Certifications
AZ-104 study guide: Azure Administrator
The most useful non-security exam in the catalogue, and a prerequisite in practice for everything that follows in Azure.
Why a security site covers an administrator exam
Because SC-500 assumes it. Microsoft expects practical experience administering Azure and hybrid environments across compute, network and storage, and candidates who come to cloud security from a Microsoft 365 background consistently lose marks on networking they never learned.
AZ-104 is where that foundation is built. It is not a security exam and it makes the security exams substantially easier.
Where to spend study time
Our recommended split, weighted toward what people find hardest rather than objective size.
- Networking35%
- Compute22%
- Storage22%
- Identity and governance21%
A study allocation, not Microsoft's objective weighting.
The part that catches Microsoft 365 people
Virtual networking. Route tables, effective routes, network security group evaluation order, and why traffic is not reaching the thing it should reach. None of this exists in a Microsoft 365 world, and it is roughly a third of the exam.
Build a lab. Three virtual machines, two subnets, and a deliberate attempt to break connectivity teaches this faster than any course.
Study resources
Microsoft Learn, the AZ-104 learning paths
- Best for
- Everyone. It is free and it tracks the current skills-measured outline
- Watch out for
- The in-browser sandboxes have been retired, so the exercises now need your own Azure subscription
Whizlabs practice tests and hands-on labs
- Best for
- Repetition, and labs if you do not want to run up an Azure bill
- Watch out for
- Verify the AZ-104 content is current, the exam has been revised several times
Tutorials Dojo practice exams
- Best for
- Low cost, strong answer explanations, good final readiness check
- Watch out for
- Their Azure catalogue is smaller than their AWS one. Confirm coverage first
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The verdict
Take it before SC-500 if you are not already an Azure administrator
SC-500 assumes this material rather than teaching it, and the networking foundation is the specific gap that fails people.
Skip it if you already administer Azure daily. Go straight to SC-500 and use AZ-104 objectives as a gap checklist instead.
Sources
The claims above were checked against these pages. They are the vendor's own documentation, not a summary of it.
Disclosure. Some links on this site are affiliate links. Scoring weights are published before any programme is joined, and commission is never a ranking input. Full policy, and the method behind this guide.