AZ-104 (Microsoft Azure Administrator) is one of the most practical cloud exams: it tests whether you can actually configure and run Azure, not just describe it. This plan spreads preparation over eight weeks for someone working full time, at about an hour on weekdays and three hours at weekends.
Skill areas are taken from the official AZ-104 page on Microsoft Learn, checked in October 2026. The exam lasts 100 minutes and includes interactive components.
Before you start
- Create an Azure account and set a budget alert on day one.
- Download the official AZ-104 study guide and use it as your checklist.
- Install the Azure CLI and Azure PowerShell. The exam expects familiarity with both, as well as the portal.
The eight-week plan
| Week | Topics | Hands-on lab |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft Entra ID: users, groups, licences, self-service password reset | Create users and groups; assign licences to a group; enable SSPR |
| 2 | Governance: role-based access control, subscriptions, management groups, Azure Policy, resource locks, tags, cost management | Create a custom role; apply a policy that restricts allowed regions; lock a resource group |
| 3 | Storage: storage accounts, redundancy options, blob tiers and lifecycle, Azure Files, access keys and SAS tokens | Create a storage account, upload blobs, set a lifecycle rule, share access with a time-limited SAS |
| 4 | Compute part 1: virtual machines, availability sets and zones, VM scale sets, disks | Deploy a VM, resize it, attach a data disk, create a scale set |
| 5 | Compute part 2: ARM templates and Bicep, App Service, containers (Container Instances and Container Apps) | Deploy a resource from a Bicep file; deploy a web app with a deployment slot |
| 6 | Networking: virtual networks, subnets, peering, network security groups, DNS, load balancers, Application Gateway | Peer two VNets; restrict traffic with an NSG; put two VMs behind a load balancer |
| 7 | Monitoring and backup: Azure Monitor, alerts, Log Analytics, Network Watcher, Azure Backup, Site Recovery | Create an alert rule; back up a VM and restore a file |
| 8 | Revision: official practice assessment, weak areas, timed practice | Redo labs for your weakest areas without notes |
How to use your time each week
- Weekdays: learn the concepts through the Microsoft Learn modules for that week.
- Weekend: do the lab, then repeat it once using the CLI or PowerShell instead of the portal.
- End of every session: delete what you created, or delete the whole resource group.
Topics people underestimate
- Storage redundancy: know the differences between LRS, ZRS, GRS and GZRS, and when read access to the secondary region is available.
- NSG rule evaluation: priority order, default rules, and how subnet and NIC-level NSGs combine.
- RBAC scope: how a role assigned at a management group, subscription or resource group is inherited.
- Reading templates: you may need to interpret an ARM template or Bicep file and spot what it deploys.
Exam-day tips
- Some question sets do not let you go back once you move on; read the instructions on each section carefully.
- Try the free exam sandbox on Microsoft Learn beforehand so the interface is familiar.
- If you do not pass, you can retake after 24 hours. Use the score report to focus your revision.
After you pass
Set a reminder for your renewal assessment, which becomes available six months before the one-year expiry. Then consider AZ-305 (Solutions Architect Expert), AZ-400 (DevOps Engineer Expert) or SC-500 (Cloud and AI Security Engineer) as your next step.
Leave a Reply