The Ultimate AZ-104 Azure Administrator Study Guide

The NEW AZ-104 exam was released in 2020 and now replaces the AZ-103 exam provided previously. This guide now reflects those updates to the new improved curriculum, as the previous version of this exam (AZ-103) has now been retired. This guide focuses on all the specific information you need to know to pass your AZ-104 exam. It also covers links to training courses, books and other content you can use to perfect your study approach. Lastly, we also include links to practice exams and cover typical questions Azure students have as they embark upon their first adventures into Microsoft Azure.  

If you are completely unsure where to begin in your certification journey, make sure to check out our post on certification paths. 

If you like this guide, be sure to check out our other Azure Study Guides

What is the Azure Administrator Certification? 

The Azure Administrator certification is one of the entry level certifications from Microsoft and really focuses on helping students get hands on experience with Azure. Experienced IT administrators who are involved daily with Azure are targets for this certification, but it is also a fantastic place to prove your skills and get a good amount of lab experience if you are trying to land your first Azure job. 

In order to take and pass these exams, you must be able to prove that you can administer a customers Azure environment, configuring Compute, Storage, Network, and other Azure services that are typically handled by engineering and operations teams. 

Which exams do I need to take?

There is only one exam you need to take to get your Azure Administrator certification that is the AZ-104 exam. 

AZ-104 Exam Description

Before we begin, let’s look at the exam description as indicated by Microsoft on their AZ-104 exam site.

" Candidates for this exam should have subject matter expertise implementing, managing, and monitoring an organization’s Microsoft Azure environment.

Responsibilities for an Azure Administrator include implementing, managing, and monitoring identity, governance, storage, compute, and virtual networks in a cloud environment, plus provision, size, monitor, and adjust resources, when needed.

An Azure Administrator often serves as part of a larger team dedicated to implementing your organization's cloud infrastructure.

A candidate for this exam should have at least six months of hands-on experience administering Azure, along with a strong understanding of core Azure services, Azure workloads, security, and governance. In addition, this role should have experience using PowerShell, Azure CLI, Azure portal, and Azure Resource Manager templates.” 

How long does it take to study for the AZ-104 exam? 

The AZ-104, is an INTERMEDIATE level certification. The curriculum has grown considerably from its early days, and you should be prepared to put some time in to your preparation. Before we discuss timing, think about how the exam is broken out. The AZ-104 test as of September 2020, covers 4 major areas as follows: 

• Manage Azure identities and governance (15-20%)

• Implement and manage storage (10-15%)

• Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (25-30%)

• Configure and manage virtual networking (30-35%)

• Monitor and back up Azure resources (10-15%)

The percentages indicated above give you an indication on how the test is broken out. This means, you should expect around 30-35% of your questions to focus on Networking, and another 25-30% to focus on Azure compute resources. Those sections alone can account for upwards of 65% of the entire exam curriculum so make sure you know how to configure them in great detail. 

How hard is the AZ-104 exam?

The AZ-104 exam, while an entry level exam, is still challenging! You should go into the exam expecting multiple types of questions. Multiple choice, scenarios, labs etc. One key is not to be overwhelmed as you get into the exam. You will have lots of questions to go through and you can often come back to questions you didn’t fully grasp at first. Make extra sure to get hands on experience by following along with the demos and trying things out for yourself in your own lab. If you are looking for ways to keep your costs down while learning Azure, check out this article

What is the pass mark for the AZ-104 test?

Microsoft certification exams are scored out of 1000. You need a 700 or higher to pass the AZ-104  exam and gain your Azure Administrator Badge.  

How do I take the AZ-104 test?

Once you have completed your preparation, you will need to schedule your test online. Under normal circumstances you would take your test at a test center or online, but currently with the Covid-19 situation, only online testing is available. You can find details about the online test centers at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/az-104

Is the AZ-104 Azure exam worth taking? 

Absolutely! Ideally you will go on to take the expert certifications after but this certification serves as a very important milestone. Even if certification is not your goal, you will gain an incredible amount of experience learning Azure at a deep level that will help you land your first job in Azure or help you be an even better cloud administrator.

Does the AZ-104 exam expire?

The AZ-104 exam will typically need to be renewed every 18 months. Microsoft will from time to time retire certifications however, and you may also find exam numbers evolve over time (this is what happened with the previous exam AZ-103) when Microsoft changes the curriculum substantially for the certification.  

AZ-104 Study Material 

Are you ready to do this? Are you committed? You won’t regret it. Let’s look at all the study material available. 

AZ-104 Certification Course

The Skylines Academy AZ-104 training course released in 2020 now has hours of video content which focuses on the exam curriculum. The course is broken out into the following sections to match up with the Microsoft curriculum.

• Access Azure and how you’ll be using Azure PowerShell and CLI to administer the environment 

• Create and allocate accounts and subscriptions as a starting point 

• Manage AD identity objects and verify user credentials 

• Enforce governance for your Azure subscriptions 

• Implement and allocate various storage types 

• Spin up virtual machines (VMs) based on the needs of your use case 

• Utilize Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates application deployment efficiencies 

• Run containerized applications to cut costs 

• Create and configure web apps 

• Implement a network standard as the backbone of your Azure environment 

• Monitor the Azure platform to detect threats and inefficiencies 

• Deploy a backup policy to ensure your environment is recoverable 

This is the most structured way to work through the curriculum as it combines lectures with walk-through demos so you can learn about the topic before seeing how it is implemented. 

In addition to the training videos, lab guides and practice questions, as well as the PowerShell Guide will help solidify your knowledge. 

Study links and documents

Now for the major pieces of reading material. Below you will find all the links to relevant Skylines Academy blog posts and Microsoft documentation to cover the key topics. Consider all the links below essential reading for the exam unless they are marked as optional. Even if they are marked as optional, consider reading them to further clarify the subject matter and help you continue your learning path beyond the architect certification. 

Manage Azure Identities and Governance

Manage Azure Identities and Governance (15-20%)
Manage Azure AD objects

Create users and groups • manage user and group properties • manage device settings • perform bulk user updates • manage guest accounts • configure Azure AD Join • configure self-service password reset

• Creating a new user in Azure AD

• Add or delete users using Azure Active Directory

• Create a basic group and add members using Azure Active Directory

• New-AzureADUser

• Add or update a user’s profile information using Azure Active Directory

• Edit your group information using Azure Active Directory

• Manage device identities using the Azure portal

• How To: Manage stale devices in Azure AD

• Bulk import group members (preview) in Azure Active Directory

• What is guest user access in Azure Active Directory B2B?

• Manage guest access with Azure AD access reviews

• Quickstart: Add guest users to your directory in the Azure portal

• How to: Plan your Azure AD join implementation

• Licensing requirements for Azure AD self-service password reset

• Tutorial: Configure hybrid Azure Active Directory join for managed domains

• Plan an Azure Active Directory self-service password reset

Manage role-based access control (RBAC)

Create a custom role • provide access to Azure resources by assigning roles • interpret access assignments • manage multiple directories

• Tutorial: Create a custom role for Azure resources using Azure CLI

• Tutorial: Create a custom role for Azure resources using Azure PowerShell

• Add or remove role assignments using Azure RBAC and the Azure portal

• List role assignments using Azure RBAC and the Azure portal

• Understand deny assignments for Azure resources

• Understand how multiple Azure Active Directory tenants interact

Manage subscriptions and governance

Configure Azure policies • configure resource locks • apply tags • create and manage resource groups • manage subscriptions • configure Cost Management • configure management groups

• Overview of Management services in Azure

• What is Azure Policy?

• Tutorial: Create and manage policies to enforce compliance

• Quickstart: Create a policy assignment to identify non-compliant resources

• Lock resources to prevent unexpected changes

• Use tags to organize your Azure resources

• Manage Azure resource groups by using Azure PowerShell

• Manage Azure Resource Manager resource groups by using the Azure portal

• Create an additional Azure subscription

• Change your Azure subscription to a different offer

• What is Azure Cost Management and Billing?

• Quickstart: Explore and analyze costs with cost analysis

• Move resources to a new resource group or subscription

• Create management groups for resource organization and management

• Manage your resources with management groups

Implement and Manage Storage

Implement and Manage Storage (10-15%)

Manage storage accounts

Configure network access to storage accounts • create and configure storage accounts • generate shared access signature • manage access keys • implement Azure storage replication • configure Azure AD Authentication for a storage account

• Intro to Azure Storage

• Configure Azure Storage firewalls and virtual networks

• Storage account overview

• Create an Azure Storage account

• Upgrade to a general-purpose v2 storage account

• Delegate access with a shared access signature

• Grant limited access to Azure Storage resources using shared access signatures (SAS)

• Manage storage account access keys

• Azure Storage redundancy

Manage data in Azure Storage

Export from Azure job • import into Azure job • install and use Azure Storage Explorer • copy data by using AZCopy

• Use the Azure Import/Export service to export data from Azure Blob storage

• Use the Azure Import/Export service to import data to Azure Blob Storage

• Get started with Storage Explorer

• Get started with AzCopy

Configure Azure Files and Azure Blog Storage

Create an Azure file share • create and configure Azure File Sync service • configure Azure blob storage • configure storage tiers for Azure blobs

• What is Azure Files?

• Quickstart: Create and manage Azure file shares with the Azure portal

• Create an Azure file share

• Planning for an Azure File Sync deployment

• Deploy Azure File Sync

• Tutorial: Extend Windows file servers with Azure File Sync

• Quickstart: Upload, download, and list blobs with the Azure portal

• Azure Blob storage: hot, cool, and archive access tiers

Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources

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

Configure VMs for high availability and scalability

Configure high availability • deploy and configure scale sets

• Availability options for virtual machines in Azure

• Manage the availability of Windows virtual machines in Azure

• Tutorial: Create and deploy highly available virtual machines with Azure PowerShell

• What are virtual machine scale sets?

Automate deployment and configuration of VMs

Modify Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template • configure VHD template • deploy from template • save a deployment as an ARM template • automate configuration management by using custom script extensions

• Extend Azure Resource Manager template functionality

• Azure Resource Manager templates overview

• Tutorial: Create and deploy your first Azure Resource Manager template

• Update a resource in an Azure Resource Manager template

• Create a Windows virtual machine from a Resource Manager template

• Create a VM from a VHD by using the Azure portal

• Quickstart: Create and deploy Azure Resource Manager templates by using the Azure portal

• Download the template for a VM

• Custom Script Extension for Windows

• Use the Azure Custom Script Extension Version 2 with Linux virtual machines

Create and configure VMs

Configure Azure Disk Encryption • move VMs from one resource group to another • manage VM sizes • add data discs • configure networking • redeploy VMs

• Azure Disk Encryption for Linux VMs

• Azure Disk Encryption for Windows VMs

• Quickstart: Create and encrypt a Windows virtual machine with the Azure portal

• Move a Windows VM to another Azure subscription or resource group

• Sizes for Windows virtual machines in Azure

• Resize a Windows VM

• Attach a managed data disk to a Windows VM by using the Azure portal

• Attach a data disk to a Windows VM with PowerShell

• Common PowerShell commands for Azure Virtual Networks

• How to open ports to a virtual machine with the Azure portal

• Create and manage a Windows virtual machine that has multiple NICs

Create and configure containers

Create and configure Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) • create and configure Azure Container Instances (ACI)

• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

• Quickstart: Deploy an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster using the Azure portal

• What is Azure Container Instances?

• Quickstart: Deploy a container instance in Azure using the Azure CLI

• Quickstart: Deploy a container instance in Azure using the Azure portal

Create and configure Web Apps

Create and configure App Service • create and configure App Service Plans

• App Service overview

• Create an ASP.NET Core web app in Azure

• Azure App Service plan overview

• Manage an App Service plan in Azure

Configure and Manage Virtual Networking

Configure and Manage Virtual Networking (30-35%)

Implement and manage virtual networking Create and configure VNET peering • configure private and public IP addresses, network routes, network interface, subnets, and virtual network

• Virtual network peering

• Create, change, or delete virtual network peering

• Tutorial: Connect virtual networks with virtual network peering using the Azure portal

• Configure private IP addresses for a virtual machine using the Azure portal

• Quickstart: Create a virtual network using the Azure portal

• Create, change, or delete a network interface

• Add, change, or delete a virtual network subnet

• Create, change, or delete a virtual network

Configure name resolution

Configure Azure DNS • configure custom DNS settings • configure a private or public DNS zone

• Create, change, or delete a virtual network peering

• Name resolution for resources in Azure virtual networks

• Use Azure DNS to provide custom domain settings for an Azure service

• How to manage DNS Zones in the Azure portal

• Quickstart: Configure Azure DNS for name resolution using the Azure Portal

• Tutorial: Host your domain in Azure DNS

• Quickstart: Create an Azure private DNS zone using the Azure portal

Secure access to virtual networks

Create security rules • associate an NSG to a subnet or network interface • evaluate effective security rules • deploy and configure Azure Firewall • deploy and configure Azure Bastion Service

• Work with security roles

• Create, change, or delete a network security group

• Tutorial: Deploy and configure Azure Firewall using the Azure portal

• Create an Azure Bastion host

Configure load balancing

Configure Application Gateway • configure an internal load balancer • configure load balancing rules • configure a public load balancer • troubleshoot load balancing

• Application Gateway configuration overview

• Quickstart: Direct web traffic with Azure Application Gateway using Azure PowerShell

• Tutorial: Balance internal traffic load with a Basic load balancer in the Azure portal

• Create an internal load balancer by using the Azure PowerShell module

• Quickstart: Create a Load Balancer to load balance VMs using the Azure portal

• Troubleshoot Azure Load Balancer

Monitor and troubleshoot virtual networking

Monitor on-premises connectivity • use Network Performance Monitor • use Network Watcher • troubleshoot external networking • troubleshoot virtual network connectivity

• Step-By-Step: Monitoring On-Premise Active Directory via Azure AD Connect Health

• Diagnose on-premises connectivity via VPN gateways

• Network Performance Monitor solution: Performance monitoring

• What is Azure Network Watcher?

• Create an Azure Network Watcher instance

• Troubleshoot Virtual Network Gateway and Connections using Azure Network Watcher Azure CLI

• Troubleshoot connections with Azure Network Watcher using the Azure portal

Integrate an on-premises network with an Azure virtual network

Create and configure Azure VPN Gateway • create and configure VPNs • configure ExpressRoute • configure Azure Virtual WAN

• Tutorial: Create and manage a VPN gateway using PowerShell

• Create a route-based VPN gateway using the Azure portal

• Create a Site-to-Site connection in the Azure portal

• ExpressRoute overview

• Tutorial: Create and modify an ExpressRoute circuit

• About Azure Virtual WAN

• Tutorial: Create a Site-to-Site connection using Azure Virtual WAN

• Connect a VPN Gateway (virtual network gateway) to Virtual WAN

Monitor and Back Up Azure Resources

Monitor and Back up Azure Resources (10-15%)

Monitor resources by using Azure Monitor

Configure and interpret metrics • configure Log Analytics o implement a Log Analytics workspace • query and analyze logs • set up alerts and actions • configure Application Insights

• Metrics in Azure Monitor

• Advanced features of Azure Metrics Explorer

• Quickstart: Monitor an Azure resource with Azure Monitor

• Get started with Log Analytics in Azure Monitor

• Get started with log queries in Azure Monitor

• Overview of log queries in Azure Monitor

• Create, view, and manage metric alerts using Azure Monitor

• Metric Alerts with Dynamic Thresholds in Azure Monitor

• Create Metric Alerts for Logs in Azure Monitor

• Manage Application Insights resources using PowerShell

Implement backup and recovery

Configure and review backup reports • perform backup and restore operations by using Azure Backup Service • create a Recovery Services Vault • create and configure backup policy • perform site-to-site recovery by using Azure Site Recovery

• Configure Azure Backup reports

• Back up a virtual machine in Azure

• How to restore Azure VM data in Azure portal

• Restore a disk and create a recovered VM in Azure

• Create a Recovery Services vault

• Manage Azure VM backups with Azure Backup service

• About Site Recovery

• Set up disaster recovery of on-premises VMware virtual machines or physical servers to a secondary site

You made it this far? Fantastic. You learned a lot I hope and we want to help more!

GETTING HELP?

Make sure to join the Azure Study Group on Facebook and ask questions if you get stuck at all. Thousands of people are preparing to take this exam and there’s nothing better than helping each other out? 

Good luck!