Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-104) Study Guide

Step 1: Learn the exam facts

AZ-104 is a proctored exam of about 100 minutes with a passing score of 700 out of 1000. Microsoft's pages do not state a question count, and the exam can include case studies and interactive tasks. Pricing depends on your country. The certification renews every 12 months, and renewal is free through an online assessment on Microsoft Learn, which you can take in the six months before expiry.

Step 2: Study by skills measured

The five areas are weighted fairly evenly, so you cannot skip any of them. Identities, governance, and compute are the heaviest.

Skill area                                     Weight
Manage Azure identities and governance         20-25%
Implement and manage storage                   15-20%
Deploy and manage Azure compute resources      20-25%
Implement and manage virtual networking        15-20%
Monitor and maintain Azure resources           10-15%

Step 3: Practice identities and governance

Create users and groups in Microsoft Entra ID, assign roles with Azure role-based access control at different scopes, and apply Azure Policy and resource locks. Organize subscriptions with management groups and use tags and cost management. Understand the difference between Entra roles and Azure roles, which is a common exam trap.

Step 4: Practice storage, compute, and networking

Create storage accounts, set redundancy, configure blob lifecycle rules and shared access signatures, and work with Azure Files. For compute, deploy virtual machines and scale sets, use templates or Bicep, and configure App Service and containers. For networking, build virtual networks and subnets, peering, network security groups, Azure DNS, load balancing, and understand private endpoints. Doing each task once in the portal and once with the CLI or PowerShell makes the knowledge stick.

# Azure CLI: create a resource group and a storage account (lab use)
az group create --name rg-lab --location eastus
az storage account create --name <unique-name> --resource-group rg-lab --sku Standard_LRS

# clean up when finished
az group delete --name rg-lab --yes

Step 5: Practice monitoring and backup

Use Azure Monitor metrics, logs, alerts, and Log Analytics queries. Configure backup and recovery with Azure Backup and understand Site Recovery at a conceptual level. Know how to read Activity Logs to find who changed a resource.

Step 6: Prepare and renew

Use Microsoft Learn's AZ-104 learning paths and the free practice assessment, and do the labs. Watch the study guide's change log, because Microsoft adjusts skills periodically. After passing, set a calendar reminder to renew with the free assessment every year, so the credential never lapses.