MS Exam 70-533: Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions

At the time of this writing, this is one of two exams dedicated to Microsoft Azure. The 70-533 exam is targeting IT professionals. The other one, 70-532 is for developers, and you can read more about that one here https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam-70-532.aspx.

Exam home page is located at https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam-70-533.aspx.

Please note that the Microsoft Cloud is constantly changing and improving, so some of this content may be outdated or points to websites that no longer exists. Therefore, make sure to check the official exam home page to get up to speed before taking the exam. I’m trying to keep these lists updated, but please send me an email with any missing content 🙂

This exam is divided into six focus areas, but as always, the topics described in this blog post or at the Microsoft Learning home page do not limit the questions you can be asked at the exam.

  1. Implement websites
  2. Implement virtual machines
  3. Implement cloud services
  4. Implement storage
  5. Implement an Azure Active Directory
  6. Implement virtual networks

A broad exam with a lot for Dev related stuff in other words, so the only thing to do it so dive in, work with the features, and just have fun.

Some general links first

Implement websites

Deploy websites

Define deployment slots; roll back deployments, configure and deploy packages, deploy web jobs, schedule web jobs

Configure websites

Configure app settings, connection strings, handlers, and virtual directories; configure certificates, custom domains, and traffic manager; configure SSL bindings and runtime configurations; manage websites by using Windows PowerShell and Xplat-CLI

Configure diagnostics, monitoring, and analytics

Retrieve diagnostics data; view streaming logs; configure endpoint monitoring, alerts, and diagnostics; monitor website resources

Configure scale and resilience

Configure auto-scale using built-in and custom schedules; configure by metric; change the size of an instance

Manage hosting plans

Create hosting plans; migrate websites between hosting plans; create a website within a hosting plan

Implement virtual machines

Deploy workloads on Azure virtual machines (VMs)

Identify supported Microsoft workloads; deploy and connect to a Linux VM; create VMs

Implement images and disks

Create specialized and generalized images for Windows and Linux; copy images between storage accounts and subscriptions; upload VHDs

Perform configuration management

Automate configuration management by using PowerShell Desired State Configuration and custom script extensions; enable puppet and chef extensions

Configure VM networking

Settings include reserved IP addresses, access control list (ACL), internal name resolution, DNS at the cloud service level, load balancing endpoints, HTTP and TCP health probes, public IPs, firewall rules, direct server return, and Keep Alive

Configure VM resiliency

Scale up and scale down VM sizes; auto-scale; configure availability sets

Design and implement VM storage

Configure disk caching; plan storage capacity; configure operating system disk redundancy; configure shared storage using Azure File service; configure geo-replication; encrypt disks

Monitor VMs

Configure endpoint monitoring, alerts, and diagnostics

Implement cloud services

Configure cloud services and roles

Configure instance count and size, operating system version and family, upgrade and fault domains, ACLs, reserved IPs, and network access rules; configure local storage; configure dedicated and co-located caching, local and cloud configurations, and local disks; configure multiple websites; configure custom domains

Deploy and manage cloud services

Upgrade a deployment; VIP swap a deployment; package a deployment; modify configuration files; perform in-place updates; perform runtime configuration changes using the portal; scale a cloud service; create service bus namespaces and choose a tier; apply scalability targets

Monitor cloud services

Monitor service bus queues, topics, relays, and notification hubs; configure diagnostics

Implement storage

Implement blobs and Azure files

Read data; change data; set metadata on a container; use encryption (SSL); perform an async blob copy; configure a Content Delivery Network (CDN); implement storage for backup and disaster recovery; configure Azure Backup; define blob hierarchies; configure custom domains; configure the Import and Export Service

Manage access

Create and manage shared access signatures; use stored access policies; regenerate keys

Configure diagnostics, monitoring, and analytics

Configure retention policies and logging levels; analyze logs

Implement SQL databases

Choose the appropriate database tier and performance level; configure point in time recovery and geo-replication; import and export data and schema; design a scaling strategy

Implement recovery services

Create a backup vault; deploy a backup agent; back up and restore data

Implement an Azure Active Directory

Integrate an Azure AD with existing directories

Implement DirSync, O365 integration, and single sign-on with on-premises Windows Server 2012 R2; add custom domains; monitor Azure AD

Configure the Application Access Panel

Configure single sign-on with SaaS applications using federation and password based; add users and groups to applications; revoke access to SaaS applications; configure access; federation with Facebook and Google ID

Integrate an app with Azure AD

Web apps (WS-federation); desktop apps (OAuth); graph API

Implement virtual networks

Configure a virtual network

Deploy a VM into a virtual network; deploy a cloud service into a virtual network; configure static IPs; configure internal load balancing; design subnets

Modify a network configuration

Modify a subnet; import and export a network configuration

Design and implement a multi-site or hybrid network

Choose the appropriate solution between ExpressRoute, site-to-site, and point-to-site; choose the appropriate gateway; identify supported devices and software VPN solutions; identify networking prerequisites; configure regional virtual networks and multi-site virtual networks

31 comments

  1. Hi! When I signed up for a recent free voucher for this exam from Microsoft there was another new paper for which I received a free voucher [71-532: Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions (beta)]. Do you have any reading list for that paper as well? I didn’t find anything on the internet. I will start doing my own research but just thought if theres anything available on you blog. 🙂 Thanks.

    1. Hi, I just had the same question by email from an other reader, so I understand that I should sit down and create one 🙂

      When we comparing the two Skills measured sections for these exams, they are very much alike. The main difference is that the 70-532 exam focuses more on the Design and Dev part.
      Until I have the list ready, I would believe that we could base the 70-532 reading on the same list, but spending even more time on the design and dev sections at the resource pages. Aslo use the “Related Content” links that we find on most of the TechNet and MSDN library articles.

      I really hope that this answer your question, and feel free to follow my blog or follow me on twitter. I’ll post a message as soon it’s in place 🙂

  2. I signed up for the vouchers last week but have not received them via email…anyone else having delay in getting the vouchers?

  3. Hi, Found this blog to be very useful. In the meanwhile, am a newbie to this azure platform and cloud in general. could you please help clearly with difference between exams 70-532/533/534? How the questions will be scattered in each of these? just to understand how to approach towards these exams?

    which one will have more command/script related questions or concept related qns?

    1. which one will be the best one to go with first? My job profile is just to launch few vms and maintain some websites. Not an in-depth techie role.

    2. Hi Shankar,

      The different exams focuses on the following groups

      • 70-532 – Developers
      • 70-533 – IT Pro
      • 70-534 – Architects

      IT Pro exam would focus more on scripts in regard to managing/using the services from a IT pro point of view. Developer exams are more on scripts/code for managing/using the services from a Developer point of view. The Architech exam is more on what the services are, why and how you wnt to use them, and what fits together.

  4. Hi , I have 8.5 yr core development experience in C/C++ ,Unix but highly interested in Azure .Please suggest me should I move to Azure while having no exp. in C# and networking.If yes then from which certification I should start ?

    1. Hi!
      Sounds like the 70-532 exam might be more natural approach for you, as you have developer experience. I haven’t taken the developer exam myself, so I’m saying this with a small guess 🙂

      There is alot of unix stuff in Azure. C/C++ on the other hand, I’m not that familiar with. Maybe time to have a look at C#?

      /Anders

    2. As per as my knowledge is concerned, I would like to suggest 70‐533 Exam for you. If you are looking an Institute, I recommend Koenig Solutions Azure training course to achieve a good career in cloud computing.

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