Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104)

What it proves

Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate, earned by passing exam AZ-104, shows you can implement, manage and monitor an organisation's Azure environment, including virtual networks, storage, compute, identity, security and governance. It is Microsoft's core hands-on Azure certification and the one most junior Azure roles mention.

Who it is for

Microsoft expects candidates to be familiar with operating systems, networking, servers and virtualisation, and to have used PowerShell, the Azure CLI, the Azure portal, ARM templates or Bicep, and Microsoft Entra ID. For a cloud engineering learner, it is the right target once you have built identity, networking, storage and compute on Azure yourself.

The exam

The exam is 100 minutes, proctored, and may include interactive components. It assesses five areas: manage Azure identities and governance, implement and manage storage, deploy and manage Azure compute resources, implement and manage virtual networking, and monitor and maintain Azure resources. It is offered in several languages through Pearson VUE, and the price depends on your country. Microsoft provides a free practice assessment, an exam sandbox and exam prep videos.

What to study, and in what order

1. Read the official AZ-104 study guide linked from the certification page.
2. Work through the free Microsoft Learn training for AZ-104: prerequisites, identities and governance, virtual networks, storage, compute, and monitoring and backup.
3. Do every exercise in a real subscription or sandbox. Assign RBAC roles at different scopes, build a virtual network with subnets, NSGs and a NAT Gateway, create storage with lifecycle rules, deploy a VM scale set, and set alerts and backups.
4. Use the free practice assessment to find weak areas, and revise them in the Azure documentation.

Cost and validity

The exam fee depends on your country. Role-based Microsoft certifications expire after a year unless renewed, and renewal is free: pass a short, unproctored, open-book online assessment on Microsoft Learn during the six months before expiry, and the certification is extended by a year.

What to do after it

Publish a project that uses the same services, built with Bicep or Terraform, with a diagram and a cost report. When you have run real Azure workloads, AZ-305 leads to the Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, which requires the Azure Administrator Associate.

Common questions

Do I need AZ-900 first? No, it is optional.

What if I miss the renewal window? The certification expires, and you would need to pass the exam again, so note the date as soon as you pass.