screen is open, choose ‘Create load balancer’ 
• Fill in the name and select its type, subscription, and resource group. Locate the ‘Load balancer’ in the region of resources. Click ‘Create’
• Select the load balancer and click on ‘Backend pools’
• Now, choose the resource and the targeted virtual machine to be placed behind the load balancer
• Perform the health check of the load balancer to identify working resources
• For this, select the port, time interval, and unhealthy threshold for evaluation
• Now, apply rules on the ladder by choosing the public app address, port, backend pool, and health probe
• Set the ‘Session persistence’ to none

The implementation of load balancing and auto-scaling in Azure is now complete. 

24. What is the Text Analysis API in Azure Machine Learning?

Text Analytics is an Azure AI service that analyzes unstructured text on Azure Synapse Analytics. It will enable text mining and analysis via the use of NLP features. The service also eliminates the need to develop and train NLP models. The service can detect semantic labels, language or entity identification, extraction of key phrases, identification, and redaction of sensitive entities in the provided text.

25. What kind of storage is best suited to handle unstructured data?

Among the multiple Azure storage services, such as Table, Blob, Queue, and File, Azure Blob Storage is the option for keeping unstructured data. It allows access from anywhere and can store a variety of file types. Due to the abovementioned reasons, it is also preferred over conventional relational databases. The access protocol here is HTTP/HTTPS, and the platform integrates with Azure Data Lake.

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Experienced Microsoft Azure Interview Questions

The Azure interview questions and answers for experienced candidates with practical aspects are as follows:

26. How would you set up and manage a multi-region deployment in Azure for high availability?

Setting up and managing a multi-region deployment in Azure for high availability includes the following steps:

• Create two instances of a web app located in different Azure regions by using the command ‘az group create --name myresourcegroup --location eastus’
• Develop the App Service plans using the command ‘az appservice plan create --name <app-service-plan-east-us> --resource-group myresourcegroup --is-linux --location eastus

az appservice plan create --name <app-service-plan-west-us> --resource-group myresourcegroup --is-linux --location westus’

• Develop web apps with the command ‘az webapp create --name <web-app-east-us> --resource-group myresourcegroup --plan <app-service-plan-east-us> --runtime <runtime>

az webapp create --name <web-app-west-us> --resource-group myresourcegroup --plan <app-service-plan-west-us> --runtime <runtime>’. Do copy the default hostname of every webapp

• Develop an Azure Front Door profile to route traffic to your apps. For this, run the command ‘az afd profile create’ 
• Create the endpoint in the AFD profile with the command ‘az afd endpoint create --resource-group myresourcegroup --endpoint-name myendpoint --profile-name myfrontdoorprofile --enabled-state Enabled’
• This will be followed by creating an origin group with the command ‘az afd origin-group create --resource-group myresourcegroup --origin-group-name myorigingroup --profile-name myfrontdoorprofile --probe-request-type GET --probe-protocol Http --probe-interval-in-seconds 60 --probe-path / --sample-size 4 --successful-samples-required 3 --additional-latency-in-milliseconds 50’ 
• Proceed to add the origin to the group using the command ‘az afd origin create --resource-group myresourcegroup --host-name <web-app-east-us>.azurewebsites.net --profile-name myfrontdoorprofile --origin-group-name myorigingroup --origin-name primaryapp --origin-host-header <web-app-east-us>.azurewebsites.net --priority 1 --weight 1000 --enabled-state Enabled --http-port 80 --https-port 443’
• Add a second origin by changing the priority parameter to 2
• Add a route to map the endpoint to origin group using the command ‘az afd route create --resource-group myresourcegroup --profile-name myfrontdoorprofile --endpoint-name myendpoint --forwarding-protocol MatchRequest --route-name route --https-redirect Enabled --origin-group myorigingroup --supported-protocols Http Https --link-to-default-domain Enabled’ 

Restrict access to the web apps to only Azure Front Door instances by first retrieving the Front Door ID using:

az afd profile show --resource-group myresourcegroup --profile-name myfrontdoorprofile --query "frontDoorId" -o tsv

Then, use the retrieved Front Door ID in the access restriction commands as follows:

az webapp config access-restriction add \

  --resource-group myresourcegroup \

  --name <web-app-east-us> \

  --priority 100 \

  --service-tag AzureFrontDoor.Backend \

  --http-header x-azure-fdid=<front-door-id>

az webapp config access-restriction add \

  --resource-group myresourcegroup \

  --name <web-app-west-us> \

  --priority 100 \

  --service-tag AzureFrontDoor.Backend \

  --http-header x-azure-fdid=<front-door-id>

Replace <front-door-id> with the actual value retrieved from the first command, or use command substitution like:

--http-header x-azure-fdid=$(az afd profile show --resource-group myresourcegroup --profile-name myfro

• Use the command ‘az afd endpoint show --resource-group myresourcegroup --profile-name myfrontdoorprofile --endpoint-name myendpoint --query "hostName"’ to get the hostname of the Front Door endpoint 
• Now, test the Front Door through the following steps: 
• Open a browser and head to the endpoint hostname returned by the previous command. You will be routed to the primary app. 
• End the primary app using the command ‘az webapp stop --name <web-app-east-us> --resource-group myresourcegroup’
• Refresh the browser to check the presence of the same information page, which may be missing due to traffic redirection to the running app.
• Halt the secondary app using the command ‘az webapp stop --name <web-app-west-us> --resource-group myresourcegroup’
• Refresh the browser and expect to receive an error message 
• Restart any one among the web apps using the command ‘az webapp start --name <web-app-east-us> --resource-group myresourcegroup’. 
• Refresh the browser, and you will see the app again
• Furthermore, verify that access restrictions allow reaching the app via Azure Front Door only. Use this command for evaluation ‘az webapp show --name <web-app-east-us> --resource-group myresourcegroup --query "hostNames"

az webapp show --name <web-app-west-us> --resource-group myresourcegroup --query "hostNames"’. Expect an error page to ensure the app is inaccessible. 

• Clean up the resources now using the command ‘az group delete --name myresourcegroup’

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27. Explain how Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) works and its benefits.

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) simplifies Kubernetes management by making Azure handle most of the complex and time-consuming tasks. When you create an AKS cluster, Azure automatically provisions and manages the Kubernetes control plane at no cost to the user. It streamlines tasks like scaling, app scheduling, and cluster resource management.

It leaves the user to manage the worker nodes, which run the application and are paid for. The benefits of AKS include:

• Offers security through Identity and security management 
• Integration with Container Insights for monitoring the performance and cluster health 
• Autoscales the applications using Kubernetes Event Driven Autoscaler (KEDA) 
• Supports advanced networking features and allows mounting of persistent volumes using Azure Disks or Azure Files 

28. What is Azure Site Recovery, and how does it facilitate disaster recovery?

Azure Site Recovery is a service that ensures workflows and functions continue to run uninterrupted, even in disaster situations. The service is part of the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) strategy. Azure Site Recovery achieves this by replicating workloads from the primary site to the secondary location, which is used to access the apps during a disaster. 

29. How do you implement Azure Security Center for threat detection and security monitoring?

Implementing Azure Security Center for threat detection and security monitoring requires the following steps: 

• Access Azure Security Center from the Azure portal 
• Configure security policies per subscription
• Enable data collection and select storage accounts for log storage 
• Turn on security recommendations like operating system updates and baseline configuration scans 
• Review and act on recommendations to reduce vulnerabilities 
• Monitor resource health via a variety of indicators available 
• Respond to security alerts generated from log analysis and partner solutions 

30. Can you describe how to configure and optimize Azure CDN (Content Delivery Network)?

The steps to follow to configure and optimize Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN) are listed below: 

• Configure Azure CDN in the portal by selecting a CDN provider and configuring details such as name and region 
• Create an endpoint for the application URL 
• Head for advanced caching configuration. Use the Azure Rules Engine to define custom caching rules, such as caching based on headers and content type
• If using a Microsoft CDN (Standard or Premium), configure Web Application Firewall (WAF) by associating it with the CDN endpoint and defining security policies
• Optimizing content delivery requires monitoring the CDN performance. Use Azure Monitor and Application Insights to view real-time metrics, including response time, cache hit ratio, errors, and failures
• Automate CDN resource creation with Azure CLI and Terraform 
• Optimize the Azure CDN for cost with Azure Cost Management

31. Explain how Azure Service Principal works regarding identity and access management.

Azure Service Principal is the security identity that allows access to specific Azure resources. Automation tools, services, or applications use the mentioned identity created and managed within Azure Active Directory (AD). A Service Principal is identified by its client ID, tenant ID, and object ID. It can authenticate using a certificate, client secret, or managed identity. Access management is further controlled through Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).

32. What are the best practices for designing cost-effective, scalable applications in Azure?

The scalable applications in Azure can be developed through: 

• Design stateless and idempotent functions
• Reduce code execution time 
• Minimize resource usage 
• Monitor the function app's performance 
• Perform vertical scaling as per the requirement

33. How does Azure Automation help with managing repetitive tasks and configurations?

Azure automation facilitates the management of repetitive tasks through integration with Azure services and third-party tools. The integration assists in deployment, configuration, and process management. Python, PowerShell, and graphical runbooks make local resource management in cloud and on-premise environments possible. 

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34. How would you integrate Azure Active Directory with on-premises Active Directory?

Integrating Azure Active Directory with on-premises Active Directory is possible through Azure AD Connect. You'll need to create an Azure AD tenant if you don’t already have one. Then, use Azure AD Connect to synchronize on-premises AD with Azure AD. 

35. What is Azure Blueprint, and how does it help governance and compliance?

The Azure Blueprint service enables IT teams and cloud architects to define a repeatable set of Azure resources that comply with organizational standards and needs. It contributes to governance and compliance by allowing the teams to deploy environments with predefined components, including ARM templates, role and policy assignments, and resource groups. 

Tips to Prepare for a Microsoft Azure Interview

To ensure the best performance in the Microsoft Azure interview, here is what you can do:

• Learn to provide a clear explanation about core Azure services 
• Have an in-depth understanding of the methods specific to your role, such as security, governance, deployment, and other relevant areas. 
• Go through the free lesson available on Microsoft Learn 
• Aim for hands-on experience in Azure 
• Practice for behavioral questions as well 

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Conclusion

Given the numerous opportunities in the field, preparing for an Azure interview requires a command of both theoretical and practical aspects. In addition to fundamental knowledge, experience dealing with real-world problems helps to answer questions seamlessly.

The Microsoft Azure interview questions mentioned help highlight the important ones for the topic, ensuring a simple and quick review of the material. Try to answer the question yourself or use the given answers to understand what to include while dealing with the mentioned questions. Enroll in the Microsoft Azure Cloud Architect Masters Program to boost your knowledge and experience.