AZ-104 Azure Administrator: Full Preparation Blueprint

AZ-104 replaced AZ-103 back in 2020 and it's been the single most valuable Azure associate exam ever since. Real hands-on labs (Microsoft calls them Case Studies), 40–60 questions, 100 minutes. USD 165. And a pass mark of 700 that is deceivingly hard to hit if you haven't drilled the networking and identity domains. Here's what actually works.

§Exam domain breakdown

§The 8-week plan

• Week 1: Entra ID (formerly AAD) - users, groups, MFA, Conditional Access, RBAC
• Week 2: Governance - subscriptions, management groups, Azure Policy, Blueprints
• Week 3: Storage - accounts, redundancy (LRS/ZRS/GRS/RA-GRS), Blob tiers, lifecycle
• Week 4: Compute - VMs, availability sets vs zones, VMSS, disk encryption
• Week 5: Networking part 1 - VNets, subnets, peering, service endpoints, private endpoints
• Week 6: Networking part 2 - VPN Gateway, ExpressRoute, Application Gateway, Load Balancer, DNS
• Week 7: Monitoring - Log Analytics, Azure Monitor, KQL basics, alerts, Backup + Site Recovery
• Week 8: 4 full practice exams. Weak-area lab drills. Book only when hitting 85%+.

§Free Azure lab setup

Microsoft gives new accounts USD 200 in credit for 30 days plus 12 months of free tier. That's enough for AZ-104 practice if you're disciplined. Rules that keep you inside free tier:

• Use B1s or B2s VMs only - the free-tier eligible sizes
• Deallocate (stop + release IP) VMs when not in use - a running B2s burns credit fast
• Keep total storage under 5 GB and use Standard HDD
• Set a spending alert at USD 20 in Cost Management immediately after account creation

§KQL: the hidden skill AZ-104 candidates skip

Log Analytics questions expect you to read a simple KQL query and predict output. Learn these operators cold: where, project, summarize, extend, take, top. Practice with the demo workspace at portal.azure.com/#blade/Microsoft_Azure_Monitoring_Logs/DemoLogsBlade.

§Networking is where the exam is won or lost

If you can't diagram NSG rule evaluation order and predict whether a packet reaches a VM, you'll lose 10 questions. NSGs evaluate rules by priority ascending (lower number = higher priority), stop at first match. Inbound and outbound are separate rule sets. Application security groups and service tags override IP-based rules when used.

§Salary impact of AZ-104

§Best study resources

• John Savill's AZ-104 Master Class on YouTube - free, ~40 hours, gold standard
• Scott Duffy's AZ-104 course on Udemy - pay during a USD 12.99 sale
• Microsoft Learn AZ-104 learning path - free, comprehensive, with sandboxes
• MeasureUp AZ-104 practice tests - paid, closest to real exam
• Whizlabs practice tests - cheaper alternative, slightly easier than real

§FAQ

How hard is AZ-104?

Moderate. Harder than AZ-900 by a wide margin. Comparable to AWS SAA-C03.

Do I need PowerShell or CLI to pass?

Yes at a read-and-understand level. You won't write scripts, but you'll see them in questions.

How long is AZ-104 valid?

1 year (updated policy). Renewal is a free online assessment on Microsoft Learn.

Should I take AZ-900 before AZ-104?

Not required. Skip if you have any Azure exposure. Recommended only for absolute beginners.