Subscriptions in Microsoft Azure not only represent a logical container for resources but also provide a medium to manage costs, organize resources, and control access to resources. A subscription in Azure plays a vital role, particularly when you’re preparing for an exam like AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals. This post will deepen your understanding of Azure Subscriptions.
Understanding Azure Subscriptions
In simple terms, an Azure subscription is a logical unit of Azure services that is linked to an Azure account. Each subscription can have a separate billing setting, which allows the costs incurred by the usage of resources to be grouped and billed separately.
Many organizations have multiple Azure subscriptions to segregate resources for multiple departments or projects. Subscriptions also come handy to manage and control resource usage, for instance, putting a quota on the number of resources you can use, or setting up spending limits to avoid unexpected costs.
Types of Azure Subscriptions
Azure offers different types of subscriptions, each having its advantages and restrictions:
- Pay-As-You-Go: The most common subscription where you pay for what you use with no upfront cost.
- Enterprise Agreement (EA): For large organizations with substantial usage, where they commit to spend a certain amount for discounts.
- Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA): A simplified purchase agreement, which does away with a minimum spending requirement.
- Sponsorships: These include Visual Studio, Microsoft Partner Network, Azure Pass, and more, which come with monthly Azure credits.
Comparison of Azure Subscriptions:
| Subscription Type | Billing | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Pay-As-You-Go | Postpaid | Individuals or businesses that need flexibility |
| Enterprise Agreement (EA) | Prepaid | Larger organizations that have significant Azure usage and want cost predictability through upfront commitment |
| Microsoft Customer Agreement | Postpaid | Customers who want a simplified transaction that doesn’t need a minimum spending requirement |
| Sponsorships | Free (up to a limit) | Educational purposes, testing, development, or startup businesses |
Managing Azure Subscriptions
Azure provides various management tools to manage resources within a subscription. The Azure portal is a critical asset where you can monitor usage, costs, and administrate resources belonging to your Azure subscription, or even multiple Azure subscriptions.
Additionally, Azure provides command-line tools like Azure PowerShell and Azure CLI, and an SDK for programmatic access and integration with other software. Thereby, you can run scripts to automate repetitive tasks, like, creating or deleting resources as per your needs and requirements.
Azure Subscription and Azure AD
Azure subscription is linked to Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), which helps you manage access to your resources. Each Azure subscription is associated with one Azure AD directory. The directory contains the users, groups, and applications that have been added to the directory and which can manage resources in the subscription.
Azure AD provides role-based access control (RBAC) to manage the permissions, which means you can decide who can do what, on which resources, and to what extent.
Conclusion
Understanding Azure subscriptions gives you greater control and flexibility in deploying and managing Azure resources. This knowledge is not only crucial in the real-world scenarios but also required when appearing for AZ-900 – Microsoft Azure Fundamentals exam, as an understanding of Azure subscriptions forms a key fundamental of Azure services.
Practice Test
True or False: One Microsoft Azure account can only have one subscription.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: One Microsoft Azure account can have multiple subscriptions.
What is a subscription in Microsoft Azure?
- a) A logical unit of Azure services
- b) A way of paying for Azure services
- c) Both (a) and (b)
- d) Neither (a) nor (b)
Answer: c) Both (a) and (b)
Explanation: A subscription in Azure refers to a logical unit of Azure services that is linked to an account. It also represents the agreement with Microsoft to pay for the use of cloud services.
True or False: Each subscription in Azure can have separate billing and payment setup.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Each Azure subscription can have separate billing and payment setup, allowing for easier management of costs and resources.
What is NOT a role you can assign in Azure Subscriptions?
- a) Owner
- b) Contributor
- c) Reader
- d) Visitor
Answer: d) Visitor
Explanation: There are no roles such as “Visitor” in Azure Subscriptions. The defined roles are Owner, Contributor, and Reader.
True or False: It is not possible to move resources such as virtual machines and storage accounts across Azure subscriptions.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: It is possible to move resources like virtual machines and storage accounts across Azure subscriptions.
Which of the following is NOT a potential use for Azure Subscriptions?
- a) Managing billing for projects
- b) Applying access controls to resources
- c) Allocating resource quotas
- d) As a security boundary
Answer: d) As a security boundary
Explanation: While Azure subscriptions enable managing billing, access control and quotas of resources within them, they do not serve as a security boundary.
True or False: Azure Cost Management is available for all Azure subscriptions.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Azure Cost Management is available for all Azure subscriptions to help analyze, manage, and optimize the costs of Azure resources.
What type of Azure subscription offers free services for 12 months?
- a) Premium
- b) Standard
- c) Free Trial
- d) Pay-As-You-Go
Answer: c) Free Trial
Explanation: The Free Trial subscription offers a range of free services for 12 months.
True or False: Subscriptions should be considered when designing the access strategy to Azure resources.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: It’s important to think about subscriptions when designing your access strategy because access to resources can be managed at the subscription level.
Azure subscriptions can be managed using ________?
- a) Azure portal
- b) Azure PowerShell
- c) Azure CLI
- d) All of the above
Answer: d) All of the above
Explanation: Azure subscriptions can be managed from the Azure portal, using the Azure PowerShell, or the Azure CLI.
True or False: You need to have an Azure subscription to use Azure services.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: You cannot use Azure services without a subscription because it is the agreement with Microsoft to use and pay for Azure services.
Each Azure subscription is associated with a single _________?
- a) Azure account
- b) Azure resource group
- c) Azure virtual machine
- d) Azure service
Answer: a) Azure account
Explanation: Each Azure subscription is associated with a single Azure account.
True or False: You can use the same subscription to run resources in different regions.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: With one subscription, you can deploy resources into multiple regions around the world.
What provides a way to allocate and manage costs across users and departments in Azure?
- a) Resource groups
- b) Subscriptions
- c) Management groups
- d) Both b) and c)
Answer: d) Both b) and c)
Explanation: You can allocate costs using both subscriptions and management groups, providing structure to allocate and manage those costs across different users and departments.
True or False: As part of an organization, you can belong to only one Azure subscription.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: An organization may have more than one subscription and as a part, you may belong to more than one depending on the roles assigned to you.
Interview Questions
What is a subscription in Microsoft Azure?
A subscription in Microsoft Azure refers to the logical unit of Azure services that is linked to an account and billed separately.
How many subscriptions can you have in Azure?
You can have multiple subscriptions in Microsoft Azure. The maximum number depends on the type of subscription and your service agreement with Microsoft.
What’s the purpose of having multiple subscriptions in Azure?
Multiple subscriptions can be useful to manage costs and resources effectively. They can offer better control over resource usage and help manage billing in complex organisational structures.
What is the relationship between Azure subscriptions and Azure AD?
Azure subscriptions are associated with Azure Active Directory, which controls access to resources in the subscription. Each subscription can only be associated with a single Azure AD tenant.
Who can create resources within an Azure subscription?
Only users, groups, or applications with required permissions granted by Azure Active Directory can create resources within an Azure subscription.
Are Azure subscriptions region-specific?
No, Azure subscriptions are not region-specific. You can create and manage resources in any Azure region, irrespective of the subscription.
What is the role of Azure Policy at the subscription level?
Azure Policy helps in implementing governance for your Azure subscriptions. It helps ensure your resources stay compliant with your corporate standards and service level agreements.
How can you control access to an Azure subscription?
Access to an Azure subscription is controlled using Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). RBAC is used to assign permissions to users, groups, and applications at a certain scope.
Can you move resources between Azure subscriptions?
Yes, most resources in Azure can be moved from one subscription to another, but there are some exceptions and considerations, such as potential downtime or specific resource move limitations.
What is Azure Subscription Management?
Azure Subscription Management involves managing access, policies, compliance, and track resource usage across all subscriptions in your organization.
What is the purpose of Azure Management Group?
Azure Management Group provides a level of scope above subscriptions. It allows you to organize your subscriptions, apply governance controls, such as Azure Policy and RBAC on management groups.
What is an Azure Reserved Instance subscription?
An Azure Reserved Instance subscription allows you to make a one-year or three-year commitment to use a specific instance type in exchange for a significantly reduced cost compared to pay-as-you-go pricing.
What happens when your Azure subscription expires?
When an Azure subscription expires, resources associated with the subscription are deactivated and may eventually be deleted. However, you typically receive several notifications before this happens.
Can you change the billing ownership of a Microsoft Azure subscription?
Yes, you can change the billing ownership of an Azure subscription to a different billing account by transferring it.
What’s the significance of Azure Cost Management and Billing?
Azure Cost Management and Billing provides comprehensive tools to track resource usage, manage spending, and optimize costs across multiple Azure subscriptions.
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