Top Azure Interview Questions for 2023 - IQCode Solutions

Azure: The Leading Cloud Service Provider by Microsoft

Cloud Computing refers to the use of technology resources for storing, retrieving, and processing data over the internet to increase speed, availability, scalability, and reduce cost. Cloud service providers offer these resources, including Azure, one of the leading cloud service providers launched by Microsoft on February 1, 2010. The pay-per-use model allows users to only pay for the services they require.

Azure is relied on by around 80% of the Fortune 500 companies to host their applications and resources, offering over 200 cloud computing services across various programming languages. In comparison to other cloud providers, Amazon Web Services holds 31% of the market share, while Azure holds 20%, according to a Q4 2020 report by Canalys.

Azure offers 18 categories of computing services, including networking, computing, storage, migration, IoT, analytics, containers, management and monitoring tools, security, and DevOps. With its vast array of services, Azure provides an excellent environment to create and host web applications, validate them, and store massive amounts of data on the cloud.

Becoming an Azure certified professional opens a wide range of career opportunities, including Azure Administrator, Azure Developer, Azure Solutions Architect, among others. With the increasing demand for Azure across businesses, it provides amazing pay benefits and career growth opportunities.

Azure Interview Questions for Freshers:

1. What is your understanding of Cloud Computing?

Azure Cloud Services

Azure Cloud Services is a platform that allows developers to deploy and manage web applications and services on Microsoft's infrastructure. It provides a scalable, reliable, and easily manageable cloud computing environment for applications. With Azure Cloud Services, you have the flexibility to manage your applications in a virtual machine (VM) or a web role, depending on the nature of your application. Additionally, it supports various programming languages such as .NET, Java, Node.js, PHP, and Python, allowing developers to use their preferred technology stack. Azure Cloud Services provides comprehensive tools and functions to support application development and deployment, including automated virtual machine scaling, traffic management, and automated patching.

Available Cloud Deployment Models

There are various models available for cloud deployment, including:

  • Public Cloud: In this model, cloud services are offered over the public internet, allowing users to access the resources on a pay-as-you-go basis. Examples of public cloud service providers include AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.
  • Private Cloud: This cloud model provides dedicated cloud infrastructure for a single organization, either in their own data center or hosted with a third-party provider. Private clouds offer greater control and security but can be more expensive than public clouds.
  • Hybrid Cloud: This model combines public and private clouds, allowing organizations to use both for different purposes. For example, sensitive data may be stored on a private cloud, while non-sensitive data is stored on a public cloud.
  • Community Cloud: This cloud model is shared among multiple organizations with similar interests, such as members of a trade association or government agencies. It allows for greater cost-sharing and collaboration between organizations.

Defining Role Instances in Azure

In Azure, a role instance refers to a running copy of a role. A role represents a set of code, configuration, and executables, while a role instance is a virtual machine (VM) on which the role code executes. When you create a deployment package for a role, you also define the number of role instances you want to deploy.

To define a role instance in Azure, you can use the Azure Management Portal or Azure PowerShell. In the portal, you can create a new deployment of a role, set the number of instances, and specify the configuration settings for each instance.

With Azure PowerShell, you can define a role instance by creating a new role deployment and specifying the number of instances using the New-AzureRmRoleAssignment cmdlet. You can then configure the instances using the Set-AzureRmVMExtension cmdlet to install and configure any necessary software or tools.

Overall, defining role instances in Azure is a crucial step in deploying and running your applications in the cloud. It allows you to manage and scale your resources according to your application needs while ensuring high availability and fault tolerance.

Number of Cloud Service Roles Provided by Azure

What is the total count of cloud service roles provided by Azure?

Importance of Azure Diagnostics API

The Azure Diagnostics API is crucial for developers to monitor and diagnose their application's health and performance in Microsoft Azure. It provides access to detailed diagnostic data, including logs, metrics, and traces, which can be used to identify and debug issues with the application.

This API helps in identifying the root cause of issues and in improving application performance. Additionally, it provides insights into resource usage, availability, and usage patterns for developers to plan and optimize their resources accordingly. Therefore, Azure Diagnostics API is an essential tool for developers and system administrators to ensure the application runs smoothly and efficiently on the Azure platform.

Azure Service Level Agreement (SLA) Definition

An Azure Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a commitment made by Microsoft Azure to its customers that Azure services will achieve defined and measurable performance levels within a specified period of time. It lays out the terms and conditions that govern the availability and reliability of Azure services and establishes the performance metrics that will be used to measure the uptime and responsiveness of these services. The Azure SLA specifies the level of service that Microsoft Azure will provide and the compensation that customers will receive if Azure fails to meet the agreed-upon service levels.

Azure Resource Manager Overview

Azure Resource Manager is a service provided by Microsoft Azure that helps you manage your resources within Azure by organizing and grouping them together. Rather than managing individual resources separately, you can create resource groups to manage resources together as a single entity.

With Azure Resource Manager, you can deploy, manage, and organize Azure resources more efficiently. You can also control access and permissions for users and automate tasks using templates and other tools. Using Azure Resource Manager, you can simplify your cloud infrastructure management and lower your costs in the process.

Example:

To create a resource group using the Azure CLI, you can use the following command:

az group create --name MyResourceGroup --location eastus

This command creates a resource group named "MyResourceGroup" in the "eastus" region of Azure.

Is it Possible to Create VM using Azure Resource Manager in a Virtual Network that was Created using Classic Deployment?

The answer to this question is: False.

Explanation: When a virtual network is created via Classic Deployment, the creation of Virtual Machines using Azure Resource Manager is not supported. In case you want to create a VM in such a network, you must either use Classic Deployment or create a new virtual network via Azure Resource Manager.

Azure Redis Cache: An Intermediate Interview Question

Question: Can you explain what Azure Redis Cache is?

Answer: Azure Redis Cache is a cloud-based, in-memory key-value store service offered by Microsoft Azure that is based on the open-source Redis Cache. It is a managed service created to help users build and scale secure, high-performance applications seamlessly by caching data in memory.

Azure Redis Cache is used to handle several data structures such as strings, hashes, lists, and sets, and it enables high-speed access and retrieval of data needed by various applications. It is perfect for scenarios that demand sub-millisecond response times and high throughput, such as gaming apps and e-commerce websites.

Azure Redis Cache provides several benefits, including a managed service to reduce maintenance time and costs, a scalable architecture that can expand with your business needs, and the ability to support data replication across several zones to guarantee availability and reliability.

What are Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets?

Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets enable you to deploy and manage a group of identical Virtual Machines (VMs) as a single entity. They provide a way to scale applications and manage high availability easily. You can create and manage a set of VMs that increase or decrease in number automatically based on demand or a schedule. Scale Sets are perfect for deploying stateless services such as web servers, as they can be easily load balanced.

// Example of creating a scale set with five VM instances
az vmss create \
  --name myScaleSet \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --image UbuntuLTS \
  --upgrade-policy-mode automatic \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --generate-ssh-keys \
  --instance-count 5 \
  --vm-sku Standard_DS1_v2 \
  --load-balancer "lb-backend-pool-id=pool01" \
  --public-ip-per-vm \
  --output json

Understanding the Availability Set

The Availability Set is a feature in Microsoft Azure that ensures high availability of virtual machines (VMs) by grouping them together within a data center and distributing them across multiple physical servers. This helps protect against single points of failure and increases the chances of VM availability during maintenance events or hardware failures. Essentially, it provides redundancy and fault tolerance for your VMs.

Deployment Environment Options Available in Azure

There are several options for deployment environments provided by Azure:


- Azure Virtual Machines
- Azure App Service
- Azure Kubernetes Service
- Azure Functions
- Azure Container Instances
- Azure Batch

Each of these deployment options has its own strengths and can be used for different purposes depending on your specific needs. It's important to weigh the benefits and limitations of each option before choosing one for your project.

What to Do When a Drive Failure Occurs?

When faced with drive failure, here are some steps you can take:

1. Immediately back up any important data to a separate drive or cloud storage. 2. Turn off the computer or device to prevent further damage. 3. Identify the failing drive by checking error messages or using diagnostic software. 4. If the drive is still under warranty, contact the manufacturer for a replacement. 5. If the drive is not under warranty, consider taking it to a professional data recovery service. 6. Install the new drive and transfer backed up data onto it. 7. Regularly check and maintain your drives to prevent future failures.

Remember to always be cautious when dealing with drive failures and seek professional help if needed.

Designing Azure Applications to Handle Connection Failures

Yes, it is definitely possible to design applications that can handle connection failures in Azure. In fact, it is recommended to design applications with built-in fault tolerance to ensure that they remain available and responsive even when there are network disruptions or failures.

To achieve this, you can incorporate retry logic in your code to automatically retry failed connection attempts. You can also use Azure services like Azure Load Balancer, Azure Traffic Manager, and Azure Application Gateway that provide automatic failover and load balancing capabilities to ensure that your application continues to run smoothly even during connection failures.

Additionally, implementing a robust disaster recovery plan and regularly testing it can also help you prepare for any potential connection failures and minimize their impact on your application's performance.

Definition of Azure Storage Key

Azure Storage Key refers to a security token or a password that authenticates and authorizes requests to access Azure Storage resources, such as Blob storage, File storage, Queue storage, and Table storage. It is a primary means of securing access to Azure Storage resources and must be kept confidential to prevent unauthorized access to your data. The key provides full access to the storage account and can be regenerated, if necessary, to prevent access by unauthorized parties.

Azure CSPack Overview

Azure CSPack is a tool that enables developers to create and package their Cloud Services projects for deployment to the Azure platform. It is a command-line tool that creates a service package file (a .cspkg file) and a service definition file (a .csdef file) that can easily be uploaded to a Cloud Services account. CSPack uses the contents of a project's .csproj file to determine what files to include in the package, and also allows developers to customize the configuration settings for their Cloud Services projects.

Best Azure Solution for Serverless Code Execution

In Azure, the best solution for executing code without a server is Azure Functions. Azure Functions offer a serverless architecture that allows developers to run code without worrying about servers or infrastructure. With Azure Functions, developers can write small pieces of code that can be triggered by events, such as messages in a queue, changes in a database, or HTTP requests. The code is executed on-demand and can scale automatically, based on the volume of events. This allows developers to focus on writing the code, without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

Best feature recommended by Azure for common file sharing system between multiple virtual machines

Azure offers Azure Files, which is a fully managed file share service that enables file sharing between multiple virtual machines (VMs) through the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. This service is built on top of Azure's highly available and scalable storage platform, making it suitable for various scenarios such as lift-and-shift applications, media sharing, and more. Using Azure Files, users can easily share files across Windows and Linux VMs, monitor and scale file shares as needed, and benefit from enterprise-grade security features.

Is it possible to log in to a Linux virtual machine without using a password?

As far as security best practices are concerned, it is not recommended to log in to any system without using a password, including a Linux virtual machine. However, it is possible to configure your Linux virtual machine to allow passwordless login using SSH keys. The steps involved in this process are:

1. Generate SSH keys on your local machine using the command `ssh-keygen`.

2. Copy the public key to your Linux virtual machine using the command `ssh-copy-id user@linuxvm`.

3. Edit the SSH server configuration file on your Linux virtual machine `/etc/ssh/sshd_config`.

4. Change the value of the `PasswordAuthentication` parameter to `no` and the `ChallengeResponseAuthentication` parameter to `no`.

5. Restart the SSH daemon using the command `sudo service sshd restart`.

After completing these steps, you should be able to log in to your Linux virtual machine without being prompted for a password. However, keep in mind that this method can pose a security risk if your private SSH key falls into the wrong hands. Therefore, it's essential to safeguard your SSH private key and use secure methods to transfer it across systems.

Differences Between Azure Scale Sets and Availability Sets

In Azure, availability sets are used to ensure that virtual machines are placed on different physical hardware to avoid a single point of failure. On the other hand, scale sets are used to automatically increase or decrease the number of VM instances to handle variable workloads.

Availability sets allow you to group VM instances together and distribute them across various fault domains and update domains. This ensures that if one zone experiences an outage, the other zones can continue to function. In contrast, scale sets help you to meet the demands of your application by automatically scaling the VM instances up or down.

In summary, availability sets ensure high availability by distributing VM instances across different hardware, while scale sets ensure scalability by dynamically adjusting the number of VM instances based on workload.

What Happens when Maximum Failed Attempts are Reached during Azure AD Authentication?

When the maximum allowed failed authentication attempts are reached during the Azure AD authentication process, the user account gets locked out for a specific period of time. The exact duration of the lockout period depends on the organization's policies. Once the lockout period is over, the user can attempt to authenticate again. It is important to note that the account can also be locked out permanently if the failed attempts exceed a certain threshold, which again would depend on the organization's policies.

Obtaining a Public DNS or IP Address for the Azure Internal Load Balancer

Is it feasible to acquire a public DNS or IP address for the Azure Internal Load Balancer?

Azure Blob Storage: Overview and Explanation

Azure Blob Storage is a cloud-based storage solution that allows users to store and retrieve large amounts of unstructured data such as images, videos, documents, and other file types. It is highly scalable, durable, secure, and easily accessible from anywhere in the world. Azure Blob Storage is commonly used for backup and disaster recovery, as well as for streaming and big data scenarios. It also provides various tiers, including hot, cool, and archive storage, to help you optimize your storage costs based on your data access patterns. Overall, Azure Blob Storage is a reliable and cost-effective solution for managing your data in the cloud.

Azure Interview Questions for Experienced

26. Can you explain your understanding of Azure Scheduler?

Azure Scheduler

is a service provided by Microsoft Azure that enables users to schedule recurring jobs, as well as run jobs on demand. With Azure Scheduler, users can schedule jobs to run at specific intervals, such as daily or weekly, or at specific times. The service also allows for the use of HTTP, HTTPS, and Storage Queues as endpoints to trigger jobs. Additionally, Azure Scheduler can be used to manage and monitor job execution status and history.

Mapping Windows Machines Running on Different Port Numbers to an Azure Load Balancer

Is it feasible to map Windows machines, which are running on separate port numbers (such as 80 and 81), to an Azure Load Balancer on an IIS Web Server?

Can You Access an Application on Azure If the On-Premises Server Access Fails?

Assuming you have an application running on an on-premises server and you have a backup for it on Azure East US region, if the access to the application on the on-premises server fails, it is possible to access the application via the Azure environment.

Stopping High Load Issues in Azure Without Manual Intervention

One feature of Azure that can be used to prevent high load issues on an application when there is no manual support available is Autoscaling. Autoscaling automatically adjusts the number of virtual machine instances that are running based on the incoming traffic. This ensures that the application is able to handle an increased load and prevent any potential downtime or performance degradation. By utilizing Autoscaling, the system can handle fluctuations in traffic without the need for manual intervention, thereby ensuring smooth operation even under high load.

Types of Storage Services in Azure

Azure provides several types of storage services apart from Blob storage, including:

1. File Storage: Offers fully managed file shares in the cloud and also supports the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol.

2. Queue Storage: Offers reliable messaging services between different components of a cloud application.

3. Table Storage: A NoSQL key-value store suitable for applications requiring a flexible data schema.

4. Disk Storage: Provides highly available and durable storage for Virtual Machines in Azure.

Overall, Azure offers a wide range of storage services to cater to various use cases that require different levels of flexibility, scalability, and durability.

Understanding IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS

IAAS, PaaS, and SaaS are three types of cloud computing:

  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides virtualized computing resources over the internet. It allows users to rent or use servers, storage, and networking components on a pay-as-you-go basis.
  • Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides a platform for users to develop, run, and manage applications without the need for infrastructure management. It includes the necessary hardware and software to run an application, such as an operating system and a web server.
  • Software as a Service (SaaS) provides access to software applications over the internet. Users rent or subscribe to the software on a pay-as-you-go basis rather than buying or installing the software themselves.

Understanding these cloud computing models can help businesses decide which one is right for their needs and budget.

Note: It is important to capitalize the first letter of each term (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) when referring to them.

Differences between Azure Table Storage and Azure SQL Service

Azure Table Storage and Azure SQL Service are both cloud-based data storage services offered by Microsoft Azure, but they have some key differences.

Azure Table Storage is a NoSQL data store that provides a way to store structured data in tables. It is designed for storing large amounts of structured, non-relational data, and it supports simple CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations. It is best suited for scenarios where fast access to large data sets is required, such as storing logs or sensor data.

Azure SQL Service, on the other hand, is a fully managed relational database service that offers a more traditional relational database model, similar to an on-premise SQL Server database. It supports SQL queries, transactions, and offers more advanced features such as scalability, integration with other Azure services, and high availability.

Some of the key differences between Azure Table Storage and Azure SQL Service are:

- Data Model: Azure Table Storage is a NoSQL data store and uses a schema-less design while Azure SQL Service is a relational database service that uses a schema-based design. - Query Language: Azure Table Storage uses a limited set of operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete) to interact with data while Azure SQL Service supports SQL queries for complex data operations. - Scalability: Azure Table Storage is designed to handle massive amounts of data, making it ideal for storing large data sets while Azure SQL Service is designed for traditional relational data models and is best suited for applications that require more advanced transactional processing and analysis. - Cost: Azure Table Storage is generally less expensive than Azure SQL Service, primarily due to its simpler design and lower operational overhead.

In conclusion, the choice between Azure Table Storage and Azure SQL Service depends on the specific requirements of your application. While Azure Table Storage is best suited for storing large amounts of structured, non-relational data, Azure SQL Service is ideal for applications that require more advanced transactional processing and analysis.

Connecting Azure Front End with On-Premise Database Server

In situations where a customer requires the database hosting to be done on On-Premise Server due to security concerns, while the application front end is hosted on Azure, the following are the ways to handle the connectivity in Azure:

1. Virtual Private Network (VPN): Establishing a VPN connection between Azure Virtual Network and On-Premise network allows the Azure hosted application to communicate with On-Premise database server securely.

2. Azure ExpressRoute: Using Azure ExpressRoute, a dedicated connection can be established between Azure and On-Premise environments, allowing for private and secure communication between the two.

3. Hybrid Connections: Azure provides Hybrid Connections to allow secure and easy communication between Azure application and On-Premise resources without the need for any networking configuration changes.

By implementing one of these solutions, Azure hosted applications can securely communicate with the customer's On-Premise database server relieving any security concerns.

Differences between Azure Storage Queue and Azure Service Bus Queue

Azure Storage Queue and Azure Service Bus Queue are two different messaging services provided by Microsoft Azure. Here are some of the key differences between the two:

1. Focus and Capabilities: Azure Storage Queue is designed to store and retrieve large numbers of messages. It is a simple but effective queue service with a minimal set of features. On the other hand, Azure Service Bus Queue is an enterprise messaging service that offers advanced messaging features, such as duplicate detection and message transactions. Therefore, if your application requires advanced messaging capabilities, Azure Service Bus Queue may be a better choice.

2. Protocol Support: Azure Storage Queue only supports HTTP/HTTPS protocols whereas, Azure Service Bus Queue supports AMQP, HTTP and HTTPS protocols. Therefore, if your application requires messaging with other protocols in addition to HTTP and HTTPS, you should choose Azure Service Bus Queue.

3. Latency and Throughput: Azure Storage Queue has lower latency and higher throughput compared to Azure Service Bus Queue. Therefore, if your application requires high message processing rates, Azure Storage Queue may be a better option.

4. Message Size: Azure Storage Queue allows messages of up to 64 KB in size, whereas Azure Service Bus Queue allows messages up to 256 KB in size.

5. Cost: Azure Storage Queue is cheaper than Azure Service Bus Queue because it offers fewer features. Therefore, if your application does not require advanced messaging features, you should choose Azure Storage Queue.

Possible Causes of Disconnection of Client Application from Cache

There could be several reasons why a client application may become disconnected from the cache. Some of the common causes include:

  • Network connection failure between the client and the cache
  • Expiration of the cache entry
  • The cache server may have run out of memory
  • The cache server may have been shut down
  • The cache client may have exceeded the maximum allowed connections
  • Timeout error while accessing the cache
  • The cache client has encountered an application error that resulted in disconnection from the cache

It is important to identify and resolve the cause of disconnection from the cache to avoid further issues and ensure smooth functioning of the application.

// Sample code snippet for handling cache disconnection

Creating a VM using Azure CLI

To create a virtual machine using Azure CLI, follow these steps:

  1. Login to your Azure account using Azure CLI.
  2. Enter the following command to create a virtual machine:
    az vm create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name myVM --image UbuntuLTS --admin-username azureuser --ssh-key-value ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
  3. In the above command, "myResourceGroup" is the name of your resource group, "myVM" is the name of your virtual machine, "UbuntuLTS" is the name of the operating system image, "azureuser" is the username for the virtual machine, and "~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub" is the path to the SSH public key file. This command creates a virtual machine with the specified properties.
  4. Once the virtual machine is created, you can connect to it using SSH:
  5. ssh azureuser@publicIpAddress

Note: Before you start creating a VM using Azure CLI, make sure you have Azure CLI installed on your system.

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