AZ-104 is the Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate exam. It is the first hands-on Azure cert after AZ-900: identities, storage, compute, virtual networking, and monitoring.
Start practicing: Free AZ-104 practice questions → — 300+ questions across all skills areas.
If you have not taken a fundamentals exam, read AZ-900 study guide first. AZ-104 assumes you can already name Azure regions, resource groups, and the shared responsibility model.
Exam overview
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Exam code | AZ-104 |
| Credential | Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate |
| Questions | ~40–60 (plus possible labs / case items) |
| Duration | ~120 minutes |
| Passing score | 700 / 1000 |
| Cost | ~$165 USD |
| Prerequisites | None official; 6+ months of Azure admin work is realistic |
| Renewal | Annual free Microsoft Learn assessment |
Official skills: AZ-104 study guide.
Skills measured
Weights move when Microsoft refreshes the outline. Study all five areas; do not skip networking or identities.
1. Manage Azure identities and governance
Microsoft Entra ID (users, groups, roles), subscriptions, RBAC vs Entra roles, Azure Policy, resource locks, tags, management groups.
2. Implement and manage storage
Storage accounts, redundancy (LRS/ZRS/GRS), blob tiers, file shares, Azure Files vs Blob, SAS vs access keys vs Entra auth, lifecycle management, encryption.
3. Deploy and manage Azure compute resources
VMs (size, disks, availability zones/sets), VM Scale Sets, Azure App Service, containers (Container Instances / Container Apps at admin level), ARM/Bicep or portal + CLI.
4. Implement and manage virtual networking
VNets, subnets, NSGs, Azure DNS, peering, VPN Gateway vs ExpressRoute at a decision level, load balancing (Azure Load Balancer vs App Gateway), private endpoints.
5. Monitor and maintain Azure resources
Azure Monitor, metrics vs logs, alerts, Application Insights (recognition), Backup, Site Recovery at a high level, cost analysis.
6-week study plan
| Week | Focus | Lab |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Entra ID, RBAC, Policy, management groups | Create users, custom RBAC, policy assignment |
| 2 | Storage accounts, blobs, files, SAS | Lifecycle rule + private endpoint |
| 3 | VMs, disks, availability, App Service | Deploy VM + scale set |
| 4 | VNets, NSGs, peering, load balancers | Hub-spoke peering lab |
| 5 | Monitor, Backup, cost | Metric alert + Recovery Services vault |
| 6 | 300+ questions + 2 timed exams | Weak-domain labs only |
Total time: 60–90 hours including labs. Reading without a subscription (or sandbox) is the most common fail pattern.
AZ-104 vs AZ-305 vs AZ-900
| Cert | Role |
|---|---|
| AZ-900 | Cloud literacy — take it if you are new |
| AZ-104 | Day-2 administration — this exam |
| AZ-305 | Architect design — take it after AZ-104 (or equivalent job experience) |
Azure family map: Azure certification roadmap 2026.
Resources on CertStud
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