Beginner's guide to Azure core Fundamentals
Tags: azure, administrator, beginners, microsoft
Published: 2022-06-17 12:57:35

## Preface
This article is specially curated for newbies in the cloud space especially for people with an interest in Microsoft Azure cloud services. Think of it as a formal introduction to the Azure environment and a breakdown of their functionalities. Let's dig in!

## Introduction

First, there is a course title for this topic, officially it is referred to as AZ-900, when you come across this course "code", it is referencing Azure Fundamentals - now that we have established that, let's give cloud computing a suitable definition.

## What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is a method of renting computation and storage capacity/space from another person's datacenter. You can treat cloud resources the same way you would your own datacenter's resources. You return them once you've finished using them, and You are only charged for what you use.

You rent CPUs and storage for the time you need them rather than maintaining them in your datacenter, the infrastructure is maintained by the cloud provider for you. You may use the cloud to quickly solve your most difficult business problems and provide cutting-edge solutions to your users.

The cloud allows you to move more quickly and innovate in ways that were previously unthinkable. And in our ever-changing digital world;

Development teams bring new features to their users quickly,
and users anticipate a more rich and immersive experience with their gadgets and software. And the cloud is a great way to achieve all this and more.

## Let's talk about AZURE for a bit:

Azure is a growing set of cloud services that can help your company address current and future business difficulties. Azure provides 100s of cloud services that gives you the freedom to use your favorite tools and frameworks to build, manage, and deploy apps on a huge global network.

Businesses and Organizations now have everything they need to build the next great solution with Microsoft Azure. 

Before I continue, I'd recommend you create an Azure account, simply visit "portal.azure.com" this will help you connect better with my next few points. Not to worry, I will be holding your hands carefully, with these screenshots.

If you have an existing account, kindly sign in, otherwise sign up

Your Azure portal homepage should look like this:


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wskaycy42h3vrvbndjj7.png)

select "more services" to give you an overview of the services Azure offers: 


![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/yreof5v1r67cq4iuowd7.png)

We will be discussing the most popular features from each category.

## The Categories Include:
- Compute
- Networking
- Storage
- Mobile
- Databases
- Web
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Big data
- AI
- DevOps

Azure runs deep and many more features are being developed and added on a daily basis!

Kindly be on the look out for my next article on the Beginner's guide to Azure Fundamentals - Az-900

p.s: if you wish you create a free Microsoft student account to help you access 20 selected Azure service, go here: 

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/students/