Plan & manage an Azure AI solution · 25–30%
Set up solutions & deployment options
A deployment is a named, callable instance of a model in your Foundry resource — your code targets it by deployment name. The deployment type decides region, billing, and throughput.
Deployment types — memorize this table
| Type | Region | Billing | Use when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global Standard | Any | Pay-per-token | Default choice. Highest quota. |
| Global Provisioned | Any | Reserved PTU | Predictable high throughput |
| Global Batch | Any | 50% discount, ≤24h async | Large async jobs |
| Data Zone Standard | EU/US zone | Pay-per-token | Data-zone compliance |
| Data Zone Provisioned | EU/US zone | PTU | Compliance + throughput |
| Standard (regional) | Single region | Pay-per-token | Regional data residency, low volume |
| Regional Provisioned | Single region | PTU | Residency + throughput |
| Developer | Any | Pay-per-token | Fine-tuned model evaluation only |
PTU = provisioned throughput unit. Exam pattern: “predictable throughput” means Provisioned; “cheapest for an overnight bulk job” means Global Batch; “EU data must stay in the EU” means Data Zone; “single-region residency” means Standard/Regional.
Connect an app — 3 things you always need
- Endpoint URL — project endpoint (Foundry SDK features) or OpenAI-v1 endpoint (OpenAI-compatible).
- Auth — API key, or Microsoft Entra ID token (recommended for production).
- Deployment name — goes in the
modelparameter of requests.
from azure.ai.projects import AIProjectClient
from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
project = AIProjectClient(endpoint=PROJECT_ENDPOINT, credential=DefaultAzureCredential())
client = project.get_openai_client()
response = client.responses.create(model="my-deployment", input=[...])
Dev tooling
- Foundry portal — find/compare/deploy/test models, create agents, MCP connections, keys.
- Foundry SDK (
azure-ai-projects) — automate assets from code or CI/CD pipelines. - Foundry Toolkit extension (VS Code) — browse resources, deploy models, playgrounds, declarative agents (YAML), generate integration code.
- The playground’s Code tab gives copy-paste samples (Python/C#/JS).
Older classic Foundry projects use hub-based architecture. New projects: Foundry resource + projects. If a question contrasts them, “hub” = classic.