Last month, I got certified for Microsoft 70-533 Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions, which is implementing an infrastructure solution in Microsoft Azure. It also tests our experience implementing and monitoring cloud and hybrid solutions as well as supporting application lifecycle management.

Preparation

I have been working with Microsoft Azure since 2008 (lead the team who built Java SDK based on WS-* protocols for .NET Services (Service Bus Relay) and did drive the efforts to simultaneous shipping of the Java SDK, when Windows Azure was announced in Build conference in 2008. Recently we are helping many organizations across the globe on developing software solutions and implementing infrastructure hybrid solutions. In addition to the practical knowledge gained through these experience, I have used the following resources.

• What should you expect in this exam?
  
  • http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2015/BRK3901
    
  • Note: I haven’t used this for 533, but I used the 532 & 534 material and it gave me a more context on what to expect in detail.
    
• Follow the book. Make sure you try out the PowerShell scripts and other configurations explained in this book, if you haven’t already done that. This book is written by Michael Washam, CEO of Opsgility and Rick Rainey, owner and CEO of CloudAlloc. I strongly recommend you get a copy of this and go through the book end to end.
  
  • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2015/03/09/new-book-exam-ref-70-533-implementing-microsoft-azure-infrastructure-solutions.aspx
    
• Preparation material shared by Thomas Maurer
  
  • http://www.thomasmaurer.ch/2015/02/passed-microsoft-exam-70-533-implementing-microsoft-azure-infrastructure-solutions/

Skills measured

Implement websites (15-20%)

• 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 (15-20%)

• 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 (15-20%)

• 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 (15-20%)

• 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; backup and restore data
    

Implement an Azure Active Directory (15-20%)

• 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 (15-20%)

• 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
    

Good luck for your exams.