One of the most popular IT Certification exams in the market is the Microsoft Azure Certification. Microsoft regularly updates its certification exams to ensure that they align with the latest Azure features and services. As of 2023, Microsoft had made some recent updates to its Azure certification exams to ensure that they reflect the most recent information and resources, retiring those that are no longer relevant. The prerequisite for all additional Azure certifications is still the AZ-900 certification, though. To acquire the most latest updates on Azure Certifications, let’s proceed through this blog for Azure.
Microsoft Azure Certifications: Latest Changes
On February 28, 2023, the following Microsoft Azure certification tests’ Arabic, Indonesian, and Russian translations will be discontinued. This indicates that these tests won’t be offered in those languages after this date.
- AZ-140, AZ-120, AZ-600, AZ-700, AZ-720, AZ-800, and AZ-801
- SC-100, SC-200, SC-300,SC-400
- DP-300, DP-500, DP-420
- MS-500
| Exam Name | Modifications |
| AZ-900 | This test’s English language version was revised on October 28, 2022. Updated Course Outline: Describe Cloud Concepts 25-30% Describe Azure Architecture & Services 35-40% Describe Azure Management & Governance 30-35% |
| SC-300 | This test’s English language version was revised on February 1, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Implement identities in Azure AD (20–25%) Implement authentication and access management (25–30%) Implement access management for applications (15–20%) Plan and implement identity governance in Azure AD (20–25%) |
| PL-600 | This test’s English language version will be revised on March 24, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Perform solution envisioning and requirement analysis (35–40%) Architect a solution (40–45%) Implement the solution (15–20%) |
| SC-100 | This test’s English language version was revised on February 7, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Design a Zero Trust strategy and architecture (30–35%) Evaluate Governance Risk Compliance (GRC) technical strategies and security operations strategies (10–15%) Design security for infrastructure (10–15%) Design a strategy for data and applications (15–20%) Recommend security best practices and priorities (20–25%) |
| SC-900 | This test’s English language version was revised on February 7, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Describe the concepts of security, compliance, and identity (10–15%) Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), part of Microsoft Entra (25–30%) Describe the capabilities of Microsoft Security solutions (25–30%) Describe the capabilities of Microsoft compliance solutions (25–30%) |
| SC-200 | This test’s English language version was revised on February 7, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Mitigate threats using Microsoft 365 Defender (25–30%) Mitigate threats using Microsoft Defender for Cloud (20–25%) Mitigate threats using Microsoft Sentinel (50–55%) |
| DP-500 | This test’s English language version was revised on February 6, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Implement and manage a data analytics environment (25–30%) Query and transform data (20–25%) Implement and manage data models (25–30%) Explore and visualize data (20–25%) |
| AZ-720 | This test’s English language version was revised on January 20, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Troubleshoot business continuity issues (5–10%) Troubleshoot hybrid and cloud connectivity issues (20–25%) Troubleshoot Platform as a Service issues (5–10%) Troubleshoot authentication and access control issues (15–20%) Troubleshoot networks (25–30%) Troubleshoot VM connectivity issues (5–10%) |
| AZ-700 | This test’s English language version was revised on February 2, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Design and implement core networking infrastructure (20–25%) Design, implement, and manage connectivity services (20–25%) Design and implement application delivery services (20–25%) Design and implement private access to Azure services (5–10%) Secure network connectivity to Azure resources (15–20%) |
| DP-203 | This test’s English language version was revised on February 6, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Design and implement data storage (15–20%) Develop data processing (40–45%) Secure, monitor, and optimize data storage and data processing (30–35%) |
| DP-420 | This test’s English language version was revised on February 6, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Design and implement data models (35–40%) Design and implement data distribution (5–10%) Integrate an Azure Cosmos DB solution (5–10%) Optimize an Azure Cosmos DB solution (15–20%) Maintain an Azure Cosmos DB solution (25–30%) |
| AZ-104 | This test’s English language version was revised on October 27, 2022. Updated Course Outline: Manage Azure identities and governance 15-20% Implementation and management of storage 15-20% Deployment and management of Azure compute resources 20-25% Configuring and managing virtual networks 25-30% Monitoring and backup for Azure resources 10-15% |
| AZ-204 | This test’s English language version was revised on January 20, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Develop Azure compute solutions 25-30% Developing for Azure storage 15-20% Implementation of Azure security 20-25% Monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimizing Azure solutions 15-20% Connect to and consume Azure services and third-party services 15-20% |
| AI-102 | On February 2, 2023, the English-language version of this exam will be revised. Updated Course Outline: Plan and Manage an Azure Cognitive Services Solution 15-20% Implement Computer Vision Solutions 20-25% Implement Natural Language Processing Solutions 20-25% Implement Knowledge Mining Solutions 15-20% Implement Conversational AI Solutions 15-20% |
| AZ-600 | This test’s English language version was revised on October 28, 2022. The last day to take this exam in Arabic, Indonesian, and Russian is February 28, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Planning and deploying Azure Stack Hub 30-35% Provide services 20-25% Managing infrastructure 40-45% |
| DP-100 | This test’s English version will be revised on March 14, 2023. Updated Course Outline: Design and prepare a machine learning solution (20–25%) Explore data and train models (35–40%) Prepare a model for deployment (20–25%) Deploy and retrain a model (10–15%) |
| AZ-500 | On February 2, 2023, the English-language version of this exam will be revised. Updated Course Outline: Manage Identity and Access 30-35% Implement Platform Protection 15-20% Manage Security Operations 25-30% Secure Data and Applications 25-30% |
| AZ-800 | On February 3, 2023, the English-language version of this exam will be revised. Updated Course Outline: Deploy and manage AD DS in on-premises and cloud environments (30–35%) Manage Windows servers and workloads in a hybrid environment (10–15%) Manage virtual machines and containers (15–20%) Implement and manage an on-premises and hybrid networking infrastructure (15–20%) Manage storage and file services (15–20%) |
| DP-300 | On February 2, 2023, the English-language version of this exam was revised. Updated Course Outline: Planning and implementation of data platform resources 15% to 20% Implementation of a secure environment 15% to 20% Monitoring and optimization of operational resources 15% to 20% Optimization of query performance 5% to 10% Performing automation of tasks 10% to 15% Planning and implementation of a High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR) environment 15% to 20% Performing administration through the use of T-SQL 10% to 15% |
| AZ-120 | The last day to take this exam in Arabic, Indonesian, and Russian is February 28, 2023. On January 30, 2023, the exam’s English translation will be revised. Updated Course Outline: Migration of SAP Workloads to Azure 25-30% Designing an Azure Solution for supporting SAP workloads 25-30% Design and implement high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) 20-25% Maintain SAP workloads on Azure 15-20% |
| AZ-220 | The last day to take this exam in Arabic, Indonesian, and Russian is February 28, 2023. On January 30, 2023, the exam’s English translation will be revised. Updated Course Outline: Implementation of IoT solution infrastructure 10-15% Provisioning and management of devices 15-20% Implementation of IoT Edge & Business Integration 15-20% Data processing and management 15-20% Monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimizing IoT solutions 15-20% Implementation of security 15-20% |
| AZ-305 | From March 31, 2022, the tests AZ-303 and AZ-304 will no longer be offered. The AZ-305 exam has taken the place of these tests. Updated Course Outline: 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% |
| AZ-400 | On February 2, 2023, the English-language version of this exam will be revised. Updated Course Outline: Configure processes and communications 10-15% Design and implement source control 15-20% Design and implement build and release pipelines 40-45% Develop a security and compliance plan 10-15% Implement an instrumentation strategy 5-10% |
| AI-900 | Updated Course Outline: Describe Artificial Intelligence workloads and considerations 20% to 25% Describe the fundamental principles of machine learning on Azure 25% to 30% Describe features of computer vision workloads on Azure 15% to 20% Describe features of Natural Language Processing (NLP) workloads on Azure 25% to 30% |
| DP-900 | On August 4, 2022, the exam’s English edition was revised. Updated Course Outline: Describe core data concepts 25% to 30% Describe how to work with relational data on Azure 20% to 25% Describe how to work with non-relational data on Azure 15% to 20% Describe an analytics workload on Azure 25% to 30% |
There were two certificates available for each role when Microsoft first introduced the role-based Azure certifications. But as a result of candidate feedback, Microsoft has now discontinued a number of certification examinations and introduced new ones. Given that we have already discussed all the most recent certifications for each role, let’s have a look at the Azure certifications that have already expired for the Administrator Associate and Developer Associate roles:
- AZ-100 Microsoft Azure Infrastructure and Deployment
- AZ-101 Microsoft Azure Integration and Security
- AZ-200 Microsoft Azure Developer Core Solutions
- AZ-201 Microsoft Azure Developer Advanced Solutions
- AZ-202 Microsoft Azure Developer Certification Transition
- AZ-302: Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect
Updating your Microsoft Certification
Technology is developing quickly. When your skills are up to date, you may concentrate on what lies ahead rather than always trying to catch up. Maintaining your Microsoft Certifications is essential for this reason.
Microsoft’s specialty certificates and role-based certifications now have an annual expiration date unless they are renewed. You can maintain your Microsoft Certifications without retaking exams by passing a free, unattended online renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn.
The tests examine the skills you’ll need to remain current in your line of employment. Because they only cover the most recent technology developments, they take less time than the initial tests.
You can get some free learning resources from Microsoft Learn to help you get ready for the test. You can apply for renewal up to six months before your certification expires, which will extend it for an additional year. Prior to the expiration of your certification, we strongly suggest you renew it.
How to renew your certification in three steps:
- By visiting Microsoft Learn, you may link your learning profile with your certification profile. You will only need to complete this task once.
- Microsoft Learn is a collection of free learning resources available if you want to brush up on your skills.
- Take the free online test and pass it before your certification expires. If you pass, your certification’s current expiration date will be extended by one year.
Final Words
There is an obvious demand for professional certifications for the Microsoft Azure platform given the expanding range of Azure services. There are many ways for aspiring IT professionals to start their careers with the new collection of Microsoft Azure certification tests. Professional progress is facilitated by certifications, particularly those from industry leaders like Microsoft Azure. Depending on their skill set and intended career, candidates should pick the right certification path.
