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Microsoft AZ-900 Cheat Sheet: Azure Fundamentals

May 1, 2026

Review Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) cloud concepts, Azure architecture, governance, security, pricing, and service-selection traps before practicing in IT Mastery.

On this page

AZ-900 tests whether you can recognize Azure concepts, service categories, governance ideas, and cloud economics without overbuilding the answer. Use this cheat sheet to review the basics before a free diagnostic or timed practice.

Use this with practice. Review the fundamentals checklist, then take the free diagnostic or open the AZ-900 route in IT Mastery.

Try AZ-900 on Web Free AZ-900 diagnostic

Exam snapshot

FieldDetail
IssuerMicrosoft
Exam nameMicrosoft Azure Fundamentals
Exam codeAZ-900
Passing score700 scaled score
IT Mastery statusLive AZ-900 practice available

Topic map

Topic areaWhat to knowCommon trap
Cloud conceptsIaaS, PaaS, SaaS, public, private, hybrid, elasticity, scalability, high availability, and shared responsibilityUsing the same cloud model for every scenario
Azure architecture and servicesRegions, availability zones, subscriptions, resource groups, compute, storage, networking, and databasesConfusing geography, region, zone, and resource group scope
Security, identity, and governanceMicrosoft Entra ID, RBAC, policy, locks, tags, Defender, and compliance conceptsMixing identity authorization with governance enforcement
Pricing, SLA, and lifecycleConsumption pricing, reservations, cost management, SLAs, preview, and support plansTreating a pricing tool as a security or monitoring control

Must-know distinctions

DistinctionHow to decide
IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaSIaaS manages infrastructure, PaaS manages runtime platform, SaaS delivers the application.
Region vs availability zoneRegions are geographic Azure areas; zones are separate datacenter locations inside supported regions.
Subscription vs resource groupSubscriptions are billing and management boundaries; resource groups organize resource lifecycle.
RBAC vs Azure PolicyRBAC controls who can do actions; Policy evaluates and enforces resource configuration.
Tags vs resource groupsTags report and classify; resource groups hold related resources for management.
CapEx vs OpExCapital expenditure buys assets upfront; operational expenditure pays as services are consumed.
High availability vs disaster recoveryHigh availability reduces local downtime; disaster recovery prepares for major failure or failover.
Public preview vs general availabilityPreview features are not the same as fully supported generally available services.

High-yield checklist

  • Identify the service model before choosing who manages what.
  • Use consumption-based pricing when the scenario emphasizes paying for actual usage.
  • Use reservations or committed-use ideas when the workload is predictable and long running.
  • Use Azure Cost Management and budgets for spending visibility and alerts.
  • Use SLAs to reason about uptime commitments, not performance tuning.
  • Use Azure Policy for required configurations and compliance visibility.
  • Use resource locks to prevent accidental delete or write operations, not to define allowed configuration.
  • Use management groups to apply governance across multiple subscriptions.
  • Use resource groups for lifecycle and permission organization.
  • Use Azure Advisor for recommendations, not as a deployment engine.

Common traps

  • Choosing a service-specific answer when the question asks for a cloud concept.
  • Confusing private cloud with private networking inside Azure.
  • Assuming a single availability zone provides regional disaster recovery.
  • Using tags as if they grant permissions.
  • Treating Azure Policy as an identity and access tool.
  • Forgetting that shared responsibility changes between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.

Practice strategy

Use the free AZ-900 diagnostic to check whether you miss concepts or service categories. If the misses are concept-heavy, review the distinctions table first. If the misses are service-heavy, drill architecture, services, management, and governance topics before returning to mixed practice.

AZ-900 is a fundamentals exam. The goal is not to memorize every Azure product name, but to recognize the concept, scope, and service family Microsoft is testing.

Official source

Revised on Monday, May 25, 2026
Describe Azure Management and Governance
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