Microsoft Azure Complete Guide 2026: Cloud Platform for IT Professionals

Key Fact: Azure is the #1 cloud platform for enterprise adoption, used by 95% of Fortune 500 companies. It's also the exclusive cloud partner for OpenAI — Azure OpenAI Service is the only way to get enterprise-grade GPT-4o and o1 access with SLA guarantees, data privacy, and compliance certifications.

# Create a production-ready Azure network with Azure CLI

# Create Resource Group
az group create --name prod-rg --location westeurope

# Create Virtual Network with subnets
az network vnet create \
    --resource-group prod-rg \
    --name prod-vnet \
    --address-prefix 10.0.0.0/16 \
    --subnet-name web-subnet \
    --subnet-prefix 10.0.1.0/24

# Add application and database subnets
az network vnet subnet create \
    --resource-group prod-rg \
    --vnet-name prod-vnet \
    --name app-subnet \
    --address-prefix 10.0.2.0/24

az network vnet subnet create \
    --resource-group prod-rg \
    --vnet-name prod-vnet \
    --name db-subnet \
    --address-prefix 10.0.3.0/24

# Create Network Security Group
az network nsg create \
    --resource-group prod-rg \
    --name web-nsg

# Allow HTTP/HTTPS from internet
az network nsg rule create \
    --resource-group prod-rg \
    --nsg-name web-nsg \
    --name AllowHTTP \
    --priority 100 \
    --access Allow \
    --protocol Tcp \
    --destination-port-ranges 80 443 \
    --direction Inbound

# Allow SSH from specific IP only
az network nsg rule create \
    --resource-group prod-rg \
    --nsg-name web-nsg \
    --name AllowSSH \
    --priority 110 \
    --access Allow \
    --protocol Tcp \
    --destination-port-ranges 22 \
    --source-address-prefixes "YOUR_IP/32" \
    --direction Inbound

# Create a production Linux VM
az vm create \
    --resource-group prod-rg \
    --name web-server-01 \
    --image Ubuntu2204 \
    --size Standard_B2s \
    --admin-username azureadmin \
    --generate-ssh-keys \
    --vnet-name prod-vnet \
    --subnet web-subnet \
    --nsg web-nsg \
    --public-ip-sku Standard \
    --storage-sku Premium_LRS \
    --os-disk-size-gb 64

# Enable auto-shutdown (save costs in dev/test)
az vm auto-shutdown \
    --resource-group prod-rg \
    --name web-server-01 \
    --time 2200 \
    --email "admin@company.com"

# Install extensions (e.g., monitoring agent)
az vm extension set \
    --resource-group prod-rg \
    --vm-name web-server-01 \
    --name AzureMonitorLinuxAgent \
    --publisher Microsoft.Azure.Monitor

# List running VMs with costs
az vm list -d --output table

# Create an AKS cluster
az aks create \
    --resource-group prod-rg \
    --name prod-aks \
    --node-count 3 \
    --node-vm-size Standard_D2s_v5 \
    --enable-managed-identity \
    --network-plugin azure \
    --vnet-subnet-id /subscriptions/.../subnets/app-subnet \
    --enable-addons monitoring \
    --generate-ssh-keys

# Get credentials for kubectl
az aks get-credentials --resource-group prod-rg --name prod-aks

# Verify cluster
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces

# Scale the cluster
az aks scale --resource-group prod-rg --name prod-aks --node-count 5

# Enable cluster autoscaler
az aks update \
    --resource-group prod-rg \
    --name prod-aks \
    --enable-cluster-autoscaler \
    --min-count 2 \
    --max-count 10

AKS Advantage: Azure Kubernetes Service control plane is free — you only pay for worker nodes. Combined with Spot VMs (up to 90% discount) for non-critical workloads, AKS can be very cost-effective for container orchestration.

# Connect to Azure
Connect-AzAccount

# List all VMs across subscriptions
Get-AzVM -Status | Select-Object Name, ResourceGroupName, PowerState, 
    @{N='Size';E={$_.HardwareProfile.VmSize}}, Location | Format-Table

# Find unattached (orphaned) disks — cost waste!
Get-AzDisk | Where-Object { $_.ManagedBy -eq $null } | 
    Select-Object Name, DiskSizeGB, Location, 
    @{N='MonthlyCost';E={[math]::Round($_.DiskSizeGB * 0.04, 2)}}

# Auto-tag all resources with creation date
Get-AzResource | ForEach-Object {
    $tags = $_.Tags
    if (-not $tags) { $tags = @{} }
    if (-not $tags.ContainsKey('CreatedDate')) {
        $tags['CreatedDate'] = (Get-Date).ToString('yyyy-MM-dd')
        Set-AzResource -ResourceId $_.ResourceId -Tag $tags -Force
    }
}

# Generate cost report for last 30 days
$startDate = (Get-Date).AddDays(-30).ToString('yyyy-MM-dd')
$endDate = (Get-Date).ToString('yyyy-MM-dd')
Get-AzConsumptionUsageDetail -StartDate $startDate -EndDate $endDate |
    Group-Object InstanceName |
    Select-Object Name, @{N='TotalCost';E={($_.Group | Measure-Object PretaxCost -Sum).Sum}} |
    Sort-Object TotalCost -Descending | Select-Object -First 20

Recommended Books for Azure & Microsoft:

• Azure for System Administrators — €27.90
• Azure Active Directory (Microsoft Entra ID) — €24.90
• PowerShell for Azure Administration — €14.90
• Cloud Computing Basics — €19.90
• PowerShell 7 Fundamentals — €24.90
• Mastering PowerShell — €14.90
• Windows Server 2025 Administration — €13.90
• Active Directory Fundamentals — €9.90
• PowerShell for Active Directory — €22.90
• Kubernetes Fundamentals — €26.90
• Exchange Online Management with PowerShell — €11.90
• Automating Microsoft 365 with Python — €12.90

Azure is the cloud platform built for enterprise IT. If your organization runs Microsoft 365, uses Active Directory, manages Windows Servers, or needs to meet strict compliance requirements — Azure is the obvious choice. The integration depth is unmatched.

For system administrators, Azure represents the natural evolution of your career. The skills you already have — Active Directory, PowerShell, Windows Server, Group Policy — all transfer directly to Azure. You're not starting from scratch; you're extending your expertise to the cloud.

The Azure certification path is one of the most valuable in IT. AZ-104 (Administrator) is consistently among the highest-paying associate-level certifications, and the demand for Azure professionals continues to grow as enterprises accelerate their cloud migrations.

Start with AZ-900 if you're new to cloud, or jump straight to AZ-104 if you have sysadmin experience. Either way, Azure skills will remain relevant and lucrative for years to come.

Master Microsoft Azure

From fundamentals to production deployment — become an Azure expert: