Study guide · Exam overview
The format, passing score, and five content domains of Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate, plus the tasks worth practicing before you book AZ-104.
Exam version notice: This overview follows the Microsoft study guide for Exam AZ-104, skills measured as of April 17, 2026. The exam code is unchanged. The certification page gives you 100 minutes and requires a score of 700 or greater. Pricing, languages, and delivery options can change. Confirm them on the Microsoft certification site before you register. Items tagged Extra are useful context that the study guide does not name as a measured skill. Cloud vocabulary that is not specific to administration is on the AZ-900 overview.
Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate checks whether you can implement, manage, and monitor an Azure environment. The work is operational: create the identity, place the resource, restrict the network, and prove you can restore it. It is a role-based exam. You are not asked to design a multi-region architecture from a blank page, and you are not asked only to define a cloud term.
Microsoft describes the candidate as someone who works with a larger team that delivers networking, security, data, application, and DevOps solutions. The expected background is operating systems, networking, servers, and virtualization, plus hands-on use of PowerShell, the Azure CLI, the portal, ARM templates or Bicep, and Microsoft Entra ID. AZ-900 is useful preparation. It is not a required prerequisite.
Figures below come from the AZ-104 certification page and the study guide reviewed in October 2026.
| Specification | AZ-104 |
|---|---|
| Level | Intermediate, role-based. Microsoft calls the credential Azure Administrator Associate. No prerequisite certification is required. |
| Length of test | 100 minutes to complete the assessment. The exam is proctored and may include interactive components. |
| Number of questions | Microsoft does not publish a fixed count on the certification page. Do not treat a practice length as the live exam length. |
| Passing score | 700 or greater on a scale of 1 to 1,000. A scaled score is not the percentage of questions you answered correctly. |
| Recommended experience | Operating systems, networking, servers, virtualization, PowerShell, Azure CLI, the portal, ARM templates or Bicep, and Microsoft Entra ID. |
| Exam price | Price depends on the country or region where the exam is proctored. Confirm the current fee when you schedule. |
| Validity | Associate certifications expire after 12 months. Renew at no cost with an online assessment on Microsoft Learn during the renewal window. |
| Delivery | Schedule through Pearson VUE. English is updated first. Other languages follow later. |
A blank answer earns no credit. Microsoft exams do not subtract extra points for a wrong answer, so answer every question. If the exam is not offered in your preferred language, you can request an additional 30 minutes. Request accommodations before you sit if you need them. After a failed attempt you can retake the exam 24 hours later. Later retakes wait longer. Confirm the current retake policy with Microsoft.
These ranges are the share of scored content in the study guide dated April 17, 2026. The 200 practice questions use shares inside those ranges that add to 100 percent: 23%, 18%, 24%, 20%, and 15%.
The directory, the role, and the rules that outlive a single resource.
Who can reach the data, how many copies exist, and what happens when a blob is overwritten.
The largest domain, tied with identity. Deploy it again, then run it.
The path, the rule that allows it, and the name that clients actually resolve.
The smallest domain, and the one that shows whether the others are still working.
The study guide names configuration tasks more often than product slogans. Learn the paired choices first. The same map is in the core notes and flashcards.
| Need | Choose | Remember |
|---|---|---|
| Create VMs, but do not grant access | Contributor | Owner can also assign roles. User Access Administrator assigns roles and does not manage the VMs. |
| Block a deployment in the wrong region | Azure Policy | A lock stops delete or change. A tag does not grant or deny anything. |
| Revoke a service SAS without rotating the key | Stored access policy | An account SAS cannot use that policy. A user delegation SAS is signed with Entra ID, not the account key. |
| Give a platform service a private IP | Private endpoint | A service endpoint still uses the service's public address and identifies your virtual network. |
| RDP or SSH without a public IP on the VM | Azure Bastion | The subnet must be named AzureBastionSubnet and be at least /26. |
| Move a VM to another region | Azure Resource Mover | The Move action changes resource group or subscription. It does not change region. |
| Swap a web app with no downtime | Deployment slot | Slots need Standard or higher. Settings marked as slot settings stay on the slot. |
| Back up an Azure VM | Recovery Services vault | A Backup vault is the vault for blobs, disks, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL. |
| Replicate a VM to another region | Azure Site Recovery | For Azure-to-Azure, create the vault in the target region. A test failover leaves production running. |
| Extra Site-to-site VPN or a private circuit | VPN Gateway or ExpressRoute | Not named in the April 17, 2026 skill list. Peering, routes, and private endpoints are. |
| Extra Kubernetes cluster | Azure Kubernetes Service | Not named. The guide lists Container Registry, Container Instances, and Container Apps. |
Microsoft says the exam may include interactive components and points you to an exam sandbox so you can try the interface before you sit. This site's practice questions use multiple choice, multiple response, matching, and ordering. Matching and ordering are extra practice for the distinctions in the study guide. They are not a claim about the live item mix.
A typical stem gives a constraint and asks for the first or best action. The contractor must create resources but must not assign roles. The blob must be recoverable after an overwrite. The virtual machine must move to another region, not another resource group. Distractors are nearby features that solve a different problem. A service endpoint is not a private endpoint. A ReadOnly lock is not a CanNotDelete lock. A Backup vault is not a Recovery Services vault.
There is no published extra penalty for a wrong guess. A blank answer earns nothing. On a timed practice exam, answer every item, then use the review to see which domain actually needs work.
A practical sequence if the portal screens still blur together.
Entra ID authenticates. RBAC authorizes at a scope. Policy and locks restrict the resource. Tags organize cost and do not grant permission.
Say which SAS a stored access policy can revoke, what identity-based Azure Files requires, and how soft delete differs from versioning.
Read a small ARM or Bicep file, then place a VM in a zone or a scale set. Add an App Service slot and a container image in a registry.
Subnet, peering, route, NSG, Bastion, private endpoint, DNS zone, and a load balancer. Say which rule wins and why a probe fails.
Use the five decks until you can answer before the card flips. Revisit misses the next day.
Work through original questions, review every explanation, and return to the notes on domains below 75 percent. Aim for a steady 85 percent before you book. Use 100 minutes as the pace of the live exam.
The overview, core notes, flashcards, and practice exams are all published.
Exam format, the 700 passing score, domain weights, and a study plan.
Reference notes for identity, storage, compute, networking, monitoring, and recovery.
50 recall cards in five decks, plus memory notes for access, storage, compute, and recovery.
200 original questions with custom exams, explanations, and a score report by domain.
A score of 700 or greater is required to pass. Microsoft reports scores on a scale of 1 to 1,000. A scaled score is not the percentage of questions you answered correctly.
Microsoft gives you 100 minutes to complete the assessment. The exam is proctored and may include interactive components. Microsoft does not publish a fixed question count on the certification page.
The study guide dated April 17, 2026 measures five areas: identities and governance (20–25%), storage (15–20%), compute (20–25%), virtual networking (15–20%), and monitoring and maintenance (10–15%).
No. AZ-104 is still the exam for Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate. Microsoft updated the skills measured on April 17, 2026. The change log describes minor edits, not a new exam code.
Yes. Microsoft associate certifications expire after 12 months unless you renew them. You can renew at no cost by passing an online assessment on Microsoft Learn. Confirm the current policy before you rely on it.
No. The practice questions on this site are original. They are not Microsoft exam items, and a practice score does not predict a result.
Service names and portal labels change. The April 17, 2026 update made minor edits to the audience profile, files and blobs, virtual machines, containers, virtual networks, and monitoring. Use the current Microsoft study guide as the authority when it differs from these notes.
Useful companions while you study.
Generate strong random passwords with custom length, characters, symbols, and security options.
Convert structured data between JSON and YAML with formatting and validation.
Encode text and files to Base64 or decode Base64 data with UTF-8 support.
Compare two text blocks and highlight added, removed, and changed content.
Exam versions, objectives, prices, languages, and retirement dates can change. Verify the details on the Microsoft Learn certification page before you register.
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