Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-104)

This section targets Microsoft Azure Administrator AZ-104, the operations-heavy Azure exam for identity, access control, storage, compute, networking, monitoring, backup, and day-two Azure operations. The guide is organized around the decisions administrators actually make under pressure: which scope to use, which control plane tool enforces the rule, which private-access pattern fits, and which monitoring or recovery action gives the fastest operational signal.

If you are building from scratch, start with the study plan and then work through Identities & Governance, Storage, Compute, Virtual Networking, and Monitoring & Recovery. Use the cheat sheet for last-mile review, the glossary when terms blur together, the FAQ for exam logistics, and the resources page for Microsoft Learn and official certification references.

In this section

• AZ-104 Study Plan — A Practical 6-Week Path Through Azure Administration
  A practical AZ-104 study plan that sequences the guide, official Microsoft resources, labs, and mock practice into a manageable weekly flow.
• Manage Azure Identities and Governance for AZ-104
  Scope the Entra, RBAC, policy, tagging, subscription, and cost-control decisions that AZ-104 expects Azure administrators to make.
  • Manage Microsoft Entra Users, Groups, and SSPR for AZ-104
    Learn the user, group, licensing, guest-access, and self-service password reset decisions that matter for AZ-104.
  • Manage Azure RBAC and Scope for AZ-104
    Understand built-in roles, assignment scope, inherited access, and effective permissions for the Azure RBAC questions that appear on AZ-104.
  • Manage Policy, Tags, Locks, and Cost Control for AZ-104
    Learn how Azure Policy, tags, locks, management groups, subscriptions, and cost controls fit together for AZ-104 governance scenarios.
• Implement and Manage Storage for AZ-104
  Cover the storage-account, data-protection, private-access, and redundancy decisions that AZ-104 expects Azure administrators to make.
  • Configure Storage Account Design, Redundancy, and Encryption for AZ-104
    Choose storage account settings, replication options, encryption behavior, and supporting tools for AZ-104 storage design questions.
  • Configure Storage Access, Private Connectivity, and Data Protection for AZ-104
    Understand SAS, keys, storage firewalls, Azure Files access, blob lifecycle settings, versioning, and soft-delete behavior for AZ-104.
• Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources for AZ-104
  Build the deployment, VM, container, and App Service judgment that AZ-104 expects from Azure administrators.
  • Use ARM Templates and Bicep Deployment Workflows for AZ-104
    Read, modify, export, and deploy ARM templates and Bicep files with the level of fluency AZ-104 expects.
  • Manage Virtual Machines, Disks, and Scale Sets for AZ-104
    Learn the VM sizing, disk, resilience, migration, and scale-set choices that appear repeatedly on AZ-104.
  • Manage Containers and App Service for AZ-104
    Understand Azure Container Registry, Container Instances, Container Apps, and App Service administration for AZ-104.
• Implement and Manage Virtual Networking for AZ-104
  Learn the VNet, routing, private-access, DNS, and load-balancing choices that dominate AZ-104 networking questions.
  • Configure VNets, Subnets, Peering, Public IPs, and Routing for AZ-104
    Understand the core virtual network topology, peering, addressing, public-IP, and user-defined-route choices that AZ-104 tests.
  • Configure Secure Private Access Patterns for AZ-104
    Learn NSGs, ASGs, Bastion, service endpoints, private endpoints, and the DNS implications that matter on AZ-104.
  • Configure Azure DNS and Load Balancing for AZ-104
    Cover Azure DNS, internal versus public load balancers, health probes, and troubleshooting patterns relevant to AZ-104.
• Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources for AZ-104
  Focus on the monitoring, alerting, backup, failover, and operational-troubleshooting work that AZ-104 expects from Azure administrators.
  • Use Azure Monitor, Insights, and Alerting for AZ-104
    Learn the metrics, logs, alerting, and insights behaviors that matter most for AZ-104 operational scenarios.
  • Use Backup, Site Recovery, and Network Watcher for AZ-104
    Understand Azure Backup, Site Recovery, vault choices, failover, reporting, and Network Watcher troubleshooting for AZ-104.
• AZ-104 Cheatsheet — High-Yield Defaults, Tables, and Quick Commands
  Fast reference for Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-104): RBAC scopes, Policy vs Locks, storage redundancy & tiers, private access patterns, load-balancing choices, VM/VMSS tips, monitoring/KQL snippets, backup/restore gotchas.
• AZ-104 Glossary — Core Terms Azure Administrators Should Not Mix Up
  Quick definitions for the AZ-104 terms that candidates most often confuse across identity, storage, compute, networking, and monitoring.
• AZ-104 FAQ — Common Questions About the Azure Administrator Exam
  Answers to common questions about Microsoft Azure Administrator, including format, scoring, renewal, retakes, labs, and study strategy.