Interview PrepLesson 9 of 9

Interview Preparation (Azure Basics)

Consolidate core Azure Basics topics with high-value beginner, scenario, and practical interview questions.

Preparation Strategy

Quick Revision Map

What interviewers usually test
Cloud Basics
Models + service types
Azure Structure
Region, subscription, RG
Access
Entra ID + RBAC
Operations
Tooling + cost + triage

Beginner Questions (with concise answers)

What is Microsoft Azure?

Azure is Microsoft’s cloud platform for deploying and managing applications and infrastructure globally.

Difference between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS?

IaaS offers infrastructure control, PaaS offers managed runtime, SaaS offers ready-to-use software.

What is an Azure region?

A geographic area containing Azure data centers where services are hosted.

What is a resource group?

Logical container for related Azure resources.

What is Entra ID?

Identity platform used for authentication and access management in Azure.

Scenario-based Questions

User can log in but cannot create resource. What do you check?

RBAC role and scope assignment, plus active subscription context.

App is slow after migration to Azure.

Validate region proximity, service tier sizing, and architecture assumptions.

Monthly bill suddenly increased.

Review top-cost resources, recent changes, and enforce budget/tag governance.

Team cannot find resource ownership.

Introduce and enforce owner/environment/costcenter tags.

Resources deployed in wrong subscription repeatedly.

Use context checks in scripts and better naming/governance patterns.

Hands-on Question Prompts

Show how to list resource groups via CLI.

Use az group list --output table and explain output columns.

How would you give read-only access to production?

Assign Reader role at production resource group scope, ideally to a security group.

How do you switch Azure subscription context?

Run az account set --subscription "name-or-id" and confirm with az account show.

How do you explain cost control basics to a non-technical manager?

Use budgets, alerts, and tagging to track and limit spending by team/project.

How do you decide between Portal and CLI?

Portal for visual one-offs; CLI for repeatable automation tasks.

Practice Commands

Interview-ready basics
az login
az account show
az group list --output table
az role assignment list --assignee user@contoso.com --output table

Answer Framework (Use in interviews)

  1. Define the concept in one sentence.
  2. Give one practical example.
  3. Mention one tradeoff or best practice.
  4. Close with how you would validate in Azure.

Summary

If you can clearly explain cloud fundamentals, Azure organization, identity basics, and practical troubleshooting flow, you are ready for most Azure Basics interviews.