Home/Certifications/Microsoft/Microsoft AZ-104: Managed Identities in Azure Cloud & ArchitectureUpdated October 10, 2026 · 8 min read A managed identity removes a stored application secret, but successful Azure authorization still depends on workload ownership, token audience, narrow permissions, and a repeatable way to diagnose failures. A workload that successfully obtains a token can still be denied by the target service because the identity lacks the required data-plane role. Troubleshooting must separate credential storage, identity assignment, token acquisition, and resource authorization. Before assigning another role, determine whether the failure is token audience,…

Home/Certifications/Microsoft/Microsoft AZ-104: VM Availability Options Cloud & ArchitectureUpdated October 10, 2026 · 7 min read Azure VM resilience starts with the failure a workload must tolerate. Availability sets, zones, and scale sets protect against different events, and none can compensate for an application with a single unprotected dependency. Before choosing one, identify whether the system must survive host maintenance, an entire facility outage, or demand growth—and whether the application can recover across that boundary. On this pageIdentify the outage before choosing a VM featureAvailability sets handle local infrastructure correlationAvailability zones…

Home/Certifications/Microsoft/Microsoft AZ-104: Azure Monitor Alerts Cloud & ArchitectureUpdated October 10, 2026 · 7 min read An effective Azure alert is a controlled handoff from evidence to action. Signal quality, ownership, routing, suppression and follow-up matter more than the raw number of rules deployed. An alert that fires on every harmless fluctuation can hide the condition an administrator truly needs to investigate. Useful Azure monitoring starts from an operational question, selects the evidence that can answer it, and defines the action expected after notification. On this pageStart with the decision an…

Home/Certifications/Microsoft/Microsoft AZ-104: NSGs, ASGs, and Azure Firewall Cloud & ArchitectureUpdated October 10, 2026 · 7 min read Azure network security is easier to reason about when the packet path is clear. NSGs filter subnet and interface traffic, ASGs describe VM application groups, and Azure Firewall supplies central inspection and policy at designed routing boundaries. An NSG, application security group, and Azure Firewall solve related but distinct policy problems. The administrator must know where traffic is evaluated, which identity or address group the rule represents, and which logs can prove the…

Home/Certifications/Microsoft/Microsoft AZ-104: Azure Backup vs. Site Recovery Cloud & ArchitectureUpdated October 10, 2026 · 7 min read Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery answer different recovery questions. One protects recoverable historical data; the other helps restore workload availability through replication and planned failover workflows. Backups recover data or workload state; site recovery coordinates continuity after a larger disruption. The right configuration depends on acceptable data loss, recovery time, dependency order, and the evidence that the recovery process has actually been exercised. A safe exercise restores both the resource and its…

Home/Certifications/Microsoft/Microsoft AZ-104: Diagnose Azure Cost Spikes Cloud & ArchitectureUpdated October 10, 2026 · 7 min read An unexpected Azure bill needs a timeline and a cause, not an emergency round of indiscriminate deletions. Cost Analysis, resource changes, meter details and clear ownership make investigations faster and safer. A cost spike may reflect legitimate growth, changed pricing, a forgotten resource, or an architecture defect. Start from the charge dimensions and deployment timeline; only then decide whether the response is cleanup, redesign, a policy guardrail, or a budget adjustment. On this pageConfirm…

Home/Certifications/Microsoft/Microsoft AZ-104: Entra Roles and Access Cloud & ArchitectureUpdated October 10, 2026 · 7 min read Microsoft Entra administration and Azure resource administration have separate permission systems. Understanding the boundary prevents accidental overprivilege and makes access reviews more meaningful. A role that administers an Azure resource is different from a directory role that governs an identity tenant. Access reviews need to examine both control planes and the people or workloads that inherit permission through group membership. The same review should identify stale grants and temporary exceptions, including the owner responsible…

Home/Certifications/Microsoft/Microsoft AZ-104: Azure DNS Troubleshooting Cloud & ArchitectureUpdated October 10, 2026 · 8 min read DNS failures in Azure are often mismatches between a client’s resolver, a zone’s visibility, and the network path to the returned address. Troubleshooting works best when those are checked independently. Private endpoints, custom DNS resolvers, and virtual-network links can make an application fail even while the target service is healthy. Follow the exact hostname from the client to its resolved address and then through the effective network route. On this pageStart with the name and…

Home/Certifications/Microsoft/Microsoft AZ-104: Azure Landing Zones Cloud & ArchitectureUpdated October 10, 2026 · 7 min read A landing zone is the operating foundation for Azure workloads, not a subscription template with a checklist of resources. It connects governance, network access, identity, security, and the process of giving application teams usable environments. A landing zone becomes valuable when new workloads can inherit clear subscription boundaries, networking patterns, policies, and operational responsibility. Starting with a small team is an opportunity to make those choices comprehensible rather than copying an unnecessarily complex enterprise diagram….

Home/Certifications/Microsoft/Microsoft AZ-104: Troubleshoot Azure VMs Cloud & ArchitectureUpdated October 10, 2026 · 7 min read A VM that looks unhealthy may have a compute-platform problem, a guest operating-system problem, a network path failure, or an application failure. A disciplined diagnosis identifies which boundary failed before attempting repair. Redeploying a virtual machine can erase useful evidence and leave a network, identity, storage, or guest-configuration fault untouched. A measured investigation begins with the observed failure and collects enough platform and guest signals to identify the layer at fault. On this pageDescribe the…

Home/Certifications/Microsoft/Microsoft AZ-104: Subscriptions, Policy, and Locks Cloud & ArchitectureUpdated October 10, 2026 · 7 min read Azure governance becomes easier to operate when subscriptions express accountability, Policy defines standards, and locks protect specific management operations. Confusing those controls leads to brittle environments and unexpected access errors. A subscription controls deployment and billing scope, a policy expresses desired guardrails, and a lock limits selected management operations. Combining them without understanding precedence can produce both accidental denials and false confidence about recovery or authorization. On this pageBegin with the boundary the business…

Home/Certifications/Subnetting Gets Easier When You Stop Memorizing TablesNetworking & CertificationsApplied skills and troubleshootingSubnetting is often taught as a memory contest: memorize a chart of masks, memorize block sizes, memorize how many hosts fit in each prefix, then hope the right number appears under exam pressure. The problem is that real networks rarely ask you to recall a table in isolation. They ask whether two addresses share a subnet, where the broadcast boundary falls, which prefix is more specific, or whether an address plan leaves room for growth.On this pageStart with…

Home/Certifications/Vlans Are Simple Until The Trunk Is WrongNetworking & CertificationsApplied skills and troubleshootingA VLAN is easy to explain on a whiteboard: put ports into separate Layer 2 broadcast domains, give each VLAN its own IP subnet, and route between them when communication is required. Real troubleshooting becomes harder when the access ports look correct but the trunk between switches is carrying the wrong set of VLANs—or is not a trunk at all.On this pageAccess ports and trunk ports carry different informationAllowed VLAN listNative VLAN mismatchesVLAN existence and trunk permission are…

Home/Certifications/How Routers Really Decide Where Packets GoNetworking & CertificationsApplied skills and troubleshootingA router does not “pick the best route” in one single step. It first has to learn or configure routes, decide which candidates belong in the routing table, and then perform a forwarding lookup for each destination. Mixing those stages together is the source of many routing misconceptions.On this pageRoutes arrive from different sourcesAdministrative distance compares different route sourcesMetrics compare paths inside a routing protocolLongest-prefix match in forwardingThe default route is simply the least-specific matchResolving the next hopRouting versus…

Home/Certifications/Ospf Neighbor Problems A Practical Way To Narrow The CauseNetworking & CertificationsApplied skills and troubleshootingOSPF neighbor failures are frustrating because the symptom is small—a neighbor is missing or stuck in an intermediate state—but the cause can live almost anywhere between Layer 1 and the routing process. The interface may be down. Hellos may be filtered. Timers may disagree. Area settings may differ. MTU can break database exchange even after the routers have discovered each other.On this pageNo neighbor at all means start with the basicsInit tells you the hello exchange…