Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions

Study Guide
Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft
Azure Infrastructure Solutions

Quick navigation
Purpose of this document
Certification
Certification journey
Certification renewal
About the exam
Passing score
What to expect on the exam
Prepare to take the exam
Request accommodations
Take practice tests
Objective domain: skills the exam measures
Skills measured
Functional groups
Corresponding learning paths and modules
Additional study resources

1
 Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions

Purpose of this document

This study guide should help you understand what to expect on Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft
Azure Infrastructure Solutions, and includes a summary of the topics the exam might cover and links to
additional resources. The information and materials in this document should help you focus your
studies as you prepare for the exam.

Certification
Certification journey
For an overview of attaining Microsoft Certification, including prerequisites (if any) and additional
resources, explore The journey to Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert.

Certification renewal
Once you earn your certification, don’t let it expire. When you have an active certification that’s expiring
within six months, you should renew it—at no cost—by passing a renewal assessment on Microsoft
Learn. Remember to renew your certification annually if you want to retain it.
To identify which certifications are available for you to renew, visit your Certifications in your Microsoft
Learn profile:
• Ensure your certification profile is connected to your Learn profile.
• Expect an email that directs you to the applicable assessment that you must pass on Microsoft
Learn. You’ll receive this email as soon as you have a certification that you’re eligible to renew.
• When you pass an online assessment, your certification will extend by one year from the current
expiration date.
• To help prepare for the assessment, explore the collection of free modules on the certification
renewal page.

About the exam

Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions is required to earn the Azure
Solutions Architect Expert certification.
This exam measures your ability to accomplish the following technical tasks: design identity,
governance, and monitoring solutions; design data storage solutions; design business continuity
solutions; and design infrastructure solutions.
As an exam candidate, you should have advanced experience and knowledge of IT operations, including
networking, virtualization, identity, security, business continuity, disaster recovery, data platforms, and
governance. A professional in this role should manage how decisions in each area affect an overall
solution. In addition, they should have experience in Azure administration, Azure development, and
DevOps processes.

2
 Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions

Passing score
A passing score is 700. Learn more about exam scoring and score reports.

What to expect on the exam

Are you new to Microsoft certification exams? You can explore the exam environment by visiting our
exam sandbox. We created the sandbox so you have an opportunity to experience an exam before you
take it. In the sandbox, you can interact with different question types, such as build list, case studies, and
others that you might encounter in the user interface when you take an exam. Additionally, it includes
the introductory screens, instructions, and help topics related to the different types of questions that
your exam might include. It also includes the non-disclosure agreement that you must accept before
you can launch the exam.

Prepare to take the exam

There are several points to consider, or pursue, as you prepare for an exam. The following sections
detail those points.

Request accommodations
We’re committed to ensuring all learners are set up for success. If you use assistive devices, require
extra time, or need modification to any part of the exam experience, you can request an
accommodation. We encourage you to learn more about available accommodations and how to obtain
them by visiting this page.

Take practice tests

Taking a practice test is a great way to know whether you’re ready to take the exam or if you need to
study a bit more. Subject-matter experts write the Microsoft Official Practice Tests, which are designed
to assess all exam objectives. Take the Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
Microsoft Official Practice Test

Objective domain: skills the exam measures

The English language version of this exam was released on February 28, 2022.
Some exams are localized into other languages, and those are updated approximately eight weeks after
the English version is released. Other available languages are listed in the Schedule Exam section of the
Exam Details webpage. If the exam isn’t available in your preferred language, you can request an
additional 30 minutes to complete the exam.

Note
The bullets that follow each of the skills measured are intended to illustrate how we are assessing that
skill. Related topics may be covered in the exam.

3
 Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions

Note
Most questions cover features that are general availability (GA). The exam may contain questions on
Preview features if those features are commonly used.

Skills measured
• Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions (25–30%)
• Design data storage solutions (25–30%)
• Design business continuity solutions (10–15%)
• Design infrastructure solutions (25–30%)

Functional groups
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions (25–30%)
Design a solution for logging and monitoring
• Design a log routing solution
• Recommend an appropriate level of logging
• Recommend monitoring tools for a solution

Design authentication and authorization solutions

• Recommend a solution for securing resources with role-based access control
• Recommend an identity management solution
• Recommend a solution for securing identities

Design governance
• Recommend an organizational and hierarchical structure for Azure resources
• Recommend a solution for enforcing and auditing compliance

Design identities and access for applications

• Recommend solutions to allow applications to access Azure resources
• Recommend a solution that securely stores passwords and secrets
• Recommend a solution for integrating applications into Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
• Recommend a user consent solution for applications

Design data storage solutions (25–30%)

Design a data storage solution for relational data
• Recommend database service tier sizing
• Recommend a solution for database scalability
• Recommend a solution for encrypting data at rest, data in transmission, and data in use

4
 Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions

Design data integration

• Recommend a solution for data integration
• Recommend a solution for data analysis

Recommend a data storage solution

• Recommend a solution for storing relational data
• Recommend a solution for storing semi-structured data
• Recommend a solution for storing non-relational data

Design a data storage solution for non-relational data

• Recommend access control solutions to data storage
• Recommend a data storage solution to balance features, performance, and cost
• Design a data solution for protection and durability

Design business continuity solutions (10–15%)

Design a solution for backup and disaster recovery
• Recommend a recovery solution for Azure, hybrid, and on-premises workloads that meets
recovery objectives (Recovery Time Objective [RTO], Recovery Level Objective [RLO], Recovery
Point Objective [RPO])
• Understand the recovery solutions for containers
• Recommend a backup and recovery solution for compute
• Recommend a backup and recovery solution for databases
• Recommend a backup and recovery solution for unstructured data

Design for high availability

• Identify the availability requirements of Azure resources
• Recommend a high availability solution for compute
• Recommend a high availability solution for non-relational data storage
• Recommend a high availability solution for relational data storage

Design infrastructure solutions (25–30%)

Design a compute solution
• Recommend a virtual machine-based compute solution
• Recommend an appropriately sized compute solution based on workload requirements
• Recommend a container-based compute solution
• Recommend a serverless-based compute solution

Design an application architecture

• Recommend a caching solution for applications
• Recommend a messaging architecture

5
 Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions

• Recommend an event-driven architecture

• Recommend an automated deployment solution for your applications
• Recommend an application configuration management solution
• Recommend a solution for API integration

Design migrations
• Evaluate a migration solution that leverages the Cloud Adoption Framework for Azure
• Assess and interpret on-premises servers, data, and applications for migration
• Recommend a solution for migrating applications and virtual machines
• Recommend a solution for migrating databases
• Recommend a solution for migrating unstructured data

Design network solutions

• Recommend a network architecture solution based on workload requirements
• Recommend a connectivity solution that connects Azure resources to the internet
• Recommend a connectivity solution that connects Azure resources to on-premises networks
• Optimize network performance for applications
• Recommend a solution to optimize network security
• Recommend a load balancing and routing solution

Corresponding learning paths and

modules
The design of learning paths and modules should teach you how to perform a role and will help you
study for the applicable exam. However, learning paths aren’t always in the same order as an exam’s
“skills measured” list. Therefore, we’ve created a convenient table that links the skills measured to
specific paths and modules.

Exam skills measured Links to learning paths

Design identity, governance, and AZ-305: Design identity, governance, and monitor solutions
monitoring solutions (25–30%)
• Design governance
• Design authentication and authorization solutions
• Design a solution to log and monitor Azure resources

Design data storage solutions AZ-305: Design data storage solutions

(25–30%)
• Design a data storage solution for non-relational data
• Design a data storage solution for relational data
• Design data integration

6
 Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions

Exam skills measured Links to learning paths

Design business continuity AZ-305: Design business continuity solutions

solutions (10–15%)
• Design for high availability
• Design a solution for backup and disaster recovery

Design infrastructure solutions AZ-305: Design infrastructure solutions

(25–30%)
• Design a compute solution
• Design an application architecture

Additional study resources

We offer several resources to help you prepare for the exam and stay current and engaged with the
Microsoft Azure community. These resources range from formal training to blogs and even interviews
with Microsoft team members.

Study resource link Resource description

Course AZ-305T00: Designing Take a four-day, instructor-led course that teaches Azure
Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solution Architects how to design infrastructure solutions.
Solutions

Exam Prep Videos Visit our Exam Readiness Zone for helpful videos with
strategies, tips, and sample questions and answers to prepare
for this exam.

Azure documentation Stay informed on the latest products, tools, and features, and
get information on pricing, partners, support, solutions, and
more.

Azure Community Support Ask questions, get answers, and connect with Microsoft
engineers and Azure community experts.

Microsoft Learn Community Blog Get the latest information about certification tests and exam
study groups.

Azure Fridays Scott Hanselman, Partner Program Manager, speaks with

Azure engineers as they demo capabilities and share insights.

7
 Exam AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions

Study resource link Resource description

Microsoft Azure Blog Keep current on what's happening in Azure, including what's
in preview and what’s generally available, along with Azure
news, updates, and much more.