AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate Exam Study Guide

Microsoft certifications are continually evolving and upgrading to ensure that you are updated with today’s IT business standards. The AZ-104 exam leads to a Microsoft Azure Administrator associate certification.

When the AZ-103 test was retired at the end of August 2020, the AZ 104 was created to replace it. The exam included more computer, storage, and governance services. The AZ-104 certification emphasizes identity management and implementation by leveraging Azure AD for your organization’s hybrid or on-premise architecture, role-based Azure resource control, and management and subscription of various directories and user access.

The topics covered in this blog are:

• What is Azure Administrator Certification?
• Who Can Do This Certification?
• Benefits of AZ-104 Certification
• AZ-104 Exam Details
• AZ-104 Exam Skills Measured
• How to Register for Azure AZ 104 Exam
• Pre-requisites for AZ-104 Certification
• AZ 104 Study Guide
• AZ-104 Exam Retake Policy
• Conclusion
• FAQs

What is Azure Administrator Certification?

Microsoft AZ 104 for those who implement, manage and monitor identity, governance, storage, compute, and virtual networks in a cloud setting. The AZ-104 Microsoft azure administrator is responsible for provisioning, sizing, monitoring, and adjusting resources as needed.

Are you new to Azure Cloud? Do check out our blog post on the Microsoft Azure Certification Path and choose the best certification for you.

Who Can Do This Certification?

Following people can do this Azure AZ 104 certification:

• Individuals who sell or purchase Cloud-based solutions and services or who are involved with Cloud-based solutions and services in any way.
• People with a technical background should test their administrator-level understanding of Cloud services.
• The AZ-104 certification exam improves your abilities while also demonstrating them to potential employers, allowing you to stand out.

Benefits of AZ-104 Certification

There are many advantages of doing the Microsoft AZ-104 exam; some of them are mentioned below:

• AZ 104 exam helps to validate technical skills in Microsoft Azure, such as storage, networking, computation, security, and other Cloud operations.
• Microsoft AZ-104 is one of the highest-paying information-technology certifications in the world.
• It recognizes your knowledge, skills, and expertise on a global scale.
• If the company is looking for people who are familiar with Oracle Cloud, AWS, Azure, and other similar platforms, the chances of getting hired increase drastically.
• The demand for AZ-104 Microsoft Azure administrators is fast expanding as a result of the increased demand for it. Having a CV with this certification will provide you will give you an upper hand.
• Azure AZ 104 Certification leads to a significant increase in both career opportunities and remuneration.
• Nearly 70% of people believe that AZ-104 certification has increased their earnings, and 84 percent believe that certification has elevated their career prospects.
• Adding this AZ-104 exam qualification to your LinkedIn will improve your job profile and raise your chances of being chosen.

Check Out: Azure Data Factory Interview Questions

AZ-104 Exam Details

AZ-104 Exam Skills Measured

How to Register for Azure AZ 104 Exam

You can register for the Microsoft Azure Administrator Exam (AZ-104) by going to the Official Microsoft Page.

Pre-requisites for AZ-104 Certification

The azure AZ 104 Administrator Certification does not require any prior expertise. Students need to have a basic understanding of computer networking concepts, which you can pick up along the road. This certification will cover everything from basic, and you don’t need to worry about anything else.

AZ-104 Study Guide

Manage Azure identities and governance (15–20%)

Manage Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) objects

• Create users and groups
  • Add or delete users using Azure Active Directory
  • Create a basic group and add members using Azure AD
• Create administrative units
  • Administrative units in Azure Active Directory
  • Create or delete administrative units
• Manage user and group properties
  • Add or update a user’s profile information using Azure Active Directory
  • Edit your group information using Azure Active Directory
• Manage device settings
  • Manage device identities by using the Azure portal
• Perform bulk user updates
  • Active Directory Bulk User Modification
• Manage guest accounts
  • Add guest users to your directory in the Azure portal
• Configure Azure AD join
  • Join your work device to your work or school network
  • Configure hybrid Azure AD join
• Configure self-service password reset
  • Using Azure AD self-service password reset

Manage role-based access control (RBAC)

• Create a custom role
  • Tutorial: Create an Azure custom role using Azure PowerShell
• Provide access to Azure resources by assigning roles at different scopes
  • Azure Subscriptions
    • Introduction to Subscriptions & Accounts (Video)
    • Add or change Azure subscription administrators
  • Azure Resource groups
    • Assign Azure roles using the Azure portal
  • Azure Resources (VM, disk, etc.)
    • Grant a user access to Azure resources using the Azure portal
• Interpret access assignments
  • Understand Azure deny assignments

Manage subscriptions and governance

• Configure Azure policies
  • Create and manage policies to enforce compliance
• Configure resource locks
  • Lock resources to prevent unexpected changes
• Apply and manage tags on resources
  • Use tags to organize your Azure resources and management hierarchy
  • Resource Groups and Tagging (Video)
• Manage resource groups
  • Manage Azure resource groups by using the Azure portal
  • Move Resources
    • Move resources to a new resource group or subscription
  • Remove Resource Groups
    • Create and deploy ARM templates by using the Azure portal
• Manage subscriptions
• Manage costs
  • Create and manage Azure budgets
  • Azure Cost Management overview (Video)
• Configure management groups
  • Create a management group

Implement and manage storage (15–20%)

Secure storage

• Configure network access to storage accounts
  • Configure Azure Storage firewalls and virtual networks
• Create and configure storage accounts
  • Create a storage account
  • Manage storage account access keys
• Generate shared access signature (SAS) tokens
  • Grant limited access to Azure Storage resources using SAS
• Manage access keys
  • Manage storage account access keys
• Configure Azure AD authentication for a storage account
  • Acquire a token from Azure AD for authorizing client requests
• Configure access to Azure Files
  • Different ways to access files in Azure Files

Manage storage

• Export from Azure job
  • Export data from Azure Blob storage with Azure Import/Export
• Import into Azure job
  • Import data to Blob Storage with Azure Import/Export service
• Install and use Azure Storage Explorer
  • Get started with Storage Explorer
• Copy data by using AZCopy
  • Get started with AzCopy
• Implement Azure Storage replication
• Configure blob object replication
  • Object replication for block blobs
  • Configure object replication for block blobs

Configure Azure files and Azure Blob Storage

• Create an Azure file share
  • Create an Azure file share
• Create and configure Azure File Sync service
  • Deploy Azure File Sync
• Configure Azure Blob Storage
  • Upload, download, and list blobs with the Azure portal
• Configure storage tiers
  • Hot, Cool, and Archive access tiers for blob data
• Configure blob lifecycle management
  • Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management generally available
  • Azure Blob Storage Life-cycle Management

Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (20–25%)

Automate deployment of virtual machines (VMs) by using Azure Resource Manager templates

• Modify an Azure Resource Manager template
• Configure a virtual hard disk (VHD) template
  • Create a Windows VM from a specialized disk by using PowerShell
• Deploy from a template
  • Create a Windows virtual machine from a Resource Manager template
• Save a deployment as an Azure Resource Manager template
  • Download the template for a VM
• Deploy virtual machine extensions
  • Deploy virtual machine extensions with ARM templates

Configure VMs

• Configure Azure Disk Encryption
  • Create and encrypt a Windows virtual machine with the Azure portal
• Move VMs from one resource group to another
  • Move a Windows VM to another Azure subscription or resource group
• Manage VM sizes
  • Sizes for virtual machines in Azure
• Add data disks
  • Attach a data disk to a Windows VM with PowerShell
• Configure networking
  • Virtual networks and virtual machines in Azure
• Redeploy VMs
  • Redeploy Windows virtual machine to new Azure node
• Configure high availability
  • Create and deploy virtual machines in an availability set using Azure PowerShell
  • Azure High Availability (Availability Zone) Demo for VM (AZ-104)
• Deploy and configure virtual machine scale sets
  • Create a virtual machine scale set in the Azure portal

Create and configure containers

• Configure sizing and scaling for Azure Container Instances
  • Azure Container Image Sizes
  • Autoscaling Azure Container Instances with Azure Serverless
• Configure container groups for Azure Container Instances
  • Container groups in Azure Container Instances
    • Deploy a multi-container group using a Resource Manager template
    • Deploy a multi-container group using a YAML file
• Configure storage for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
  • Dynamically create and use a persistent volume with Azure disks in AKS
  • Manually create and use a volume with Azure disks in AKS
• Configure scaling for AKS
  • Scaling options for applications in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
  • Scale the node count in an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster
  • Scale applications in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
• Configure network connections for AKS
  • Network concepts for applications in AKS
  • Use kubenet networking in AKS
• Upgrade an AKS cluster
  • Upgrade an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster

Create and configure Azure App Service

• Create an App Service plan
  • Manage an App Service plan in Azure
• Configure scaling settings in an App Service plan
  • Scale up an app in Azure App Service
• Create an App Service
  • Deploy an ASP.NET web app
• Secure an App Service
  • Security in Azure App Service
• Configure custom domain names
  • Map an existing custom DNS name to Azure App Service
• Configure backup for an App Service
  • Back up your app in Azure
  • Configure a Backup for your Azure App Service and Database
• Configure networking settings
  • Integrate your app with an Azure virtual network
  • Set up Azure App Service access restrictions
• Configure deployment settings
  • Continuous deployment to Azure App Service
  • Local Git deployment to Azure App Service

Configure and manage virtual networking (25–30%)

Implement and manage virtual networking

• Create and configure virtual networks, including peering
  • Create a virtual network using the Azure portal
  • Azure VNET Peering Demo
• Configure private and public IP addresses
  • Create, change, or delete an Azure public IP address
  • Configure a private IP address for a VM using the Azure portal
• Configure user-defined network routes
  • Route network traffic with a route table using the Azure portal
• Implement subnets
  • Add, change, or delete a virtual network subnet
• Configure endpoints on subnets
  • Configure endpoints
• Configure private endpoints
  • What is a private endpoint?
  • Create a private endpoint by using the Azure portal
• Configure Azure DNS, including custom DNS settings and private or public DNS zones
  • Create an Azure DNS zone and record using the Azure portal
  • Create an Azure private DNS zone using the Azure portal
  • Use Azure DNS to provide custom domain settings

Secure access to virtual networks

• Create security rules
  • Work with security rules
• Associate a network security group (NSG) to a subnet or network interface
  • Associate/dissociate an NSG to/from a subnet/network interface
• Evaluate effective security rules
  • View effective security rules
• Implement Azure Firewall
  • Deploy and configure Azure Firewall using the Azure portal
• Implement Azure Bastion
  • Deploy Bastion using the Azure portal

Configure load balancing

• Configure Azure Application Gateway
  • Direct web traffic with Azure Application Gateway using Azure PowerShell
• Configure an internal or public load balancer
  • Create an internal load balancer to load balance VMs using the Azure portal
  • Create a public load balancer to load balance VMs using the Azure portal
• Troubleshoot load balancing
  • Troubleshoot Azure Load Balancer

Monitor and troubleshoot virtual networking

• Monitor on-premises connectivity
  • Monitoring On-Premise Active Directory via Azure AD Connect Health
• Configure and use Azure Monitor for Networks
  • Azure Monitor Network Insights
• Use Azure Network Watcher
  • Create an Azure Network Watcher instance
• Troubleshoot external networking
  • Troubleshooting: An Azure site-to-site VPN connection issues
• Troubleshoot virtual network connectivity
  • Diagnose communication problems using the Azure portal

Integrate an on-premises network with an Azure virtual network

• Create and configure Azure VPN Gateway
  • Create and manage a VPN gateway using Azure portal
• Create and configure Azure ExpressRoute
  • Create and modify an ExpressRoute circuit
• Configure Azure Virtual WAN
  • Connect a VPN Gateway (virtual network gateway) to Virtual WAN

Monitor and back up Azure resources (10–15%)

Monitor resources by using Azure Monitor

• Configure and interpret metrics
  • Azure Monitor Metrics overview
• Configure Azure Monitor logs
  • Azure Monitor Logs overview
• Query and analyze logs
  • Get started with log queries in Azure Monitor
  • Log Analytics tutorial
  • Log queries in Azure Monitor
• Set up alerts and actions
  • Create, view, and manage metric alerts using Azure Monitor
• Configure Application Insights
  • Azure Monitor Application Insights documentation

Implement backup and recovery

• Create a Recovery Services vault
  • Create and configure a Recovery Services vault
• Create and configure backup policy
  • az backup policy
• Perform backup and restore operations by using Azure Backup
  • Back up a virtual machine in Azure
  • How to restore Azure VM data in Azure portal
• Perform site-to-site recovery by using Azure Site Recovery
  • Prepare Azure resources for Hyper-V disaster recovery
• Configure and review backup reports
  • Configure Azure Backup reports

AZ-104 Exam Retake Policy

1. First and foremost, if a candidate fails the exam on the first attempt of the AZ-104 exam, he or she must wait 24 hours before retaking the exam.
2. If he or she fails on the second attempt of Azure AZ-104, they must wait 14 days before taking the exam again.

Note: In a given year, an applicant is allowed a maximum of five retakes.

Conclusion

After receiving comments on the AZ-100, AZ-101, and AZ-103 exams, Microsoft designed and released the AZ 104 exam. This new Azure AZ-104 exam aims to make it easier for you to become a successful Azure Administrator. Take the test if you want to advance your AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator profession. This certification will allow you to strengthen your abilities and demonstrate them to potential employers, allowing you to stand out from the crowd.

FAQs

Related/References

• Microsoft Azure Certification Study Guides
• AZ-104 Study Guide PDF
• DP-203 Exam Study Guide
• DP-100 Exam Study Guide
• PL-300 Exam Study Guide
• DP-300 Exam Study Guide
• AZ-500 Exam Study Guide