A few days ago, Microsoft introduced a brand new certificate titled Azure Network Engineer Associate. Since networking is one of the core elements of any cloud infrastructure, it is crucial to educate the Subject Matter Experts in planning, implementing, and maintaining Azure networking solutions. AZ-700: Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure Networking Solutions exam should be taken and passed successfully to achieve this certificate. As a firm believer of certification programs and someone who has been working in the IT industry for quite a long time, I would recommend taking the training and AZ-700 exam to those who work with Azure networking. The reason behind believing in the certification programs is you will learn the required concepts based on a proven learning framework.

This study guide will help you learn the objectives and prepare yourself for taking the AZ-700 exam. Based on the published blueprint, this exam will test you on the following areas;

• Design, Implement and Manage Hybrid Networking (10% to 15%)
• Design and Implement Core Networking Infrastructure (20% to 25%)
• Design and Implement Routing (25% to 30%)
• Secure and Monitor Networks (15% to 20%)
• Design and Implement Private Access to Azure Services (10% to 15%)

I usually use various online resources and official documents to study and prepare for career certification exams. Instead of pointing you to an external link, I would go through every exam objective and cover the main concepts. For deeper explanation and also reference, I will also add external links for the specific topic.

Before diving into the actual content, I would like to point out the relevant pre-requisites. First, since this certificate is an associate-level and not a foundation-level certificate, you need to review Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) learning modules. Second, it is also highly recommended to check Azure Administrator’s Configure and manage virtual networks(AZ-104).

Enough of preliminary stuff; let’s get right to it!

As mentioned before, there are five main topics covered in this learning framework. Each topic also includes 3 to 5 sub-topics, which clarify the concepts that should be concentrated on and covered. The following list is a table of contents, and each sub-topic has its own blog post that further describes the sub-topic in more detail.

Design, Implement and Manage Hybrid Networking
– Design, implement and manage a site-to-site VPN connection
– Design, implement and manage a point-to-site VPN connection
– Design, implement and manage Azure ExpressRoute

Design and Implement Core Networking Infrastructure
– Design and implement private IP addressing for VNets
– Design and implement name resolution
– Design and implement cross-VNet connectivity
– Design and implement an Azure Virtual WAN architecture

Design and Implement Routing
– Design, implement and manage VNet routing
– Design and implement Azure Application Gateway
– Implement Azure Front Door
– Implement an Azure Traffic Manager profile
– Design and implement an Azure Virtual Network NAT

Secure and Monitor Networks
– Design, implement and manage an Azure Firewall deployment
– Implement and manage network security groups (NSGs)
– Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) deployment
– Monitor networks

Design and Implement Private Access to Azure Services
– Design and implement Azure Private Link service and Endpoint
– Design and implement service endpoints
– Configure VNet integration for dedicated PaaS services

You can also read further about this Azure Network Engineer Associate certification and check the exam blueprint.