AZ-204 Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure Exam

Deploy code and containerized solutions

Use Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for Deploying Containerized Applications

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a managed Kubernetes service that makes it easier to run containers in Azure. It handles infrastructure management like cluster provisioning, patching, and upgrades, so developers can focus on writing code. AKS provides container orchestration by automating the control plane, and it integrates with Azure networking, storage, and identity features. This reduces operational overhead and helps teams adopt cloud-native practices without needing deep Kubernetes expertise.

You can configure and manage an AKS cluster using different tools such as:

• ARM templates for describing resources in code
• Azure CLI for command-line automation
• Azure Portal for a graphical interface

In these tools, you set parameters like agentPoolProfiles, SSH public keys, and DNS prefixes to create repeatable deployments. AKS also uses system-assigned managed identities to grant secure access to services like Azure Container Registry (ACR) and Azure Disks.

To deploy containerized workloads, you write Kubernetes Deployment and Service YAML files or use Helm charts. You specify container images stored in ACR, set up port mappings, environment variables, and resource limits. AKS supports both stateless applications (for example, web front ends) and stateful applications that use Persistent Volumes with Azure Disks or Azure Container Storage. Run kubectl apply to deploy and kubectl get pods to check pod status and diagnose issues.

AKS offers built-in strategies for scaling and upgrading to keep applications running smoothly. The Cluster Autoscaler adjusts the number of nodes based on pod demand, and the Horizontal Pod Autoscaler scales pods by CPU or custom metrics. You can use Pod Disruption Budgets to control how many pods can go down during updates by setting maxUnavailable. For higher availability, deploy clusters across availability zones to guard against zone failures and ensure continuous service.

Conclusion

In this section, you learned how AKS simplifies the deployment of containerized applications by managing the Kubernetes control plane and integrating with Azure services. You saw how to configure clusters with tools like ARM templates, Azure CLI, and the Azure Portal. You also reviewed the steps to deploy workloads using YAML or Helm and the differences between stateless and stateful applications.

Finally, you explored built-in scaling and upgrade features such as the Cluster Autoscaler, Horizontal Pod Autoscaler, and Pod Disruption Budgets. These tools, combined with zone-based deployment and managed identities, help you build reliable, scalable, and secure container solutions on Azure.