AZ-104 Exam Learning Path: Prepare with Hands-on Lab

Building Careers in Cloud Computing is the Modern IT World’s Biggest Attraction in 2021 and doing Certification is Proof of Skills that Increases the Chances of Getting High Pay in the Industry. Microsoft Azure evolving day-by-day and this blog post will cover everything you need to know about the AZ-104 Exam Microsoft Azure Administrator certification exam.

You must be having many questions like, why is this certification important? What domains does it cover? What are the eligibility criteria? How to prepare for it? And whatnot.

In this blog, we are going to cover the following majors:

1. 1. What Is Azure Administrator Certification
   2. Who This Certification Is For?
   3. Pre-requisite for exam
   4. Why Should You Learn Azure?
   5. AZ-104 Exam Topics
   6. Exam Retake Policy
   7. Registration
   8. Complete AZ-104 Hands-On Lab 
   9. Benefits of Azure Certifications 

Check out this video on Azure Certification Administration AZ-104 Exam Topics:

What Is Azure Administrator Certification?

The AZ 104 Microsoft Azure Certification is geared towards those who implement, manage, and monitor identity, governance, storage, compute, and virtual networks in a cloud environment. The Azure Administrator will provision, size, monitor, and adjust resources as appropriate.

To download the complete AZ-104 Azure Admin Sample Questions guide click here.

Who This Certification Is For?

• People who are involved in selling or purchasing Cloud-based solutions and services or who have some involvement in Cloud-based solutions and services.
• Anyone with a technical background needs to validate their administrator-level knowledge around Cloud services.

The certification exam enhances your skills as well as demonstrates them among your employers, thus making you stand out. Read this blog to learn about the Roles and Responsibilities of a Microsoft Azure Administrator.

Pre-requisite of Microsoft Azure

Although there is no prior knowledge needed for the [AZ-104] Azure Administrator Certification. It requires basic Computer Networking Concepts that you can learn along the way.

Also check: Step by Step instructions to install the Azure Powershell module

Why Should You Learn Azure?

• Validates technical skills like storage, networking, compute, security, and other Cloud operations on Microsoft Azure.
• Top-paying info-tech certification in the world.
•  It provides you with global recognition for your knowledge, skills, and experience.
• The organization looks for those who know Oracle Cloud, AWS, Azure, etc.

Also check: Azure Availability Zones to understand Availability Sets, Fault domains, Update domains, and Availability Zone.

Exam Details (AZ-104)

• Certification Name: AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator
• Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for taking this course. Microsoft recommends candidates to have a minimum of six months of hands-on experience administering Azure.
• Exam Cost: USD 165.00
• Exam Duration: 120 mins
• Number of Questions: 40-60
• Passing score: 700/1000
• Exam Language: English, Chinese (Simplified), Korean, Japanese
• Schedule Exam: Pearson VUE

Learning Path For AZ-104 Certification 

Candidates should have a strong understanding of core Azure services, Azure workloads, security, and governance. Candidates for this exam should have experience in using PowerShell, the Command Line Interface, Azure Portal, and ARM templates.

Read: Microsoft Azure Certification Path

The important domains covered in the AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator certification exam are:

 1. Manage Azure identities and governance (15-20%)

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

 2.  Implement and manage storage (15-20%)

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

 3. Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (20-25%)

• • Automate deployment of virtual machines (VMs) by using Azure Resource Manager templates
  • Create and configure VMs
  • Create and configure containers
  • Create and configure Azure App Service

 4. Configure and manage virtual networking (20-25%)

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

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

1. • Monitor resources by using Azure Monitor
   • Set up alerts and actions
   • Implement backup and recovery
   • Application Insights
   • Azure site recovery
   • Azure recovery service vault

Exam Retake Policy

• First of all, if a candidate fails on the first attempt, he/she has to wait 24 hours before the exam is retaken.
• Secondly, if he/she fails on the 2nd attempt, then they should wait for 14 days to retake the exam.
• A candidate can take a maximum of 5 retakes in a year.

Registration

The Exam costs $165 USD in the USA but it changes the charges according to the country. To register for the [AZ 104] Azure certification exam at Microsoft’s official website,  click here.

Complete AZ-104 Hands-On Lab 

Step-by-Step Activity Guides of [AZ 104] Microsoft azure Administrator Certification training program that you must perform to gain proficiency  with this course:

1. Register For Azure Free Trial Account
2. Installing Powershell Core, AzureRM, AZ Modules
3. Create Resource Group and ARM Templates
4. Deleting Resource Group with Recovery Service Vault and Backup inside
5. Create Policies, Apply Tags, Locks, Alerts and Create a Log Analytics workspace
6. Generate SSH Keys
7. Create a Virtual Machine and Virtual Machine Scale Set
8. Create an Azure Bastion Host
9. Attach Data Disk, Expand OS Disk Size, Resize VM, Enable Auto-shutdown, Add NIC and Reset Password
10. Create an Azure Storage Account, Azure Storage Container, Upload Blob, and Assign File Storage To VM
11. Network Access For Storage Accounts In Azure
12. Creating a Virtual Network, Extra Subnet
13. Network Security Group, Azure DNS Server
14. VNet Peering in Azure 
15. VPN Gateway Connection in Azure 
16. Load Balancers, Traffic Manager Monitoring, and Network Watcher
17. Role-Based Access Control In Azure, Custom RBAC Roles, and Microsoft Azure Directory Synchronisation
18. Backup via MARS Agent
19. Virtual Machine Replication via ASR
20. Azure Kubernetes Cluster (AKS)
21. WebApps Creation With 2 Deployment Slots

Why Is Azure Certification Beneficial?

• As a result of the increase in demand for Azure, the need for Azure administrators is rapidly increasing along the lines. Hence, one CV with this gleaming certification will have an enormous advantage.
• In terms of job prospects and earnings, a certification leads to a rampant increment in both.
• Almost 70% of people agree that certification has improved their earning and 84% of people have seen better job prospects after getting certified.
• Updating your LinkedIn profile with this certificate will boost your job profile and increase your chances of getting chosen.

Also, Check Our previous blog post on AKS Azure Kubernetes Service. Click here

Related/References

• [Recap] Day 1: Azure Administration & Governance and Compliance [Azure Administrator] [AZ-104]
• [Recap] Day 2: Azure Virtual Networking [Azure Administrator] [AZ-104]
• [Recap] Day 3: Azure Intersite Connectivity [Azure Administrator] [AZ-104]
• [Recap] Day 4: Azure Network Traffic Management [Azure Administrator] [AZ-104]
• [AZ-104] Microsoft Azure Administrator Training: Step By Step Activity Guides/Hands-On Lab Exercise

Next Task For You

Begin your journey towards becoming a Microsoft Azure Administrator [AZ-104] by joining our FREE Class. We strongly recommend gaining knowledge from AZ-104 in order to be an effective Azure Administrator. Our course covers the AZ 104 certification.

Click on the below image to register for the Free Class NOW!