📘 AZ-305 Study Notes

Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert

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🏠 These notes are maintained by Marco Grimaldi and based on the official Microsoft documentation. Find more certification guides, study tips, and tech content at marcogrimaldi29.com. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft. Always verify against the latest Microsoft documentation.

🎯 Exam Overview

Detail Value
🏅 Certification Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert
📝 Passing Score 700 / 1000
💶 Price (EU) ~€126 (varies by country, VAT may apply)
⏱️ Duration ~120 minutes
🔁 Renewal Annual — free online assessment on Microsoft Learn
🛡️ Prerequisite AZ-104: Azure Administrator Associate (active cert required)

📊 Domain Weights 

pie title AZ-305 — Official Exam Domain Weights
    "Design Infrastructure Solutions (30–35%)" : 32
    "Design Identity, Governance & Monitoring (25–30%)" : 25
    "Design Data Storage Solutions (25–30%)" : 25
    "Design Business Continuity Solutions (15–20%)" : 18
# Domain Weight Key Focus Areas
1 Design Identity, Governance & Monitoring 25–30% Entra ID, RBAC, PIM, Azure Policy, Monitor, Sentinel
2 Design Data Storage Solutions 25–30% Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Blob, ADLS Gen2, Synapse
3 Design Business Continuity Solutions 15–20% HA, DR, SLAs, Backup, ASR, geo-replication
4 Design Infrastructure Solutions 30–35% Compute, Networking, Migrations, App Architecture

🗂️ Notes Index

📘 Prerequisites

Core Azure architecture: regions, availability zones, VNets, compute, storage, and identity fundamentals.

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🔐 Domain 1 — Identity & Governance

25–30% of exam. Entra ID, RBAC, PIM, Conditional Access, Azure Policy, Azure Monitor, Sentinel.

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🗄️ Domain 2 — Data Storage

25–30% of exam. SQL family, Cosmos DB consistency, Blob tiers, ADLS Gen2, Synapse, ADF.

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🔄 Domain 3 — Business Continuity

15–20% of exam. SLA math, HA patterns, Azure Backup, ASR, auto-failover groups.

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🏗️ Domain 4 — Infrastructure

30–35% of exam — heaviest domain. Compute, networking, migrations, messaging, API Management.

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🏛️ Well-Architected & CAF

WAF 5 pillars (Reliability, Security, Cost, Ops, Performance) + Cloud Adoption Framework lifecycle.

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⚡ Quick Reference Cheatsheet

Key numbers, SLA tables, decision matrices, EU pricing, exam traps, and pre-exam checklist.

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🧠 How to Use These Notes

These notes are structured to follow the official AZ-305 study guide domain order. The recommended reading flow:

flowchart LR
    PRE["📘 Prerequisites\n(fundamentals)"]
    D1["🔐 Domain 1\nIdentity & Governance\n25–30%"]
    D2["🗄️ Domain 2\nData Storage\n25–30%"]
    D3["🔄 Domain 3\nBusiness Continuity\n15–20%"]
    D4["🏗️ Domain 4\nInfrastructure\n30–35%"]
    WAF["🏛️ WAF & CAF\n(cross-domain)"]
    SHEET["⚡ Cheatsheet\n(last-minute)"]

    PRE --> D1 --> D2 --> D3 --> D4 --> WAF --> SHEET

💡 Study Tips

  • 🎯 The exam tests “why this service?” — think in trade-offs and constraints, not just definitions
  • 💶 Know SKU tier feature gates — what’s in Premium that Standard doesn’t have often decides exam answers
  • 📊 SLA uptime percentages appear regularly in scenario questions — the cheatsheet has a full table
  • ⚠️ Each section has Exam Caveats callouts — these are high-frequency exam traps
  • 🔄 Each domain ends with a quick-reference scenario table — great for final review

📚 Official Resources

Resource Link
🎓 Microsoft Certification Path AZ-305 Certification Path
📋 Skills Measured Guide Official Study Guide
🧪 Free Practice Assessment Practice Test
🏗️ Architecture Center Azure Architecture Center
💶 EU Exam Booking Pearson VUE Microsoft

🌐 Published Website

These notes are hosted on GitHub Pages and published as a searchable website on this URL:

👉 marcogrimaldi29/az-305-study-notes

The site includes full-text search, Mermaid diagram rendering, and mobile-friendly navigation for on-the-go review.

These notes are designed to be a structured, exam-focused summary of the most important concepts and services baseds on the official Microsoft Study Guide and its criteria.

✍️ About the Author

These notes are maintained by Marco Grimaldi — Cloud Consultant, Language Trainer & Lifelong Learner.

📍 Find more content at marcogrimaldi29.com

The website is continuously updated and based on my personal study notes and experiences. If you have any feedback, suggestions, or corrections, feel free to reach out!

©️ Credits & Acknowledgements

The Just the Docs theme is used for a clean, documentation-style layout that emphasizes readability and quick reference. Licensed under MIT.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 was used for initial content generation and structuring, with all final edits, fact-checking, and formatting done by the author.