In this post, I am going to cover all the roles and responsibilities of a Microsoft Azure Administrator. There might be various questions in your mind regarding the knowledge an Azure administrator should possess and also how it is going to help him while pursuing this career. So without further delay, let’s find out the answers.
in this blog, we are going to cover the following topics:
- Who is an Azure Administrator ?
- Azure Administrator Certification
- Azure Administrator Roles and Responsibilities
- Role Specific Skills
- Syllabus for Azure Administrator Certification
- Jobs of Azure Administrator
- Salary of Azure Administrator
- Conclusion
Who is an Azure Administrator ?
Microsoft Azure is a platform for Cloud Computing which lets its users to manage a variety of cloud resources and services such as the , data transformation, storage of data and many more.
An Azure Administrator is the one who implements, manages, and monitors Azure solutions and works on the storage, identity, governance, virtual networks, and compute in a cloud environment.
Now, if you wish to enter the profession, first, you must clear the AZ-104 exam, candidate for this certification should have six months of hands-on experience administering Azure, with a strong understanding of core Azure services, Azure workloads, governance and security . In addition, this role should have experience using PowerShell, Azure portal, Azure CLI and Azure Resource Manager templates.
Azure Administrator Certification
The AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator certification exam is geared towards those who manage Cloud services that span computes, networking, storage, security, and other Cloud capabilities within Microsoft Azure. Also, in my previous blog, I have mentioned everything you need to know about the [AZ-104] Microsoft Azure Administrator exam.
Why Is Azure Certification Beneficial?
- As a result of the increase in demand for Azure, the need for Azure Administrators is rapidly increasing along the lines. Hence, one CV with this gleaming certification will have an enormous advantage.
- In terms of job prospects and earnings, a certification leads to a rampant increment in both.
- Almost 70% of people agree that certification has improved their earning, and 84% of people have seen better job prospects after getting certified.
- Updating your LinkedIn profile with this certificate will boost your job profile and increase your chances of getting chosen.
Also read: Everything you need to know on Azure SQL Database
Azure Administrator Roles and Responsibilities :
The sole response for how to become an Azure Administrator lies in skill development. Azure is a promising platform known for its user-friendly nature. However, you should also focus on understanding the basic technologies before thinking of a career in Azure System Administration. The basic azure administrator skills you need to have are below.
- A clear understanding of core Cloud Computing services is highly crucial for an Azure platform-specific job role. You need to understand the basic functioning of Networking, Databases, Software, and Servers in the Cloud.
- Basic Microsoft knowledge is mandatory for professionals looking for a career in Azure System Administration. You need to have experience in using products such as PowerShell and Office 365. As a result, you can understand the ways in which these services Integrate with Azure.
- Another important aspect to focus on is programming knowledge. Azure administrators need to have expertise in any one of the programming languages. Basic knowledge in open-source frameworks such as ASP.NET and programming languages such as JavaScript, SQL Server, and HTML5 is preferable.
Also check: Steps to register Azure Free Account
Day to Day Task of Azure Administrator in Azure infrastructure
- Ability Restart/bounce the Azure components/clusters/VMs.
- Create and manage swap space on deployed cloud system per customer policies In support of the deployed cloud systems and environments.
- create custom scripts to automate support processes where applicable Ability to Power off/ Down the un-used VMs Ability to identify issues at Azure level and resolve.
- Manage Azure subscriptions and profiles.
Also read about DP 100 Exam – Microsoft Certified Azure Data Scientist Associate and why people in the IT Industry are thinking that it’s a great time to be a data scientist these days.
Role Specific Skills:
1. Configure Networks
TCP/IP inter-networking represents a heavy lift for many IT professionals because the concept is so broad and deep. This complexity ramps up in Azure because you will never see the hardware behind the Azure Networking Stack.
To succeed as an Azure Administrator, you need to understand required networking tasks like:
- Deploying and Configuring Virtual Networks.
- Orchestrating Routing Paths, especially in a Hybrid Cloud.
- Managing Public and Private IP addresses for your VMs and selecting other Azure resources.
Read this blog in which we cover Microsoft Azure’s most important concepts like Azure Availability Zones, Region, Availability Set, Fault Domain, and Update Domain, and how it plays a key role in Virtual Machines.
2. Monitor Resources And Log Analytics
You should learn how to use Log Analytics in the Azure portal to write Azure Monitor log queries. Also, one needs to have a basic understanding of how to perform the below tasks:
- Use Log Analytics to write a simple query
- Understand the schema of your data
- Filter, sort, and group results
- Apply a time range
- Create charts
- Save and load queries
- Export and share queries
Check out this video blog that covers end to end about Azure Kubernetes Service.
3. Compute
The Azure Administrator is most often identified with infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), which normally boils down to running Virtual Machines (VMs) in the cloud. To that point, to be a successful Azure Administrator, you should have familiarity with either or both of the Hypervisor platforms:
- Microsoft Hyper-V
- VMware vSphere
Some VM-related Administrative Tasks Include:
- Deploying VMs into Virtual Networks.
- Configuring VM for Optimum Cost, Performance, and Security.
- Backing up VMs and potentially providing Fail-over Recovery.
Containers represent a newer way to virtualize services, and Docker is extremely well-represented in Azure. Therefore, one should understand how to deploy, manage, and monitor containers.
To know more about Azure Scale Set, click here
4. Implement And Manage Storage
Azure provides Administrators with essentially limitless storage. You need space to store VM virtual hard disks, Database Files, Application Data, and potentially useful data. Furthermore, you should also study Powershell/CLI commands, which would help you to create/remove storage.
Also, it is your responsibility to make use of Microsoft tools for Cloud Computing’s shared responsibility Model. Core tasks include:
- Securing Data against unauthorized access
- Backing Up Data and making it efficient to restore when needed.
- Configuring long-term archival storage to maintain corporate compliance.
Read More: About Azure Cost Management Tools. Click here
5. Implement Security And Protecting Identities
The security stakes are high in the Azure public cloud because your business stores its proprietary data on someone else’s infrastructure. The shared responsibility model in cloud computing means the responsibility is on you as an Azure Administrator to make use of Microsoft’s manifold security controls. Also, you’ll need some representative skills which include:
- Encrypting data in transit, at rest, and in use.
- Protecting Azure Active Directory accounts against compromise.
- Reducing the attack surface of all your Azure resources.
Also Read: Our blog post on Azure ExpressRoute vs VPN Gateway. Click here
Syllabus for Azure Administrator Certification
1. Manage Azure Identities and Governance (15-20%)
- Manage Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) objects
– create users and groups
– create administrative units
– manage user and group properties
– manage device settings
– perform bulk user updates
– manage guest accounts
– configure Azure AD Join
– configure self-service password reset
- Manage role-based access control (RBAC)
– create a custom role
– provide access to Azure resources by assigning roles at different scopes
– interpret access assignments
- Manage subscriptions and governance
– configure Azure policies
– configure resource locks
– apply and manage tags on resources
– manage resource groups
– manage subscriptions
– manage costs
– configure management groups
2. Implement and Manage Storage (15-20%)
- Secure storage
– configure network access to storage accounts
– create and configure storage accounts
– generate shared access signature (SAS) tokens
– manage access keys
– configure Azure AD Authentication for a storage account
– configure access to Azure Files
- Manage Storage
– export from Azure job
– import into Azure job
– install and use Azure Storage Explorer
– copy data by using AZCopy
– implement Azure Storage replication
– configure blob object replication
- Configure Azure files and Azure blob storage
– create an Azure file share
– create and configure Azure File Sync service
– configure Azure Blob Storage
– configure storage tiers
– configure blob lifecycle management
3. Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources
- Automate deployment of virtual machines (VMs) by using Azure Resource Manager templates
– modify an Azure Resource Manager template
– configure a virtual hard disk (VHD) template
– deploy from a template
– save a deployment as an Azure Resource Manager template
– deploy virtual machine extensions
- Configure VMs
– configure Azure Disk Encryption
– move VMs from one resource group to another
– manage VM sizes
– add data disks
– configure networking
– redeploy VMs
– configure high availability
– deploy and configure virtual machine scale sets
- Create and configure containers
– configure sizing and scaling for Azure Container Instances
– configure container groups for Azure Container Instances
– configure storage for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
– configure scaling for AKS
– configure network connections for AKS
– upgrade an AKS cluster
- Create and configure Azure App Service
– create an App Service plan
– configure scaling settings in an App Service plan
– create an App Service
– secure an App Service
– configure custom domain names
– configure backup for an App Service
– configure networking settings
– configure deployment settings
4. Configure and Manage Virtual Networking
- Implement and manage virtual networking
– create and configure virtual networks, including peering
– configure private and public IP addresses
– configure user-defined network routes
– implement subnets
– configure endpoints on subnets
– configure private endpoints
- Secure access to virtual networks
– create security rules
– associate a network security group (NSG) to a subnet or network interface
– evaluate effective security rules
– implement Azure Firewall
– implement Azure Bastion
- Configure load balancing
– configure Azure Application Gateway
– configure an internal or public load balancer
– troubleshoot load balancing
- Monitor and troubleshoot virtual networking
– monitor on-premises connectivity
– configure and use Azure Monitor for Networks
– use Azure Network Watcher
– troubleshoot external networking
– troubleshoot virtual network connectivity
- Integrate an on-premises network with an Azure virtual network
– create and configure Azure VPN Gateway
– create and configure Azure ExpressRoute
– configure Azure Virtual WAN
5. Monitor and Back up Azure Resources (10-15%)
- Monitor resources by using Azure Monitor
– configure and interpret metrics
– configure Azure Monitor Logs
– query and analyze logs
– set up alerts and actions
– configure Application Insights
- Implement backup and recovery
– create a Recovery Services vault
– create a Backup vault
– create and configure backup policy
– perform backup and restore operations by using Azure Backup
– perform site-to-site recovery by using Azure Site Recovery
– configure and review backup reports
Azure Administrator Jobs
You should also have a look at the job description of Azure administrators . Mainly, azure administrators have to deal with implementation, maintenance and monitoring of Azure solutions. However, the additional aspects noted commonly in the job description of azure administrators.
- Working on a combined Windows and Unix software environment
- Leading, monitoring and maintenance of a multiuser computing environment
- Managing cloud infrastructure service instances and multiple cloud servers
- Setting up the public and private cloud systems
- Balancing workloads and deploying them
- Selection of cloud provides in accordance with requirements
- Implementing the cost-effective cloud-based systems
Salary of Azure Administrator
The average Azure Admin salary is $ 105,4733 USD, although it can be less or more depending upon your experience and skills, most of the experienced workers make up to $ 179,000. The market of Azure is huge so there are many organization which have a need of Azure Admins but it depends on their work requirement that how much they pay you, some of the big organizations really pay you well and some of the small organization pay you less as compared to other ones.
conclusion
Therefore, there are various Azure Administrator Responsibilities that Azure Admin have to set up and deploy those Custom-Developed Applications and continuously monitor their health. They also need to forecast and manage the demand for the apps, that are hosted on the Azure platform. Finally, Admins need to make sure Data is secured, access is secured, and the applications and data backed up.
IT pros also need to set up and configure the application in Microsoft Azure, mainly using the Azure Control Panels and utilizing technical support as necessary. Also, the apps usually don’t manage themselves, so as with the on-premise line of business applications, you still have to administer that code as well.
The only part of the equation that Microsoft Azure changes are in the area of personnel resource usage. Furthermore, administrators are freed up from managing industry hardware and software. Also, they are proportionately available to manage and enhance the service delivery and quality of IT-specific to their businesses. Therein is the exact appeal for the business decision-maker of Microsoft Azure and why you’re probably going to hear about it very soon if you haven’t already.
Therefore, it’s best to understand how the various Cloud Computing platforms can affect your role and responsibilities as an IT professional.
To apply for the Microsoft Azure Administrator certification exam [AZ-104]
Next Task For You
Begin your journey towards becoming a Microsoft Azure Administrator [AZ-104] by joining our FREE Class. We strongly recommend gaining knowledge from AZ-104 in order to be an effective Azure Administrator. Our course covers the AZ-104 certification.
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