Series Portal¶

Once an architecture decision has narrowed the workload to a specific Azure service, use this page to jump directly to the sibling deep-guide for that service. This is a router, not a selection matrix — for service-selection guidance, start with the Architecture Decision Matrix, one of the workload cheatsheets, or the scenario router in Start Here.

Each entry links to a companion practical guide that follows the same core structure documented in the Series Lab Contract: Start Here → Platform → Best Practices → Operations → Troubleshooting → Reference.

When to use this portal¶

• You already know which Azure service the workload will run on. [Documented]
• You need production-grade platform, best-practices, or troubleshooting depth beyond what a decision matrix or cheatsheet provides. [Inferred]
• You are cross-referencing a multi-service architecture (for example, App Service front + Functions back + Storage) and want each service's deep guide side by side. [Correlated]

Sibling deep-guides¶

Each row links to the deployed deep-guide site plus its two canonical entry points: Learning Paths (role-based reading paths) and Scenario Router (symptom or workload-first routing). Both entry points follow the series-wide Start Here shape rolled out across the sibling repositories. [Documented]

Route from architecture decisions to service depth¶

Use this pattern when moving from an architecture cheatsheet or decision matrix into a service-specific deep guide.

flowchart TD
    A[Architecture decision made] --> B{Which service surface?}
    B -->|Compute PaaS HTTP| C[App Service guide]
    B -->|Compute serverless events| D[Functions guide]
    B -->|Compute containers managed| E[Container Apps guide]
    B -->|Compute containers Kubernetes| F[AKS guide]
    B -->|Compute IaaS OS control| G[Virtual Machines guide]
    B -->|Data at rest| H[Storage guide]
    B -->|Connectivity and DNS| I[Networking guide]
    B -->|Real-time comms| J[Communication Services guide]
    B -->|Observability| K[Monitoring guide]
    C --> L[Read Learning Paths and Scenario Router]
    D --> L
    E --> L
    F --> L
    G --> L
    H --> L
    I --> L
    J --> L
    K --> L
    L --> M[Deep-guide platform + best practices + troubleshooting]

Selection notes¶

• The Container Apps and AKS guides both cover container workloads but target different ownership models. Choose Container Apps when the workload does not need cluster-level customization; choose AKS when the platform team owns operator-grade control. [Correlated]
• The App Service and Functions guides frequently pair for HTTP + background patterns. Their Learning Paths cross-reference each other's runtime and hosting concepts. [Observed]
• The Networking and Storage guides are prerequisites for most workload deep-guides because Private Endpoints, DNS, and managed identities are pervasive. [Inferred]
• The Monitoring guide is horizontally applicable to every workload; its KQL query packs are the fastest way to build diagnostic dashboards for a running service. [Documented]
• Every sibling deep-guide follows the same top-level information architecture (Start Here → Platform → Best Practices → Operations → Troubleshooting → Reference), so once you learn one guide's navigation, the others feel familiar. [Documented]

Notes on entry-point stability¶

• Learning Paths and Scenario Router pages exist under every sibling repository's docs/start-here/ and are rendered on the deployed MkDocs Material site at /start-here/learning-paths/ and /start-here/scenario-router/ respectively. [Documented]
• The Azure Functions guide's Scenario Router is intentionally deferred — see Series Lab Contract for scope details. Its Learning Paths page is live. [Documented]
• If any linked entry-point URL returns a 404, browse to the deep-guide home in that row's first column and use the site navigation to locate Learning Paths or Scenario Router. [Documented]

See Also¶

• Architecture Decision Matrix — service selection before routing here
• Compute Selection Cheatsheet — narrow compute options
• Data Selection Cheatsheet — narrow data platform options
• Messaging Selection Cheatsheet — narrow messaging primitives
• Network Topology Cheatsheet — narrow networking topology
• Series Lab Contract — the shape every sibling repo follows

Sources¶

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/guide/technology-choices/