📌 Series Context: This is the eighth article in the 10‑part series covering the most important areas of .NET interview preparation. In Part 1, we introduced the .NET ecosystem. In Part 2, we covered C# fundamentals. In Part 3, we explored advanced C# features. In Part 4, we discussed ASP.NET MVC. In Part 5, we focused on ASP.NET Core. In Part 6, we covered Entity Framework & Data Access. In Part 7, we explored Web API & Microservices. Now, we’ll dive into Azure & Cloud Integration.

Why Azure & Cloud Integration?

Modern .NET applications are often cloud-native. Microsoft Azure provides a rich ecosystem for hosting, scaling, and integrating applications. Interviewers frequently ask about Azure App Services, Functions, Storage, and Cosmos DB.

Key Azure Services for .NET Developers

Azure App Service

Azure Functions

Azure Storage

Supports multiple storage options:

Cosmos DB

Azure DevOps

Hosting a .NET App on Azure

Deploying an ASP.NET Core application to Azure App Service:

dotnet publish -c Release

az webapp up `
    --name HospitalApp `
    --resource-group HospitalRG `
    --runtime "DOTNET|6.0"

👉 Interview Tip: Be ready to explain the difference between Azure App Service and Azure Functions.

Azure Functions Example

Azure Functions are ideal for lightweight, event-driven workloads.

[FunctionName("ProcessInvoice")]
public static async Task<IActionResult> Run(
    [HttpTrigger(
        AuthorizationLevel.Function,
        "post"
    )]
    Invoice invoice,
    ILogger log)
{
    log.LogInformation(
        $"Processing invoice {invoice.Id}"
    );

    return new OkObjectResult(
        $"Invoice {invoice.Id} processed"
    );
}

👉 Serverless functions are commonly used for:

Cosmos DB Integration

Integrating Cosmos DB with a .NET application:

CosmosClient client =
    new CosmosClient(connectionString);

Database db =
    await client.CreateDatabaseIfNotExistsAsync(
        "HospitalDB"
    );

Container container =
    await db.CreateContainerIfNotExistsAsync(
        "Patients",
        "/id"
    );

👉 Interview Tip: Be prepared to explain:

Cloud Deployment Considerations

Scalability

Security

Monitoring

Azure provides comprehensive monitoring through:

Cost Optimization

Common strategies include:

Common Interview Questions (Part 8)

Conclusion

In this eighth part, we covered:

This foundation prepares you for Part 9, where we'll explore Testing & Performance—covering unit testing, mocking, and performance tuning in .NET.