A comprehensive guide to crack the Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate AZ-104 Certification Exam

Hello Readers! Hope you all are doing well. Microsoft is evolving and extending their learning tracks to ensure that you keep pace with today’s demanding IT environment. AZ-104 is the exam code that allows you to become Microsoft certified Azure Administrator associate. The responsibility of an Azure administrator involves implementing, managing, and monitoring the Azure environment for an organization. The azure administrator also holds responsibility for managing, compute, storage, identity management, and networking resources on Azure.

AZ-103 exam retired on August 31^st2020, the successor AZ-104 has replaced it with increased compute, storage, and governance services. With AZ-104, Microsoft has started testing on a wider range of concepts. For example, AZ-103 focuses more on Azure subscription management while AZ-104 tests more on AD identities and governance. In AZ-104, the Identity implementation and management using Azure AD for an organization with on-premise or hybrid infrastructure, role-based access control (RBAC) of Azure resources, and subscription as well as management of multiple directories and access to the user have become important.

What to expect from this article?

This is a comprehensive study guide that will help you in your AZ-104 certification preparation. The article will brush your knowledge on Microsoft Azure Active Directory, RBAC, Azure Storage, Virtual Network Configuration, so on and so forth. It also covers the exam pattern along with the percentage of questions from different modules. You will be seeing a lot of tips, and tricks to crack the exam. Moreover, self-learning portal links are available in the later sections. Follow them thoroughly and you will pass the Azure Administrator Associate Certification on your first attempt.

Prerequisites:

This exam requires you to have at least six months of hands-on experience in Azure administration, a strong understanding of Azure services, workloads, security, and governance.

AZ-104 exam has ‘Intermediate’ difficulty when compared to other Microsoft role-based exams. In this exam, you can expect questions from the 5 modules listed below and case studies to accomplish your ability to understand the advanced technical topics.

Module 1: Manage Azure identities and Governance (15-20%)

Module 2: Implement and Manage Storage (10-15%)

Module 3: Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources (25-30%)

Module 4: Configure and Manage Virtual Networking (30-35%)

Module 5: Monitor and back up Azure Resources (10-15%)

Exam Pattern for the AZ-104:

The exam time is three hours. There will be around 60 odd questions. The exam will be divided into sections where you will need to clear each section to clear the exam. These sections are usually divided into multiple-choice questions, Yes-No type of question section, case study, and hands-on section. There can be multiple of each type of section. Except for the yes-no type of section, all the sections allow you to traverse through the questions. The exam fees vary based on region. In India, it is ₹ 4800. However, there is redemption available if you get the referral voucher. The exam can be taken at any Pearson Exam Centre or at your home/office. Once cleared you will be awarded a certification of Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator which will have a validity of 2 years.

Percentage of Questions for all the Modules:

Module 1: Manage Azure identities and Governance (15-20%)

This module covers hybrid identity where you will be assessed about on-premise Active Directory and Azure Active Directory along with role-based access control (RBAC) and efficiency in managing the Azure subscriptions, alerts, usage optimization, and security.  The module covers 15-20% of weightage which accounts for 10 – 12 questions that will be there from this module.

Module 2: Implement and Manage Storage (10-15%)

The actual technical aspects of AZ-104 starts with managing storage solutions. Every Azure administrator is expected to do both Infrastructure and Platform. In detail learning about storage accounts creation, management, and implement storage replication are covered. Questions will arise from configuring Azure files and Azure blob storage topics.

Module 3: Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources (25-30%)

Microsoft Azure 104 course gives a lot of importance to networking and knowledge on hybrid networking in this program. High availability and scalability, creation, and configuration of Microsoft VMs are discussed. You will encounter questions related to configuring containers i.e., creation and configuration of Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) and Azure Container Service (ACS).

Module 4: Configure and Manage Virtual Networking (30-35%)

A major chunk of the questionnaire will be from the Virtual Network section including VNet peering, configuring public and private IP addresses, network interfaces, and subnets, configuring Azure DNS, customizing DNS settings and public and private DNS zone. Configuring load balancers and troubleshooting techniques will attract various questions too in the exam.

Module 5: Monitor and back up Azure Resources (10-15%)

From this module, you can expect questions on Monitor resources using Azure Monitor. Metric interpretation, log analysis, set up charts, and actions are some other topics covered. Implementation of backup and recovery for Azure VMs is highly emphasized.

Study Materials and References:

There are various ways to prepare for the AZ-104 course. Microsoft Learn Portal, Microsoft Documentation, and Microsoft Official Courseware (MOC) are self-learning portals. Otherwise, there is an option for instructor lead training which can help you learn the Azure Administrator course with a structured approach.

CloudThat also provides Test Prep for anyone attempting this course where you get unlimited access to our library for Azure, MCQs, and performance tracker.

Points to Remember:

AZ-104 certification objective is to have candidates be tested for their configuration knowledge and apply in real-world practice scenarios. Hence there are enough case studies with a lot of reading and tabular analysis to reflect on real Azure instances. Most questions in the AZ-104 exam will be from Virtual Network and Storage areas. The exams also have a lab and hands-on experience is a must. Check out the link to GitHub for getting hands-on experience and be better prepared:

https://github.com/MicrosoftLearning/AZ-104-MicrosoftAzureAdministrator

Practice more, take as many sample tests as possible, and get sufficient hands-on experience before appearing for the exam.

Get Certified Now:

It is always great to get the right source of learning to Move Up. At CloudThat we have a course aimed at preparing participants for AZ-104 certification.

Check out the course link here. 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/azure-administrator#certification-exam-disclaimers

Look forward to my next blog on ‘Sample Questions for Microsoft Azure Administrator AZ-104 Certification Exam’ and test your knowledge on Azure Administration.

Thanks to Prarthit Mehta, Solution Architect at CloudThat for co-authoring this blog.

Feel free to drop any questions in the comment box, I would love to address them. I hope you enjoyed the article. Best of luck!