Course Description

Don't miss this opportunity to join a LIVE Online Training with David O’Brien from ARGOS, where you'll gain a deep understanding of Azure's evolving infrastructure, security, and management ecosystem. This course goes far beyond the basics, covering everything from resilient architecture design and serverless computing to FinOps strategies and governance automation using real-world Azure implementations. Whether you're building a foundation or expanding your cloud skillset, this training also helps prepare you for the AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam.

Note: If you already have an All-Access Pass subscription, this course has been added to your account.

This program runs for six weeks and includes:

  • Weekly live webinars (with recordings and Q&A)
  • Weekly assignments to guide your progress
  • A community of individuals with the same goals
  • A private Facebook group with other participants for sharing reflections, progress, etc. 
  • The chance to ask David O’Brien questions directly in a live training environment


This LIVE Online Training is for YOU if you want to:

  • Understand the latest Azure infrastructure models, services, and global architecture
  • Make smart cost and sustainability decisions using FinOps tools and carbon tracking
  • Deploy and manage applications using VMs, containers, serverless deployment, and more 
  • Automate governance and infrastructure with Bicep, deployment stacks, and Copilot
  • Explore Azure's security and identity services including Defender, Sentinel, and Entra ID
  • Protect your cloud network with DDoS IP Protection, Azure Firewall, and Zero Trust
  • Monitor, analyze, and improve performance with Azure Monitor, Managed Grafana, and Advisor
  • Implement advanced identity governance, Conditional Access, and compliance frameworks


Course Prerequisites
Knowledge of Active Directory, Entry ID, and Windows operating systems. Scripting experience (PowerShell) is helpful but not required.

Course Schedule

Date and Time for Live Webinars

Dates and start time for the live two-hour webinars:

  • Module 1: Thursday, October 9, 3:00-5:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
  • Module 2: Thursday, October 16, 3:00-5:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
  • Module 3: Thursday, October 23, 3:00-5:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
  • Module 4: Thursday, October 30, 3:00-5:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
  • Module 5: Thursday, November 13, 3:00-5:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
  • Module 6: Thursday, November 20, 3:00-5:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)


Course Outline

Module 1: Cloud Concepts & Azure Infrastructure Essentials

  • Cloud Models (Public, Private, Hybrid) and the Shared-Responsibility Model
  • Benefits of Cloud: High Availability, Scalability, Elasticity, Reliability, and Sustainability (Carbon Accounting in Azure)
  • Service Types: IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, plus Serverless (Functions and Container Apps)
  • Consumption-based Pricing and the FinOps Mindset
  • Understanding Azure Region Pairs and Sovereign Clouds; Using Zone-redundant Services for Resilience
  • Choosing the Right Service for the Workload, including Containers vs. VMs vs. Functions
  • Cost Control Basics: Budgets, Alerts, and Tags


Module 2: Core Azure Architecture & Services

  • Global Design: Regions, Availability Zones, and Azure Datacentres
  • Azure Virtual Network Manager (AVNM) for At-Scale Network Topology and Security Admin Rules
  • Connectivity Options: VNet Peering, VPN Gateway, and ExpressRoute
  • Core Compute Services: Confidential VMs, VMSS Flexible Orchestration, and Azure Container Apps for Micro-Services
  • Core Storage Services
  • Core Service Use-Cases: Web Apps, AKS, Bastion, Load Balancer, and Application Gateway
  • Lab: Creating VNets with AVNM
  • Lab: Deploying a Containerized Application

Module 3: Azure Solutions & Management Tools

  • Intro to Serverless: Functions, Logic Apps, and Event Grid
  • DevOps Tooling: Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, and Defender for DevOps Integration
  • Microsoft Copilot in Azure - Natural-Language Management and Troubleshooting
  • Monitoring: Azure Monitor (Logs, Metrics, Alerts) and Managed Grafana Dashboards
  • Governance as Code: Bicep and the New Deployment Stacks Resource Type
  • Multi-Cloud and Edge: Azure Arc-enabled Servers
  • Lab: Deploying a Demo Stack with Deployment Stacks and Track Drift in Azure Policy
  • Lab: Using Copilot to Surface Advisor Recommendations


Module 4: Azure Security & Network Protection

  • Defense-in-Depth and the Zero-Trust Model
  • Microsoft Defender for Cloud Posture Management and Workload Protection
  • Azure DDoS Protection Tiers and Azure Firewall
  • Microsoft Sentinel Cloud-native SIEM
  • Secrets and Key Management with Azure Key Vault
  • Lab: Enabling DDoS IP Protection on a Public IP and Simulating Traffic Analytics
  • Lab: Investigating an Incident in Sentinel


Module 5: Identity, Governance, Privacy & Compliance

  • Authentication vs. Authorization Fundamentals
  • Microsoft Entra ID: Core Directory, MFA, and Passwordless authentication
  • Entra External ID for B2B/B2C Scenarios
  • Conditional Access, Privileged Identity Management, and Entra ID Governance
  • RBAC vs. Attribute-based Access
  • Governance Framework: Azure Policy and CAF Landing Zones
  • Data Governance with Microsoft Purview
  • Lab: Building a Conditional Access Policy Requiring Phishing-resistant MFA
  • Lab: Remediating Non-Compliant Resources with a Policy Initiative


Module 6: Cost Management, FinOps, & Service Reliability

  • Factors Influencing Azure Costs: Pay-as-You-Go vs. Reserved Instances vs. Savings Plans
  • FinOps Hubs for Advanced Spend Analytics
  • Sustainability Reporting: Emissions and Carbon-Intensity Dashboards
  • Tools: Pricing Calculator, TCO Calculator, Cost Management + Billing, and Advisor Score
  • Tags, Budgets, and Exports - Best-Practice Automation
  • Understanding SLAs: Composite Uptime, Zone-redundant SLAs, and Preview vs. GA Limitations
  • Service Lifecycle and Deprecation Notices
  • Lab: Creating a FinOps Hub Workspace
  • Lab: Using Cost Analysis to Spot Idle VM Spend and Using Copilot as an Assistant

Instructor

David O'Brien

David is the founder of ARGOS Cloud Security, a contextual cloud security SaaS that helps you keep your cloud platforms protected and secure. His fields of interest are mainly everything about cloud security, automation, and architecture. David has been a Microsoft Azure MVP for eight years and a Microsoft Certified Trainer for two years. When he isn’t working (and outside of a pandemic), he tries to spend as much time as possible with his family traveling the world or up in the air flying above it. If you would like to get in touch with David, just send him a tweet @david_obrien.

David O'Brien

Founder of ARGOS Cloud Security