Top 59 Azure Interview Questions And Answers

Question 1

What is the difference between Azure AD App _Application Permissions_ vs _Delegated Permissions_?

Accepted Answer

You typically use **delegated permissions** when you want to call the Web API as the logged-on user. Say for example that the Web API needs to filter the data it returns based on who the user is, or execute some action as the logged-in user. Or even just to log which user was initiating the call.

**Application permissions** are used when the application calls the API itself. For example to get the weather forecast for a certain zipcode (it does not matter which user is logged on). The client can even call the API when there's no user present (some background service calling the API to update some status).

Question 2

What would you use: Azure CLI or PowerShell? Explain.

Accepted Answer

Both, Azure CLI and the PowerShell package use the REST API of Azure.

* Azure CLI is a PowerShell-like-tool available for all platforms. You can use the same commands no matter what platform you use: Windows, Linux or Mac and it's open-source
* The real biggest benefit of Powershell is that it operates on objects, not on strings. Therefore it's really easy to work with the output of commands
* You might end up replacing all my ARM Templates with Azure CLI scripts as it is less verbose and easy to read

PowerShell has some significant advantages over CLI:

- [PowerShell is a language of Azure Functions](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/supported-languages). So you can easily write a module or code and push it to a secured Azure Function. CLI is not a supported language.
- Same goes for [Azure Automation Runbooks](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/automation-runbook-types), whereas CLI is not a supported language.
- If you want to orchestrate a hybrid workload covering on premise and cloud, i.e. deploy a Service to a Windows Server and then deploy an endpoint in Azure for it to interact with, PowerShell can but CLI can't (and I would surprised if it did).
- If you want to invest in one language that can call legacy Modules for management, PowerShell can but CLI can't.
- If you want to create your own DLL in C# or any other language and incorporate that into your scripts. I've had to reverse engineer DLLs and wrap them in PowerShell to incorporate them into orchestrations.
- I've had significantly more success extending DevOps pipelines with PowerShell than CLI.
- PowerShell has very good multithreaded workload support for scenarios such as Azure unit and smoke testing and large Azure parallel deployments (beyond DevOps parallel tasks which get clunky). TBH, I am not aware of native multithreading in Azure CLI.
- I can develop a module, use it in all the above scenarios and then give it to an end client; TBH, I don't believe I can do that for CLI (create a module, digitally sign it and then nuget feed distro).

Question 3

What are ARM Templates in Azure?

Accepted Answer

ARM templates are a form of infrastructure as code, a concept where you define the infrastructure you need to be deployed. The template defines the resources, and the Azure ARM management layer is responsible for creating the infrastructure. Templates use a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) syntax that also includes advanced capabilities. Templates use declarative syntax. In this way, you can specify what to deploy without writing a series of commands that specify how to deploy it.

The template includes the following parts:

- **Parameters** - values that allow you to use the same template in different environments during deployment.
- **Variables** - values to be reused in different templates. Variables can use values from parameters.
- **User-Defined Functions** - lets you define customized elements to simplify templates.
- **Resources** - specifies Azure resources to be deployed.
- **Outputs** - the return value of the deployed resource.

Question 4

What is the difference between_Azure API Apps_, _Logic Apps_, _Web Apps_ and _Azure Functions_?

Accepted Answer

**Logic Apps:**

Logic Apps provide a way to simplify and implement scalable integrations and workflows in the cloud. It provides a visual designer to model and automates your process as a series of steps known as a workflow. There are many connectors across the cloud and on-premises to quickly integrate across services and protocols. A logic app begins with a trigger (like 'When an account is added to Dynamics CRM') and after firing can begin many combinations of actions, conversions, and condition logic.

**API Apps:**

API apps in Azure App Service offer features that make it easier to develop, host, and consume APIs in the cloud and on-premises. With API apps you get enterprise-grade security, simple access control, hybrid connectivity, automatic SDK generation, and seamless integration with Logic Apps.

**Web Apps:**

App Service Web Apps is a fully managed to compute platform that is optimized for hosting websites and web applications. This platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering of Microsoft Azure lets you focus on your business logic while Azure takes care of the infrastructure to run and scale your apps.

**Functions:**

Azure Functions is a solution for easily running small pieces of code, or "functions," in the cloud. You can write just the code you need for the problem at hand, without worrying about a whole application or the infrastructure to run it. Functions can make development even more productive, and you can use your development languages of choice, such as C#, F#, Node.js, Python or PHP. Pay only for the time your code runs and trust Azure to scale as needed. Azure Functions lets you develop serverless applications on Microsoft Azure.

Question 5

Is there a way to view deployed files in Azure?

Accepted Answer

If you're just trying to look around, and see the various directories and files in your deployment, you can enter the site's "Kudu" dashboard (called Advanced Tools), using the url format `http://<yoursitename>.scm.azurewebsites.net`

Kudu is the engine behind git deployments in Azure Web Sites.  This will give you a web-based dashboard, including a debug console (web-based) where you can explore your various directories (and the directories will show up visually as well).

Question 6

What is Azure CDN (Content Delivery Network) and why to use it?

Accepted Answer

Almost each and every site has HTML, JS, CSS, image, video and font files that do not change much from user to user. To minimize the application load time we should use CDN.

**Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN)** is CDN service provided by Azure Cloud Platform that enables in storing and accessing data on different content servers and locations – used by online or cloud services. It provides:

- Better performance and user experience for end-users who are far from the destination content source or where there are many intermediary nodes in between to reach the content.
- Ability to scale to handle instantaneous high load and demand
- Caching content from publicly available Azure storage blobs
- Caching web content, images, scripts, and other website content from CDN
- Enables in caching objects to the CDN that are provided by an Azure cloud service
- Cache content based on specific query strings
- Accessing cached content from a custom domain name by mapping the CDN HTTP Endpoint.

Question 7

What is _RU_ in Cosmos DB?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB normalizes the cost of all database operations using **Request Units** (or RUs, for short). The request unit is a performance currency abstracting the system resources such as CPU, IOPS, and memory that are required to perform the database operations supported by Azure Cosmos DB.

The cost to do a point read (fetching a single item by its ID and partition key value) for a 1-KB item is one Request Unit (or one RU).

Question 8

What is the _rule of thumb_ for choosing the _ideal partitioning key_ in CosmosDB?

Accepted Answer

An **ideal partition key** is one that:
- appears _frequently_ as a _filter_ in your queries and 
- has _sufficient cardinality_ to ensure your solution is scalable.

Question 9

What is the difference between an _Azure Tenant_ and _Azure Subscription_?

Accepted Answer

* a **Tenant** is associated with a single identity (person, company, or organization) and can own one or several subscriptions
* a **Subscription** is linked to a payment setup and each subscription will result in a separate bill
* in every subscription, you can add virtual resources (VM, storage, network, ...)

- Every tenant is linked to a single Azure AD instance, which is shared with all tenant's subscriptions
- Resources from one subscription are isolated from resources in other subscriptions
- An owner of a tenant can decide to have multiple subscriptions:
    
    - when [Subscriptions limits](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/management/azure-subscription-service-limits) are reached
    - to use different payment methods
    - to isolate resources between different departments, projects, regional offices, and so on.

Question 10

What is WebJob in Azure?

Accepted Answer

**WebJobs** is a _feature_ of **Azure App Service** that enables you to run a program or script in the same instance as a web app, API app, or mobile app. There is no additional cost to use WebJobs. You can use the Azure WebJobs SDK with WebJobs to simplify many programming tasks. Azure Functions provides another way to run programs and scripts.

Top 59 Azure Interview Questions

What is the difference between an Azure Tenant and Azure Subscription?

What is the difference betweenAzure API Apps, Logic Apps, Web Apps and Azure Functions?

What is Azure CDN (Content Delivery Network) and why to use it?

What is the difference between Azure AD App Application Permissions vs Delegated Permissions?

What are ARM Templates in Azure?

What would you use: Azure CLI or PowerShell? Explain.

What is the rule of thumb for choosing the ideal partitioning key in CosmosDB?

What is WebJob in Azure?

Is there a way to view deployed files in Azure?

When would you use Azure Storage Queues vs Azure Service Bus?

What is RU in Cosmos DB?

What is the difference between Azure Queue Storage and Azure Service Bus with regards to dead letter queues & poison messages?

Explain the difference between Event vs Message Services in the context of Azure Services?

What’s the difference between Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance?

How to do a transaction with two collections on Azure CosmosDB?

What is Azure Web PubSub Service? When shall you use it?

What Is Azure Resource Manager?

How can I test my ARM template before deploying It?

What's Logical Partition in CosmosDB?

When would you use Azure Event Grid vs Azure Service Bus and vice versa?

What’s the difference between Logical and Physical partitions in Cosmos DB?

Explain the difference between At-most-once vs At-least-once message processing in Azure Service Bus

What does "Cosmos DB automatically indexes the documents" mean? Explain.

Name some pros and cons of using GUID as Partition Key in Cosmos DB

Using Azure Functions, can I reference and use NuGet packages in my C# function?

What are Web Role, Worker Role and VM Role in Azure?

What is the difference between an API App and a Web App?

What are On Demand WebJobs aka. Scheduled WebJobs aka. Triggered WebJobs in Azure?

What are the differences between New and Classic Storage Accounts in Azure?

What to use: many small Azure Storage Blob containers vs one really large container with tons of blobs?

How would you choose between Azure Blob Storage vs. Azure File Service?

What is the difference between an Azure Web App and an Azure Web Role?

When to choose Worker Role vs Web Jobs on Azure?

Explain the use of Claim Check Pattern in Azure Event Grid

Compare Azure WebJobs vs Azure Function. When to use one?

When shall we use Azure Table Storage over Azure SQL?

What is difference between Keys and Secrets in Azure Key Vault?

How is Azure App Service different from Azure Functions?

What is equivalent of a Windows Service on Azure?

What data schema shall you use for Event Grid events?

What are main considerations when creating Azure Service Bus queues/topics?

Explain the difference between Scheduled vs Deferred messages in Azure Service Bus

Explain the use of Express Entities in Azure Service Bus

Whay should you keep Azure Event Grid events as small as possible?

How would you get Azure Event Grid events in Angular/React client?

What are pros and cons of Azure Web PubSub vs SignalR?

Explain the use of Bounded Staleness consistency model in Cosmos DB

How would you choose/design a muti-tenant architecture with Azure Cosmos DB?

Compare ARM Templates vs Azure CLI for Azure deployments

What is the difference between Azure Active Directory and Azure Active Directory Domain Services?

Name some advantages and disadvantages of Azure CDN

Cosmos DB vs Azure Table Storage vs Azure SQL Database: what to choose?

How would you choose between Azure Table Storage vs MongoDB?

Explain what is the difference between Block Blobs, Append Blobs and Page Blobs in Azure?

When should I use Azure SQL vs Azure Table Storage?

What is the difference between Enterprise Application and App Registration in Azure?

Explain what is Optimistic Concurrency Control (OCC) and how is it implemented in Cosmos DB?

Why are Azure Resource Groups associated with a specific region?

How to define an Environment Variable on Azure using Azure CLI?