AZ-104 Exam Overview
What to Expect
The Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate exam costs $165 USD You'll face 50 questions in 100 minutes, giving you roughly 2 minutes per question. 0 to 1000 scale with a passing score of 700.
Prerequisites and Audience
No formal prerequisites, but Microsoft recommends at least six months of hands-on experience administering Azure resources. Understanding of networking, storage, compute, and identity fundamentals is assumed. IT administrators and cloud operations professionals who manage Azure subscriptions, identity, storage, compute, and virtual networks. This is the workhorse Azure certification for hands-on administrators.
Staying Certified
Valid for one year with free renewal via Microsoft Learn assessment.
AZ-104 What the Exam Tests
Covers identity and governance, storage, compute, and virtual networking. You need to know how to manage Azure AD (now Entra ID), configure virtual networks and load balancing, deploy and manage VMs and App Services, and implement storage solutions with proper access controls.
Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources
Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources at 24% is a substantial portion of the exam. You can't afford to be weak here. Focus on understanding the core concepts and common scenario patterns.
Manage Azure Identities and Governance
Manage Azure Identities and Governance at 24% is a substantial portion of the exam. You can't afford to be weak here. Focus on understanding the core concepts and common scenario patterns.
Implement and Manage Storage
Implement and Manage Storage at 20% is a substantial portion of the exam. You can't afford to be weak here. Focus on understanding the core concepts and common scenario patterns.
Implement and Manage Virtual Networking
Implement and Manage Virtual Networking at 18% is a substantial portion of the exam. You can't afford to be weak here. Focus on understanding the core concepts and common scenario patterns.
Question Format
Multiple-choice, multiple-response, and potentially hands-on lab sections where you perform tasks in a live Azure environment. Labs appear intermittently and can't be predicted.
AZ-104 How to Prepare
Study Timeline
Two to three months for IT professionals with some Azure experience. New-to-Azure candidates should budget three to four months and spend significant time in the Azure portal.
Top Resources
Microsoft Learn AZ-104 learning path (free), the official practice assessment, and hands-on time in an Azure free account. John Savill's YouTube series is an excellent free supplement.
Common Mistakes
Focusing too much on one domain and neglecting others. The exam covers a wide range of admin tasks, and you can't afford to be weak in any area. Also, not practicing Azure CLI and PowerShell commands for resource management.
Hands-On Advice
Create a resource group, deploy a VM with an NSG, set up a VNet with subnets, configure Azure Backup, create a storage account with blob lifecycle rules, and manage users and groups in Entra ID. Practice both portal and CLI workflows.
AZ-104 Why Practice Tests Matter
Practice tests are the single most effective study tool for the AZ-104 exam. They reveal your weak domains before the real exam does, and getting questions wrong in practice is how you learn. Each practice test here mirrors the real exam format: 50 questions, timed at 100 minutes, with the same 5-domain distribution.
Don't just take practice tests and check your score. Review every wrong answer and understand why the correct option is better. For the AZ-104, pay special attention to Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources (24%) and Manage Azure Identities and Governance (24%) questions since they carry the most weight.
