# PART 11: HYBRID & EDGE SERVICES

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## 11.1 Azure Arc (see Part 10 for details)

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## 11.2 Azure Stack HCI

### Overview
Hyper-converged infrastructure on-prem. Run VMs on-prem, manage from Azure.

- Run on certified hardware (Dell, Lenovo, HPE, etc.)
- Azure Hybrid Benefit for licensing
- Azure Arc-enabled
- AKS on Azure Stack HCI
- Azure Virtual Desktop on HCI
- Pay-as-you-go or subscription

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## 11.3 Azure Stack Hub

### Overview
Run Azure services on-premises. Disconnected scenarios possible.

- Integrated systems (hardware from partners)
- Connected or disconnected from Azure
- Use Azure IaaS + some PaaS on-prem
- For: edge, disconnected, regulatory, low-latency scenarios

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## 11.4 Azure Stack Edge

### Overview
Edge computing device with AI/ML + storage. Data processing at the edge.

- Ruggedized hardware device
- Run VMs, Kubernetes, ML models at edge
- Transfer data to Azure (network or device)
- GPU-enabled (NVIDIA T4)
- Use cases: manufacturing, retail, field operations

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## 11.5 Azure IoT Hub

### Overview
Managed IoT service. Connect, monitor, manage billions of IoT devices.

### Key Features
- Device-to-Cloud (D2C) telemetry
- Cloud-to-Device (C2D) commands
- Device twins (reported/desired properties)
- Device provisioning service (DPS) — zero-touch provisioning
- Module twins for edge devices
- File upload from devices
- Routes — Send messages to endpoints (Event Hubs, Storage, Service Bus)

### Tiers
| Tier | Messages/Day | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| **Free** | 8,000 | Dev/test |
| **S1** | 400,000/unit | Small deployments |
| **S2** | 6M/unit | Medium |
| **S3** | 300M/unit | Large |

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## 11.6 Azure IoT Edge

### Overview
Run cloud workloads on edge devices. Deploy modules (containers) to edge.

- Offline operation with store-and-forward
- Edge Agent + Edge Hub runtime
- Deploy ML models, Azure Stream Analytics, custom modules
- Offline support for extended periods

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## 11.7 Azure Digital Twins

### Overview
IoT spatial intelligence. Model physical environments as digital twins.

- Model relationships between people, spaces, devices
- Query spatial intelligence graph
- Event route to downstream services
- For: smart buildings, factories, cities

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## 11.8 Azure Sphere

### Overview
Secured microcontroller (MCU) for IoT devices. End-to-end security.

- Sphere MCU (chip) + Linux OS + Cloud security service
- Hardware root of trust
- Automatic OS updates
- Certificate-based auth

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# PART 12: DEVELOPER TOOLS

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## 12.1 Azure DevOps

### Overview
Application lifecycle management. Boards, Repos, Pipelines, Test Plans, Artifacts.

### Services
| Service | What It Does |
|---|---|
| **Azure Boards** | Work items, sprints, kanban, dashboards |
| **Azure Repos** | Git repositories (TFVC also available) |
| **Azure Pipelines** | CI/CD — build and deploy. YAML or classic. Agent-based (Microsoft-hosted or self-hosted). |
| **Azure Test Plans** | Manual and exploratory testing |
| **Azure Artifacts** — Package management (NuGet, npm, Maven, Python, Universal) |

### Key Concepts
- **Organization** → **Project** → Repos, Pipelines, Boards
- **Service Connections** — Connect to Azure (ARM), GitHub, Docker, etc.
- **Variable Groups** — Shared variables across pipelines
- **Environments** — Deployment targets with approvals/checks
- **Templates** — Reusable pipeline steps

### Interview Q&A
**Q: Azure DevOps vs GitHub Actions?**
A: Azure DevOps = full ALM suite (boards, repos, pipelines, test plans). GitHub Actions = CI/CD only, GitHub-native. Many teams use GitHub for code + Azure DevOps for boards/pipelines.

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## 12.2 Azure CLI / PowerShell / SDKs

### Azure CLI
- Cross-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- `az` command
- Imperative, good for scripting
- `az group create --name myRG --location eastus`

### Azure PowerShell
- `Az` module
- PowerShell-native
- Good for Windows admins, complex scripts
- `New-AzResourceGroup -Name myRG -Location eastus`

### Infrastructure as Code
- **ARM Templates** — JSON, native to Azure
- **Bicep** — DSL, compiles to ARM. Recommended.
- **Terraform** — HashiCorp HCL. Multi-cloud. Azure provider.
- **Ansible** — YAML playbooks. Agentless.

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# PART 13: SaaS SERVICES

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## 13.1 Microsoft 365

- Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
- Exchange Online (email)
- SharePoint Online (document management)
- OneDrive for Business (file storage)
- Microsoft Teams (chat, meetings, collaboration)
- Microsoft Viva (employee experience)

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## 13.2 Dynamics 365

ERP + CRM suite:
- **Sales** — CRM
- **Customer Service** — Support
- **Field Service** — Dispatch, scheduling
- **Finance** — Financial management
- **Supply Chain Management** — SCM
- **Business Central** — SMB ERP
- **Commerce** — E-commerce

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## 13.3 Power Platform

- **Power Apps** — Build custom apps (canvas + model-driven)
- **Power Automate** — Workflow automation (desktop + cloud flows)
- **Power BI** — Business intelligence and visualization
- **Power Virtual Agents** — Build chatbots (now Copilot Studio)
- **Power Pages** — External-facing websites
- **Dataverse** — Underlying data platform

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## 13.4 Microsoft Fabric

### Overview
Unified analytics platform. Lakehouse, data warehouse, real-time analytics, BI, data engineering, data science. All in one SaaS.

- **OneLake** — Single data lake for the organization (like OneDrive for data)
- **Lakehouse** — Data lake + warehouse
- **Data Warehouse** — Traditional warehousing
- **Real-Time Intelligence** — Stream processing
- **Data Factory** — ETL (built-in)
- **Power BI** — Visualization (built-in)
