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Getting started with Azure, Don’t Panic

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The Microsoft Cloud is AWESOME!  But how do you get started in figuring out how to get started.  This has been a big question for me, like Douglas Adam, the Author of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” says about space: “Space…is big”, this also applies to Azure.  And since we aren’t worried about a galactic bypass forcing the destruction of Earth, getting motivated to learn about big things can be difficult.  But don’t panic. 

Oh yeah, you got to understand the “Cloud” if you want to succeed in the Internet of Things, and yes, I am talking to you Electrical Engineers and Mechanical Engineers. 

A couple of books seem to be the best way  get started in studying for the 70-532 exam.  Here are the ones I am using:

  • Automating Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Services, Michael Washam
    • ISBN: 978-1-491-94489-9 (buy from O'Reilly, use coupon, $11)
    • This book is based on PowerShell, and is a great way to get started quickly with understanding how to access Azure and how to design apps that rebuild virtual machines, websites after the first time you design them.  The book doesn’t go into the initial design, rather gives you a guide on how to use Powershell ISE to build the scripts that will allow you to replicate your work
    • Why is this important? 
      • The use of powershell allows you to see the overall goals of the kind of work you might do with Azure
      • With sensor technology you will need to be able to automate the work to create websites, do analysis, and set up servers quickly
  • Microsoft Azure Development Cookbook, Roberto Freato, Neil Mackenzie
    • ISBN 978-1-78217-032-7 (buy from O'Reilly, use coupon, $11)
    • This book boasts 70 recipe like projects that you can use with Azure emulator (free) and Azure.  Although I haven’t gotten very far with the book, this is the type of “edit” document that can be helpful in performing structured learning.  I enjoy this kind of learning as videos like the MVA isn’t a way that I like to use for deep drills.  That is my taste, keep in mind everyone is different.
  • Building Cloud Apps with Microsoft Azure, Scott Guthrie, Mark Simms, Tom Dykstra, Rick Anderson, and Mike Wasson
    • ISBN: 978-0-7356-9565-8 (No cost, get it from https://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/ebooks, scroll down on the page)
    • This book is certainly worth more than $11 like the other,  but suffers mildly from the structure.  The book is structured around lectures by Scott Guthrie, similar to lectures by Feynmann or Einstein, if you read them in order things make sense. 
    • Initially, miss one or skip around, and the other parts, educationally fall apart. 
      • And yes I did compare Scott to Einstein, but like Einstein’s lectures, you have to read everything and experiment (although Einstein didn't do experiments).  Why? you have to know the surrounding material like how to use PowerShell (or with Einstein, you have to understand Maxwell’s equations).  This means that you WORK through to do a few chapters of he Automating Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Services, if you aren’t skilled in powershell with Azure. 
      • Note: Powershell with server, or other products doesn’t count.  So be careful, the material may  seem like you can initially skip around, but my recommendation is to work through the book page by page.  Some of the screen shots may be slightly out of synch with Azure currently, but so far I haven’t found any problems.
  • MVAs: An excellent way to gain knowledge and the MVA videos are well done.  Any lengthy video system is not my preferred manner of learning, so I turn them on for background noise.  AND just because they are not my preferred manner of learning, that does not mean they aren’t well done, the MVAs are quite good.  We all learn differently and at different speeds.