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.

RBAC: Role-based access control for Azure resource actions at management-group, subscription, resource-group, or resource scope.

SSPR: Self-service password reset for Microsoft Entra users.

SAS: Shared Access Signature, which delegates time-limited access to storage data.

ACR: Azure Container Registry for storing and distributing container images.

Current exam facts

As of March 28, 2026, Microsoft’s certification page says AZ-104:

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.

Coverage map against the current study guide

Microsoft’s current live study guide lists the objective version as of April 17, 2026. This guide maps to that scope directly:

• Manage Azure identities and governance: Identities & Governance, 1.1 Users, Groups & SSPR, 1.2 Azure RBAC & Scope, and 1.3 Policy, Tags, Locks & Cost
• Implement and manage storage: Storage, 2.1 Design, Redundancy & Encryption, 2.2 Access, SAS & Private Connectivity, and 2.3 Azure Files, Blob Lifecycle & Recovery
• Deploy and manage Azure compute resources: Compute, 3.1 ARM, Bicep & Deployments, 3.2 VMs, Disks & Scale Sets, 3.3 Containers & ACR, and 3.4 App Service Plans, TLS & Slots
• Implement and manage virtual networking: Virtual Networking, 4.1 VNets, Peering & Routing, 4.2 Secure Private Access, and 4.3 Azure DNS & Load Balancing
• Monitor and maintain Azure resources: Monitoring & Recovery, 5.1 Monitor, Insights & Alerts, and 5.2 Backup, Recovery & Network Watcher

The appendix-style pages support those domains instead of replacing them. Use the study plan to sequence the material, the resources page to jump to Microsoft Learn and product docs, the cheat sheet for compressed review, and the FAQ for current exam logistics.

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, SAS, and Private Connectivity for AZ-104
    Understand SAS, stored access policies, keys, storage firewalls, Azure Files identity-based access, and private connectivity for AZ-104.
  • Configure Azure Files, Blob Lifecycle, and Recovery Features for AZ-104
    Understand containers, file shares, tiers, lifecycle rules, versioning, soft delete, and snapshots for AZ-104 storage administration.
• 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 Container Registries and Containers for AZ-104
    Understand Azure Container Registry, Container Instances, Container Apps, and container sizing and scaling for AZ-104.
  • Create and Configure Azure App Service for AZ-104
    Understand App Service plans, scaling, TLS, custom domains, backups, networking settings, and deployment slots 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.