learn azure

Useful Azure Resources

Posted on by Imran Rashid
Reading Time: 6 minutes

New to Azure

Microsoft Learning resources

  • Microsoft Learn
    Microsoft Learn is a free, online training platform that provides interactive learning for Microsoft
    products and more.

  • Microsoft Applied Skills – the new credentials to verify in-demand technical skills. Free, open book and lab based exams. Gain verified certifications from Microsoft. Announcement page for more details at the following link, Announcing Microsoft Applied Skills.

  • Microsoft Docs (Update, rolled Microsoft Docs site into Microsoft Learn above)
    The home for Microsoft documentation and learning for developers and technology professionals.

  • Free Azure E-books
    Deepen your understanding of cloud computing with analyst publications, guides, and infographics for technical professionals and business leaders.

  • Channel 9/Learn Live
    Presenting Microsoft Learn content Live. Every episode Microsoft choose a Learn module and work through it. They pull in guests to give you extra commentary from experts and sometimes even the engineers who built it. Join and ask questions, live!

  • Microsoft Trainer Community Channel
    Microsoft Trainer Community YouTube channel

  • Azure Friday
    Join Scott Hanselman, Donovan Brown, or Lara Rubbelke as they host the engineers who build Azure, demo it, answer questions, and share insights.

  • Azure Tuesday
    Corey Sanders answers your questions about Microsoft Azure – Virtual Machines, Web Sites, Mobile Services, Dev/Test etc. If you have a question, Corey will find the answer!

  • Preparing for a Microsoft Certification by Sarah Kong
    In this blog post, Sarah Kong (Microsoft Technical Trainer) will guide you through the simple, three-step study process that she recommends —read (understand the materials), do (learn experientially), and test (check your knowledge).

    Exam Readiness Zone
  • Join experts as they provide tips, tricks, and strategies for preparing for a Microsoft Certification exam. The exam prep videos will help you identify the key knowledge and skills measured on the exam and how to allocate your study time.


    Microsoft Azure YouTube channel
  • Learn about the latest products & solutions, watch training demos, and discover technical insights relevant to you. Invent with purpose with Microsoft Azure.

  • Free Practice Assessments
    Are you preparing for a Microsoft Certification exam? Check out these Practice Assessments on Microsoft Learn, a free exam preparation resource that allows you to assess your knowledge and fill knowledge gaps so that you are better prepared for your certification exam.

  • Applied Skills Credentials (Announced October 2023): Applied Skills Credentials is a new verifiable credential that validates that you have the targeted skills needed to implement critical projects aligned to business goals and objectives. At the time of writing, there are 13 individual credentials available for you take for free in a lab based and open book setup.



    Non-Microsoft Learning resources

  • Microsoft Learning Rooms
    A space to find connections with experts and peers. Facilitated by Microsoft Learn experts from Microsoft and from the technical community outside of Microsoft. Learning rooms are designed to offer you a dedicated and safe environment where you can directly engage with an expert and dive deep into topic-specific questions via asynchronous discussions and virtual sessions.

  • John Savill’s Technical Training
    A curated set of free learning videos from John Savill and other free resources to help you master Azure. (Not a Microsoft channel)

  • Azure for Everyone by Adam Marczak
    Free training on YouTube by Microsoft MVP Adam Marczak

  • Plural Sight
    Pluralsight offers courses on everything “Azure” – from cloud application development, to cloud infrastructure, to cloud security and much more.

  • Udemy
    Udemy is an online learning and teaching marketplace with over 185000 courses and 49 million students. The site includes a large number of Azure related training, free and courses at affordable rates.

  • Travis Roberts
    Microsoft MVP Travis Roberts runs a YouTube channel where he provides free Azure content.

  • Azure Academy
    Dean Cefola (Principle Fast Track Azure engineer) provides free Azure content via his YouTube channel Azure Academy.

  • Adam Stuart
    Adam, a Principal Specialist (Azure Networking at Microsoft) publishes free content related to Azure Networking on his personal YouTube channel.

  • Andy Malone
    Andy, an MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional) provides free YouTube content related to Microsoft 365, Azure, Windows 365, SharePoint, Exchange Online, Microsoft Teams and more.

  • LinkedIn Learning
    Training courses on LinkedIn Learning provide you with the skills you need, from the fundamentals to advanced tips.




    Useful links/tools

  • Azure global infrastructure experience
    A 3D interactive adventure to experience the reach of the sustainable, trusted infrastructure of Microsoft Azure’s cloud platform.

  • Azure Geographies
    Each Azure geography contains one or more regions and meets specific data residency and compliance requirements. This lets you keep your business-critical data and apps nearby on a fault-tolerant, high-capacity networking infrastructure.

  • Azure Updates
    Get the latest updates on Azure products and features to meet your cloud investment needs. Subscribe to notifications to stay informed.

  • Azure Status
    View issues that might be impacting your services

  • Azure Blog
    Stay up to date with the latest Azure news via the Azure Blog

  • List of Azure Blogs
    A list of Azure Blogs owned by the technical community

  • Azure Community Support (Forums)
    Ask your Azure technical questions, find answers, and get Azure support provided by Microsoft engineers, community experts, and validated by customers. New to Q&A? See our get started article below.

  • Microsoft Azure Twitter
    The official Twitter account for Microsoft Azure. Follow for the latest news from the Azure team and community.
  • Azure Quickstart Templates
    Deploy Azure resources through the Azure Resource Manager with community contributed templates to get more done. Deploy, learn, fork and contribute back.

  • Microsoft Exam questions format
    Find out how Microsoft exams are structured

  • Azure Charts
    Live visual exploration environment for Azure Cloud + ecosystem (non-Microsoft site)

  • Azure Speed Test
    Measuring the latency from your web browser to the Blob Storage Service in each of the Microsoft Azure Data Centers. The latency times are indicative only, and do not represent the maximum performance achievable from Microsoft Azure. Use this website purely as a tool to gauge which Azure Data Center could be the best for your location. (Non-Microsoft site)

  • Azure SLA
    Service-level agreements (SLAs) describe Microsoft’s commitments for uptime and connectivity

  • Azure Calculator
    Calculate your estimated hourly or monthly costs for using Azure.

  • Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Calculator
    Estimate the cost savings you can realize by migrating your workloads to Azure

  • Azure Architecture Center
    Guidance for architecting solutions on Azure using established patterns and practices.

  • Azure architecture icons
    On this page you will find an official collection of Azure architecture icons including Azure product icons to help you build a custom architecture diagram for your next solution.

  • Cloud Adoption Framework
    Proven guidance and best practices that help you confidently adopt the cloud and achieve business outcomes.

  • Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework
    The Azure Well-Architected Framework is a set of guiding tenets that can be used to improve the quality of a workload.

  • Azure subscription and service limits, quotas, and constraints
    This document lists some of the most common Microsoft Azure limits, which are also sometimes called quotas.

  • Azure Migrate
    Get all the Azure migration tools and guidance you need to plan and implement your move to the cloud—and track your progress using a central dashboard that provides intelligent insights.

  • Azure Site Recovery
    Deploy replication, failover, and recovery processes through Site Recovery to help keep your applications running during planned and unplanned outages.

  • Ready to use Azure Active Directory Templates
    Use these customisable posters, training, stickers, and email templates to roll out or communicate Azure Active Directory features in your organisation.

  • cmd.ms
    Are you tired of clicking around in Microsoft portals to get to a blade? Use the power of your browser’s address bar to quickly get to your favorite blade in Azure, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Intune…

  • Azure Diagrams
    The Architecture Advisor tool enables you to design diagrams in a collaborative manner and provides guidance on which services can be integrated and when they should be utilized in your architecture.

  • Identity PowerToys
    idPowerToys is a collection of mini-apps for Microsoft Entra Azure Active Directory.

    App 1 Conditional Access Documenter: Share you policies with security teams and stakeholders without giving admin access to Azure Active Directory.

    App 2 Azure Active Directory Mind Map: The Azure Active Directory Mind Map is a visual representation of the Azure Active Directory service. It is a great way to learn about the Microsoft Identity platform and how it works.

  • 365 Maps – A collection of Microsoft 365 licensing diagrams to help you understand Microsoft Azure and 365 licensing

  • Microsoft Graph Explorer – Microsoft Graph Explorer is useful for developers who want to explore the capabilities of Microsoft Graph and test their app scenarios. Microsoft Graph is a unified API endpoint that provides access to data and intelligence from Microsoft 365 services such as Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint, and more. Use Graph Explorer to try the APIs on the default sample tenant to explore capabilities, or sign in to your own tenant and use it as a prototyping tool to fulfill your app scenarios.

  • jwt.ms – this is a web application that allows you to enter a JSON Web Token (JWT) and view its decoded contents. This should be used for validation and debugging purposes only, developers can decode JWTs using this site.

  • IDFix – The IdFix tool provides you the ability to query, identify, and remediate the majority of object synchronisation errors in your Window’s Server AD forests in preparation for deployment to Microsoft 365/Entra ID synchronisation.

  • Microsoft 365 Developer Program – Join the Microsoft 365 Developer program and get access to 25 Entra ID P2 licenses. Visit the link for further details.

  • Practice Tests Free official Microsoft Practice Tests can help you be prepared on test day.

It takes dedication to earn a new Microsoft skill or certification. After you’ve passed a certification exam or completed your training and are ready to put your new skills to work, be sure to celebrate your achievements with your network.

Note: This is a personal blog. Views are mine and not that of my employer.