It’s been about 2 years since the 70-533 Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions certification exam was first release. Over that time there’s been a couple updates to keep it relevant with the ever changing landscape of the Microsoft Azure platform. The previous update was released in March 2016, which is a very long time when it comes to the cloud. The good news is that another update is on it’s way, and this time it will be including a full update of adding Azure Resource Manager (ARM) to the exam, in addition to many other new features and services. This update looks to be bringing the 70-533 Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions exam back to relevancy and not so outdated as it’s been for nearly an entire year now.

Exam Update Release Date

This latest update / refresh to the 70-533 Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions certification exam includes many changes to make it more relevant to the current state of the Microsoft Azure platform. This includes adding many more features and services to the list of objectives that are tested on the exam; including greater coverage of Azure Resource Manager (ARM).

This update will be released on November 22, 2016. On this date, the exam will be republished to reflect the changes in exam objectives.

The 70-533 Infrastructure exam update will be published November 22, 2016.

If you take the 70-533 Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions exam prior to November 22, 2016, then you should expect the “old” exam objectives to be the ones you will be tested on. If you take the exam on or after November 22, 2016 then you will see questions testing the new list of exam objectives. The new exam objectives are listed in full below.

As is usual with Microsoft exam updates like this, Microsoft doesn’t really make a big announcement of the pending exam updates. Instead, they do call out the pending update with a link to the new objectives along with the targeted release / update date. This posting is the source for the information within this article, and can be found on the official page for the 70-533 exam.

New Exam Objectives

If you’re planning on taking the 70-533 Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions exam on or after November 22, 2016 then you’ll want to be sure to study these new exam objectives. This will ensure you are studying the right material to pass the new version of the exam that will be given to you.

Here’s the full list of of exam objectives for this November 22, 2016 exam update:

Design and Implement Azure App Service Apps (15 – 20%)

• Deploy Web Apps – Define deployment slots; roll back deployments; implement pre- and post-deployment actions; create, configure, and deploy packages; create App Service plans; migrate Web Apps between App Service plans; create a Web App within an App Service Plan
• Configure Web Apps – Define and use app settings, connection strings, handlers, and virtual directories; configure certificates and custom domains; configure SSL bindings and runtime configurations; manage Web Apps by using Azure PowerShell and Xplat-CLI
• Configure diagnostics, monitoring, and analytics – Retrieve diagnostics data; view streaming logs; configure endpoint monitoring; configure alerts; configure diagnostics; use remote debugging; monitor Web App resources
• Configure Web Apps for scale and resilience – Configure auto-scale using built-in and custom schedules; configure by metric; change the size of an instance; configure Traffic Manager

Create and Manage Azure Resource manager Virtual Machines (20 – 25%)

• Deploy workloads on Azure Resource Manager (ARM) virtual machines (VMs) – Identify workloads that can and cannot be deployed; run workloads including Microsoft and Linux; create VMs; connect to a Windows/Linux VM
• Perform configuration management – Automate configuration management by using PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) and VM Agent (custom script extensions); configure VMs using a configuration management tool such as Puppet or Chef; enable remote debugging
• 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; implement ARM VMs with Standard and Premium Storage
• Monitor ARM VMs – Configure ARM VM monitoring; configure alerts; configure diagnostic and monitoring storage location
• Manage ARM VM availability – Configure multiple ARM VMs in an availability set for redundancy; configure each application tier into separate availability sets; combine the Load Balancer with availability sets
• Scale ARM VMs – Scale up and scale down VM sizes; deploy ARM VM Scale Sets (VMSS); configure ARM VMSS auto-scale

Design and Implement a Storage Strategy (20 – 25%)

• Implement Azure Storage blobs and Azure Files – Read data; change data; set metadata on a container; store data using block and page blobs; stream data using blobs; access blobs securely; implement async blob copy; configure Content Delivery Network (CDN); design blob hierarchies; configure custom domains; scale blob storage
• Manage access – Create and manage shared access signatures; use stored access policies; regenerate keys
• Configure diagnostics, monitoring, and analytics – Set retention policies and logging levels; analyze logs
• Implement Azure SQL Databases – Choose the appropriate database tier and performance level; configure point in time recovery, geo-replication, and data sync; 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 Azure Active Directory (15 20%)

• Integrate an Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) with existing directories – Implement Azure AD Connect and single sign-on with on-premises Windows Server 2012 R2; add custom domains; monitor Azure AD
• Configure Application Access – 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; configure federation with Facebook and Google ID
• Integrate an app with Azure AD – Implement Azure AD integration in web and desktop applications; leverage graph API
• Implement Azure AD B2C and Azure AD B2B – Create an Azure AD B2C Directory; register an application; implement social identity provider authentication; enable multi-factor authentication; set up self-service password reset; implement B2B collaboration; configure partner users; integrate with applications

Implement Virtual Networks (10 – 15%)

• Configure virtual networks – Deploy a VM into a virtual network; configure external and internal load balancing; implement Application Gateway; design subnets; configure static, public, and private IP addresses; set up Network Security Groups (NSGs), DNS at the virtual network level, HTTP and TCP health probes, public IPs, User Defined Routes (UDRs), firewall rules, and direct server return
• Modify network configuration – Modify subnets, NSGs, and UDRs
• 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 virtual networks and multi-site virtual networks

Design and Deploy ARM Templates (10 – 15%)

• Implement ARM templates – Author ARM templates; create ARM templates to deploy ARM Resource Providers resources; deploy templates with PowerShell, CLI, and REST API
• Control access – Leverage service principals with ARM authentication; use Azure Active Directory Authentication with ARM; set management policies; lock resources
• Design role-based access control (RBAC) – Secure resource scopes such as the ability to create VMs and Azure Web Apps; implement Azure RBAC standard roles; design Azure RBAC custom roles

It’s worth noting that the percentages (%) displayed in the titles of the main exam objectives are the percentages of the exam questions that will be on that topic area. As you can see Storage, VMs and App Service have a little higher emphasis than the AD, Virtual Network, and ARM Template sections of the exam. Although, don’t think you shouldn’t study a certain objective because of lower percentages. It’s important to study all the exam objectives as you really never know what questions you’ll get when taking the exam, and every correct answer will definitely help you pass. Microsoft certification exams are difficult, so you’ll need all the correct answers you can get.

Study Resources

Some of the study resources I listed out in my original article on the 70-533 Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions exam are still relevant, but many are now a little outdated. This is due to the shift of the exam to cover Azure Resource Manager (ARM) now, instead of the older Azure Service Manager (ASM) that it covered originally.

The best study resources are going to be the official Microsoft Azure documentation. The documentation is open source and community contributed, but may still be a little difficult to navigate when attempting to study just the exam objectives.

Here are some links to some video resources that have updated, relevant content to cover this new list of exam objectives:

• Azure Fridays – New videos on Azure topics and services each week from Scott Hanselman and others at Microsoft.
• Channel 9 – This is an official Microsoft site with MANY videos on a wide range of topics surrounding Microsoft Azure and other Microsoft technologies.
• Pluralsight – They have video, on-demand training courses on pretty much all technologies; some of their courses cover Microsoft Azure.

For additional resource links that may help you study and prepare, go check out my original article listing out study materials for the 70-533 exam.

To keep up to date on all the latest Microsoft Azure news, and feature updates, as well as many other articles from the community surrounding Microsoft Azure services, I encourage you to subscribe to Build Azure Weekly.

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