The Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-104) validates that you can manage identities, governance, storage, compute and networking in Azure day to day. It is hands-on in spirit, so the fastest way to prepare is to do the tasks in a free Azure account rather than only reading. This guide is study guidance only, with no real or simulated exam questions.
The five skill areas, and how to study each
1. Manage Azure identities and governance (20–25%)
Microsoft Entra ID (users, groups), role-based access control (RBAC), subscriptions and management groups, and Azure Policy. This scopes everything else, so start here.
2. Implement and manage storage (15–20%)
Storage accounts, blob and file storage, access tiers (hot, cool, archive), redundancy (LRS, ZRS, GRS), and securing access with keys, SAS and identities.
3. Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (20–25%)
Virtual machines and scale sets, availability options, App Service, and containers. Know how to size, secure and scale compute.
4. Configure and manage virtual networking (15–20%)
VNets and subnets, network security groups, peering, VPN and ExpressRoute, load balancing and DNS. This is the densest area — give it extra time.
5. Monitor and maintain Azure resources (10–15%)
Azure Monitor, alerts and Log Analytics, plus backup and recovery. Smaller, but easy marks once you know the tools.
How to prepare
Use a free Azure account and Microsoft Learn’s free modules, and practise both the portal and the CLI/PowerShell. Networking and governance are the highest-value areas. Avoid “exam dump” sites — they breach Microsoft policy and copyright.