The 5 Azure Services Every Admin Should Master First

Azure has over 200 services. Nobody knows all of them. Not even Microsoft employees.

When people ask me where to start, they usually expect a long list. But trying to learn everything is the fastest way to learn nothing.

Here are the five services that will give you the most value for your time.

1. Azure Virtual Machines

Yes, VMs might seem basic. But they're still the backbone of most enterprise Azure deployments.

What to actually learn:

• VM sizing and when to use different series (D, E, B, etc.)
• Managed disks vs unmanaged (always use managed)
• Availability sets and availability zones
• VM extensions and custom script extensions
• Cost optimization with reserved instances and spot VMs

The test: Can you deploy a VM with a custom script that runs on first boot, connected to a VNet, with proper NSG rules, using the CLI or a template? That's the bar.

2. Azure Virtual Networks

Networking is where most Azure projects get complicated. Understanding VNets deeply will save you countless troubleshooting hours.

What to actually learn:

• Subnets and address space planning (get this wrong early and you'll regret it)
• Network Security Groups — stateful rules, priority ordering, default rules
• VNet peering and the difference between local and global
• Service endpoints vs private endpoints (know when to use each)
• DNS in Azure — default DNS vs custom DNS servers

The test: Can you design a hub-spoke network architecture with proper connectivity between spokes? Can you troubleshoot why a VM can't reach a storage account?

3. Azure Storage

Almost every Azure solution uses storage somehow. Understanding the options prevents costly mistakes.

What to actually learn:

• The four storage types: blob, file, queue, table
• Access tiers: hot, cool, cold, archive (and the cost implications)
• Redundancy options: LRS, ZRS, GRS, RA-GRS (when to use what)
• Blob lifecycle management policies
• Secure access: SAS tokens, stored access policies, Azure AD authentication

The test: Can you set up a storage account that automatically moves blobs to cool storage after 30 days and archive after 90? Can you generate a SAS token with appropriate permissions and expiry?

4. Azure Active Directory (Entra ID)

Identity is the control plane of modern cloud security. Everything else depends on it.

What to actually learn:

• Users, groups, and dynamic group membership
• Role-based access control (RBAC) — built-in roles vs custom roles
• Conditional Access policies (MFA, device compliance, location-based)
• Enterprise applications and service principals
• Managed identities — the right way to handle credentials

The test: Can you set up a managed identity for a VM that allows it to read secrets from Key Vault without any stored credentials? Can you create a custom RBAC role that allows starting/stopping VMs but nothing else?

5. Azure Monitor

You can't manage what you can't measure. Azure Monitor is how you understand what's actually happening.

What to actually learn:

• Metrics vs logs — different purposes, different tools
• Diagnostic settings — how to get logs out of resources
• Log Analytics workspaces and basic KQL queries
• Alert rules — metric alerts, log alerts, activity log alerts
• Application Insights basics (even if you're not a developer)

The test: Can you create an alert that fires when a VM's CPU exceeds 80% for 5 minutes? Can you write a KQL query that shows failed sign-ins in the last 24 hours?

Why These Five?

These services appear in nearly every Azure deployment:

• VMs run your workloads
• VNets connect everything
• Storage holds your data
• Entra ID controls access
• Monitor tells you what's happening

Master these, and you can handle most real-world scenarios. The specialized services (AI, IoT, analytics) matter for specific use cases, but these five are foundational.

The Learning Approach

Don't just read documentation. Build things.

For each service:

1. Deploy it manually through the portal (understand the options)
2. Deploy it with CLI (understand the commands)
3. Deploy it with a template (understand the structure)
4. Break it intentionally (understand troubleshooting)

The engineers who get hired aren't the ones who've read the most docs. They're the ones who've deployed, broken, and fixed the most resources.

What Comes After

Once you're solid on these five, branch out based on your role:

• Security focus: Azure Firewall, Defender for Cloud, Sentinel
• App development: App Service, Functions, Container Apps
• Data engineering: Synapse, Data Factory, Databricks
• DevOps focus: DevOps Services, GitHub Actions integration

But don't rush it. Depth in fundamentals beats shallow knowledge across many services.

Start with five. Master them. Then expand.