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Containers
premium
AKS maintenance window
An AKS maintenance window is a planned maintenance configuration that controls when AKS starts certain cluster and node image upgrade operations. It helps teams align automatic upgrades and maintenance-sensitive changes with approved business windows, while Azure platform maintenance for underlying infrastructure remains separate.
AKS operations
Intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Kubernetes Service maintenance window, aks maintenance window
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Containers
field-manual-complete
AKS node image
An AKS node image is the AKS-tested operating system image used by cluster nodes. Microsoft regularly publishes updated node images with security fixes, component updates, and bug fixes, and teams can upgrade node images separately from Kubernetes minor version upgrades.
AKS operations
Intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: AKS node image, aks-node-image, aks-cluster, aks-node, node-pool, aks-cluster-upgrade, aks-maintenance-window, kubernetes-version, aks-linux-node-pool, aks-windows-node-pool, node-image-upgrade, automatic-os-image-upgrade
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Containers
premium
Container Apps
A serverless Azure service for running containerized apps and jobs without directly operating Kubernetes clusters.
Serverless containers
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Container Apps
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Containers
premium
Node pool
A node pool is a set of AKS worker nodes that share the same basic configuration. Think of it as a lane of machines inside one Kubernetes cluster. One pool might run system components, another might run user applications, and another might use GPU or high-memory machines. By.
Kubernetes
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: AKS node pool, Kubernetes node pool, worker node pool
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Containers
premium
AKS managed identity
An AKS managed identity is a Microsoft Entra identity that an AKS cluster uses to manage Azure resources without stored service principal secrets.
AKS identity
Intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Kubernetes Service managed identity, aks managed identity
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Containers
premium
AKS cluster
Microsoft Learn describes Azure Kubernetes Service as a managed Kubernetes service for deploying and managing containerized applications. An AKS cluster provides the managed Kubernetes control plane, node pools, networking, identity, scaling, and Azure integration points for running containers in Azure production environments.
Azure Kubernetes Service
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Kubernetes cluster, AKS managed cluster, Kubernetes cluster in Azure
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Containers
premium
AKS ingress controller
Microsoft Learn explains AKS ingress through Kubernetes ingress resources and controllers that route HTTP or HTTPS traffic to services in a cluster. AKS application routing options can configure ingress controllers, DNS integration, TLS handling, and related networking components for production applications.
AKS networking
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: AKS ingress, Ingress controller for AKS, Kubernetes ingress controller
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Containers
premium
AKS Linux node pool
An AKS Linux node pool is a group of Linux-based nodes with shared configuration that runs Kubernetes workloads in an AKS cluster. Node pools let teams separate system components, application workloads, VM sizes, zones, scaling behavior, taints, labels, and upgrade settings.
AKS compute
Intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Kubernetes Service Linux node pool, aks linux node pool
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Containers
premium
AKS network policy
An AKS network policy is a Kubernetes traffic-control policy used to restrict pod communication in Azure Kubernetes Service.
AKS networking
Intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Kubernetes Service network policy, aks network policy
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Containers
premium
AKS node
Microsoft Learn explains that AKS nodes are the virtual machines that run your containerized applications, grouped into node pools with the same configuration. System node pools host core cluster pods, while user node pools typically host application workloads and can differ by size, operating system, taints, or purpose.
AKS compute
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: AKS cluster node, Kubernetes node in AKS, AKS VM node
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Containers
premium
AKS private cluster
Microsoft Learn describes a private AKS cluster as an Azure Kubernetes Service cluster whose API server uses internal IP addresses and Private Link-based connectivity. The design keeps control-plane traffic between the API server and node pools on private networking, with DNS configuration required for administrators and automation.
AKS networking
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Kubernetes Service private cluster, aks private cluster
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Containers
premium
AKS add-on
An AKS add-on is a Microsoft-supported capability that can be enabled on an Azure Kubernetes Service cluster to add functionality such as monitoring, policy, ingress, or security integration, with installation and lifecycle managed through AKS.
Azure Kubernetes Service
fundamentals
3 commands
Aliases: AKS addon, Azure Kubernetes Service add-on, managed AKS integration, AKS integration
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Containers
premium
AKS Azure Policy add-on
The AKS Azure Policy add-on integrates Azure Policy with an AKS cluster so policy assignments can audit or enforce Kubernetes rules through in-cluster policy components and report compliance back to Azure Policy.
Azure Kubernetes Service
intermediate
3 commands
Aliases: Azure Policy add-on for AKS, AKS policy add-on, Gatekeeper add-on, Azure Policy for Kubernetes
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Containers
premium
AKS cluster upgrade
An AKS cluster upgrade moves an AKS cluster and its node pools to a newer supported Kubernetes version or updates node images after checking available versions, planning surge capacity, and validating workload readiness.
Azure Kubernetes Service
intermediate
3 commands
Aliases: AKS upgrade, Kubernetes version upgrade, AKS node upgrade, cluster version upgrade
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Containers
premium
AKS GitOps
AKS GitOps uses Git as the source of truth for Kubernetes configuration and application deployment, commonly through the Microsoft Flux extension, so AKS clusters continuously reconcile to the desired state declared in a repository.
Azure Kubernetes Service
intermediate
3 commands
Aliases: GitOps for AKS, Flux on AKS, microsoft.flux extension, AKS Flux configuration
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Containers
premium
AKS horizontal pod autoscaler
The AKS Horizontal Pod Autoscaler is the Kubernetes HPA capability used in AKS to automatically change the number of pod replicas for a workload based on observed metrics such as CPU, memory, or custom metrics.
Azure Kubernetes Service scaling
intermediate
3 commands
Aliases: HPA on AKS, horizontal pod autoscaler, Kubernetes HPA, pod autoscaling
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Containers
premium
AKS Windows node pool
An AKS Windows node pool is a group of Windows Server worker nodes in an AKS cluster, used to run Windows container workloads while Linux pools continue to host core Kubernetes system components.
AKS
intermediate
3 commands
Aliases: Windows node pool, Windows Server node pool, AKS Windows containers
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Containers
field-manual-complete
AKS cluster autoscaler
The AKS cluster autoscaler changes how many Kubernetes nodes are available in an Azure Kubernetes Service cluster. When pods are waiting because there is not enough room, it can add nodes to a node pool. When nodes sit underused, it can remove them safely after checks. It is not the same as scaling application replicas; it scales the infrastructure those replicas land on. Good settings keep workloads moving without leaving expensive virtual machines idle all week.
Azure Kubernetes Service
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: cluster autoscaler, AKS node autoscaler, node pool autoscaler, CA on AKS
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Containers
field-manual-complete
AKS network plugin
An AKS network plugin is the networking choice that decides how Kubernetes pods get IP addresses and how traffic moves inside an Azure Kubernetes Service cluster.
AKS networking
Intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Kubernetes Service network plugin, aks network plugin
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Containers
field-manual-complete
AKS workload identity
AKS workload identity lets a pod sign in to Azure as an approved identity without storing a password, client secret, or long-lived key inside the container. You connect a Kubernetes service account to a Microsoft Entra application or managed identity through federation. When the pod runs, Azure trusts the service account token from the cluster OIDC issuer and issues access tokens for allowed resources. The result is cleaner secret handling for applications running in AKS.
AKS Identity
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Microsoft Entra Workload ID for AKS, pod workload identity, AKS OIDC federation
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Containers
strict-validated
AKS service mesh
AKS service mesh is a service-to-service traffic layer for AKS workloads, commonly delivered through the Istio-based add-on for traffic management, mTLS, and telemetry.
AKS networking
Advanced
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Kubernetes Service service mesh, aks service mesh
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Containers
field-manual-complete
AKS egress
AKS egress is outbound network traffic from AKS nodes or workloads to destinations outside the pod or cluster network. AKS egress behavior is shaped by outbound type choices such as load balancer, NAT Gateway, or user-defined routes.
Azure Kubernetes Service networking
intermediate
3 commands
Aliases: AKS outbound traffic, cluster egress, AKS outbound type, pod egress
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Containers
strict-validated
AKS control plane
The AKS control plane is the Azure-managed Kubernetes API and orchestration layer that coordinates cluster state, authentication, upgrades, and communication with worker nodes.
Azure Kubernetes Service
fundamentals
3 commands
Aliases: Kubernetes control plane, AKS managed control plane, AKS API server, managed Kubernetes API
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Containers
premium
Azure Kubernetes Service
Azure Kubernetes Service is Azure’s managed Kubernetes service for deploying, scaling, and operating containerized applications while Azure manages much of the cluster control plane.
Managed Kubernetes
advanced
6 commands
Aliases: AKS, managed Kubernetes
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Hybrid and Multicloud
premium
Azure Local
Azure Local is Microsoft’s distributed infrastructure solution that extends Azure capabilities to customer-owned environments for local VMs, containers, and selected Azure services through Azure Arc.
Distributed infrastructure
advanced
6 commands
Aliases: Azure Stack HCI, Azure Local infrastructure, Arc-enabled local infrastructure
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AI and Machine Learning
premium
Azure Machine Learning
Azure Machine Learning is a cloud service for managing the machine learning lifecycle, including workspaces, data, training jobs, model deployment, monitoring, and MLOps.
Machine learning operations
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: Azure ML, AML, Machine Learning workspace
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Containers
premium
Kubelet identity
Kubelet identity controls how AKS nodes authenticate to Azure resources for node-level tasks, especially pulling container images from registries without embedded secrets. Teams see it in aks identity profile, node pools. It is not cluster control-plane identity, workload identity, pod managed identity, service account token, kubeconfig credential, or container registry admin user; confusing them can create image pull failures, overbroad registry access. Use the term when reviewing access, monitoring, cost, recovery, or performance. It keeps architects, operators, security reviewers, and support teams focused on the same setting, resource, or behavior.
AKS identity
Intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: AKS kubelet identity, node pool kubelet identity, AKS node managed identity, identityProfile kubeletidentity
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Containers
premium
Pod disruption budget
A pod disruption budget is a Kubernetes policy that limits how many matching pods can be voluntarily disrupted at one time. In AKS, it helps preserve availability during node drains, upgrades, and planned maintenance by enforcing minAvailable or maxUnavailable rules.
Azure Kubernetes Service
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: PDB, Kubernetes pod disruption budget, AKS pod disruption budget
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Monitoring
premium
Application Insights
Application Insights is the application performance monitoring capability in Azure Monitor. It collects OpenTelemetry or SDK telemetry such as requests, dependencies, exceptions, traces, metrics, and availability results so teams can continuously understand live application health, performance, failures, and user-impacting behavior.
Application observability
fundamentals
4 commands
Aliases: Azure Application Insights, App Insights, Azure Monitor Application Insights, application performance monitoring, APM
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Storage
premium
Azure Files NFS
Azure Files NFS is the Azure Files capability for mounting managed file shares from Linux clients using the NFS protocol. It helps Linux, analytics, and platform teams run shared-file workloads without building their own NFS servers without maintaining NAS hardware or custom Linux file servers. You see it when Linux applications need shared storage, analytics jobs need common paths, or teams want managed NFS access with Azure storage operations. It still needs ownership, network design, monitoring, and recovery planning. Operators need repeatable evidence for deployment, protection, troubleshooting, and reviews, not screenshots or tribal knowledge.
NFS file shares
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: NFS Azure file shares, Azure Files NFS protocol
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Management and Governance
learning-path-anchor
Template function
A template function is a built-in helper used by ARM templates or Bicep to calculate values.
ARM deployments
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Template function, template function, Azure Template function, ARM Template function, ARM functions, deployment functions
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Management and Governance
learning-path-anchor
Tenant deployment
A tenant deployment is a Resource Manager deployment executed at Microsoft Entra tenant scope.
ARM deployments
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Tenant deployment, tenant deployment, Azure Tenant deployment, tenant scope deployment, az deployment tenant, ARM tenant deployment
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Management and Governance
learning-path-anchor
Tenant scope
Tenant scope is the highest Azure Resource Manager deployment and governance context tied to a Microsoft Entra tenant.
Management scopes
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Tenant scope, tenant scope, Azure Tenant scope, tenant level scope, ARM tenant scope, targetScope tenant
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Containers
premium
Container image digest
the immutable sha256 reference that identifies the exact container image manifest Azure pulls during deployment
Container images
intermediate
3 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Containers
premium
Container Insights
Azure Monitor views and data collection used to understand Kubernetes cluster and workload health
Monitoring
intermediate
3 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Containers
premium
Container Instances
Azure serverless container compute for running container groups without managing virtual machines or a full orchestrator
Serverless containers
fundamentals
3 commands
Aliases: ACI
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Containers
learning-path-anchor
System node pool
A system node pool is the AKS worker pool that keeps the cluster itself functioning. It hosts core Kubernetes and AKS add-on pods such as DNS, networking agents, metrics, and connectivity components. You can technically run application pods there, but experienced teams avoid that because noisy workloads can starve the services that make the...
Azure Kubernetes Service
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: AKS system pool, system mode node pool, AKS platform node pool, kube-system node pool
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Storage
learning-path-anchor
Table batch operation
A Table batch operation lets an application change several Azure Table entities together instead of sending separate requests and hoping they all succeed. It is useful when records belong to the same partition and must stay consistent, such as a header row plus related detail rows. The important limitation is strict: the entities must...
Table Storage
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: entity group transaction, Table Storage batch, batch transaction, partition-scoped batch
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Databases
learning-path-anchor
Temporary bytes
Disk space used by temporary files created during queries, sorts, hashes, or joins.
PostgreSQL
advanced
4 commands
Aliases: Temporary bytes, temporary bytes, Azure Temporary bytes, temp_bytes, Temporary Files Size, PostgreSQL temporary files
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Identity
learning-path-anchor
Tenant ID
A tenant ID is the globally unique identifier for a Microsoft Entra tenant.
Microsoft Entra
fundamentals
4 commands
Aliases: Tenant ID, tenant id, Azure Tenant ID, Microsoft Entra tenant ID, directory ID, tenantId
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Management and Governance
learning-path-anchor
Tenant root group
The tenant root group is the highest management group scope associated with a Microsoft Entra tenant.
Management groups
fundamentals
4 commands
Aliases: Tenant root group, tenant root group, Azure Tenant root group, root management group, root group
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Monitoring and Observability
learning-path-anchor
Throughput
Throughput is the amount of work a system completes over time, such as requests, messages, bytes, events, or transactions per second. In Azure, teams measure it with service metrics, logs, and capacity settings to judge whether an app, database, storage account, or messaging pipeline can sustain demand.
Performance
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: Throughput, throughput, Azure Throughput, Microsoft Learn Throughput, requests per second, events per second, transactions per second, bytes per second, work completed over time
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Analytics
command-rich
Synapse workspace
A Synapse workspace is the main container where a team builds and operates Azure Synapse Analytics. It gives the team one named place for SQL pools, Spark pools, pipelines, notebooks, linked services, access rules, monitoring, and the connection to the default data lake. The workspace is not just a folder in the portal; it...
Analytics platform
fundamentals
9 commands
Aliases: Azure Synapse workspace, Synapse Analytics workspace, workspace in Azure Synapse, Synapse analytics boundary
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Databases
premium
Change feed processor
A database capability or setting in Azure Cosmos DB that helps teams store, query, scale, secure, and recover application data with clearer ownership, safety, and operational context.
Azure Cosmos DB
fundamentals
15 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
command-rich
Table partition key
A Table partition key is the value that groups related entities in Azure Table Storage. Think of it as the first address line for a record. Entities with the same PartitionKey sit in the same logical partition and can be queried together more efficiently. The PartitionKey combines with RowKey to uniquely identify one entity. Choosing it well is a design decision, not just a...
Storage platform
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Table PartitionKey, Table Storage PartitionKey, Table partition key value, PartitionKey property
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Storage
command-rich
Table row key
A Table row key is the unique name of an entity inside one Azure Table partition. PartitionKey gets you to the right group; RowKey identifies the exact record in that group. Together they form the entity primary key. RowKey design often carries an order ID, device ID, timestamp pattern, sequence number, or composite value. It matters because point reads, updates, deletes, duplicate detection, and...
Storage platform
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Table RowKey, Table Storage RowKey, Table row key value, RowKey property
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Containers
field-manual-complete
Container App environment
Microsoft Learn describes a Container Apps environment as a secure boundary around one or more container apps and jobs. The runtime manages the environment by handling OS upgrades, scale operations, failover procedures, resource balancing, shared networking, and observability settings for the workloads that run inside it.
Serverless containers
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Container App environment, app-service-plan, azure-kubernetes-service, azure-monitor, container app environment, container-app-environment, container-apps, container-apps-ingress, container-apps-managed-environment, container-apps-revision, container-apps-secret, container-apps-workload-profile, managed-identity
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Containers
field-manual-complete
Container image
A container image is the sealed package that a container runtime starts. It contains the application, runtime, libraries, filesystem layers, and metadata needed to create containers the same way each time. Teams push images to a registry and then reference them from.
Container images
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Containers
field-manual-complete
Container registry
A container registry is the place where teams keep the container images they build and deploy. In Azure, this usually means Azure Container Registry, a private service that stores repositories, tags, image manifests, Helm charts, and other OCI artifacts. Developers push images.
Container registry
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: ACR, Azure Container Registry
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Identity
verified
Workload identity federation
Workload identity federation lets an external workload exchange a trusted token for Microsoft Entra access tokens without storing long-lived secrets. Microsoft Entra validates the issuer, subject, and audience in a federated credential, then allows automation such as GitHub Actions, Kubernetes, or other platforms to access protected resources.
Identity operations
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Federated workload identity, OIDC federation for workloads, Federated identity credential, Secretless workload authentication
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