Basket
{{item.CourseTitle}}
Price: {{item.ItemPriceExVatFormatted}} {{item.Currency}}
Browse by Topic
Browse by Vendor
Unlimited Training
Attend all the top-notch LIVE Instructor-led Courses you want for the price of less than one course.
Pursuing the Microsoft AZ-104 certification is a significant step in advancing your career as a Microsoft Azure professional. This credential validates the real-world skills that Canadian organisations need to manage their cloud infrastructure effectively.
This guide offers a strategic roadmap for your preparation. We will break down the core competencies tested, helping you build a study plan that focuses on practical application rather than just memorising terms, ensuring you are ready for both the exam and the job.
Earning the Azure Administrator Associate badge by passing the AZ-104 exam does more than just add a line to your resume. It serves as verifiable proof to employers that you possess the hands-on abilities required for modern cloud administration. The exam is intentionally comprehensive, designed to confirm your proficiency across the full lifecycle of Azure management.
A successful candidate demonstrates competence in provisioning, managing, and monitoring sophisticated cloud environments. This includes everything from identity and governance to virtual networking, storage, and compute resources. This certification signals that you are prepared for the technical demands of an Azure administrator role.
The AZ-104 exam is structured around several core skill areas. Rather than viewing them as a long list of topics to memorise, it’s best to approach them as integrated disciplines that form the day-to-day responsibilities of an administrator.
This area is about control and security. You must show you can manage user identities and access with Azure Active Directory, applying the principle of least privilege using Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). A key skill is enforcing organisational standards and compliance through Azure Policy, which is critical for businesses governed by regulations like PIPEDA.
Azure administrators must effectively manage data. This involves configuring storage accounts and understanding the different performance tiers and data protection features. Practical skills include implementing blob tiering, lifecycle management policies, and object replication for redundancy. You should also be proficient with Azure Files and the use of Managed Disks for virtual machines.
This domain tests your ability to build and maintain the engines of your Azure environment. You’ll need to prove your skills in deploying and configuring Virtual Machines (VMs), including the use of Availability Sets and Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) for resilience and scalability. The exam also covers modern application hosting, so you should be comfortable with containers, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and App Service Plans.
Networking is the backbone of Azure infrastructure. This is often one of the most challenging parts of the exam. You must have a deep understanding of creating and managing an Azure Virtual Network, including tasks like peering. You will be tested on securing that network with tools like Azure Firewall and Network Security Groups. Crucially, you must also master traffic management and connectivity through services like S2S VPN, ExpressRoute, Azure Bastion, and user-defined routes. Familiarity with load balancing options—including Azure Load Balancer, Azure App Gateway, Azure Traffic Manager, and Azure Front Door—is also essential.
A running environment is not enough; it must be monitored and maintained. This section of the exam focuses on your ability to implement proactive monitoring, alerting, and logging. You’ll need hands-on experience with Log Analytics Workspace to run queries and analyze performance data, as well as using Network Watcher to diagnose connectivity issues.
The AZ-104 is not a purely theoretical exam. It includes performance-based tasks and case studies that require you to solve problems in a live Azure environment. Reading documentation is not enough. You must spend significant time in the Azure portal, deploying resources, configuring services, and troubleshooting issues. Use a free Azure account or your company’s subscription to build and break things.
Candidates often struggle in a few key areas. Misunderstanding the specific use cases for different load balancers is a common mistake. Another frequent issue is the incorrect configuration of network connectivity, such as mixing up service endpoints and private endpoints. Pay close attention to the nuances of RBAC inheritance and Azure Policy enforcement, as these are frequent sources of error both on the exam and in the real world.
Using practice questions is an effective way to gauge your readiness. The goal isn’t to memorise answers, but to identify which domains need more of your attention. When you answer a question incorrectly, dive back into the documentation and, more importantly, the corresponding Azure service to understand the concept in practice.
Passing the Microsoft AZ-104 exam is a challenging but achievable goal that confirms your status as a competent Microsoft Azure Administrator. Success depends on a strategic approach that combines theoretical knowledge with extensive hands-on practice across all the key skill domains, from identity management to network configuration and resource monitoring.
By focusing your studies on practical application and real-world scenarios, you will not only improve your chances of passing but also build the confidence needed to excel in a cloud computing career.
Readynez provides an intensive 4-day AZ-104 Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator Course and Certification Program. This program delivers the focused learning and expert support you require to prepare for your exam and certification successfully. The AZ-104 course, along with over 60 other Microsoft courses, is part of our Unlimited Microsoft Training offer. For just €199 a month, you gain access to a flexible and affordable path to all your Microsoft Certifications.
Please get in touch if you have any questions or wish to explore how the Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate certification can advance your career.
Before attempting the AZ-104 exam, candidates should have practical experience with the Azure platform. This includes familiarity with core concepts like virtualisation, networking, storage, and security, as well as hands-on experience administering Azure resources.
The exam covers five primary domains: managing Azure identities and governance; implementing and managing storage; deploying and managing Azure compute resources; configuring and managing virtual networking; and monitoring and backing up Azure resources.
Hands-on practice is absolutely critical. The exam includes performance-based labs where you must complete tasks in a live Azure environment. Relying solely on theoretical knowledge from videos or books is not a viable strategy for success.
The price of the Microsoft AZ-104 exam can vary. For the most accurate and current pricing in Canadian dollars, it is best to check the official Microsoft Learn certification portal directly.
A score of 700 or greater on a scale of 1 to 1000 is required to pass the Microsoft AZ-104 exam and earn your certification.
Get Unlimited access to ALL the LIVE Instructor-led Microsoft courses you want - all for the price of less than one course.