After becoming Azure Solutions Architect Expert Certified in October, I challenged myself to pass the AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator exam before the end of 2020!

I didn’t start my preparation right away. At first, I spent 20 days sharpening my PowerShell skills to understand my course, which included many PowerShell commands.

This post will explain the AZ-104 exam and how I prepared for it.

Let’s begin!

What is the AZ-104 exam?

The AZ-104 exam is the exam you have to pass to be Azure Administrator Associate Certified. It measures your ability to accomplish technical tasks as an Azure administrator.

If you’re familiar with AWS, this exam is equivalent to the SysOps Administrator Associate.

What skills do this exam measure?

From the skills outline, the skills tested during the exam are the following:

Manage Azure identities and governance (15-20%)

  • Manage Azure AD objects
  • Manage role-based access control (RBAC)
  • Manage subscriptions and governance

Implement and manage storage (10-15%)

  • Manage storage accounts
  • Manage data in Azure Storage
  • Configure Azure files and Azure blob storage

Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (25-30%)

  • Configure VMs for high availability and scalability
  • Automate deployment and configuration of VMs
  • Create and configure VMs
  • Create and configure containers
  • Create and configure Web Apps

Configure and manage virtual networking (30-35%)

  • Implement and manage virtual networking
  • Configure name resolution
  • Secure access to virtual networks
  • Configure load balancing
  • Monitor and troubleshoot virtual networking
  • Integrate an on-premises network with an Azure virtual network

Monitor and back up Azure resources (10-15%)

  • Monitor resources by using Azure Monitor
  • Implement backup and recovery

As you can imagine, this is an in-depth exam which will test you on technical skills. So be sure to spend many hours on your hands-on labs in addition to your course!

How much does the exam cost?

The exam costs $165, but you can schedule it for free with a voucher. Be sure to follow me on Twitter — I tweet every time I find opportunities to get free vouchers.

To schedule your AZ-104 exam, go to the Microsoft certification page here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/az-104.

How to prepare for the exam?

I used CloudSkills intensively for this exam. From my previous experience with the AZ-300 and AZ-304 exam, I learned it was better to prepare with this platform directly.

For those who don’t know, CloudSkills is a platform that provides Cloud & DevOps certification training using a practical, real-world, hands-on approach. The instructors are Microsoft MVP recognized in the industry: Mike Pfeiffer or Tim Warner, to mention just a few.

The course I used to complete my preparation was the Azure Administrator (AZ-104) Exam Prep Course.

CloudSkills Azure Administrator (AZ-104) Exam Prep Course

With the course, you also have access to Whizlabs practice tests and other contents, like the following for one year:

  • Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification AZ-900
  • Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Certification AZ-30X
  • Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer AZ-500
  • Microsoft Azure DevOps Engineer Certification AZ-400

Conclusion

The combination of CloudSkills and Whizlabs practice tests was enough for me to pass the AZ-104 exam!

Compared to the AZ-30x exams, this exam wasn’t difficult, but my preparation was chaotic as the end of the year approached. Fortunately, I managed to pass this exam one day before my birthday 🎉

If I had one recommendation, prepare for the AZ-900, AZ-104, and then AZ-303 & AZ-304. In this order.

Don’t try to jump from AZ-900 to AZ-30x! It’s painful, trust me… 😅

That’s it for me, hope you learned something! If you have any questions, find me on Twitter and feel free to ask me anything 🙏