Exam overview
I passed this exam a while back, but I wanted to share my AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator Exam Study Guide with you.
The content of this exam was updated on October 27, 2022. This study guide has been updated to reflect the latest objectives
The AZ-104 exam is the only exam needed to obtain the Azure Administrator Associate certification. According to Microsoft -
“Candidates for this exam should have subject matter expertise in implementing, managing, and monitoring an organization’s Microsoft Azure environment, including virtual networks, storage, compute, identity, security, and governance.
An Azure administrator often serves as part of a larger team dedicated to implementing an organization’s cloud infrastructure. Azure administrators also coordinate with other roles to deliver Azure networking, security, database, application development, and DevOps solutions.
Candidates for this exam should be familiar with operating systems, networking, servers, and virtualization. In addition, professionals in this role should have experience using PowerShell, Azure CLI, the Azure portal, Azure Resource Manager templates (ARM templates), and Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), part of Microsoft Entra”
The high-level view of the skills measured in the exam are:
Manage Azure identities and governance (15–20%)
Implement and manage storage (15–20%)
Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (20–25%)
Configure and manage virtual networking (20–25%)
Monitor and maintain Azure resources (10–15%)
More information can be found on the exam’s website. The exam has a passing score of 700.
Free Microsoft Learn resources
Microsoft Learn is an ever-expanding catalogue of free training courses provided by Microsoft. After you’ve reviewed the exam objectives, I’d highly recommend working through these next. They’re in nice bite-sized sections, and you can easily track your progress.
Microsoft Learn contains dedicated learning paths for the AZ-104 exam. Across the 6 learning paths, there are a total of 57 modules (this might sound like a lot, but most of the modules are straightforward!) -
AZ-104: Prerequisites for Azure administrators (6 modules)
AZ-104: Manage identities and governance in Azure (8 modules)
AZ-104: Implement and manage storage in Azure (8 modules)
AZ-104: Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (11 modules)
AZ-104: Configure and manage virtual networks for Azure administrators (15 modules)
AZ-104: Monitor and back up Azure resources (9 modules)
Also highly recommended is John Savill’s AZ-104 Study Cram video on YouTube.
Online Paid Training Courses
In addition to Microsoft’s free resources, there are several paid options for online training courses. These are often more interactive and provide a useful way to fill in any gaps in your knowledge.
Below, I’ve linked to what I think are the best options for the AZ-104 exam -
Udemy AZ-104 Azure Administrator 2022 (25hrs, 2 practice tests)
Udemy AZ-104 Azure Administrator Exam 2022 (12hrs, 1 practice test)
Whizlabs Exam AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator (9hrs, 6 practice tests)
AZ-104 Books
Some people prefer to use books to study, which is why Microsoft still publishes the Exam Ref series. As exam objectives get updated fairly regularly, make sure that you get the latest edition of any study guides -
Practice Exams
So you’ve studied for the exam and want to assess your readiness? Practice tests are a great way to check your knowledge.
Practice tests are a great way to assess your readiness for the real exam. Here are some links to the most popular ones -
Official Microsoft AZ-104 sample questions (40 questions, PDF format)
Official Microsoft Practice Test via Mindhub (220 questions)
Udemy AZ-104: Practice Tests (6 timed tests, 65 questions each)
If you’re new to certification exams, Microsoft has also recently announced an “exam sandbox”. The aim is to allow you to experience the look and feel of a certification exam before you sit one for real.
Microsoft Docs for AZ-104
This section steps through each of the exam topics with links to the relevant Microsoft documentation.
Manage Azure identities and governance (15–20%)
Manage Azure AD objects
Manage access control
Manage Azure subscriptions and governance
Implement and manage storage (15–20%)
Configure access to storage
Manage data in Azure storage accounts
Manage data by using Azure Storage Explorer and AzCopy
Implement Azure Storage redundancy
Configure Azure Files and Azure Blob Storage
Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (20–25%)
Automate deployment of resources by using templates
Create and configure VMs
Create and configure containers
Create and configure Azure App Service
Configure and manage virtual networking (20–25%)
Configure virtual networks
Configure secure access to virtual networks
Configure load balancing
Monitor virtual networking
Monitor and maintain Azure resources (10–15%)
Monitor resources by using Azure Monitor
Implement backup and recovery
Additional tips
For any of the Azure certifications, I find deploying the relevant Azure resources and configuring their features to be hugely beneficial to my learning. You can grab a free Azure trial to receive 12 months of free popular services, $200 free credit, and 25+ always free services.
If you’re working with Azure on a daily basis, then there are likely areas you’re already familiar with. Focus on those areas that are new to you, read and practice!
The exam topics cover a diverse range of topics but with a strong emphasis on networking and storage. Learn when you’d choose one service over another.. and how you’d deploy and configure that service, especially using the relevant PowerShell cmdlets.
I hope you found this study guide useful and good luck! Please let me know of any other resources that you found helpful for the exam.
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