Microsoft Azure Technical Round Questions &amp; Answers

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Enable a managed identity on the app, grant it Key Vault Secrets User on the vault, then set the app setting value to a Key Vault reference: @Microsoft.KeyVault(SecretUri=https://kv-shop-prod.vault.azure.net/secrets/SqlPassword/). The app reads it as a normal environment variable. Omitting the version makes App Service pick up rotated secrets automatically within about a day, or on restart.

What is Infrastructure as Code and why use it on Azure?

DevOps and Infrastructure as CodeEasy

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Infrastructure as Code defines resources in versioned files, such as Bicep, ARM JSON or Terraform, instead of clicking in the portal. It makes environments repeatable, reviewable through pull requests and quick to rebuild after failure. Drift between dev, test and prod drops because all are deployed from the same templates with different parameters. It also documents the setup and enables automated policy checks before deployment.

What is Microsoft Defender for Cloud?

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Defender for Cloud is a cloud security posture management and workload protection platform. The free foundational tier gives a secure score and recommendations based on the Microsoft cloud security benchmark. Paid Defender plans add threat detection for servers, storage, SQL, containers, Key Vault and App Service, vulnerability scanning and attack path analysis. It also covers AWS and GCP accounts and on-premises servers through Arc.

Write a Resource Graph query to list unattached managed disks.

Monitoring, Cost and GovernanceMedium

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Unattached disks keep billing, so this is a common cost check: Resources | where type =~ 'microsoft.compute/disks' | where properties.diskState =~ 'Unattached' | project name, resourceGroup, subscriptionId, sku = sku.name, sizeGb = properties.diskSizeGB Run it with az graph query -q or in the Resource Graph Explorer.

Create a route table that sends internet traffic to Azure Firewall.

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Add a default route with next hop Virtual appliance pointing to the firewall private IP, then attach it to the spoke subnet: az network route-table create -g rg-net -n rt-spoke1 az network route-table route create -g rg-net \ --route-table-name rt-spoke1 -n default-to-fw \ --address-prefix 0.0.0.0/0 \ --next-hop-type VirtualAppliance --next-hop-ip-address 10.0.1.4 az network vnet subnet update -g rg-net --vnet-name vnet-spoke1 \ -n snet-app --route-table rt-spoke1

Create an Azure SQL Database with Entra-only authentication using Azure CLI.

Azure DatabasesMedium

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Create the logical server with an Entra admin group and no SQL logins, then the database: az sql server create -g rg-data -n sql-shop-prod -l centralindia \ --enable-ad-only-auth \ --external-admin-principal-type Group \ --external-admin-name grp-sql-admins \ --external-admin-sid <group-object-id> az sql db create -g rg-data -s sql-shop-prod -n shopdb \ --edition GeneralPurpose --family Gen5 --capacity 2 \ --zone-redundant true --backup-storage-redundancy Zone

What is Bicep and how does it relate to ARM templates?

DevOps and Infrastructure as CodeEasy

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Bicep is a domain-specific language for deploying Azure resources declaratively. It compiles to ARM JSON, so it supports every resource type and API version on day one, but with cleaner syntax, modules, loops, type checking and no manual dependsOn in most cases. There is no state file because ARM itself tracks the deployed resources. Bicep is Microsoft's recommended native IaC language.

A team accidentally deleted a production resource group. How do you prevent this in future?

Azure FundamentalsMedium

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First recover what is possible: soft delete or backups for storage, Key Vault, SQL and VMs. Then add CanNotDelete locks on production groups, remove Owner and Contributor rights from individual users, and grant access through Entra groups with Privileged Identity Management for just-in-time elevation. Deploy infrastructure through pipelines only, and set activity log alerts on delete operations so the team is notified instantly.

Why would you use Azure Cache for Redis?

Azure DatabasesEasy

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Redis is an in-memory key-value store used for caching frequent database reads, storing user sessions, rate limiting, leaderboards and pub/sub. Caching a product catalogue can cut database load and bring latency from tens of milliseconds to around one. Use the cache-aside pattern with sensible TTLs. Microsoft now steers new deployments to Azure Managed Redis, which is based on Redis Enterprise.

What is the difference between an app registration and a service principal?

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An app registration is the global definition of an application in its home tenant, with client ID, redirect URIs, API permissions and credentials. A service principal is the local instance of that app in a tenant, used for sign-in and role assignments. One multi-tenant app registration can have service principals in many tenants. Managed identities are special service principals whose credentials Azure manages.

Users report the website on App Service is slow every morning at 9 AM. How do you investigate?

Azure ComputeMedium

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Check Application Insights for response times, failed requests and dependency calls around 9 AM, and App Service plan metrics for CPU, memory and instance count. A morning spike often means traffic surge with autoscale reacting too slowly, cold start after idle, or a slow SQL query under load. Fixes include scheduled scale-out before 9 AM, Always On, a higher tier, caching with Redis or query tuning.

Peer two VNets in both directions with Azure CLI.

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Peering must be created from each side. Allow forwarded traffic if a hub firewall routes it: az network vnet peering create -g rg-net -n hub-to-spoke1 \ --vnet-name vnet-hub --remote-vnet vnet-spoke1 \ --allow-vnet-access --allow-forwarded-traffic --allow-gateway-transit az network vnet peering create -g rg-net -n spoke1-to-hub \ --vnet-name vnet-spoke1 --remote-vnet vnet-hub \ --allow-vnet-access --allow-forwarded-traffic --use-remote-gateways

What is Azure Firewall and how is it different from an NSG?

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Azure Firewall is a managed, stateful, centralised firewall with network and application rules, FQDN filtering, threat intelligence and, in the Premium SKU, TLS inspection and IDPS. NSGs are distributed basic filters on subnets and NICs. Typically NSGs control traffic within and between subnets, while Azure Firewall in a hub controls internet egress and cross-spoke traffic with central logging.

What is the difference between the activity log and resource logs?

Monitoring, Cost and GovernanceMedium

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The activity log records control-plane operations at subscription level, such as who created, updated or deleted a resource, and service health events. It is kept for 90 days unless exported. Resource logs record data-plane activity inside a resource, such as Key Vault secret reads or SQL audit events, and must be enabled with diagnostic settings to send them to Log Analytics, Storage or Event Hubs.

What is Azure Cost Management?

Monitoring, Cost and GovernanceEasy

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Cost Management analyses and controls Azure spending. Cost analysis shows cost by service, resource group, tag or meter with forecasts. Budgets send alerts at thresholds such as 80% and 100% of actual or forecast spend and can trigger automation. Exports send daily cost data to Storage for reporting in Power BI. It also shows reservation utilisation and supports FinOps practices like showback and chargeback to teams.

Write a Bicep snippet for a custom Azure Policy that denies resources outside India regions.

Identity and SecurityHard

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Define the rule with an allowed list and a deny effect, then assign it at a management group: resource pol 'Microsoft.Authorization/policyDefinitions@2023-04-01' = { name: 'allowed-india-regions' properties: { policyType: 'Custom' mode: 'Indexed' policyRule: { if: { field: 'location' notIn: ['centralindia', 'southindia', 'westindia'] } then: { effect: 'deny' } } } }

An App Service cannot connect to an Azure SQL database behind a private endpoint. How do you troubleshoot?

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Confirm the app has regional VNet integration into a subnet that can reach the private endpoint subnet. Check DNS first: from the Kudu console, nslookup the SQL server name; it must resolve to the private IP through privatelink.database.windows.net linked to the VNet. Then check NSGs, UDRs sending traffic to a firewall that blocks port 1433, and whether SQL public access is disabled as expected.

What is Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and what does Azure manage for you?

Azure ComputeMedium

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AKS is managed Kubernetes. Azure runs the control plane, including the API server and etcd, and handles upgrades and its availability. You manage node pools, which are VM scale sets, plus workloads, networking choices and add-ons. AKS integrates with Entra ID for cluster login, Azure CNI for pod networking, ACR for images, Key Vault via CSI driver and Azure Monitor Container Insights for logs and metrics.

What are Request Units (RUs) in Cosmos DB?

Azure DatabasesMedium

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An RU is a normalised measure of the CPU, memory and IO needed for an operation. A point read of a 1 KB item costs about 1 RU, while writes and queries cost more depending on size, indexing and complexity. You pay for provisioned RU/s, autoscale RU/s or serverless consumption. Requests beyond the limit get HTTP 429 and must retry, so measure RU charge from response headers.

How do you plan IP address space for VNets in an enterprise?

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Allocate from a central IP plan that does not overlap with on-premises, other clouds or future acquisitions, because overlapping ranges cannot be peered or routed. Give each region a large block, for example 10.10.0.0/14, then carve /22 or /24 spokes. Size subnets for growth and remember AKS, App Gateway and private endpoints consume many IPs. Document allocations in an IPAM tool such as Azure Virtual Network Manager IPAM.

How would you secure an AKS cluster?

Identity and SecurityHard

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Use Entra ID integration with Kubernetes RBAC and disable local accounts. Make the API server private or restrict authorized IP ranges. Run workloads with Workload ID instead of secrets, keep secrets in Key Vault through the CSI driver, and apply Azure Policy for Kubernetes to block privileged pods. Enable Defender for Containers, use network policies, scan images in ACR and route egress through Azure Firewall.

What is a Shared Access Signature (SAS) and what types exist?

Azure StorageMedium

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A SAS is a signed URL token granting limited access to storage for a set time and permissions, such as read-only for one blob for one hour. A user delegation SAS is signed with Entra ID credentials and is the most secure. A service SAS and an account SAS are signed with the account key. Always use HTTPS, short expiry and stored access policies so tokens can be revoked.

What is the difference between a service endpoint and a private endpoint?

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A service endpoint extends the VNet identity to a PaaS service so its firewall can allow your subnet, but the service still uses its public IP. A private endpoint puts a private IP from your subnet on a specific resource instance, so traffic never needs the public endpoint and works from peered networks and on-premises. Private endpoints are preferred for strict security but need private DNS setup.

What are user-defined routes (UDRs)?

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UDRs are custom routes in a route table attached to a subnet, overriding Azure system routes. A common use is sending 0.0.0.0/0 from spoke subnets to Azure Firewall in the hub, with next hop type Virtual appliance, so all outbound traffic is inspected. Mistakes in UDRs are a top cause of connectivity issues, so check effective routes on the NIC when troubleshooting.

A deployment to production failed halfway. How do you design pipelines to handle this?

DevOps and Infrastructure as CodeHard

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Make deployments idempotent so rerunning the same template converges to the right state. Use slot swaps or blue-green so the old version keeps serving until the new one passes health checks, and roll back by swapping back. Keep database migrations backward compatible, using expand and contract, so the old code still works. Add smoke tests and automatic rollback, and alert the team with logs.

What are the main services in Azure DevOps?

DevOps and Infrastructure as CodeEasy

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Azure Boards tracks work items, sprints and backlogs. Azure Repos hosts Git repositories with branch policies. Azure Pipelines runs CI/CD on Microsoft-hosted or self-hosted agents. Azure Test Plans manages manual and exploratory testing. Azure Artifacts hosts NuGet, npm, Maven and Python feeds. Many Indian service companies still run client projects on Azure DevOps, while product companies often use GitHub Actions.

A VM in a spoke cannot reach a VM in another spoke. What could be wrong?

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Peering is not transitive, so spoke to spoke traffic needs a route through the hub. Check that both spokes have UDRs pointing the other spoke's range to the hub firewall, that peerings allow forwarded traffic, and that firewall network rules allow the flow. Then check NSGs on both subnets and NICs and the guest OS firewall. Use Network Watcher next hop and IP flow verify to confirm.

Write a lifecycle management rule to tier and delete log blobs.

Azure StorageMedium

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The JSON policy moves blobs under logs/ to Cool after 30 days, Archive after 90 and deletes after 365: { "rules": [{ "name": "logs-tiering", "enabled": true, "type": "Lifecycle", "definition": { "filters": {"blobTypes": ["blockBlob"], "prefixMatch": ["logs/"]}, "actions": {"baseBlob": { "tierToCool": {"daysAfterModificationGreaterThan": 30}, "tierToArchive": {"daysAfterModificationGreaterThan": 90}, "delete": {"daysAfterModificationGreaterThan": 365}}} }}] }

What is VNet peering and is it transitive?

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Peering connects two VNets over the Microsoft backbone with low latency, either in the same region or globally. Traffic stays private and is billed per GB. Peering is not transitive: if A peers with B and B peers with C, A cannot reach C. To route through a hub, use a network virtual appliance or Azure Firewall with user-defined routes, or use Azure Virtual WAN.

Explain the five consistency levels in Cosmos DB.

Azure DatabasesHard

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Strong guarantees linearizable reads but adds latency across regions. Bounded staleness lets reads lag by a set number of versions or time. Session, the default, guarantees read-your-own-writes within a client session. Consistent prefix ensures reads never see writes out of order. Eventual is fastest and cheapest with no ordering guarantee. Most apps use Session; stronger levels cost more RUs and latency.

How would you upgrade an AKS cluster in production with minimal downtime?

Azure ComputeHard

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Check the release notes and API deprecations, then upgrade a non-prod cluster first. Set Pod Disruption Budgets and multiple replicas so draining is safe. Upgrade the control plane, then node pools one at a time using max surge so new nodes join before old ones drain. Use planned maintenance windows and auto-upgrade channels for patches. For major risk, run a blue-green cluster and switch traffic.

Compare Azure Load Balancer, Application Gateway, Front Door and Traffic Manager.

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Load Balancer works at layer 4 (TCP/UDP) inside a region. Application Gateway is a regional layer 7 load balancer with path routing, TLS termination and an optional WAF. Front Door is a global layer 7 entry point with anycast, CDN caching and WAF. Traffic Manager is DNS-based global routing for any protocol. Use Front Door for global web apps and Load Balancer for non-HTTP traffic.

What is Privileged Identity Management (PIM)?

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PIM gives just-in-time, time-bound access to privileged Entra ID roles and Azure RBAC roles. Users are eligible, not permanently assigned, and must activate the role for a few hours with justification, MFA and optionally approval. Every activation is audited and access reviews remove stale eligibility. It reduces standing admin access, which is a key control against compromised accounts. It needs Entra ID P2 or governance licensing.

Explain Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery.

Monitoring, Cost and GovernanceMedium

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Azure Backup protects data by taking scheduled backups of VMs, SQL and SAP HANA in VMs, Azure Files, blobs, disks and on-premises servers into Recovery Services or Backup vaults, with retention policies, soft delete and immutability. Azure Site Recovery replicates whole VMs continuously to another region or from on-premises to Azure for disaster recovery, with recovery plans for orchestrated failover. Backup is for restoring data; Site Recovery is for business continuity.

Write a basic Terraform configuration for a resource group and VNet with remote state.

DevOps and Infrastructure as CodeMedium

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Configure the azurerm backend and provider, then resources: terraform { backend "azurerm" { resource_group_name = "rg-tfstate" storage_account_name = "sttfstateprod" container_name = "state" key = "network.tfstate" use_azuread_auth = true } } provider "azurerm" { features {} } resource "azurerm_resource_group" "net" { name = "rg-net-prod" location = "centralindia" } resource "azurerm_virtual_network" "hub" { name = "vnet-hub" location = azurerm_resource_group.net.location resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.net.name address_space = ["10.0.0.0/16"] }

Your Azure Function has slow first responses after idle periods. What can you do?

Azure ComputeMedium

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That is cold start: the plan scaled to zero and must load a new instance. Options are moving to Flex Consumption with always-ready instances or the Premium plan with pre-warmed instances, reducing package size and dependencies, and choosing a faster-starting runtime. A timer ping is a hack that is not reliable. For strict latency APIs, a dedicated plan or Container Apps with minimum replicas is better.

What is Conditional Access?

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Conditional Access is the Entra ID policy engine that decides how users sign in. Policies combine signals like user or group, app, location, device compliance, client app and sign-in risk, then grant access, require MFA or a compliant device, or block. For example, require MFA for all admins and block legacy authentication. It requires Entra ID P1, and risk-based policies need P2.

A developer's service principal secret was committed to a public GitHub repo. What do you do?