Azure Administrator AZ-104 Course

The Microsoft Azure Administrator AZ-104 exam validates skills for managing Azure subscriptions, identities, storage, compute, networking, and monitoring. It is aimed at administrators who deploy and manage Azure resources in the portal, CLI, and PowerShell. The exam domains include managing Azure identities and governance, implementing and managing storage, deploying and managing Azure compute resources, configuring and managing virtual networking, and monitoring and maintaining Azure resources. A good study path starts with identity and access concepts, then moves to storage, compute, networking, and finally monitoring, backup, and cost management. You should practice with a free Azure account, create resource groups, deploy VMs, configure VNets, and review Azure Monitor dashboards. This course follows the exam domains and links to a practice bank with 60 original questions.

Microsoft Entra ID is the identity service used for users, groups, and applications. Azure RBAC controls what principals can do on resources through role assignments. Owner, Contributor, Reader, and User Access Administrator are common built-in roles. Management groups organize subscriptions and let you apply governance at scale. Azure Policy enforces rules such as allowed locations and tagging. Conditional Access requires conditions such as MFA before sign-in. Privileged Identity Management provides just-in-time access for privileged roles. Resource groups are logical containers for resources, and subscriptions are billing and access boundaries. The Activity log records control-plane actions for auditing. Understanding these concepts helps you design secure, governed Azure environments.

Azure Storage provides blob, file, queue, and table services. Blob Storage stores unstructured data, Azure Files provides SMB shares, Queue Storage handles messages, and Table Storage is a NoSQL key-value store. Storage accounts have tiers: Hot for frequent access, Cool for infrequent access, and Archive for long-term low-cost storage. Replication options include LRS, ZRS, GRS, and RA-GRS. LRS keeps copies in one data center, ZRS replicates across zones, and GRS replicates to a paired region. Shared access signatures grant scoped, time-limited access without exposing the account key. Storage Service Encryption protects data at rest. AzCopy moves data efficiently. You should be able to choose the right account kind, tier, and replication for each workload.

Azure compute services include Virtual Machines, Virtual Machine Scale Sets, Container Instances, Kubernetes Service, Functions, and App Service. VMs give IaaS control, VMSS scale identical VMs, ACI runs containers without server management, AKS provides Kubernetes, Functions is serverless, and App Service hosts web apps. Availability sets spread VMs across fault and update domains, and availability zones protect against data center failures. Networking begins with virtual networks and subnets. Network security groups filter traffic, VNet peering connects VNets, VPN Gateway connects on-premises networks, and Azure Bastion provides secure RDP and SSH access. Load Balancer handles Layer 4 traffic and Application Gateway handles Layer 7 HTTP traffic.

Azure Monitor collects metrics, logs, and alerts. Log Analytics stores log data and supports KQL queries, and Metrics Explorer charts numeric metrics. Alerts trigger notifications when conditions are met. Diagnostic settings route logs to destinations. Azure Backup protects resources with scheduled backups and Recovery Services vaults, while Site Recovery provides disaster recovery replication. Azure Advisor gives best-practice recommendations, and Cost Management tracks budgets and spending. For the exam, practice with the Azure portal, CLI, and PowerShell, and create real resources with a free account. Review the official Microsoft Learn AZ-104 learning path and use the linked question bank. Read explanations for every mistake and focus on identity, networking, and monitoring scenarios before the exam.