Exam Topics

The Microsoft AZ-104 exam measures the specific skills and knowledge areas to prove that you are worth the certificate. Therefore, you must review all the topics of the test and select resources that will help you gain mastery of the skills that will be evaluated in it. The highlights of the domains are as follows:

• Manage & Deploy Azure Compute Resources: 25-30%

  This domain requires that the test takers possess the relevant skills in configuring virtual machines for scalability and high availability. It is required to have the expertise in automating the configuration and deployment of virtual machines as well as creating and configuring virtual machines. It also requires competence in creating and configuring containers and Web Apps.

• Manage & Implement Storage: 10-15%

  The questions from this subject area will measure the ability of the candidates to manage data within Azure storage and storage accounts. They should have the skills in exporting from and importing into the Azure job, installing and using Azure Storage Explorer, and copying data with AZCopy. It will also evaluate their expertise required to configure Azure blob storage and Azure Files. The individuals must be ready to demonstrate their knowledge of how to configure Azure blob storage, object replication, and blob lifecycle management.

• Manage Azure Identities & Governance: 15-20%

  This topic requires that the individuals develop competence in managing the Azure AD objects and role-based access control. It also requires that they gain mastery of the skills required to manage governance and subscriptions. The learners should be able to configure resource locks, Azure policies, Cost Management, and Management groups. They also need the ability to manage subscriptions and resource groups.

• Back up & Monitor Azure Resources: 10-15%

  This part requires that the learners have the expertise in monitoring resources with the use of Azure Monitor. They also need to understand how to implement recovery and backup. This includes their skills in reviewing and configuring backup reports as well as creating and configuring backup policy and Recovery Service Vault.

• Manage & Configure Virtual Networking: 30-35%

  The potential candidates for the AZ-104 exam must demonstrate their ability to manage and implement virtual networking and name resolution. They should also have competence in securing access to VNs and configuring load balancing. This section will also measure their skills in troubleshooting and monitoring virtual networks as well as integrating on-premises networks with Azure virtual networks.

Reliable Preparation Resources

The Microsoft Learn portal, Microsoft Documentation, and Microsoft Official Courseware (MOC) are the most dependable self-learning resources that any Microsoft AZ-104 candidate can bank upon. Besides, there are free online and paid instructor-led training options that one can take up to gain mastery over the exam syllabus.

The self-paced learning approach contains six major parts that cover the main prerequisites for Azure administrators and provide information about all the domains mentioned above. For those preferring guidance, there are Course AZ-104T00-A: Microsoft Azure Administrator and Course AZ-010T00-A: Azure Administration for AWS SysOpsare. These are two instructor-led options that last for four and two days, respectively.

Also, one can make use of the “Exam Ref AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator” by Harshul Patel. This is one of the most result-oriented and informative self-study materials. Utilizing it is a great way to know the subject matter in-depth and pass all the exam hurdles easily. Apart from offering theory regarding the topics, the book also helps to improve decision-making skills as well as critical thinking.

Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/az-104