AZ-104 Exam Guide: Become a Microsoft Azure Administrator

In the ever-evolving digital age, cloud computing has become the backbone of innovation and efficiency. Among the most influential cloud platforms today, Microsoft Azure holds a commanding presence, offering dynamic solutions that empower organizations worldwide. To navigate and manage Azure’s expansive ecosystem proficiently, the AZ-104 Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator exam stands as a defining milestone for IT professionals. This guide begins a three-part exploration, delving deep into what it takes to earn this esteemed certification, from foundational understanding to exam readiness.

Unveiling the AZ-104: A New Standard in Cloud Competency

The AZ-104 serves as the gateway to achieving the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate credential. Since its launch, replacing the AZ-103, the exam has gained traction for its focus on practical application rather than theoretical abstraction. This certification validates your adeptness at managing Azure identities, governance, storage, compute, networking, and monitoring.

As a 180-minute exam designed for associate-level professionals, the AZ-104 encompasses various domains that mirror the responsibilities faced by real-world Azure administrators. It offers recognition not just in terms of a certificate but also as a testament to your capability in orchestrating robust and resilient cloud environments.

Who Should Pursue the AZ-104 Certification?

This certification is tailored for professionals entrenched in the intricacies of cloud infrastructure and looking to hone their expertise within the Azure platform. Whether you are a systems administrator transitioning to cloud roles or a cloud enthusiast aiming to elevate your credentials, the AZ-104 is meticulously designed to align with your goals.

Though there are no mandatory prerequisites, successful candidates usually bring a repertoire of relevant experience and comprehension in areas such as:

Virtualization frameworks, including virtual machines, disks, and networks
Network topologies, protocols like TCP/IP, and core technologies like DNS, VPNs, and encryption
Directory services, particularly Active Directory structures, Kerberos authentication, and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
Strategic concepts like backup orchestration, failover mechanisms, and disaster recovery

A robust familiarity with Azure’s interface and navigation is indispensable. The exam tests more than rote memorization—it evaluates your dexterity in responding to complex scenarios based on real-world case studies.

What the Exam Covers: An Exploration of Core Competencies

The AZ-104 casts a wide net, encompassing numerous Azure functionalities with an emphasis on practical tasks. The primary domains measured include:

Azure Identity and Governance: Managing users, groups, and roles through Azure Active Directory and implementing robust access controls
Storage Management: Deploying and configuring blob storage, file shares, and implementing secure access policies
Compute Resources: Deploying virtual machines, automating deployments with ARM templates, and configuring availability sets
Networking: Setting up virtual networks, configuring DNS, creating connectivity solutions like ExpressRoute, and enforcing security through network security groups
Monitoring and Backups: Utilizing tools such as Azure Monitor and Azure Backup to ensure resource integrity and operational transparency

While performance-based questions were temporarily paused, the format still demands an immersive understanding of Azure’s functionalities. You can expect to encounter drag-and-drop configurations, multiple-choice analyses, and scenario-based evaluations—all aimed at replicating real Azure administrative tasks.

The Importance of Contextual Experience

Unlike traditional certification exams, the AZ-104 does not reward surface-level study. Its structure is engineered to assess whether the candidate possesses contextual insight and applied knowledge. This means candidates need to possess more than a theoretical framework—they must be able to navigate Azure’s console confidently and make critical decisions quickly.

For instance, a question may ask you to identify the optimal backup solution for a multi-region enterprise environment with compliance restrictions. Without a deep appreciation of Azure Backup’s retention policies and georedundant storage options, such queries can prove daunting. Thus, embedding yourself in Azure’s environment, experimenting with features, and working on sandbox projects can dramatically improve your problem-solving agility.

Preparing Strategically: Resources and Roadmaps

The cornerstone of any successful certification journey is a sound preparation strategy. Given the multidimensional nature of the AZ-104, a single study method seldom suffices. Here are several refined approaches to amplify your readiness:

1. Leveraging Microsoft Learn

Microsoft Learn remains a preeminent resource for candidates. Their AZ-104 learning path offers modular, scenario-driven instruction tailored for diverse learning styles. This digital curriculum encapsulates over 30 hours of content, from provisioning Azure subscriptions to implementing recovery strategies. What sets Microsoft Learn apart is its interactive structure—each module pairs textual guides with lab simulations that mimic authentic Azure environments.

2. Real-World Practice

Theory without application quickly fades. Establishing a free-tier Azure account allows aspirants to immerse themselves in live environments. Deploying virtual machines, configuring load balancers, or adjusting identity roles firsthand helps solidify complex concepts. This tactile familiarity often serves as the differentiating factor between candidates who pass and those who fall short.

3. Mock Exams and Knowledge Checks

Simulated exams offer more than just practice—they reflect your ability to operate under timed pressure. Quality mock tests emulate the format, complexity, and pacing of the actual AZ-104. Through repeated attempts, learners can identify weak spots, track improvement, and develop strategies for managing time across sections.

4. Online Forums and Study Groups

Collaboration fosters deeper understanding. By joining communities focused on Azure certification—whether Reddit threads, LinkedIn groups, or Azure-focused Discord servers—you gain access to nuanced discussions, unique use cases, and clarification on ambiguous topics. Learning becomes more dynamic when it’s dialogical rather than monologic.

Mapping Out a Study Timeline

Success in the AZ-104 hinges on consistency. Design a study schedule that factors in both conceptual learning and hands-on experimentation. For example:

Week 1-2: Focus on identity services and role-based access controls
Week 3-4: Delve into storage configuration, blob lifecycle policies, and secure access
Week 5-6: Concentrate on compute resources, deployment automation, and scaling strategies
Week 7-8: Master networking concepts, from route tables to peering solutions
Week 9-10: Wrap up with monitoring, backup, and practice exams

This structured approach not only prevents burnout but also allows cumulative knowledge reinforcement.

Evolving with Azure: Staying Current Amid Change

Azure, by nature, is a dynamic platform. Microsoft regularly introduces new features, modifies interfaces, and deprecates older services. As such, relying on outdated study materials can hinder progress. Always verify the publication dates of your resources and cross-reference with Microsoft’s official documentation.

Moreover, candidates are encouraged to subscribe to Azure update feeds and product blogs. These sources offer timely insights into platform changes that may influence exam content or administrative practices.

Embark on the Path with Purpose

Earning the AZ-104 certification is not a trivial pursuit—it is a transformative experience that strengthens your command over one of the most powerful cloud ecosystems in the world. This initial installment of our in-depth series has established a foundational understanding of the exam’s scope, structure, and expectations. With dedication, methodical preparation, and a penchant for exploration, you are well on your way to achieving certification success.

Advancing Beyond the Basics

With a strong foundation laid in Part 1, it’s time to elevate your understanding of the AZ-104 exam by examining advanced scenarios and configurations that Azure administrators frequently encounter. This segment deepens your grasp of the most nuanced areas of Azure administration and introduces best practices to ensure you’re equipped not only to pass the exam but also to thrive in a production environment.

Identity and Access Mastery: Navigating Role Complexity

Azure’s identity and governance framework is vast, with Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) at its heart. The deeper intricacies involve the subtle differences between roles like Owner, Contributor, and User Access Administrator. Knowing when to apply built-in roles versus custom ones can determine your access strategy’s efficacy.

For instance, a common scenario involves delegating virtual machine operations to junior admins while restricting their access to network configurations. This requires the creation of a custom role scoped only to the virtual machine resource group. Moreover, managing Azure AD Conditional Access Policies for multifactor authentication adds another layer of security that you must configure meticulously.

Mastering the concept of Azure AD Privileged Identity Management (PIM) also plays a key role in minimizing standing access while enabling time-limited administrative privileges. This minimizes exposure and is especially important in environments concerned with regulatory compliance and least-privilege models.

Virtual Network Architectures: From Simplicity to Sophistication

Designing resilient and scalable network topologies is another pivotal component of the AZ-104. At the intermediate and advanced levels, you’ll encounter virtual network peering across regions, use of service endpoints, and configuration of private endpoints to secure backend services.

Let’s consider a company operating in multi-region deployments requiring high availability. Configuring hub-and-spoke topology ensures centralized control while facilitating efficient cross-region traffic. Integrating Network Virtual Appliances (NVAs) into these architectures adds further complexity, necessitating route table manipulation and User Defined Routes (UDRs).

In practice, candidates should be comfortable configuring ExpressRoute for on-prem connectivity and setting up site-to-site VPNs while managing route propagation rules. You may be presented with scenarios requiring the diagnosis of packet drops, misrouted traffic, or subnet segmentation errors—each requiring clear logic and an astute grasp of Azure networking fundamentals.

Storage Scenarios: From Redundancy to Retention

Storage management in the real world extends beyond creating a blob container. A nuanced understanding of replication strategies such as Locally Redundant Storage (LRS), Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS), and Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage (GZRS) is paramount. Each model serves different performance, availability, and compliance objectives.

Imagine managing a workload with strict regulatory demands requiring geo-failover and point-in-time restore capabilities. In such cases, configuring Azure Backup vaults with GZRS replication and setting retention rules becomes indispensable. You’ll also be expected to optimize storage access tiers between hot, cool, and archive for both cost control and performance.

On the security side, enabling advanced threat protection for storage accounts, along with configuring private endpoints and Shared Access Signatures (SAS), highlights your ability to safeguard data against unauthorized access and exfiltration.

Compute Case Studies: Scaling and Automation

Compute services require more than VM deployment basics. Candidates must demonstrate skills in configuring availability sets and zones for high availability, automating deployments using ARM templates or Bicep, and managing VM scale sets.

A challenging scenario might present you with a web application that must scale during traffic spikes without manual intervention. Implementing autoscaling rules based on CPU utilization and memory thresholds—along with diagnostics using Azure Monitor—becomes the crux of the solution. You must also factor in startup tasks, custom script extensions, and managed identities for VM-level authentication.

For even deeper insight, configuration management via Azure Automation State Configuration or integrating VM workloads with Azure Arc brings clarity to hybrid scenarios often tested in modern environments.

Monitoring Mastery: Operational Visibility and Alerts

Effective Azure administration hinges on actionable insights derived from monitoring solutions. Azure Monitor, Application Insights, and Log Analytics together form the trifecta of observability.

Expect to address case studies involving detection of anomalies in web app performance, latency issues in virtual networks, or capacity bottlenecks in storage accounts. Crafting dynamic alert rules, configuring diagnostic settings, and interpreting query results from Log Analytics Workspace are all expected skills.

You might also be tested on configuring Action Groups that send alerts to SMS, email, and automation runbooks—creating a cohesive incident response workflow that improves operational resilience.

The Journey from Intermediate to Expert

This second installment in our comprehensive AZ-104 guide has peeled back the layers of Azure administration, focusing on the nuanced, real-world applications that separate mere certification from genuine mastery. These complex scenarios form the core of your competence and confidence in managing enterprise-grade Azure environments.

The Final Stretch Toward Certification Mastery

With your command over identity, networking, compute, and monitoring now solidified, this third installment shifts focus to the high-impact techniques that will bridge your knowledge to real-world decision-making. As you approach the AZ-104 exam, your ability to analyze, troubleshoot, and architect under pressure becomes paramount. In this section, we’ll dissect the most challenging scenarios from previous candidates, explore hybrid environments, and detail strategies for maximizing your score through precision, pattern recognition, and performance under constraint.

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery: Real-World Resilience

Designing resilient solutions is no longer just a best practice—it’s a necessity. The AZ-104 expects you to not only know how to configure backup and replication, but also understand their purpose and limitations in disaster recovery planning.

You’ll face case studies involving Azure Site Recovery (ASR), where an organization must replicate on-prem virtual machines to Azure for business continuity. Knowing how to enable replication, monitor health, and failover without data loss is crucial. Likewise, configuring Azure Backup vaults with retention rules and soft delete protects organizations from both accidental deletions and malicious threats like ransomware.

Equally important is your grasp of Recovery Services Vaults versus Backup Vaults, as Microsoft transitions to the new vault model. Questions may probe your ability to recover files from a previous backup, test ARM template compatibility with backup policies, or restore a full system image to a different region.

Hybrid Infrastructure: Embracing the Mixed Reality

Azure’s hybrid capabilities form a critical part of the AZ-104 exam, particularly as enterprises blend on-prem environments with cloud-first models. Services like Azure Arc, Azure Stack, and hybrid connectors such as ExpressRoute or VPN Gateways are tested in deeply layered ways.

You may be given a scenario where an organization uses Azure Arc to manage non-Azure Kubernetes clusters or SQL servers. Your ability to onboard and monitor these Arc-enabled resources, apply policy compliance, and use Azure Monitor to surface telemetry becomes a test of both configuration knowledge and operational insight.

Another advanced scenario might involve synchronizing on-prem AD with Azure AD using Azure AD Connect. Here, understanding staging mode, attribute filtering, and password hash sync versus passthrough authentication will be instrumental in choosing the right sync strategy. Expect questions that test your ability to diagnose sync failures or transition from a hybrid identity model to cloud-only without data loss.

Security Scenarios: Guarding the Azure Perimeter

Azure security isn’t just about setting up firewalls—it’s about enforcing zero trust, auditing proactively, and anticipating breaches before they occur. The AZ-104 exam features deeply contextual scenarios involving Azure Defender (Microsoft Defender for Cloud), Azure Policy, and Key Vault.

You’ll encounter case studies requiring you to secure secrets used by web apps via Azure Key Vault, using access policies or RBAC depending on context. You may need to diagnose access denials due to misconfigured identity settings, or enforce that all new VMs deploy with endpoint protection extensions enabled via Azure Policy.

Advanced questions also test your ability to interpret Secure Score, identify which recommendations to prioritize, and implement Just-in-Time (JIT) VM access through Microsoft Defender for Cloud. At this level, familiarity with custom initiatives, compliance dashboards, and integration with Microsoft Sentinel may offer a scoring edge.

Governance and Cost Control: Strategies for Optimization

At the heart of enterprise-scale Azure administration lies governance and cost efficiency. This domain covers Azure Blueprints, Management Groups, tagging strategies, and budgeting.

You might face a scenario where an enterprise needs to enforce naming conventions or ensure all storage accounts use GRS replication. Azure Policy initiatives can be crafted and assigned at the management group level to ensure enterprise-wide governance. Understanding the precedence and inheritance of policy assignments can make or break your solution.

Additionally, interpreting cost reports via Cost Management + Billing and setting up alerts on budgets ensures that teams stay within financial targets. Candidates are often asked to identify cost anomalies, troubleshoot overages, or project future spending based on current usage patterns.

Mock Scenario Walkthrough: Sample Case Analysis

Let’s walk through a high-level mock scenario resembling AZ-104 complexity:

Scenario:
An international media company runs multiple workloads across three Azure regions. Their architecture includes:

Azure VMs behind load balancers
Blob storage used for archived content
SQL Managed Instances for backend databases
Users accessing resources via Azure AD B2B collaboration
Daily backups configured to a Recovery Services Vault

Your tasks:

Configure conditional access for guest users to allow access only during business hours.
Set autoscaling on the load-balanced VMs to adjust for traffic surges.
Create a storage lifecycle policy to transition unused blobs to archive after 90 days.
Restrict SQL traffic to internal resources only using private endpoints.
Recover a deleted backup item from soft delete.

Skills Tested:

Understanding of Azure AD Conditional Access
Mastery over VM scale sets and metric-based scaling
Storage lifecycle policies
Network security and private endpoints
Backup and recovery workflows

Working through scenarios like this enhances your ability to think beyond theory and act as a solution architect.

Final Exam Preparation Strategy: How to Think Like a Pro

The AZ-104 exam doesn’t just test recall—it evaluates real-world thinking. Follow these techniques in your final prep:

Pattern Recognition: Identify recurring design patterns across networking, identity, and storage. This reduces cognitive load during the exam.
Exam-Style Labs: Use Azure’s sandbox labs or tools like Microsoft Learn’s interactive environments. Time yourself and work without notes.
Error Hunting: Deliberately misconfigure a resource in a lab, then resolve the issue. This builds troubleshooting instincts.
Mind Maps: Create visual summaries for each domain—monitoring, governance, identity, networking. These snapshots are gold for last-minute review.
Practice Tests: Use high-quality mock tests from trusted providers. Focus less on the score and more on why an answer is correct or incorrect.

Excellence Within Reach

This final content chapter of our AZ-104 series arms you with the expertise needed to move confidently from preparation to certification. By mastering real-world use cases, hybrid topologies, governance principles, and advanced security workflows, you position yourself not only to succeed in the exam but to lead Azure operations in your organization.

In the upcoming fourth and final part, we’ll provide a curated, week-by-week study plan, along with recommended resources, daily routines, and strategic review cycles to ensure you’re peaking at just the right time for test day. Until then, keep practicing, keep iterating—and let your expertise in the Azure cloud become second nature.

Azure Network Watcher and Traffic Insights

Azure Network Watcher is a powerful diagnostic toolset that enables administrators to monitor, diagnose, and gain visibility into the network behavior of their Azure resources. It provides capabilities such as connection troubleshooting, IP flow verification, packet capture, and Network Security Group (NSG) flow logs. These tools are particularly useful when debugging issues like unreachable services or latency spikes. The IP flow verify tool helps in checking if traffic is allowed or denied by NSG rules.

Additionally, NSG flow logs can be used to visualize inbound and outbound traffic patterns, allowing granular control and enhanced security analytics. When operating at scale across multiple VNets and regions, Network Watcher ensures centralized observability and plays a critical role in maintaining the integrity of the virtual infrastructure.

ExpressRoute vs VPN Gateway: Strategic Use Cases

ExpressRoute and VPN Gateway offer distinct paths for secure hybrid connectivity between on-premises networks and Azure, each with its own ideal use cases. ExpressRoute establishes a private, dedicated connection via a connectivity provider, delivering higher reliability, lower latency, and guaranteed bandwidth, making it ideal for mission-critical, compliance-bound workloads.

Conversely, VPN Gateway uses IPSec tunnels over the public internet to connect on-premises networks to Azure virtual networks—suitable for smaller-scale deployments or as a cost-effective backup solution. While VPNs are easier and quicker to configure, ExpressRoute ensures better performance for data-intensive applications. Strategically, many enterprises implement both for redundancy—using VPN for initial failover and ExpressRoute for primary operations, allowing a layered connectivity approach based on operational importance and budget.

Accelerated Networking for High-Performance VMs

Accelerated Networking is an advanced Azure feature that significantly enhances the performance of virtual machines by reducing network latency, improving throughput, and lowering CPU utilization. It accomplishes this by offloading network processing from the virtual machine’s CPU to a dedicated hardware-based NIC (Network Interface Card). This results in fewer jitter-induced disruptions and improved packet handling, especially beneficial in high-traffic scenarios such as backend APIs, real-time processing, and database synchronization.

Only certain VM sizes and operating systems support Accelerated Networking, and it must be enabled at the time of VM creation or by deallocating and reconfiguring existing machines. When properly configured, this feature can lead to significant performance gains and cost efficiencies in production-grade deployments with stringent network requirements.

Custom DNS and Name Resolution Strategies

Azure allows for the use of both default and custom DNS servers within a virtual network. While the default Azure-provided DNS works well for basic scenarios, complex enterprise environments benefit greatly from custom DNS setups. These allow integration with existing on-premises Active Directory domains, support for internal-only name resolution, and enhanced control over zone delegation.

By configuring custom DNS at the VNet level, all resources within that network can inherit consistent name resolution policies. This is particularly useful in hybrid cloud environments where seamless resolution of internal hostnames is essential. However, administrators must also consider recursion, conditional forwarding, and DNS failover strategies to maintain resolution performance and redundancy. Properly architected DNS design is pivotal to both identity resolution and service discovery.

Private Link and Endpoint Security

Azure Private Link offers a secure, scalable method to access Azure PaaS services like Storage, SQL Database, or custom services within your own VNet, eliminating the need to traverse the public internet. This ensures data remains within the Azure backbone network, aligning with zero-trust security principles and compliance mandates. When you configure a Private Endpoint, it assigns a private IP address from your VNet to the Azure resource, effectively extending it into your trusted network.

Combined with DNS integration and network security groups, Private Link reduces exposure to attacks like data exfiltration and man-in-the-middle attempts. For sensitive applications in healthcare, finance, or government sectors, this approach significantly strengthens perimeter security while ensuring minimal changes to application architecture.

Application Gateway and Web Application Firewall Integration

Azure Application Gateway acts as a Layer 7 load balancer, offering intelligent routing based on URL paths, session affinity, and SSL termination. When integrated with Web Application Firewall (WAF), it not only balances traffic but also protects web applications from common threats like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and remote file inclusion. WAF comes with pre-configured rulesets based on OWASP standards, which can be customized for specific application behaviors.

The combined solution is highly scalable and supports autoscaling, zone redundancy, and end-to-end SSL. Application Gateway with WAF is ideal for enterprises hosting externally accessible applications such as portals, APIs, or e-commerce platforms. Its diagnostic logs and integration with Azure Monitor provide actionable insights for traffic patterns and potential vulnerabilities.

Multi-Region High Availability Strategies

Designing for high availability in Azure necessitates thoughtful multi-region deployment strategies. By leveraging region-paired datacenters, administrators can ensure resilience against large-scale outages. Core services such as Azure SQL Database, Storage, and App Services support geo-redundant options, allowing synchronous or asynchronous data replication across regions.

For load balancing, Azure Front Door or Traffic Manager can distribute client requests globally, ensuring users are directed to the healthiest, closest endpoint. Virtual Machine Scale Sets can also be deployed across availability zones for redundancy. Moreover, a well-architected solution incorporates health probes, automated failover, and consistent configuration through Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC). This multilayered approach ensures business continuity and regulatory compliance, particularly critical for industries where uptime is non-negotiable.

Conclusion:

Completing this comprehensive four-part AZ-104 guide is more than a milestone—it marks a transformative shift in your technical acumen. From the foundational groundwork in identity and governance to the nuanced complexities of high-availability design, hybrid connectivity, security, and cost control, you’ve now journeyed through every cornerstone of what it truly means to be a Microsoft Azure Administrator.

This guide didn’t just present information—it walked you through layered, practical use cases grounded in real-world dynamics. We tackled VM provisioning and role-based access with the same rigor as scenario-based problem-solving for backup recovery and secure hybrid access. Each part was crafted not just to help you pass the AZ-104 exam, but to prepare you for the real, evolving landscape of cloud administration.

You now possess a tactical understanding of:

Azure Identity Services, including Azure AD, Conditional Access, and RBAC
Compute and Network Architecture, with deep dives into VMs, scale sets, load balancing, and hybrid connectivity
Storage and Monitoring, where diagnostics, metrics, and recovery plans converge
Security and Governance, bridging Azure Policy, Defender for Cloud, Key Vault, and compliance frameworks
Operational Excellence, from cost analysis and budgeting to best practices in automation and deployment

But the true value lies beyond the certification. Passing AZ-104 is your proof of discipline, technical depth, and commitment to staying ahead in a cloud-first world. It’s a key that opens doors to advanced certifications, cloud architect roles, and leadership positions in enterprise environments.

As you stand on the brink of the exam, remember: confidence comes from consistency. Revisit your weak areas, lab daily—even briefly—and practice interpreting scenarios holistically. Treat each question not as a challenge to answer, but as a blueprint for real-world execution.

In a world increasingly shaped by cloud transformation, your journey through this AZ-104 preparation doesn’t end at the testing center. It’s a launchpad—one that equips you to architect, administer, and elevate cloud solutions that are secure, scalable, and resilient.