Azure Developer Training after AZ-204's Retirement
On July 31, 2026, Microsoft retired AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure—the standard Azure developer certification since 2020.
The replacement is AI-200: Developing AI Cloud Solutions on Azure. While AI-200 covers the AI stack, it drops critical topics for developers building traditional cloud apps: App Service deployments, Blob Storage, API Management, Microsoft Graph, and more.
This guide shows what changed, what's missing, and how Opsgility's Azure Developer training fills the gaps—with 13 courses covering the full Azure developer stack.
Official Retirement
Source: Microsoft Learn AZ-204 Study Guide
"This exam was retired on July 31, 2026, at 11:59 PM Central Standard Time."
For thousands of Azure developers, AZ-204 was the benchmark. It covered App Service, Azure Functions, Cosmos DB, Event Grid, API Management, security, and monitoring.
Microsoft's pivot to AI-200 signals an AI-first strategy. But what about developers building web apps, microservices, data pipelines, and APIs that aren't AI-centric?
AZ-204 vs AI-200: What Changed?
| Domain Area | AZ-204 Coverage | AI-200 Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Containers & Orchestration | ✅ Azure Container Registry ✅ Azure Container Instances ✅ Container Apps deployment ❌ AKS limited | ✅ Azure Container Registry ✅ Container Apps + environment config ✅ KEDA event-driven scaling ✅ AKS with manifest files Enhanced for AI workloads |
| App Service & Serverless | ✅ App Service Web Apps ✅ Deployment slots ✅ Autoscaling ✅ TLS configuration ✅ Azure Functions (all triggers/bindings) | ✅ Azure Functions (serverless APIs) ✅ Triggers & bindings ❌ No App Service Web Apps ❌ No deployment slots ❌ No autoscaling strategies |
| Data & Storage | ✅ Cosmos DB operations & SDK ✅ Blob Storage (properties, metadata, lifecycle) ✅ Change feed notifications ❌ No vector search | ✅ Cosmos DB for NoSQL ✅ Vector similarity search & embeddings ✅ Azure Database for PostgreSQL (pgvector) ✅ Azure Managed Redis (caching + vector indexing) ✅ RAG patterns & metadata filtering ❌ No Blob Storage |
| Security | ✅ Microsoft Identity Platform ✅ Microsoft Entra ID authentication ✅ Shared Access Signatures ✅ Key Vault (keys, secrets, certificates) ✅ Managed Identities ✅ Microsoft Graph integration | ✅ Azure Key Vault (secrets rotation & retrieval) ✅ Azure App Configuration ❌ No Microsoft Identity Platform ❌ No Entra ID deep dive ❌ No SAS ❌ No Microsoft Graph |
| Monitoring & Troubleshooting | ✅ Azure Monitor Application Insights ✅ Metrics, logs, traces ✅ Availability tests & alerts ✅ Instrumentation | ✅ OpenTelemetry distributed tracing ✅ KQL queries for logs & metrics ❌ No Application Insights specifics ❌ No availability tests |
| Messaging & Eventing | ✅ Azure Service Bus ✅ Azure Queue Storage ✅ Event Grid ✅ Event Hubs ✅ API Management (policies, documentation, access) | ✅ Azure Service Bus (dead-letter queue, topics, subscriptions) ✅ Event Grid (filters, custom events, retries) ❌ No Queue Storage ❌ No Event Hubs ❌ No API Management |
AI-200 narrows and deepens in AI-specific infrastructure (vector databases, RAG, embeddings, KEDA event-driven scaling) while dropping foundational Azure developer topics like App Service deployment strategies, Blob Storage, API Management, Microsoft Graph, and comprehensive identity integration.
Critical Gaps for Native Cloud Developers
If you're building production cloud applications on Azure—not just AI workloads—AI-200 leaves out essential skills:
App Service Expertise
No coverage of App Service Web Apps, deployment slots, autoscaling strategies, or TLS configuration—core skills for web application hosting.
Blob Storage Operations
Blob Storage—Azure's most widely used storage service—is completely absent. No properties, metadata, lifecycle management, or SDK operations.
Identity & Authorization
No Microsoft Identity Platform, no Entra ID authentication deep-dive, no Shared Access Signatures, no Microsoft Graph integration.
API Management
API Management—critical for API gateways, policies, rate limiting, and developer portals—is completely removed.
Application Insights
While OpenTelemetry and KQL are added, Application Insights specifics—availability tests, instrumentation patterns, and alert configuration—are gone.
Complete Messaging Ecosystem
Event Hubs and Queue Storage are removed. If you're building event streaming or simple queue-based architectures, AI-200 doesn't cover them.
Bottom line: AI-200 is excellent for AI-focused backend engineers but insufficient for full-stack Azure cloud developers building web apps, APIs, microservices, and data-intensive systems.
SkillMeUp's Azure Developer Path: Complete Cloud Mastery
SkillMeUp's Azure Developer path is the modern replacement for AZ-204 prep and a lot that even AZ-204 did not cover. 13 hands-on courses built for .NET 10 and current Azure services—covering everything AI-200 omits plus the production skills working developers need in 2026.
From your first az login to shipping a production multi-tenant SaaS or enterprise app, every module follows the modern .NET + Azure SDK story: chiseled containers on Azure Container Apps, KEDA-scaled serverless with Azure Functions v4 isolated worker, passwordless Entity Framework Core against Azure SQL, hierarchical partition keys on Cosmos DB, workload identity federation for zero-secret CI/CD, Bicep with deployment stacks and what-if gates, and OpenTelemetry-first observability.
Flexible learning: Every course is available on-demand (self-paced with AI instructor and live labs) and as live instructor-led training. Learn on your schedule or join expert-led sessions with real-time Q&A.
You learn the design decisions Microsoft hides behind exam objectives:
- When to reach for App Service vs Container Apps vs Functions
- Why one partition-key choice costs $100/month and another costs $10,000
- How to compose backends in APIM without writing a gateway
- How to handle Conditional Access step-up without breaking production sign-in
Every lab uses Managed Identity, DefaultAzureCredential, and current Azure SDK clients—no connection strings, no keys checked in.
The AZ-DEV-300 capstone ties it all together: you ship TaskForge, a real multi-tenant SaaS with Row-Level Security, Dapr sidecars, distributed tracing, and a GitHub Actions pipeline federated to Azure with no secrets.
The 13-Course Azure Developer Curriculum
AZ-DEV-100: Building Web Applications with Azure App Service
Master Azure App Service for hosting .NET web applications. Learn deployment slots, autoscaling, custom domains, TLS certificates, continuous deployment, and production deployment strategies. Labs deploy .NET apps to App Service with staging slots, configure autoscaling rules, and implement blue-green deployments.
View CourseAZ-DEV-120: Azure Blob Storage for .NET Developers
Deep dive into Azure Blob Storage. Learn blob properties, metadata, lifecycle policies, soft delete, versioning, immutability, SAS tokens, and the .NET Storage SDK. Labs build a document upload service with blob triggers, implement queue-based background jobs, and set up CDN acceleration for static assets.
View CourseAZ-DEV-130: Azure SQL Database for .NET Developers
Master Azure SQL Database with Entity Framework Core, connection resiliency, elastic pools, and passwordless authentication with Managed Identity. Labs migrate an on-prem SQL app to Azure SQL, implement automatic failover groups, and optimize query performance with indexing strategies.
View CourseAZ-DEV-140: Cosmos DB for NoSQL – A .NET Developer's Guide
Master Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL: partition keys (single, hierarchical, synthetic), consistency levels, indexing policies, change feed, and the .NET SDK. Labs design a multi-tenant Cosmos DB schema, build a change-feed processor for real-time analytics, and optimize queries with composite indexes.
View CourseAZ-DEV-150: Securing Azure Solutions with Microsoft Entra ID
Master Microsoft Identity Platform and Entra ID authentication. Learn OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect flows, app registrations, API permissions, Conditional Access, and Microsoft Graph. Labs secure a multi-tenant SaaS with Entra ID, call Microsoft Graph to read user profiles and calendar events, and implement Conditional Access policies.
View CourseAZ-DEV-160: Securing Configuration Data with Azure Key Vault and App Configuration
Learn Azure Key Vault for keys, secrets, and certificates, plus Azure App Configuration for feature flags and centralized settings. Master Key Vault references in App Service, secret rotation, RBAC vs access policies, and the .NET SDK. Labs store connection strings and API keys in Key Vault, wire them into App Service via app settings, and implement certificate-based authentication.
View CourseAZ-DEV-170: Azure Messaging & Eventing for .NET Developers
Master Service Bus (queues, topics, subscriptions, sessions, dead-letter queues), Event Grid (custom topics, system topics, event subscriptions, filters), Event Hubs (partitions, consumer groups, checkpointing), and Queue Storage. Learn when to use each service. Labs build an order-processing pipeline with Service Bus topics, implement event-driven microservices with Event Grid, and stream telemetry through Event Hubs.
View CourseAZ-DEV-180: API Management & Integration for .NET Developers
Master Azure API Management: policies (rate limiting, transformation, caching, authentication), backends, products, subscriptions, developer portal, versioning, revisions, and Application Insights integration. Learn Logic Apps for workflow automation. Labs build an API gateway with OAuth2 authentication, rate limiting, and response caching; compose microservices behind APIM; and automate a document approval workflow with Logic Apps.
View CourseAZ-DEV-190: Monitoring & Troubleshooting Azure Solutions
Master Azure Monitor, Application Insights, Log Analytics, and KQL (Kusto Query Language). Learn distributed tracing, custom metrics, availability tests, alerts, action groups, and OpenTelemetry integration. Labs instrument a .NET app with Application Insights, write KQL queries to diagnose performance bottlenecks, set up availability tests and alerts, and build Azure Monitor dashboards.
View CourseAZ-DEV-200: Infrastructure as Code for Azure with Bicep
Master Azure Bicep for infrastructure as code. Learn modules, parameters, outputs, loops, conditions, deployment stacks, what-if operations, and CI/CD integration. Compare Bicep to ARM templates and Terraform. Labs write Bicep to deploy App Service + SQL + Key Vault + Application Insights, create reusable modules for common patterns, and automate infrastructure deployment in GitHub Actions.
View CourseAZ-DEV-210: CI/CD for Azure with GitHub Actions & Azure DevOps
Master CI/CD pipelines for Azure applications. Learn GitHub Actions workflows, Azure DevOps pipelines, workload identity federation (no secrets!), deployment gates, blue-green deployments, canary releases, and rollback strategies. Labs build a GitHub Actions pipeline with workload identity federation to deploy .NET apps to App Service with staging slots, implement infrastructure deployment with Bicep in CI/CD, and set up Azure DevOps pipelines with approval gates.
View CourseAZ-DEV-220: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for .NET Developers
Master AKS from a developer perspective: Pods, Deployments, Services, Ingress, ConfigMaps, Secrets, Workload Identity, ACR integration, kubectl, Helm charts, and GitOps with Flux. Learn AKS networking, persistent volumes, and cluster autoscaling. Labs deploy a microservices app to AKS with Workload Identity pulling secrets from Key Vault, set up HTTPS ingress with cert-manager, and implement GitOps continuous deployment with Flux.
View CourseAZ-DEV-300: Capstone – Build & Deploy a Multi-Tenant SaaS on Azure
The capstone project. Build TaskForge, a real multi-tenant SaaS application with tenant isolation via Row-Level Security in Azure SQL, Entra ID authentication with organization assignment, Dapr sidecars for Service Bus and state management, OpenTelemetry distributed tracing, Bicep infrastructure, and a GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline with workload identity federation. Ship the entire stack—API, workers, database, monitoring, and deployment pipeline—using every skill from the previous 12 courses.
View CourseBonus Course
AI-200 Exam Prep for Python Developers
Need the AI-200 certification? We've got you covered. Our AI-200: Developing AI Cloud Solutions on Azure for Python Developers course prepares you for the exam while teaching production Python AI back-end development on Azure.
What You'll Learn
- Containerized solutions: ACR, App Service, Container Apps + KEDA, AKS
- AI data services: Cosmos DB vector search, PostgreSQL pgvector, Managed Redis vector indexing
- Messaging: Service Bus, Event Grid, Azure Functions
- Security & monitoring: Key Vault, App Configuration, OpenTelemetry, KQL
Course Details
- Duration: 2 days (16 hours)
- Format: On-demand with AI instructor + Live instructor-led
- Hands-on: 13 Python labs in VS Code containers with FastAPI and Azure SDKs
- Capstone: Build the Northwind Logistics AI back-end
- Exam Prep: Practice questions with AI feedback
Why Train with Opsgility?
Live Azure Lab Environments
Every course includes real Azure labs with provisioned resources. No setup, no credit card, no cleanup. Just learn and build.
Expert Microsoft Trainers
Learn from Microsoft Certified Trainers who build production systems on Azure every day. Real-world expertise, not just theory.
Flexible Learning
Every course available on-demand (self-paced with AI instructor) and as live instructor-led training. Learn your way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is AI-200 a direct replacement for AZ-204?
No. AI-200 focuses on AI-specific infrastructure (vector databases, RAG patterns, KEDA event-driven scaling for AI workloads) but omits foundational Azure developer topics like App Service deployment strategies, Blob Storage, API Management, Microsoft Graph, and comprehensive identity integration. If you're building traditional cloud applications, you need the full Azure Developer path.
Should I still learn AZ-204 content even though the exam is retired?
Yes—if you're building production applications on Azure. The AZ-204 content represents essential Azure developer skills that remain critical in 2026: App Service, Azure Functions, Blob Storage, Cosmos DB, Event Grid, Service Bus, API Management, Application Insights, Microsoft Identity Platform, and Key Vault. These services power millions of production applications. Our Azure Developer path teaches all of this plus modern additions like Container Apps, KEDA, OpenTelemetry, Bicep, and workload identity federation.
Can I take individual courses or do I need the full path?
Both options are available. You can enroll in the complete Azure Developer path or purchase individual courses. The full path is recommended for comprehensive Azure developer skills, but individual courses work if you need to fill specific knowledge gaps.
Do these courses prepare me for any current Microsoft certification?
The Azure Developer path covers skills measured across multiple current Azure certifications including AZ-104, AZ-305, and the development portions of solution architect exams. The standalone AI-200 course directly prepares you for the AI-200: Developing AI Cloud Solutions on Azure exam. However, the primary goal isn't certification—it's production-ready Azure development skills.
What's the time commitment for the full Azure Developer path?
The 13-course path requires approximately 120-150 hours of learning time including lectures, hands-on labs, and the capstone project. On-demand learners typically complete it in 8-12 weeks at 10-15 hours per week. Live instructor-led cohorts run on accelerated schedules.
Does the training include hands-on labs?
Absolutely. Every course includes multiple hands-on labs in live Azure environments. You don't need your own Azure subscription—all lab resources are provisioned for you. Labs range from 30 minutes to 3 hours and build real applications you can reference later.
Master Azure Development—The Complete Way
AZ-204 is retired. AI-200 fills part of the gap. But production Azure developers need the full stack: compute, data, security, messaging, monitoring, IaC, and CI/CD.
Opsgility's Azure Developer path delivers all of it—13 courses, 100+ hands-on labs, real-world capstone project, available on-demand and with live instructors.