The AZ-104 exam is a certification exam for Microsoft Azure administrators, and passing it is a requirement for obtaining the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate certification. As with any certification exam, the difficulty of the AZ-104 exam will depend on several factors, including your level of experience with Azure, your familiarity with the exam content, and your study habits.
In this blog, we’ll provide you with a comprehensive overview of the AZ-104 exam, including its format, topics covered, and difficulty level. We’ll also offer some tips and resources to help you prepare for the exam and increase your chances of passing it on your first attempt. Whether you’re new to Azure or an experienced administrator looking to add a certification to your resume, this blog will provide you with the information you need to succeed on the AZ-104 exam. So let’s get started!
Glossary for Microsoft Azure AZ-104
Here is a glossary of key terms and concepts related to Microsoft Azure AZ-104 certification:
- Azure Active Directory (Azure AD): A cloud-based identity and access management service that provides centralized authentication and authorization for Azure resources and other Microsoft services.
- Azure Resource Manager (ARM): A management framework that enables you to deploy, manage, and monitor Azure resources as a single unit.
- Azure Virtual Machines (VMs): A service that enables you to create, deploy, and manage virtual machines in the Azure cloud.
- Azure Storage: A service that provides scalable, secure, and highly available storage for data in the cloud.
- Azure App Service: A platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering that enables you to build, deploy, and scale web apps and APIs in the Azure cloud.
- Azure SQL Database: A cloud-based relational database service that provides high availability, scalability, and security for your data.
- Azure Networking: A set of services that enable you to connect, secure, and scale your virtual networks in the Azure cloud.
- Azure Monitor: A service that provides a unified view of your Azure resources and applications, with built-in monitoring and diagnostics tools.
- Azure Security Center: A service that provides unified security management and advanced threat protection for your Azure resources.
- Azure DevOps: A set of services that enable you to plan, build, test, and deploy applications and infrastructure in the cloud.
Exam preparation resources for Microsoft Azure AZ-104 Exam
Here are some official exam preparation resources for the Microsoft Azure AZ-104 exam:
- Microsoft Learn: This is a free online platform that offers self-paced learning modules, hands-on labs, and interactive learning paths to help you prepare for the AZ-104 exam. You can access the AZ-104 learning path here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/az-104
- Microsoft Azure Documentation: This is a comprehensive documentation platform that provides detailed information about various Azure services, features, and functionalities. You can access the AZ-104 documentation here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/?product=featured
- Microsoft Azure Virtual Training: This is a free online training platform that provides live and on-demand training sessions on Azure services and solutions. You can access the AZ-104 virtual training sessions here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trainingdays
- Microsoft Azure Certification Exam Study Groups: These are official Microsoft Azure study groups that offer a platform for learners to engage with other Azure professionals and learn from their experiences. You can access the AZ-104 study groups here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/azure-study-groups/az-104
- Microsoft Azure Certification Practice Exams: These are official Microsoft Azure practice exams that simulate the actual exam experience and help you identify your knowledge gaps. You can access the AZ-104 practice exams here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/azure-certification-exams.aspx
- Microsoft Azure Certification Exam Skills Measured: These are official Microsoft Azure exam skills measured documents that provide an overview of the skills and knowledge required to pass the AZ-104 exam. You can access the AZ-104 skills measured document here: https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE4Z80S
- Microsoft Azure Certification Exam Preparation Community: This is an official Microsoft Azure community where learners can connect with other Azure professionals and get tips and tricks for exam preparation. You can access the AZ-104 exam preparation community here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/azure-certification/bd-p/AzureCertification
Microsoft Azure AZ-104 Exam Format
The Microsoft AZ-104 exam consists of 40-60 questions that must be answered in 120 minutes. During the exam, various types of questions are presented, such as case studies, short answers, multiple-choice, mark review, drag and drop, and so on. In order to pass the exam, the candidate must score at least 700 points. The exam fee for the AZ-104 is $165 USD. Furthermore, the exam is only available in English.
AZ-104 Exam Topics
Microsoft AZ-104 Exam has been updated in the course outline as on April 27, 2023.
The Microsoft AZ-104 exam topics include:
Module 1: Manage Azure identities and governance (15-20%)
1.1 Manage Azure AD objects
- Create users and groups (Microsoft Documentation: Add or delete users using Azure Active Directory)
- Manage licenses in Azure AD (Microsoft Documentation: Assign or remove licenses in the Azure Active Directory portal)
- Create administrative units (Microsoft Documentation: Administrative units in Azure Active Directory)
- Manage User and Group Properties (Microsoft Documentation: Update user’s profile information in Azure Active Directory)
- Manage device settings and device identity (Microsoft Documentation: Manage device identities using the Azure portal)
- Perform bulk user updates (Microsoft Documentation: Active Directory Bulk User Modification)
- Manage guest accounts (Microsoft Documentation: Quickstart: Add guest users to your directory in the Azure portal)
- Configure self-service password reset (Microsoft Documentation: Tutorial: Enable users to unlock their account or reset passwords using Azure Active Directory self-service password reset)
1.2 Manage access control
- Create custom role-based access control (RBAC) and Azure AD roles (Microsoft Documentation: Azure custom roles)
- Provide access to Azure resources by assigning roles at different scopes (Microsoft Documentation: Assign Azure roles using the Azure portal)
- Interpret access assignments (Microsoft Documentation: Role-based Access Control/Deny Assignments)
1.3 Manage Azure subscriptions and governance
- Configuring and managing Azure policies (Microsoft Documentation: Create and manage policies to enforce compliance)
- Configuring resource locks (Microsoft Documentation: Lock resources to prevent unexpected changes)
- Apply and manage tags on resources (Microsoft Documentation: Use tags to organize your Azure resources and management hierarchy)
- Managing resource groups (Microsoft Documentation: Move resources to a new resource group or subscription)
- Managing subscriptions (Microsoft Documentation: Organize and manage multiple Azure subscriptions)
- Manage costs by using alerts, budgets, and recommendations (Microsoft Documentation: Use cost alerts to monitor usage and spending)
- Configuring management groups (Microsoft Documentation: Create management groups for resource organization and management)
Module 2: Implement and manage storage (15-20%)
2.1 Configure access to storage
- Configure network access to storage accounts (Microsoft Documentation: Configure Azure Storage firewalls and virtual networks)
- Create and configure storage accounts (Microsoft Documentation: Create an Azure Storage account)
- Generate shared access signature tokens (Microsoft Documentation: Grant limited access to Azure Storage resources using shared access signatures (SAS) )
- Configure stored access policies
- Manage access keys (Microsoft Documentation: Manage storage account access keys)
- Configure Azure AD Authentication for a storage account (Microsoft Documentation: Acquire a token from Azure AD for authorizing requests from a client application)
- Configure storage encryption (Microsoft Documentation: Azure encryption overview)
2.2 Manage data in Azure storage accounts
- Create import and export jobs (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Import/Export service)
- Manage data by using Azure Storage Explorer and AzCopy (Microsoft Documentation: Get started with AzCopy)
- Implement Azure Storage redundancy (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Storage redundancy)
- Configure object replication (Microsoft Documentation: Configure object replication for block blobs)
2.3 Configure Azure files and Azure blob storage
- Create an Azure file share (Microsoft Documentation: Create an Azure file share)
- Configure Azure blob storage (Microsoft Documentation: Upload, download, and list blobs with the Azure portal)
- Configure storage tiers (Microsoft Documentation: Hot, Cool, and Archive access tiers for blob data)
- Configure blob lifecycle management (Microsoft Documentation: Configure a lifecycle management policy)
Module 3: Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (20-25%)
3.1 Automate deployment of resources by using templates
- Modify an ARM template (Microsoft Documentation: Create and deploy ARM templates by using the Azure portal)
- Deploy a template
- Save a deployment as an ARM template (Microsoft Documentation: Use Azure portal to export a template)
- Deploy virtual machine (VM) extensions (Microsoft Documentation: Azure virtual machine extensions and features)
3.2 Create and configure VMs
- Create a VM (Microsoft Documentation: Create a Windows virtual machine)
- Manage images by using the Azure Compute Gallery (Microsoft Documentation: Store and share resources in an Azure Compute Gallery)
- Configure Azure Disk Encryption (Microsoft Documentation: Create and encrypt a Windows virtual machine with the Azure portal)
- Move VMs from one resource group to another (Microsoft Documentation: Move a Windows VM to another Azure subscription or resource group)
- Manage VM sizes (Microsoft Documentation: Sizes for virtual machines in Azure)
- Add data disks (Microsoft Documentation: Attach a managed data disk to a Windows VM by using the Azure portal)
- Configure VM network settings (Microsoft Documentation: Configure the network for your virtual machines)
- Configure VM availability options (Microsoft Documentation: Availability options for Azure Virtual Machines)
- Deploy and configure VM scale sets (Microsoft Documentation: Create a virtual machine scale set in the Azure portal)
3.3 Create and configure containers
- Configure sizing and scaling for Azure Container Instances (Microsoft Documentation: Set scaling rules in Azure Container Apps)
- Configure container groups for Azure Container Instances (Microsoft Documentation: Container groups in Azure Container Instances)
- Create and Configure Azure Container Apps
- Configure storage for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) (Microsoft Documentation: Storage options for applications in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS))
- Configure scaling for AKS (Microsoft Documentation: Automatically scale a cluster to meet application demands)
- Configure network connections for AKS (Microsoft Documentation: Network concepts for applications in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS))
- Upgrade an AKS cluster (Microsoft Documentation: Upgrade an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster)
3.4 Create and configure Azure App Service
- Create an App Service plan (Microsoft Documentation: Manage an App Service plan in Azure)
- Configure scaling settings in an App Service plan (Microsoft Documentation: Scale up an app in Azure App Service)
- Create an App Service (Microsoft Documentation: App Service overview)
- Secure an App Service (Microsoft Documentation: Security in Azure App Service)
- Configure custom domain names (Microsoft Documentation: Add your custom domain name using the Azure Active Directory portal)
- Configure a backup for an App Service (Microsoft Documentation: Back up and restore your app in Azure App Service)
- Configuring networking settings (Microsoft Documentation: Configuring the Network)
- Configure deployment settings
Module 4: Configure and manage virtual networking (20-25%)
4.1 Configure virtual networks
- Create and configure virtual networks and subnets (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Virtual Network)
- Create and configure virtual network peering (Microsoft Documentation: Virtual network peering)
- Configure private and public IP addresses (Microsoft Documentation: Private IP addresses)
- Configure user-defined network routes (Microsoft Documentation: Virtual network traffic routing)
- Configure Azure DNS (Microsoft Documentation: Azure DNS)
4.2 Configure secure access to virtual networks
- Create and configure network security groups (NSGs) and application security groups (ASGs) (Microsoft Documentation: Network security groups)
- Evaluate effective security rules (Microsoft Documentation: Effective security rules view in Azure Network Watcher)
- Implement Azure Bastion (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Bastion)
- Configure service endpoints
- Configure private endpoints (Microsoft Documentation: private endpoint)
4.3 Configure load balancing
- Configure Azure Application Gateway (Microsoft Documentation: Application Gateway configuration overview)
- Configure an internal or public load balancer (Microsoft Documentation: Create an internal load balancer)
- Troubleshoot load balancing (Microsoft Documentation: Troubleshoot Azure Load Balancer)
4.4 Monitor virtual networking
- Monitor on-premises connectivity (Microsoft Documentation: Monitor network connectivity by using Connection Monitor)
- Configure and use Azure Monitor for networks (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Monitor Network Insights)
- Use Azure Network Watcher (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Network Watcher)
- Troubleshoot external networking
- Troubleshoot virtual network connectivity (Microsoft Documentation: Troubleshooting connectivity problems between Azure VMs)
Module 5: Monitor and Maintain Azure resources (10-15%)
5.1 Monitor resources by using Azure Monitor
- Configure and interpret metrics (Microsoft Documentation: Metrics in Azure Monitor)
- Configure Azure Monitor Log (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Monitor Logs overview)
- Query and analyze logs (Microsoft Documentation: Get started with log queries in Azure Monitor)
- Set up alerts and actions (Microsoft Documentation: Create, view, and manage metric alerts using Azure Monitor)
- Configure monitoring of VMs, storage accounts, and networks by using VM insights (Microsoft Documentation: VM insights)
5.2 Implement backup and recovery
- Create an Azure Recovery Services vault (Microsoft Documentation: Create and configure a Recovery Services vault)
- Create Azure backup vault (Microsoft Documentation: Backup vaults overview)
- Create and configure backup policy
- Perform backup and restore operations by using Azure Backup (Microsoft Documentation: restore Azure VM data in Azure portal)
- Configure Azure Site Recovery for Azure resources (Microsoft Documentation: Azure to Azure disaster recovery architecture)
- Perform failover to a secondary region by using Azure Site Recovery (Microsoft Documentation: Failover Azure VMs to a secondary region)
- Configure and review backup reports (Microsoft Documentation: Configure Azure Backup reports)
AZ-104 Exam Difficulty Level
When compared to other Microsoft role-based exams, the AZ-104 exam is rated as ‘Intermediate.’ In this exam, you can expect questions from the five modules listed in the exam outline, as well as case studies, to assess your ability to comprehend advanced technical topics.
Based on the exam syllabus and format, we can conclude that obtaining the certification will necessitate effort and strategy. You have a better chance if you are well prepared. You will also require learning resources for this. However, selecting genuine resources is a critical step. As a result, to make your job easier, we have compiled a list of resources that you can use to prepare for and face the exam with confidence.
Preparation Guide for AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate
It should be very clear if you know where to begin when preparing for any certification or exam. We have compiled a list of resources that you can use to help you prepare. Let us have a look at them –
Learning Path by Microsoft
The AZ-104 learning path exam assists candidates in implementing, managing, and monitoring identity, governance, storage, compute, and virtual networks in a cloud environment, as well as provisioning, sizing, monitoring, and adjusting resources as needed. The AZ-104 certification exam assesses your knowledge in five different areas.
Online Tutorials
Online tutorials supplement your knowledge and provide a thorough understanding of exam concepts. They also go over exam specifics and policies. Nonetheless, these online tutorials provide detailed information about the exam. As a result, you will be better prepared for the exam. As a result, learning with Online Tutorials will help you prepare better.
Online Forums
Joining online forums to help with your preparation is a great way to meet new people who are on the same path as you. They give you the advantage of being able to ask your questions right away and receive a prompt response. The majority of online forums are moderated by industry experts or certified professionals. However, the decision to join an online forum is entirely subjective. There is no such compulsion to do so.
Practice tests
The evolution of practice tests from pen and paper to online mode has done nothing but increase the concept’s relevance. They are the oldest and most effective tools for increasing your efficiency and confidence. Practice tests for the AZ-104 exam are essential for determining your core strengths and ironing out your weaknesses. They are designed to provide you with a simulation of the exam hall before you take the actual exam. Try a free test now!
Expert Corner
Exam objectives can assist you in strengthening modules and subtopics. There are also books available, and you should join the Microsoft community to connect with others who share your interests.
The final step toward success is to put what you’ve learned into practice. Taking a practice test is also an excellent way to diversify your study strategy and ensure the best possible results on the real thing. Furthermore, analyzing the practice test is critical for ensuring complete preparation. We provide free sample papers to help you succeed in the exam.
