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:
Item
Current Microsoft signal
Exam time
100 minutes
Delivery
Proctored
Question experience
May include interactive components
Practice tools
Practice Assessment and Exam Sandbox are both available
Renewal model
Annual renewal through a free online assessment on Microsoft Learn
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.