Latest Azure Interview Questions for 2025

Azure Interview Questions for Beginners

1. What is Microsoft Azure?

A cloud computing platform offering over 200 products and services across computing, storage, networking, and databases. Azure offers scalability and is always a cost-effective option. From small to enterprise-level businesses, needs are efficiently handled by Azure. 

2. How does Azure differ from traditional on-premises IT?

Azure changes the way companies handle IT compared to using their own servers. Instead of spending a lot of money upfront on hardware and waiting through long setup times, Azure lets you pay only for what you use. It can grow or shrink as needed, turning big capital costs into smaller operating costs. Since Microsoft takes care of the infrastructure, teams spend less time on maintenance and more time on innovation.

3. What are the core services provided by Azure?

The core services in Azure include compute for running applications, storage for saving data, networking for secure connections, and databases for managing structured and unstructured data. These are the building blocks that let businesses create and scale applications in the cloud.

4. What is Azure Virtual Machine (VM)?

An on-demand, scalable compute service offering control over the OS and runtime environment. An Azure Virtual Machine (VM) is a cloud-based computer that works just like a physical computer but runs on Microsoft’s infrastructure. It allows you to choose the operating system, install applications, and configure settings as you would on a traditional server. 

5. What is an Azure Resource Group?

An Azure Resource Group is a basic organisational construct used within Microsoft's Azure cloud. It is a logical container for related resources for a specific application, like virtual machines, databases, and storage. Using Resource Groups simplifies administration by allowing you to manage, monitor, and delete all of the components of a project (resource group) in one container.

The Resource Group is free to create, and its main function is to organise deployments and enforce security policies, and accurately charge costs back to your projects. Maintaining an Azure Resource Group is necessary in order to keep organised and stay oriented in the cloud.

6. What is Azure Virtual Network (VNet)?

An Azure Virtual Network (VNet) is like a private, isolated network in the cloud. A VNet is the fundamental building block for networking in Azure and allows your cloud resources, such as virtual machines and databases.

It is used to communicate with each other safely. You have total control over your VNet and have the power to define your own private IP address space and also subdivide your VNet into smaller segments, known as subnets, to organise and protect your services. You can also connect your VNet to other VNets or integrate your on-premises network into Azure, as well as create cloud environments with a secure, scalable, and highly customisable network architecture for your applications.

7. What are Azure Cloud Services?

Azure Cloud Services are a set of flexible on-demand computing services that shift traditional IT fundamentals. Organisations can now simply "borrow" computing power, storage, and networking from Microsoft's global data centres. Organizations purchase the computing power consumed on a pay-as-you-go model, resulting in huge savings on capital expenditure and organizational efficiencies.

Instead of managing everything (server hardware, operating systems, etc.), these services offer a pure abstraction from their physical hardware. It is extraordinary how a developer can build and publish a web application using Azure App Service and never see or configure any server defined in the Azure App Service diagram. In other examples, multiple teams use Azure Functions to execute small pieces of code when they are needed.

For example, maybe an end-user uploaded an image and needed it to be processed. In this example, Azure Services lets the developer focus on the code instead of the server required to run the code. This form of serverless environment is incredibly efficient and cost-effective.

Ready to tackle your next technical round? Review these Azure interview questions today.

8. What are the cloud deployment models?

In summary, cloud deployment models represent the way a cloud service is delivered, managed, and accessed when a business or individual does not own the resources themselves. It is important to choose the correct deployment model with respect to efficiency, security, and price for Azure solutions. Below is an original narrative of the two most common cloud deployment models, along with a summary table based on standard industry understanding:

Public Cloud

Public cloud runs on services provided by companies, such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud. Infrastructure is shared across a number of different users, which means the user should not have to think about hardware or maintenance; they simply sign up for the service as it is provided by the cloud service provider. The public cloud is inexpensive because you only pay for what you use, and the capacity is elastic with scaling up or down on demand. The public cloud is ideal for new web applications, startups, and small businesses.

Private Cloud

A private cloud is owned and used by only one organisation. Private clouds may be hosted and managed internally or externally, but the organisation that owns the private cloud is the only one that can access it. A private cloud deployment model allows the organisation to take full control of data, security, and personal and project customisation. Private clouds are common practice in organisations with significant regulatory guidelines, such as financial markets or healthcare. Owning and sustaining a private cloud is generally a greater effort and cost (including manpower cost), requiring a specialist support team and potentially a larger budget. However, it allows for privacy and compliance.

Hybrid Cloud 

The hybrid cloud combines public and private models. Organizations store sensitive data and critical workloads in a private cloud but turn to a public cloud for the occasional less-confidential workloads or need to quickly scale on demand. With a hybrid model of cloud computing, they have the flexibility to use both, while ensuring security and privacy with some of their work. However, managing a hybrid cloud model can be difficult, integrating two environments can be complicated, and requires proper planning and consideration for the integration and management.

Community Cloud

A community cloud is a model shared between several organizations that have similar goals, such as universities, research institutes, or of local government groups. Several organizations pool their resources to help meet their common goal, sync operational timelines while sharing common costs and leveraging common infrastructure, and solidify frequently common regulatory or business needs and obligations. Management and customization are done collectively by its members.

Tip: Try solving one Azure interview question daily to stay on track.

9. Define Azure Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

An Azure Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a written promise from Microsoft about the reliability and availability of cloud services. Simply put, the SLA is a promise of uptime for one of its Azure services, typically as a percentage across a month. If Microsoft does not deliver on the uptime included in the SLA, customers can receive service credits as compensation.

Important Points for Azure SLAs: 

- Calculated Uptime:
Each Azure service has an SLA that specifies the percentage of time, measured in uptime, the service should be available. As 99.95% is the uptime for the month, mentioning the SLA. 

- Compensation for Downtime:
An SLA guarantees compensation, which is generally in credits that count toward paying future bills, if a service is not performing to its SLA.

- Scope and Exceptions:
The SLA clearly defines the services that fall under each SLA, how uptime is defined, and exceptions for outages (scheduled maintenance or an out-of-scope event outside of Microsoft’s control).

- Utilisation in Planning:
Businesses formulate important decisions about business continuity and disaster recovery, and system architecture based on SLAs. Because all parties understand and agree to the guaranteed uptime service level, teams can implement and/or design solutions to fit quality expectations and business needs.

Master Azure Pipelines to build scalable, automated data workflows—an essential skill for excelling in Azure Data Engineer Interview Questions. Explore more at Sprintzeal!

If you are preparing for Azure interview questions, this guide will help you. 

Azure Interview Questions for Experienced

10. Why choose Azure over other providers like AWS?

- Microsoft Azure and AWS are the two leading cloud platforms out there. There are many advantages to Azure over AWS. If you are using the Microsoft stack already, the advantages are even greater. Here are reasons why Azure shines above AWS that we discovered in the interviews, along with what other practitioners are seeing:

- Improved Microsoft Integration: Azure is the most effectively integrated with Microsoft products - include Windows Server, Active Directory, SQL Server, and Microsoft 365. Azure is constructed on those technology pieces and enables businesses to bring cloud facilities to those pieces thus streamlining administration to the business and prompting output to employees.

- Enterprise Hybrid Cloud: Azure offers the most appropriate hybrid cloud solution, including such tools as Azure Arc and Azure Stack, which enable organisations to integrate cloud solutions with their on-prem infrastructure. Hybrid is quite handy when organisations need compliance, gradual implementation of cloud solutions or when the organisation needs to have data centres on-site.

- Enterprise Security and Compliance: Azure has the most and best compliance certifications in the world, and has strong security aspects such as Azure Entra ID (identity management) and multi-layered threat protection. This is particularly handy with firms operating in a highly regulated business.

- Competitive and transparent Pricing: Azure Pricing is flexible and has the option of discounts such as Azure Hybrid Benefit where customers may take advantage of available Windows Server and SQL Server licences which can be synergistically used to provide a lower overall cost of ownership than a use of AWS.

- Easy to use by Developers and DevOps: Azure provides an extensive set of developer tools, support of numerous programming languages, business-grade DevOps solutions (e.g. Azure Devops and GitHub integration), and allow deploying applications faster and more efficiently. These are the most frequently discussed strengths and they are the most common subject in Azure interview questions.

Unlike other platforms, Azure interview questions often test real-world scenarios.

11. What is Azure Resource Manager (ARM)?

Azure Resource Manager is commonly called ARM. It is the central service in Microsoft Azure that enables the ability to deploy, manage, and organise all your cloud resources in a consistent and efficient manner. It is the control plane through which we create, update, and delete ARM types of resources, such as virtual machines, databases, and storage accounts.

Key Features and Benefits:

- Resource Group Management: ARM allows resources to be grouped into related digital collections called resource groups. That ensured policies, management, and monitoring can be done as a group of resources vs. singly.

- Declarative Templates (ARM Templates): ARM templates are JSON-based and simply declare what resources are needed and how they should be configured. ARM templates make it possible to have automated, repeatable deployments of your infrastructure in a non-person-dependent way, meaning whatever your deployment is, it will be maintained consistently throughout environments.

- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) Integration: ARM utilises Azure’s RBAC to restrict access and modification to resources. RBAC can be applied at the resource and resource group level, which allows security to enforce precise permission assignments following the principle of least privilege.

- Consistency Across Tools: Regardless of whether you use the Azure Portal, PowerShell, CLI, or REST API, ARM is the common management interface, so all will provide a unified, consistent experience regardless of interface.

When studying Azure Interview Questions vs AWS ones, you’ll notice a strong focus on event-driven architecture

12. What is NSG (Network Security Group)?

A Network Security Group (NSG) is a vital security tool within Microsoft Azure, allowing you to control the flow of network traffic from Azure resources inside its Virtual Network (VNet). It is a virtual firewall that has rules you define to allow or deny either inbound or outbound traffic based on different parameters.

Important Considerations for NSG:

- Traffic Filtering - NSGs can be applied to both inbound (incoming) and outbound (outgoing) traffic, allowing you to control both VM and subnet-level access. This allows you to be very specific about what traffic can enter Azure resources or what traffic is leaving Azure resources.

- Security Rules - An NSG consists of many rules that define the source and destination of the traffic, the port, the protocol (TCP/UDP), and the action (allow or deny). The rules are evaluated in order of priority, so the lower the number, the higher the priority of the rule.

- Default and Custom Rules—NSGs come by default with a number of rules to allow basic network communication, but these can be made more restrictive via custom rules to meet your organizational policy.

- Granular Control—NSGs can be associated with individual subnets to provide coverage for all resources in a subnet or can be associated with a particular VM network interface to provide more granular protection and control.

- Stateful Filtering—NSGs are stateful, meaning once they have allowed a connection, they remember the connection and will allow subsequent traffic to flow until the connection is closed.

NSGs are a common topic in Azure interview questions, as they are fundamental to understanding security within virtual networks. Understanding NSG behaviour is also key when preparing for more advanced Azure interview questions, especially around security best practices and traffic management.

Tip: Practise Azure interview questions that relate to serverless concepts like Functions and Event Grid.

13. What are Azure Diagnostics APIs used for?

Azure Diagnostics APIs are essential for monitoring and analysing operational data across Azure resources. They provide insights into performance, health, and security, making them especially valuable during Azure interview questions on monitoring and compliance topics.

Main Uses of Azure Diagnostics APIs

- Gather logs and metrics from resources like VMs, storage, app services, and networks. Logs give detailed insights into system activity, errors, and performance issues.
- Enable real-time or near real-time diagnostic data access to identify and fix failures quickly, improving health and reliability of applications while reducing maintenance costs.
- Provide audit logs to track data access, supporting compliance with standards like GDPR and HIPAA.
- Forward diagnostic data into Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, or third-party platforms (e.g., Splunk) for advanced visualisation, querying, and alerting.

These capabilities highlight the importance of Diagnostics APIs in cloud administration, scalability, and compliance—topics frequently covered in azure interview questions.

Read detailed information and best practices on building scalable, secure and efficient cloud solutions in our complete Azure Architecture, as the perfect partner to Azure Data Engineer interview questions.

14. What is Azure Blob Storage?

Azure Blob Storage is an object storage solution that allows for massive-scale storage of unstructured data in the cloud. Unstructured data includes data that do not have their own schema, such as files, media, documents, backups, snapshots, and/or log files. 

Important features of Azure Blob Storage:

- Large Scale: Azure Blob Storage is highly scalable with the ability to store petabytes of data. Perfect for big data analytics, backups and content distribution. 

There are three types of blobs: 

- Block Blobs: These blobs are for storing text and binary data such as large files and media. 
- Page Blobs: These blobs are optimized for read, write and random access. An example of a page blob is a virtual hard disks (VHD). 
- Append Blob: Use for logging where data is added indefinitely. 
- Inexpensive Access Tiers: Azure offers a Hot, Cool, and Archival tier to define access patterns for data in order to best optimize the cost of data access. 
- Secure and Durable: Data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and is supported through Azure Active Directory to provide secure access. Azure Blob Storage is geo-replicated to help ensure data durability. 
- Integration with Azure Services: It integrates with Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse and many more. It is the backbone for cloud-native and big data workloads. 

Always remember: Answering Azure Interview Questions with confidence comes from hands-on practice

15. What is the best Azure solution for running code without managing servers?

Azure Function is the optimal Azure solution for running code without managing servers. It is Microsoft’s serverless compute service that lets developers run small segments of code (“functions”) without worrying about infrastructure.

Suppose you face Azure interview questions about scaling Functions—here’s how to answer

Why choose Azure Functions

- No server management: Azure handles all infrastructure, scaling, and load balancing.
-Event-driven: Functions trigger on HTTP requests, timers, queues, or events from other Azure services.
-Cost-effective: Billing is only for execution time, reducing idle costs.
- Faster development: Supports C#, JavaScript, Python, Java, and integrates easily with Azure services.
- Auto scale: Scales automatically from a few to millions of executions.
- Integrate widely: Connects with Cosmos DB, Blob Storage, Event Grid, and more for serverless workflows.

Including this in Azure interview questions preparation can help highlight knowledge of cost savings, scalability, and service integration. Many azure interview questions also focus on event-driven architecture and serverless efficiency.

16. Explain Azure Data Engineer-specific services

If you're getting ready for Azure interview questions, then you'll want to know the primary Azure services designed for data engineering. Here are descriptions of the primary services and tools you'll be expected to be familiar with as an Azure Data Engineer:

Important Azure Data Engineering Services:

- Azure Data Factory (ADF): Fully managed, serverless data integration service to create, coordinate, and automate data pipelines. ADF has 90+ in-built connectors to accept data from different on-premises and cloud-based sources of data. It also accommodates ETL and ELT processes and is typically no-code/low-code, user-friendly, which enables the user to construct and schedule data workflows easily.

- Azure Synapse Analytics: A service of enterprise analytics that fully utilizes big data and integrates the properties of data warehousing. When constructed at the top of ADF, you could experience the degree of ADF data movement capabilities. Synapse has serverless SQL pools that can be connected to Apache Spark to transform data and enable advanced analytics. Put succinctly, Synapse enables you to experience bigger analysis workloads and enables you to integrate data, warehouse data ,and explore data all in the same environment.

- Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS): A Data lake built upon a high-throughput analytics workload, and easily scalable. It enables storing unstructured and structured data and running big data analytics with native support of Apache Spark and Hadoop.

Significant Equipment to Construct Pipelines:

- ADF Pipelines: They are applied to design processes that involve data flow and data transformations.
- PolyBase: This is a tool that allows loading external data sources (Azure data lake or Azure blob) to either Azure SQL or Synapse using T-SQL to load high-velocity data.
- Reserved capacity: Reserved capacity is the reserved CPU resources of services such as Synapse SQL pools, which have predictable performance; high workloads tend to be cost-effective when resource is reserved.
- Azure SQL and Synapse Data masking: This is an aspect of security that prevents sensitive data in the query results by means of obfuscation, but does not alter the data.

17. What is Polybase and why? 

PolyBase is an influential Azure technology that enables you to question and import or export data in external sources (Azure Blob storage, Azure Data Lake storage (ADLS), Hadoop, and so on) utilizing regular T-SQL queries. It allows connecting relational databases with big data storage systems, and it does not need complex and costly third-party ETL tooling.

Facts About PolyBase:

- Query External Data Using T-SQL: Although you can use external data in PolyBase just as much as a portion of your data, you can use and query it using the standard SQL language. It facilitates the work with various sources of data, as they can be used with a unified interface.

- Multi Data Sources: You can query data stored in Blob storage or ADLS, the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), or other structured or semi-structured sources, such as CSV, Parquet, and JSON.

- No Complex ETL: PolyBase gets rid of the complex Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) method associated with traditional ETL applications. You are able to query the data at the place where it resides, you do not need to transfer data as often, and you incur less latency, which results, enhanced performance and simplifies the data pipeline.

- High Performance and Scale: PolyBase exploits massively parallel processing (MPP) that enables executing queries against big data sets in a faster and more scalable manner. In Polybase, you push down the query execution processing to the data source, and this not only minimizes data transfer but also enhances the time taken in executing the query.

Hint: A lot of interview questions at Azure include real-life scenarios, such as scaling an application using Functions or Logic Apps.

18. What is the compliance and data security in Azure?

Azure applies diverse advanced technologies and stringent measures to safeguard data and assist companies in addressing compliance requirements. This is the way that Azure achieves it:

Azure RBAC Directory (Azure AD)

- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): With the help of Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), companies can define and manage access to resources by users. RBAC defines roles, allocates permissions, and ensures that only authorized users can access secured information or carry out the necessary operational processes.
- Security Enhancements: Azure also includes functionality to enhance the RBAC, e.g., Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Conditional Access Policies, to increase the security of logins by reducing the level of possible access threats across geographical boundaries.

Azure Policy for Governance

- Governance and Compliance: Azure Policy assists organizations in verifying rules and policies in their Azure environment (such as ensuring that encryption is on, or which region they are utilizing to store the data in terms of residency).
- Automated Compliance Tests: The policy can be the automatic verdict of all resource arrangements and give compliance evaluations with the regulations of the organization or the external regulations, such as GDPR and HIPAA.

Both Global Standards Compliance

- Intrinsic Compliance: Azure has already addressed the majority of the regulatory requirements, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), ISO/IEC 2700,1, and some others.
- Continuous Monitoring: Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager is a service that is interoperable with Azure that allows organizations to continuously monitor and assess their compliance posture, thus meeting their periodic audit requirement and mitigating compliance risk.

The following security and compliance features are often mentioned when it comes to preparing for an Azure Interview. Most of the questions of the Azure Interview are based on RBAC, governance policies, and compliance requirements such as GDPR and HIPAA.

19. What is data masking in Azure, and its application location?

Azure Data masking helps in improving data security, whereby sensitive data is made available to those users who have the authorization to access it, rather than a user without authorization to access sensitive data. In masking, no data are distorted, and what they see by accessing a database is just the images of the data visible to the people. In most instances, this entails concealing confidential information such as personal identifiable information, credit card and emails.

Azure data masking is performed with the help of a data masking job type, and a data masking policy is defined to be able to state the rules of preserving the data.

- Dynamic Data Masking (DDM): Dynamic Data Masking is an Azure SQL and Azure Synapse functionality that enables dynamic data to be masked at a query execution but not at the underlying data.

- Types of Masks: The examples of the most frequently used masking, also known as masking functions, are default masking (replacement of the sensitive data with X), partial masking (improved display of the sensitive data), email masking, and randomly generated masking.

- When to be used: Data masking is typically employed where the developers, analysts, etc. require access to the data of data in the development, test, or analytic environment, but they are not supposed to see the sensitive data.

Tips to excel at Azure Interview Questions:

Preparing for an interview on Azure means more than just learning facts; it's about communicating clearly and confidently. Here are some quick tips that have helped others excel and will help you do the same:

Some great tips to get a good result in a Microsoft Azure interview! I will try to share my best inputs for these points.

1. Tell the Story Behind Your Example

In the case of the Azure Interview, we can tell the story of how we worked/worked with Azure through our training, projects, or presentations.

Talk about instances when you have used various Azure services like Azure DevOps, Azure Functions, or Azure Key Vault.

Describe ways you dealt with issues like controlling access in your RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) management, and tell how, through your actions, processes have been improved and problems of the same nature prevented.

All of this demonstrates that you are not just speaking in theories, but being backed by practical knowledge.

2. Don't Forget the Presentation of Your Mind-Work

Most of the Azure Interview questions are based on problem-solving tactics.

As long as you were asked to create or fix a design of the solution, don't just give the solution; rather, explain how the solution came to your mind.

Explain the Security, scalability, cost, etc., conditional considerations you made as a result of this solution.

You can briefly compare two technologies, such as Azure Kubernetes Service vs. Azure App Service, and explain why you chose one over the other.

An interviewer-cum-answerer expects a logical reason along with the final answer.

3. Always be aware of Azure Services

Most of the Azure interview questions require that the candidate be up-to-date with the latest developments.

Talk about the latest features, such as the integration of the Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Fabric, or improvements to Azure Monitor that may have happened recently.

Being knowledgeable about new services gives the impression that you are always learning and are actively involved.

Your updated status allows you to use the latest best practices in your answers.

4. Tell Exactly What You Know - and What You Don't

During Azure interview questions, it’s totally okay that you admit you don’t know something.

Say that you are ready to learn and research it.

Mention that you have the knack for being upskilled sooner than later, e.g., learning Azure Policy for compliance just when you were required.

Being honest will not only make you appear trustworthy but will also show that you continuously work on your Azure skills.

When you adjust your answers in this way, not only do you demonstrate confidence and structure, but you also Azure interview practical insights, which will help you handle any question.

Shall I prepare a brief sample of Azure interview questions with these strategies implemented for you?

By the end of this post, you’ll be ready for any Azure interview questions

Conclusion:

Preparing for Azure interview questions is an intentional step toward getting your dream cloud role. Comfort level with key Azure services, understanding of cloud concepts, and the ability to explain your solutions will help distinguish you as a candidate. The biggest piece of advice is that in technical interviews, practical knowledge plus the ability to explain your thinking is a large part of how these interviews go.

Whether it is a job for an Azure Data Engineer, Cloud Architect, or DevOps Engineer, deciding to learn continuously and get hands-on experience with services like Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse, and Azure Active Directory will help you be far more confident and capable when facing Azure interview questions.

Ready for your next step? Check out these organized courses from Sprintzeal to build your Azure knowledge and practice with Azure interview questions for different roles. Continuous learning ensures that you are well-prepared for technical challenges and can confidently tackle Azure interview questions in your next cloud interview.

Ready to take the next step? Explore these carefully curated courses from Sprintzeal to deepen your Azure expertise:

• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Training
• Azure Data Engineer Certification Course
• Azure DevOps Certification Training
• Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Training

Invest in your skills today, and ensure you walk into your Azure interview with passion, preparation, and precision!