CMIT 336: Fundamentals of Microsoft Azure

CMIT 336 moves UMGC cloud students from AWS into Microsoft Azure, covering the concepts and services behind Microsoft's AZ-900 fundamentals exam.

UMGC describes it as a hands-on study of Azure services. The aim is to demonstrate mastery of cloud concepts, the core services used in Azure, Azure pricing and support models, and fundamentals of cloud security, privacy, compliance and trust.

Topics include high availability, scalability, agility, fault tolerance and disaster recovery in the Azure environment.

Because CMIT 326 comes first, many concepts will be familiar. The challenge is learning Azure's own names, its management hierarchy and its pricing tools, which differ from AWS in ways that matter on assignments and exams.

What CMIT 336 Covers

Key Concepts Explained

The Azure Management Hierarchy

Azure organizes resources in levels: management groups contain subscriptions, subscriptions contain resource groups, and resource groups contain resources. Policies and access set at a higher level flow down to everything below.

IaaS, PaaS and SaaS in Azure

Azure Virtual Machines are infrastructure as a service: you manage the operating system. Azure App Service is platform as a service: Microsoft manages the platform and you deploy code. Microsoft 365 is software as a service. The more managed the service, the less you maintain, and the less you control.

Availability Zones and Region Pairs

Availability zones are physically separate locations within a region. Many regions are paired with another region for disaster recovery. Choosing between them depends on how much downtime and data loss the scenario can tolerate.

Security and Governance Tools in Azure

UMGC lists security, privacy, compliance and trust among the course aims. Several Azure tools appear repeatedly, and it helps to know what each one is for:

• Microsoft Entra ID: identities, sign-in and multi-factor authentication.
• Role-based access control: who can do what on which resources.
• Azure Policy: rules that resources must follow, such as allowed regions.
• Resource locks: protection against accidental deletion or change.
• Microsoft Defender for Cloud: security posture recommendations and threat protection.
• Service Trust Portal: Microsoft's compliance reports and documentation.

Understanding Azure Pricing and Support

UMGC lists pricing and support models as a course aim, and they often surprise students who focus only on technology. Key ideas include:

• Cost factors: resource type, size, region, usage and data leaving Azure.
• Pricing Calculator: estimates costs before you deploy.
• Cost Management: tracks and analyses actual spending, with budgets and alerts.
• Service level agreements: availability commitments per service, which can be combined to estimate overall availability.
• Support plans: different levels of response and guidance.

Typical Assignments and How to Approach Them

Where Students Get Stuck

• AWS habits. Similar services have different names and behaviors in Azure.
• The hierarchy. Confusing subscriptions with resource groups causes many errors.
• Pricing questions. Students often under-prepare for cost and support topics.
• Governance tools. Azure Policy, role-based access control and locks do different jobs.

Study Tips for CMIT 336

• Build an AWS-to-Azure service map from your CMIT 326 notes.
• Use Microsoft Learn's free AZ-900 learning paths alongside course materials.
• Draw the management hierarchy for each lab you complete.
• Practice one cost estimate with the Pricing Calculator.

How We Help with CMIT 336

Send the lab instructions, rubric and your results or screenshots. A cloud tutor can explain Azure concepts and services, walk through a cost estimate, or review your write-up for accuracy. For presenting technical work, see our lab report guide.

GradeEssays is independent of the University of Maryland Global Campus and Microsoft. We tutor and explain; we never take quizzes or exams, sit certifications, or log in to your classroom or Azure accounts.