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New Certification for machine learning operations (MLOps) engineers

LibertyMunson — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 17:45:07 GMT

Do your co-workers rely on you to deploy, operationalize, and maintain machine learning and generative AI solutions in production? Are you working at the intersection of data science, DevOps, and generative AI? If so, the Microsoft Certified: Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) Engineer Associate Certification is designed for you.

This Certification validates your ability to operationalize not only traditional machine learning but also generative AI solutions on Azure, reflecting how AI roles have evolved from model experimentation to enterprise-scale AI operations.

To earn this Certification, you need to pass Exam AI-300: Operationalizing Machine Learning and Generative AI solutions, currently in beta.

Key skills validated by this Certification

To earn the MLOps engineer Certification, you must demonstrate your ability to:

Design and implement secure, scalable MLOps infrastructure.
Automate resource provisioning and deployments by using GitHub Actions, Bicep, and Azure CLI.
Orchestrate training, manage model registration and versioning, and monitor production models.
Deploy and operationalize generative AI solutions by using Microsoft Foundry.
Implement quality assurance, observability, and safety evaluations for generative AI systems.
Optimize retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines and fine-tuned models for performance, accuracy, and cost efficiency.

This Certification replaces the Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate Certification (Exam DP-100), which is retiring on June 1, 2026, and reflects the evolution of AI in the enterprise. Exam DP-100 focused on validating your ability to design and implement data science solutions, including data exploration, model training, evaluation, and deployment. Exam AI-300 expands the scope significantly. It retains training and evaluation but places much stronger emphasis on validating your knowledge and experience in automation, infrastructure as code (IaC), continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD), lifecycle governance, observability, drift detection, cost control, and the operationalization of generative AI systems.

For more details on the retirement of Exam DP-100, and the latest cloud and AI Certification updates, read our recent blog post, The AI job boom is here. Are you ready to showcase your skills?

Skill area	Exam AI-300 (new)	Exam DP-100 (old)
MLOps infrastructure	Full CI/CD, IaC (Bicep, Azure CLI), GitHub Actions	Basic workspace and compute setup
Model lifecycle management	Core focus, including registration, versioning, rollout/rollback, monitoring	Full lifecycle from training to deployment
GenAIOps infrastructure	End-to-end lifecycle, including security, automation, and model management with Foundry	Basic generative AI setup and experimentation
QA and observability	Generative AI evaluation, tracing, safety metrics, drift detection, cost monitoring	Model evaluation and responsible AI principles
Generative AI performance optimization	RAG optimization, embedding model selection and tuning, advanced fine-tuning, synthetic data management	Basic prompt engineering and fine-tuning

Ready to prove your skills?

Take advantage of the discounted beta exam offer. The first 300 people who take Exam AI-300 (beta) on or before April 2, 2026, can get 80% off market price.

To receive the discount, when you register for the exam and are prompted for payment, use code AI300Meridian. This is not a private access code. The seats are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. As noted, you must take the exam on or before April 2, 2026. Please note that this discount is not available in Turkey, Pakistan, India, or China.

Get ready to take Exam AI-300 (beta):

Review the Exam AI-300 (beta) exam page for details. The Exam AI-300 study guide explores key topics covered in the exam.
Want even more in-depth instructor-led training? We’re creating new instructor-led training that will be released in late March 2026. Connect with Microsoft Training Services Partners in your area for in-person offerings.
Need other preparation ideas? Check out Just How Does One Prepare for Beta Exams?
You can take certification exams online, from home or the office. Learn what to expect in Online proctored exams: What to expect and how to prepare.

The rescore process starts on the day an exam goes live, and final scores for beta exams are released approximately 10 days after that. For details on the timing of beta exam rescoring and results, check out Creating high-quality exams: The path from beta to live.

Ready to get started?

Remember, only the first 300 candidates can get 80% off Exam AI-300 (beta) with code AI300Meridian on or before April 2, 2026.

Stay tuned for general availability of this Certification in May 2026. Learn more about Microsoft Credentials.

Related announcements

We recently migrated our subject matter expert (SME) database to LinkedIn. To be notified of beta exam availability or opportunities to help with the development of exam, assessment, or learning content, sign up today for the Microsoft Worldwide Learning SME Group for Credentials.

MS List forms fields in forms drives fields available for modern list form

VictaulicKatK — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 17:02:53 GMT

In a MS List in SharePoint, if the edit form is customized to only show select fields, this now directly correlates to fields available for selection on the modern list form and will not allow me to add all fields to the modern list form that are needed for an input form to a different audience than the form editors on the list.

This seems to be a new issue and is not useful, especially with the modern list forms allowing multiple different forms with select fields in view.

Use case: I want form input user to provide certain details but the team handling the request should not overwrite select input fields and instead only view it as a summary from a calculated column visible on the edit form in view. But in order to have the input fields available in modern input form, they must also be present in the edit form on the list.

This seems to be new and I am looking for details if this is by design through a recent update or a bug that can be resolved.

If it is an update, this needs to be changed back.

Weekly Roundup for Learning Rooms (Groups)

AmyCloud — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 22:08:09 GMT

Hello Skills Hub Community! Below is a summary of what is happening within our Learning Rooms (Groups) so that you can stay in the loop and discover something new. To get frequent updates of their content, make sure to follow/join the group that interests you.

Find the full list of our Learning Rooms (Groups) here: Learning Room Directory

Learning Room	Details	Date/Time	Link to post
Modern Development with Azure Integration and AI	Event: Azure AI Connect - March 2 to March 6 2026	Mar 2, 2026, 7:30 AM - Mar 6, 2026, 12:00 PM PST	Azure AI Connect - March 2 to March 6 2026 \| Microsoft Community Hub
Azure Cloud Commanders	Event: Feature Flags & Configuration Management using Azure App Configuration for .NET Apps	Thursday, Mar 12, 2026, 11:00 AM PDT	Feature Flags & Configuration Management using Azure App Configuration for .NET Apps \| Microsoft Community Hub

Become a Microsoft Q&A Product Champion

PaulinaP — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 17:00:00 GMT

The Microsoft Q&A Product Champions Program is a community-driven initiative created to recognize and support people who help others by sharing their knowledge across Microsoft Q&A product forums.

If you’re already contributing—or want to start—this is your sign.

Every question answered, every tip shared, and every problem solved has real impact. In the Product Champions Program, that impact doesn’t go unnoticed.

Everyone is welcome. Whether you’re just getting started or already active in Microsoft Q&A, there’s a place for you here.

Program levels

Every accepted answer moves you closer to the next level. As your contributions grow, you progress through the program levels—unlocking recognition, opportunities, and rewards along the way:

Answerer
Contributor
Influencer
Mentor
Leader
Champion

Why join the Product Champions Program?

Product Champions gain access to benefits that support both personal and professional growth, including:

Hands‑on learning across Microsoft technologies
Leadership and networking opportunities
Public recognition through leaderboards and social media
Badges, contributor stories, and gift card rewards opportunities
Private Tech Community group access
Moderator opportunities for eligible members
Certification discount vouchers
Champion‑level swag
MVP renewal and nomination support

Product tracks

You can contribute in the product areas you know best—or want to learn more about—including:

Microsoft 365
Windows
Microsoft Teams
Surface
Developer Technologies
Security & Management

Ready to get started?

If you haven’t joined yet, now’s the perfect time to take the next step. Sign up and you are automatically enrolled.

Get started now!

Already a member? You’re all set—just keep contributing and growing your impact.

Learn more and stay connected

Want to explore what’s next or stay connected with the community?
These resources can help you stay informed and engaged:

We’re excited to see you learn, contribute, and move up in the community.

The Rise of vLLM in Modern Cloud Development: Revolutionizing AI Inference

KonstantinosPassadis — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 23:34:52 GMT

Introduction to the AI Cloud Bottleneck

The emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) has revolutionized cloud applications, from universal chatbots to automated programming assistants. However, hosting these models in the cloud is notoriously expensive due to the massive computational and memory requirements of hardware accelerators like GPUs. During text generation, models autoregressively produce tokens one at a time, relying on a dynamically growing Key-Value (KV) cache that acts as the model's short-term memory.

Traditional inference systems store this KV cache in contiguous memory blocks, pre-allocating space for the maximum potential request length. This approach results in severe memory fragmentation and reservation waste, leaving up to 80% of GPU memory unused and crippling the system's ability to handle large batches of concurrent users.

The Core Innovation: PagedAttention

To solve this memory bottleneck, researchers developed vLLM, an open-source inference engine built around a breakthrough algorithm called PagedAttention. Inspired by how operating systems manage virtual memory via paging, PagedAttention divides the KV cache into small, fixed-size blocks (pages) that do not need to be stored contiguously in physical memory.

By allocating memory blocks on demand as tokens are generated, vLLM practically eliminates external fragmentation and minimizes internal fragmentation. This highly efficient memory management limits memory waste to under 4%, allowing the system to batch significantly more requests concurrently. As a result, vLLM delivers up to 24x higher throughput than standard Hugging Face Transformers and up to 3.5x higher throughput than Hugging Face's Text Generation Inference (TGI), all without requiring any changes to the underlying model architecture.

Advanced Features Powering the Cloud

Modern cloud development requires speed, scalability, and hardware flexibility. vLLM accelerates enterprise AI pipelines through several specialized optimizations:

Continuous Batching: Instead of waiting for a static batch of requests to completely finish, vLLM dynamically injects new requests the moment an existing sequence completes, keeping GPU utilization consistently high.
Speculative Decoding: vLLM integrates state-of-the-art speculative decoding techniques, such as Eagle 3, which uses a smaller, faster "draft" model to predict tokens before the main model verifies them. This can boost inference speeds by up to 2.5x.
Automatic Prefix Caching & Memory Sharing: For applications with shared system prompts or multi-step reasoning (like beam search), vLLM allows different sequences to share the same KV cache blocks. This is highly beneficial for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and multi-round chat workloads.
Quantization Support: Cloud developers can leverage 8-bit or 4-bit quantization (like GPTQ or AWQ) to shrink massive models, allowing them to fit onto smaller, more cost-effective cloud GPUs.

Enterprise Deployment and Cloud Orchestration

From an infrastructure perspective, vLLM is built for modern cloud-native deployment. It provides a production-ready server that mimics the OpenAI API protocol, allowing developers to use it as a drop-in replacement in existing applications, including those built on frameworks like LangChain.

For large-scale, cluster-wide deployments, vLLM integrates seamlessly with Kubernetes. The vLLM production stack offers Helm charts, Prometheus and Grafana for observability metrics (such as Time-to-First-Token and GPU KV usage), and smart request routing to distribute workloads effectively across backend GPUs.

Deploying vLLM with Docker is the standard way to ensure your environment has the correct CUDA drivers and dependencies without manual configuration.

Single-GPU Deployment (The Quickstart)

Use this command to spin up an OpenAI-compatible server. This example uses the Llama-3.1-8B model.

Furthermore, vLLM is hardware agnostic—meaning cloud engineers can deploy it across NVIDIA, AMD, Google TPUs, or AWS Neuron chips depending on their cloud provider. Serverless platforms like Modal and Runpod also natively support vLLM, allowing teams to instantly spin up autoscaling endpoints without managing idle GPU costs.

docker run --runtime nvidia --gpus all \ -v ~/.cache/huggingface:/root/.cache/huggingface \ --env "HF_TOKEN=$HF_TOKEN" \ -p 8000:8000 \ --ipc=host \ vllm/vllm-openai:latest \ --model meta-llama/Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct

What these flags do:

--runtime nvidia: Enables GPU access (ensure NVIDIA Container Toolkit is installed).

-v ...: Mounts your local Hugging Face cache so you don't re-download the model every time the container restarts.

--ipc=host: Essential for high-speed memory sharing between the container and the GPU.

--model: The Hugging Face model ID.

Multi-GPU Deployment (Docker Compose)

For production environments or massive models (like a 70B parameter model) that require multiple GPUs, use docker-compose.yml.

services: vllm: image: vllm/vllm-openai:latest container_name: vllm-server environment: - HF_TOKEN=${HF_TOKEN} ports: - "8000:8000" volumes: - ~/.cache/huggingface:/root/.cache/huggingface ipc: host deploy: resources: reservations: devices: - driver: nvidia count: all # Uses all available GPUs capabilities: [gpu] command: > --model meta-llama/Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct --tensor-parallel-size 4 --max-model-len 4096

Real-World Enterprise Impact

Major tech companies are actively leveraging vLLM to scale their cloud AI features:
Roblox deployed vLLM to serve over 4 billion tokens a week for their AI assistant, achieving a 50% reduction in latency.
LinkedIn uses vLLM’s continuous batching and shared prefix caching to power its Hiring Assistant, handling thousands of candidate profiles with heavy prompt overlaps and improving token generation times by 7%.
Amazon integrated vLLM into a multi-node architecture to support its Rufus shopping assistant, dynamically distributing inference across the cloud to handle millions of customer queries without performance drops.
In conclusion, vLLM is redefining modern cloud development by turning memory-bound, resource-heavy LLMs into scalable, cost-efficient microservices.

Which one to choose ?

To help you choose the right tool for your specific cloud environment, here is a comparison of vLLM against the other two industry heavyweights: Hugging Face Text Generation Inference (TGI) and NVIDIA TensorRT-LLM.

Choose vLLM if: You need to serve a large number of concurrent users on a budget. It is the most flexible option if you want to avoid vendor lock-in and deploy across different cloud providers (e.g., switching between AWS G5 instances and Google Cloud TPUs).

Choose TGI if: Your infrastructure is already built around the Hugging Face ecosystem and you prioritize production stability. It is particularly strong for long-context RAG applications where you need to cache massive system prompts (like internal legal databases) across multiple requests.

Choose TensorRT-LLM if: You are chasing the absolute lowest possible latency (e.g., real-time voice AI) and you have committed entirely to high-end NVIDIA hardware like H100s or B200s. It requires more engineering effort to compile models, but it squeezes every drop of power out of the GPU.

Conclusion

In short, vLLM is the bridge between AI research and cloud-scale reality. By treating GPU memory with the same logic as a modern operating system, it has effectively solved the "fragmentation crisis" that once made high-performance inference prohibitively expensive. For developers and enterprises, this means the ability to serve more users, on more diverse hardware, at a fraction of the previous cost—all without sacrificing the flexibility of open-source models.

windows 11 scroll bar missing arrow heads

rogdogny — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 18:19:38 GMT

I've found on many apps, especially using Windows 11, (but this may occur on other Windows systems), the scroll bar arrows will blank out until you hover the cursor over them. Why did MS want this? If there is any good reason, then why isn't there a way to turn this feature off? Why would you want it off? When you are working on a project and want to scroll the page, you don't want to hunt for those arrows. It is kind of like having a game where you need to move and click on a small object such as a meteor that is threatening your space craft, but the game developer puts the cursor target an inch away from the meteor image. Ask any gamer how they would like that. It is an un-needed frustration. The app developers say that Microsoft puts that in Windows software and Microsoft claims it is the App developers do it. I say it was someone who wanted credit for doing something so they could justify keeping their job.

The AI job boom is here. Are you ready to showcase your skills?

Mark Winters — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 16:34:58 GMT

AI isn’t just changing jobs descriptions, it’s redefining how work gets done across every industry, role, and skill level. From marketing to manufacturing, AI is reshaping workflows, speeding up decisions, and opening entirely new career paths. And the impact is massive. According to the World Economic Forum The Future of Jobs Report 2025, advances in AI and tech could create 78 million new jobs by 2030.

“We’re in the middle of a once‑in‑a‑generation shift in how work gets done,” says Elisa Graceffo, General Manager of Global Skilling at Microsoft. “For over 30 years, Microsoft Certifications have set the benchmark for skills validation. We’re evolving them as fast as roles are changing so you can prove your skills for the future of work.”

To keep pace with this shift, we’re launching a new wave of Certifications designed for AI‑powered roles, from entry level to advanced, from developers and data pros to business professionals. These new Certifications reflect the major industry drivers shaping today’s workplace, including the rise of generative AI and autonomous agents and the emergence of integrated cloud and AI systems. They also highlight how business professionals are evolving into orchestrators of AI‑powered workflows and innovation. And because AI is ultimately a force that amplifies human capability, these Certifications can help ensure that your skills stay relevant, practical, and aligned with the real‑world work of 2026 and beyond.

What’s new in cloud, AI, and security Certifications

The new Certification exams roll out in beta beginning this month, with additional releases following over the next few months and are expected to go live later this year.

The Microsoft Certified: Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) Engineer Associate Certification is ideal for professionals who deploy, operationalize, and maintain machine learning and generative AI solutions in production to automate, govern, deploy, monitor, and optimize performance. Exam AI-300 beta and training available in March 2026; exam expected to go live in May 2026.

The Microsoft Certified: Azure Databricks Data Engineer Associate Certification covers designing and implementing scalable, secure data pipelines by using Azure Databricks. It’s intended for data professionals who want to build real-time analytics and AI-ready data foundations in the cloud. Exam DP-750 beta and training available in March 2026; exam expected to go live in May 2026.

The Microsoft Certified: SQL AI Developer Associate Certification validates your ability to integrate AI into modern database solutions with governance and DevOps practices. It’s designed for developers who want to build intelligent, AI-augmented database applications. Exam DP-800 beta and training available in March 2026; exam expected to go live in May 2026.

The Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals Certification explores how you can build modern AI apps and agents by using Microsoft Foundry. It’s ideal for beginners who want to build AI applications on Microsoft platforms. Exam AI-901 beta available in April 2026; training expected to be available in March 2026; exam expected to go live in June 2026.

The Microsoft Certified: Azure AI App and Agent Developer Associate Certification aligns with today’s generative and agentic architectures for planning and managing AI resources in Microsoft Foundry, building generative apps and multistep reasoning workflows, and developing production‑ready agents with multi‑agent orchestration capabilities. Exam AI-103 beta available in April 2026; training expected to be available in March 2026; exam expected to go live in June 2026.

The Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Business Professional Certification validates your ability to recognize security risks, apply secure practices, and make informed business decisions that reduce organizational exposure while enabling productivity and AI adoption. Exam SC-730 beta available in April 2026; training expected to be available in May 2026; exam expected to go live in July 2026.

The Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate Certification is designed for developers who want to validate their ability to build, integrate, and monitor AI solutions on Azure by using containerized compute, vector-enabled databases, event-driven AI pipelines, serverless functions, secret management, and distributed observability. Exam AI-200 beta and training expected to be available in April 2026; exam expected to go live in July 2026.

The Microsoft Certified: Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate Certification expands the security role to include cloud and AI model protection. Prove that you can design and implement secure environments for building and running AI solutions by using current security patterns and controls in enterprise deployments. Exam SC-500 beta available in May 2026; training and exam expected to be available in July 2026.

The Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Certification combines previous hybrid infrastructure tracks to validate skills across Azure and on-premises environments. Exam AZ-802 beta available in June 2026; training and exam expected to be available in August 2026.

Retiring Certifications: What you need to know

As we introduce new Certifications aligned to evolving AI roles, we’re also retiring several existing ones. The following table itemizes what’s changing and provides key dates for Certification and training retirements in 2026. If your Certification is eligible for renewal, please renew it before the retirement date.

Retiring Microsoft Certification	Certification retirement date	Training retirement date*	Replacement Certification
Azure Data Scientist Associate (Exam DP-100)	June 1, 2026	April 2026	Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) Engineer Associate (Exam AI-300)
Azure AI Fundamentals (Exam AI-900)	June 30, 2026	April 2026	Azure AI Fundamentals (Exam AI-901)
Azure AI Engineer Associate (Exam AI-102)	June 30, 2026	April 2026	Azure AI App and Agent Developer Associate (Exam AI-103)
Azure Developer Associate (Exam AZ-204)	July 31, 2026	May 2026	Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate (Exam AI-200)
Azure Security Engineer Associate (Exam AZ-500)	August 31, 2026	August 2026	Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate (Exam SC-500)
Windows Server Hybrid Administrator (Exam AZ-800 and Exam AZ-801)	September 2026*	September 2026	Windows Server Hybrid Administrator (Exam AZ-802)

* Planned dates

Navigating the transition: FAQs

The following questions and answers can help you determine how these retirements and expanded portfolio could impact your learning journey:

Q. I’ve already earned one of the retiring Certifications. What happens now?

A. If you’ve already earned any of the retiring Certifications, your credential remains valid and, on your transcript, until it expires. Retirement does not revoke or invalidate Certifications that were earned.

Q. Can I still renew a soon-to-retire Certification?
A. Yes, as long as it’s eligible for renewal and you renew it before the Certification officially retires. Fundamentals Certifications don’t expire.

Q. I’m preparing for an exam that’s retiring. What should I do?

If you’re actively preparing for an exam that’s retiring:

If you’ve already registered for the exam, you may continue preparing for it and take it while it’s still available. Keep in mind that after the exam retires, you won’t be able to retake it if you don’t pass, and you won’t be able to renew it.
If you haven’t registered for the exam, we strongly recommend that you prepare for and take the new exam instead, as noted in the following table.

If you’re not close to testing for this exam	Prepare for and take this exam instead	Learning path and instructor-led training expected to be available in
Exam DP-100	Exam AI-300	March 2026
Exam AI-900	Exam AI-901	March 2026
Exam AI-102	Exam AI-103	March 2026
Exam AZ-204	Exam AI-200	April 2026
Exam AZ-500	Exam SC-500	July 2026
Exam AZ-800 and Exam AZ-801	Exam AZ-802	August 2026

Take the next step: Build your AI-ready skill set

Technology is changing fast, and AI is accelerating that change. Our Certifications are built to help you and your organization stay ahead with job‑ready skills. Earning one isn’t just a milestone, it’s a signal that you’re ready to grow with the future of work.

We’ll share updates for each new Certification, including beta exams and go live dates, on The Skills Hub Blog.

Stay tuned for an announcement of new Certifications focused on AI business solutions in the coming month.

Explore more Microsoft Credentials on AI Skills Navigator.

More information about 30 Days to Learn it program

Kolyan007 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 03:49:16 GMT

Hi folks,

Where can I find more details about the VS Dev Essentials offer called 30 Days to Learn It? Like how to activate or participate, what learning paths should be taken to receive 50% discount on MS certification exam?
The Get started link navigates to the https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/ page without any further information.

Thanks,

Nick

How To Tackle AZ-700 Questions on Azure ExpressRoute in The Exam

wandaben — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 11:17:57 GMT

Preparing for AZ-700 questions on Azure ExpressRoute is not about memorizing features. It is about understanding how Microsoft tests real-world networking decisions in the Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure Networking Solutions (AZ-700) exam. ExpressRoute scenarios are often layered, technical, and tied to business requirements like high availability, hybrid connectivity, and compliance. If you approach them strategically, they become scoring opportunities instead of stress triggers.

Design and Plan Azure ExpressRoute (Core AZ-700 Objective)

In the AZ-700 exam, ExpressRoute questions usually start with a scenario. An organization needs private connectivity between on-premises and Azure with specific bandwidth, SLA, or redundancy requirements. Instead of jumping to an answer, break the question into three parts:

What connectivity model is required? Private peering, Microsoft peering, or both

What SKU fits the scenario? Local, Standard, Premium

What resilience is expected? Zone redundancy, multiple circuits, global reach

The exam tests whether you understand trade-offs. For example, if the company requires cross-region connectivity, Global Reach becomes important. If they need connectivity to Microsoft SaaS services, Microsoft peering is the key. Many candidates lose marks because they select technically correct answers that do not align with the business requirement in the question stem.

Implement and Manage ExpressRoute Connectivity

AZ-700 does not just test design. It tests implementation decisions. Expect questions about:

ExpressRoute circuit provisioning

Linking VNets to circuits

FastPath configuration

BGP configuration and route filtering

Microsoft often frames questions around misconfigurations. For example, traffic is not flowing. Is it due to incorrect ASN, missing route filters, or incorrect VNet linking? These questions require you to mentally simulate the traffic path.

A powerful tactic is to always visualize the full data flow. On-prem to ExpressRoute circuit to Peering to VNet to Subnet. If one step fails, connectivity fails. Thinking in layers helps eliminate wrong answers quickly.

Ensure High Availability and Resiliency (Very Common in AZ-700 Exam)

Redundancy scenarios are heavily tested. Azure ExpressRoute is inherently redundant, but AZ-700 wants to know if you understand how to design enterprise-grade resiliency.

Watch for keywords like:

99.95% uptime requirement
Disaster recovery
Cross-region failover
Active-active architecture

In such cases, the correct solution may require:

Multiple ExpressRoute circuits
Circuits in different peering locations
Integration with VPN as backup
Zone-redundant gateways

If the question mentions minimal downtime and automatic failover, a single circuit is rarely enough. Microsoft wants you to think architecturally, not minimally.

Optimize Cost and Performance in Hybrid Designs

Another AZ-700 pattern is balancing performance and cost. ExpressRoute is premium connectivity. Not every scenario requires a Premium SKU or unlimited data.

You may see questions like:

How to minimize cost while meeting requirements
Which SKU meets the requirement without overprovisioning

If traffic remains within the same geopolitical region, Premium may not be necessary. If Microsoft 365 connectivity is required, Microsoft peering becomes mandatory. Always match the requirement exactly. No more and no less.

The exam rewards precision thinking.

Pass AZ-700 Exam With Confidence

If Azure ExpressRoute feels complex, that is normal. It is one of the most technical areas of the exam. But complexity becomes clarity when you practice realistic, exam-style scenarios repeatedly.

That is exactly why serious candidates use P2PExams.

P2PExams provides exam-focused practice questions built for professionals who want full syllabus coverage, reduced exam anxiety, and real exam-level preparation. You get realistic AZ-700 questions in PDF and Practice Test applications that simulate the real exam environment, so nothing feels unfamiliar on exam day. There is even a free demo to test the features before committing.

AB-100: Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect preparation.

Nikko — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 09:14:24 GMT

Hello friends and mentors, I am planning to prepare for AB -100 certificaiton but could not find any learning path or specific matrial to prepare for the exam. Can any one guide me how to prepare for this exam.

Thank you.

AB-100: Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect preperation

Nikko — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 09:01:01 GMT

Hello friends and mentors, I am planning to prepare for AB-100 certification, buy could not find any learning path or specific material to prepare for this certification, can some one guide me how to prepare for this exam. Thank you.

Microsoft Credentials roundup: February 2026 edition

PujaA — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 19:31:12 GMT

February 2026 brings major updates to Microsoft Credentials—four new Microsoft Certifications and six new Microsoft Applied Skills now generally available (GA). Designed to help you keep your skills current in today’s AI-powered workplace, they demonstrate the AI abilities that employers need in not only technical but also business roles.

In this roundup, we cover what’s new, what’s changing, and what’s coming up.

What’s new: Certifications

We’ve introduced four new AI Certifications—all now GA—that verify skills for technical and non-technical professionals. These credentials certify your ability to use AI in real-world roles, helping to ensure that you can drive innovation and productivity with this technology. Whether you’re an IT administrator, solution architect, business user, or organizational leader, there’s a new Certification to help boost your career growth.

For technical professionals (IT pros, developers, architects)

The Microsoft 365 Certified: Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals Certification (Exam AB-900) proves that you can configure, secure, and support AI-powered Microsoft 365 environments. This entry-level Certification validates your ability to manage and protect Microsoft 365 Copilot and agent services.
The Microsoft Certified: Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect Certification (Exam AB-100) demonstrates your expertise in designing and leading AI-first enterprise architectures. This expert-level Certification shows that you can orchestrate multi-agent AI solutions and integrate Copilot, Foundry Tools, and Dynamics 365 to drive business transformation.

For business professionals (managers, analysts, decision-makers)

The Microsoft Certified: AI Business Professional Certification (Exam AB-730) validates that you can use generative AI and Copilot to streamline business workflows and improve outcomes without coding.
The Microsoft Certified: AI Transformation Leader Certification (Exam AB-731) verifies that you can define the business value of AI, integrate AI solutions by using Copilot, Foundry Tools, and other tools, and drive company-wide AI adoption for transformative impact.

Each Certification page on Microsoft Learn offers resources for self-paced and instructor-led training, study guides, and exam prep to help set you up for success.

What’s new: Applied Skills

Applied Skills are another powerful option for showcasing your expertise. These short, practical assessments let you demonstrate specific real-world skills in an interactive lab environment. They’re now even more relevant to AI-powered roles, since they help prepare you to earn role-based Certifications. We’ve expanded the portfolio with new AI scenarios across technical and business roles, and the new credentials are even faster to earn, most of their lab-based assessments lets you prove specific skills in just 45 minutes.

For technical roles (developers, engineers, IT pros)

Microsoft Applied Skills: Build a generative AI chat app. Demonstrate that you can create an interactive chat application using generative AI (with tools like Microsoft Foundry) and integrate large language models into real-world apps for better customer or employee experiences.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Create an AI agent. Validate your skill in building and configuring agents (for example, in the Copilot ecosystem) and in orchestrating agents to automate tasks and drive business impact.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Enhance agents with autonomous capabilities. Prove that you can design and deploy self-governing agents by using Microsoft Copilot Studio, enabling them to perform complex sequences of actions with minimal human intervention and empowering scalable, adaptive solutions.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Secure AI solutions in the cloud. Show that you know how to safeguard AI applications in Azure and can implement security and compliance for AI workloads (for example, by using Foundry and Microsoft Defender for Cloud).

For business roles

Microsoft Applied Skills: Generate reports with AI research agents. Prove that you can use Researcher in Copilot to quickly gather information and produce data-driven reports and insights for smarter business decisions.
Microsoft Applied Skills: Streamline business workflows with AI chat. Showcase your ability to use Copilot automation in daily work and to employ AI chat to manage meetings, draft content, and coordinate teamwork more efficiently, improving productivity.

Retiring older credentials

To keep things current, we’ve retired a few Certifications and Applied Skills. If you’ve already earned these, they’ll remain on the transcript in your Microsoft Learn profile.

The following Certifications retired on December 31, 2025:

Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Fundamentals (CRM) (Exam MB-910)
Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Fundamentals (ERP) (Exam MB-920)

The following Applied Skills retired on January 30, 2026:

Microsoft Applied Skills: Build an Azure AI Vision solution
Microsoft Applied Skills: Deploy and manage Azure Arc–enabled servers
Microsoft Applied Skills: Develop an ASP.NET Core web app that consumes an API
Microsoft Applied Skills: Implement a data science and machine learning solution with Microsoft Fabric
Microsoft Applied Skills: Implement a Lakehouse in Microsoft Fabric

Looking ahead

These updates are just the beginning. We continuously evolve our credentials portfolio to align with the skills needed for AI-driven jobs, and a new wave of AI-focused Certification updates is scheduled for March 2026 and beyond. Expect even more opportunities to learn and to earn credentials in AI and cloud technologies. We look forward to carrying this momentum forward and to supporting you on your learning journey.

Weekly Roundup for Learning Rooms (Groups)

AmyCloud — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 18:52:53 GMT

Find the full list of our Learning Rooms (Groups) here: Learning Room Directory

Learning Room	Details	Date/Time	Link to post
Azure Cloud Commanders	Event: Telemetry at Scale: Lessons from Building Observability for Distributed Systems	Friday, Feb 27, 2026, 11:00 AM PST	Telemetry at Scale: Lessons from Building Observability for Distributed Systems \| Microsoft Community Hub
Modern Development with Azure Integration and AI	Event: Azure AI Connect - March 2 to March 6 2026	Mar 2, 2026, 7:30 AM - Mar 6, 2026, 12:00 PM PST	Azure AI Connect - March 2 to March 6 2026 \| Microsoft Community Hub
The Fabric Café	Event: Breaking Bad….Governance in Power BI: Free & Open-Source Solution \| Chris Cusumano	Wednesday, Mar 04, 2026, 10:00 AM PST	Breaking Bad….Governance in Power BI: Free & Open-Source Solution \| Chris Cusumano \| Microsoft Community Hub
Azure Cloud Commanders	Event: Feature Flags & Configuration Management using Azure App Configuration for .NET Apps	Thursday, Mar 12, 2026, 11:00 AM PDT	Feature Flags & Configuration Management using Azure App Configuration for .NET Apps \| Microsoft Community Hub

Akkodis and Microsoft share field‑tested tips for your AI skilling program

ToddMinor — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Generative AI technology is creating unprecedented opportunities to improve your business efficiency, fuel innovation, and gain a competitive edge. Given these benefits, equipping your workforce with the skills to effectively use AI-powered tools is a high priority. At the same time, the rapid evolution of AI technology, along with the potential impacts on your established processes, means that matching people with the right skills requires a deliberate approach.

Akkodis and Microsoft partner to bring AI skilling to customers

Across the Asia-Pacific region, global engineering and digital solutions company Akkodis helps organizations design, build, and operate technology driven solutions. Its Akkodis Academy integrates Microsoft technology and training, including industry-recognized Microsoft Credentials (role-based Microsoft Certifications and scenario-based Microsoft Applied Skills) that cover AI, into its customized learning and consulting programs. These programs help customers build learning cultures that keep up with the increasing pace of technological change.

Building an AI skilling strategy that works

Based on its extensive experience, Akkodis has found five strategies that can help you build (or sustain) a successful AI skilling program.

1. Start small, learn fast, iterate

AI capabilities (and your business needs) evolve quickly. With iterative training cycles, you don’t need a perfect blueprint to get started. Instead, short, focused training sprints let you try ideas, collect feedback, and quickly improve. This lowers the intimidation factor for newcomers and helps build confidence and momentum with staff and stakeholders.

2. Tie skilling directly to your business goals

The most successful skilling programs align training with technology and business goals. They also secure sponsorship from company leaders to help establish priorities and reinforce adoption efforts. Anchor training efforts to concrete business outcomes, like productivity, time‑to‑market, operational costs, or other real-world business metrics.

3. Establish a culture of continuous learning

The traditional skilling model of “take a course, and you’re done” doesn’t work well for such rapidly evolving technology. Establishing an always‑on learning culture using webinars, tech talks, and collaborative community learning can move your teams from a “know-it-all” to a “learn-it-all” mindset, keeping your teams’ skills fresh and curiosity growing.

4. Combine technical skills with business and governance knowledge

Organizations that realistically evaluate the business utility of AI tools tend to adopt this technology more effectively and efficiently. This means AI skills need to be complemented by business and operational knowledge. Alongside technical instruction, your teams should understand and apply your organization’s governance policies related to data privacy, ethical AI use, and other regulatory requirements.

5. Provide practical, applied learning

Focus on real-world skills that show tangible application—not only what AI is but also how to effectively use it. Bootcamps, role‑based labs, and an emphasis on practical scenarios can help bridge the gap between theory and real-world use and can directly correlate with productivity gains and other key outcomes.

Real-world AI skilling success stories

Explore how AI skilling strategies have led to practical business gains:

Commonwealth Bank of Australia invested heavily in AI skilling, equipping employees to effectively adopt AI tools. As a result, 84% of its 10,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot users report that they wouldn’t go back to working without it, and developers are adopting ~30% of GitHub Copilot code suggestions.
Adecco Group’s AI skilling strategy has increased productivity for recruiters by 63%. Plus, the company’s AI-driven CV Maker generated 200,000 résumés, and 35,000 employees completed responsible AI training, driving better client interactions.

Next steps

An effective AI skilling program is about more than technology—it requires a workforce that can adapt and thrive as AI reshapes the business world around them. Successfully building AI fluency across your organization can accelerate your organization’s technology adoption, create improved business outcomes, and lead to tangible competitive advantages.

Ready to grow your team’s AI skills? Read Create an AI Learning Culture.

Please clarify the numbering system in Microsoft exams

akb1985 — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 05:18:43 GMT

I am trying to make sense of exam numbers in Microsoft Certification poster.

https://arch-center.azureedge.net/Credentials/Certification-Poster_en-us.pdf.

For example I notice most azure exam numbers start with 1xx. That gives me the impression that 1xx could be related to Infrastructure. But I am not sure if that is the correct understanding. For example all fundamental exams are numbered 9xx. So are exams numbered differently in role based certifications? What is the numbering pattern and practice in role based certifications?

Again one might assume that all architect exams may have the same number pattern but they don’t.

Some patterns emerge when it comes to Windows certification - 8xx.

Collaboration and communication - 7xx except MB 700.

So it appears even under role based certifications the numbering pattern may be different depending on the technology or platform or product. I have not found any authoritative material on the internet form anyone in Microsoft or an MVP on this topic. Some clarification on this topic will help to put at rest years of curiosity and confusion in the community. Thank you.

Bringing AI fluency to every corner of the organization (even yours!)

AshleyMastersHall — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 17:30:00 GMT

Ashley Masters Hall joined Microsoft more than five years ago, just a month after earning her undergraduate degree. She’s currently a learning manager at Microsoft, focused on AI skilling for business pros. In this first blog post in a series of three, she shares her insightful and relatable perspective on AI fluency and skills for everyone in the organization.

I was driving to an appointment recently, and I was reminded of the days when we used to print out directions at home and then try to follow them while driving. That was until GPS and later map apps came along. Suddenly, we had real-time guidance and rerouting from our phones. At first, we might have been reluctant to give up our familiar (though inefficient and unsafe) habit of wrangling printed directions behind the wheel. But once we experienced the speed and simplicity of GPS, there was no going back.

AI is having its GPS moment. Two years ago, AI was this mysterious thing, a shiny object we weren’t sure we needed. Now, it’s the default way to navigate (and even orchestrate) work. Just like GPS didn’t replace driving, AI doesn’t replace thinking. It removes friction, gives us faster paths, and lets us focus on better outcomes. So the question isn’t, “Will AI change work?” It already has. The real question is, “Are you fluent enough to lead with it?”

Regardless of your role or team, AI is likely already part of your world. In this blog post, the first in a series of three, I share practical tips, including six easy steps, that turn AI from a buzzword into your work GPS.

What I mean by AI fluency (no jargon, I promise)

Let me first define AI fluency. AI fluency is the degree of understanding and ability to interact effectively with generative AI. It’s recognizing when AI will add value and inspiration, plus having the skills to incorporate it into your workflows and tasks. AI skills are now foundational for everyone in every department. These skills not only help set you apart but also help keep you in the mix as work and roles evolve.

We’ve seen a shift in the job market toward skills efficiency rather than work experience. In fact, according to the January 2025 LinkedIn Economic Graph Work Change Report: AI Is Coming to Work, “By 2030, 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change, with AI emerging as a catalyst.”

Five years ago, when I was interviewing for jobs, my differentiators were my work experience and the Microsoft Certifications I had earned, which verified my expertise and abilities with Microsoft Office apps. But in interviews last year, most of the questions I got were about how I use AI today and how I’d apply it in the role. That’s the reality: AI fluency isn’t a future skill, it’s a “now skill.” It’s the differentiator that hiring managers seek. They want to know the real-world ways that you’re putting AI to work.

Why this matters for your role (for every role, actually)

If you’re wondering what AI looks like in your day-to-day work, you’re not alone. Let’s explore its practical applications for different teams and tasks.

Marketing. If you’ve ever stared at a blank page trying to translate “We need a campaign” into an actual brief, AI can get you to a starting point fast. Maybe not the final answer, but a decent first draft that you can shape in your voice, for your audience and your goals.

Sales and other customer-facing roles. AI is fantastic for meeting prep and follow-ups, like summarizing account notes, pulling themes from call transcripts (if they’re available), and drafting a clean recap email for you to personalize. The magic isn’t the email itself; it’s being able to more quickly and more clearly join in the conversation.

Finance. Sometimes the hard part isn’t the analysis but the explanation. AI can help you draft the narrative: what moved, why, what questions a leader might ask, and what you should verify before you hit Send.

Human resources (HR). AI can help turn good intentions into clear language, like job descriptions that match the role, onboarding plans that don’t overwhelm people, and summaries of themes you’re hearing so you can act on them before they get lost in the noise.

Operations and program management. If your job involves herding context across multiple stakeholders, AI can help you turn chaos into structure, with action trackers, risk lists, crisp status updates, and decision logs you don’t have to rewrite every time.

Legal/compliance (with the right guardrails). AI can help you triage, summarize, and spot inconsistencies. And then (pay close attention to this part) people do the actual review. Fluency includes knowing when to stop and bring a human into the loop.

If you’re looking for a practical first step, regardless of your role, start with something familiar: email. Watch How to Prompt: Drafting Emails, and learn how Microsoft 365 Copilot can help you get to a first draft in seconds.

One thing we shouldn’t gloss over here: AI can speed you up, but it doesn’t take responsibility for you. If you send it to a customer, put it in a deck, or use it to make a decision, you own it, so don’t forget the human layer. That’s the job. It doesn’t need to be scary, but it shouldn’t be overlooked.

Get started with AI this week (an easy six-step plan that fits in your real life)

If you do one thing after reading this post, don’t make it “Learn AI.” Make it “Pick one task you already do, and run it through a better workflow.”

Choose one repeatable workflow. Think of something you do weekly, like meeting prep, a status update, a customer recap, a brief, or a summary.
Decide what “better” means to you. Faster? Clearer? Fewer back-and-forth edits? More consistent output?
Start with low-risk inputs. Use public info or your own notes while you get more comfortable with the tools.
Give Microsoft 365 Copilot a task. Tell it the goal, context, source, and expectations, including the format you need, like bullets, a table, an email, or a memo.
Check the work. Verify the facts, including names, numbers, and anything sensitive. Ask Copilot what might be missing.
Save the good prompt. Keep it for future reference and reuse. No need to reinvent the wheel every time.

Your six-step plan to get started with AI this week.

Start strong with AI Skills Navigator

When people ask me where to start, I have a simple answer: AI Skills Navigator, an agentic learning space that helps you build AI skills (even without a technical background) by bringing together AI-powered skilling experiences, credentials, and training. It makes learning feel approachable. Flexible formats, like short videos, AI‑generated podcasts, quick summaries, and guided skilling sessions, fit naturally into your day in the ways you learn best. This mix of formats helps you get started without feeling overwhelmed, stay engaged as priorities change, and keep up your momentum.

AI doesn’t have to feel big. Make it small. Pick one task. Do it once with help. Keep what worked. Repeat it next week. And if you want an easy way to stay on track, start with (and keep coming back to) AI Skills Navigator. It’s like a learning “home base.” Assess where you are, choose a pathway by role or function, and build a habit of learning with small, steady steps. You may be surprised by how far a little AI fluency can take you.

Breaking Bad….Governance in Power BI: Free & Open-Source Solution | Chris Cusumano

MehrdadAbdollahi — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 07:52:26 GMT

🎬 Upcoming Session at The Fabric Café

🗓 Date & Time: March 4th at 10:00 AM PT
🎙 Speaker: Chris Cusumano
🎤 Host: Alexander Turlov
📌 Title: Breaking Bad….Governance in Power BI: Free & Open-Source Solution

As Power BI adoption grows, even small changes — renaming a field, moving a measure, deleting a column — can trigger a domino effect of broken visuals and failed refreshes. At scale, figuring out what broke (and why) can feel nearly impossible.

In this session, Chris will demonstrate a free, open-source toolkit that gives you full visibility across your Power BI environment — down to the visual level.

✨ With just one click, you’ll be able to:
• Automatically back up every report, model, and dataflow
• Map dependencies across measures, visuals, and pages
• See what will break before deploying changes
• Track refresh history and model health across workspaces
• Monitor everything through an interactive Power BI dashboard

No complex setup. No special permissions. No hassle.

If governance, transparency, and impact analysis matter to your organization, you don’t want to miss this one.

Developing in Agentic AI Systems Blueprint Survey Opportunity

LibertyMunson — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 02:48:57 GMT

GitHub is considering creating a credential for Developing in Agentic AI Systems, and we need your input through our exam blueprinting survey.

The blueprint determines how many questions each skill in the exam will be assigned. Please complete the online survey by March 3, 2026. Please also feel free to forward the survey to any colleagues you consider subject matter experts for this certification.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Alicia Gorriaran at aliciagorriaran@github.com.

Developing in Agentic AI Systems blueprint survey link:

https://microsoftlearning.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0pUo8ELHf3FI4uO

Why are the total points in Microsoft Learn different on profile page?

akb1985 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:07:48 GMT

The points I see when I am studying a module and the points on my profile page are different.

Weekly Roundup for Learning Rooms (Groups)

AmyCloud — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 18:46:39 GMT

Find the full list of our Learning Rooms (Groups) here: Learning Room Directory

Learning Room	Details	Date/Time	Link to post
The Fabric Café	Event: Incremental Refresh in Microsoft Fabric \| Gbenga Adeyemo	Wednesday, Feb 18, 2026, 6:00 PM PST	Incremental Refresh in Microsoft Fabric \| Gbenga Adeyemo \| Microsoft Community Hub
Azure Cloud Commanders	Event: The AI Trilemma: Navigating Hype, Hope, and Horror	Sunday, Feb 22, 2026, 09:00 AM PST	The AI Trilemma: Navigating Hype, Hope, and Horror \| Microsoft Community Hub
Azure Cloud Commanders	Event: Telemetry at Scale: Lessons from Building Observability for Distributed Systems	Friday, Feb 27, 2026, 11:00 AM PST	Telemetry at Scale: Lessons from Building Observability for Distributed Systems \| Microsoft Community Hub
Modern Development with Azure Integration and AI	Event: Azure AI Connect - March 2 to March 6 2026	Mar 2, 2026, 7:30 AM - Mar 6, 2026, 12:00 PM PST	Azure AI Connect - March 2 to March 6 2026 \| Microsoft Community Hub
Azure Cloud Commanders	Event: Feature Flags & Configuration Management using Azure App Configuration for .NET Apps	Thursday, Mar 12, 2026, 11:00 AM PDT	Feature Flags & Configuration Management using Azure App Configuration for .NET Apps \| Microsoft Community Hub
Azure Cloud Commanders	Discussion: Microsoft Learn - Exam Prep Videos		Microsoft Learn - Exam Prep Videos \| Microsoft Community Hub
Compliance and Purview Learning Room	Discussion: Introduction of the participants		Introduction of the participants \| Microsoft Community Hub
Copilot & Power Platform with Rishona	Discussion: Copilot and Power Platform with Rishona		Copilot & Power Platform with Rishona \| Microsoft Community Hub
Copilot & Power Platform with Rishona	Discussion: Get your applied skills credentials for Copilot		Get your Applied Skills credentials for Copilot \| Microsoft Community Hub
The Fabric Café	Discussion: Taking Microsoft from POC to Production		Taking Microsoft Fabric from POC to Production: Real World Lessons Learned \| Microsoft Community Hub
SkillUp with Copilot Studio & Power Platform	Discussion: Power Platform 相談会開催のお知らせ【2026/01/28】		Power Platform 相談会開催のお知らせ【2026/01/28】 \| Microsoft Community Hub
Modern Development with Azure Integration and AI	Blog: How We Built an AI Operations Agent Using MCP Servers and Dynamic Tool Routing		Automate Shipping Delays: Building a Two-Brain AI Agent on Azure