AZ-104 Practice Questions & Exam Prep — Microsoft Azure Administrator
Get exam-ready for AZ-104 (Microsoft Azure Administrator) on iPhone or iPad. Azure Mastery uses on-device AI to predict your readiness score across all five AZ-104 domains, build a personalised study plan from your weak spots, and surface topics you're forgetting. Core study stays on-device and works offline; optional sync uses your private iCloud account.
The exam
What is the AZ-104 exam?
AZ-104 is the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate exam — the credential most hiring managers expect when posting "Cloud Administrator (Azure)" or "Azure Sysadmin" roles. It's the natural next step after AZ-900 for anyone who administers Azure environments day-to-day, and the foundation underneath architecture (AZ-305), cloud and AI security (SC-500), and networking (AZ-700) specialisms.
Unlike Fundamentals exams, AZ-104 is hands-on and practical. It validates that you can manage identities and RBAC at scale, implement storage with the right redundancy and access strategy, deploy and configure VMs, containers, and App Service, manage virtual networks and security groups, and monitor a live environment with Backup and Site Recovery in place for disaster recovery. Expect questions that show you a Bicep file or Azure CLI command and ask you to predict the outcome — not just describe a concept.
Microsoft updated the AZ-104 skills outline on 17 April 2026, with minor updates to storage configuration, virtual machine management, container provisioning, and monitoring. Every question in Azure Mastery's AZ-104 bank is mapped to the current outline — no leftover questions on retired features. Read the official outline at learn.microsoft.com.
Questions40–60 multiple choice
Duration100 minutes (120 min seat)
Pass score700 / 1000
CostUSD $165 (≈ £128 UK)
ValidityRenew annually (Associate)
FormatOnline or test centre
Skills measured · April 2026
AZ-104 exam objectives
Five domains, with weights set by Microsoft's April 2026 update. Every domain summary below is paraphrased from the official skills outline; bullet-level objectives in Azure Mastery are tagged so you always know which domain you're being tested on and where your weak spots cluster.
Azure skill mapIdentityComputeNetworkOperations
Manage Azure identities and governance20–25%
Explore key topics
The largest domain by typical question count, and the one everything else depends on. Covers Microsoft Entra ID user and group management, license assignment, external users, and self-service password reset (SSPR); managing access via built-in Azure roles assigned at different scopes (management group, subscription, resource group, resource); subscription and governance tooling — Azure Policy, resource locks, tags, resource groups, cost management with alerts and budgets, and management groups. Around 8–15 questions per sitting.
Implement and manage storage15–20%
Explore key topics
Configure access to storage via firewalls and virtual network rules, SAS tokens, stored access policies, access keys, and identity-based access for Azure Files. Configure storage accounts including redundancy options, object replication, and encryption. Configure Azure Files (file shares, snapshots, soft delete) and Azure Blob Storage (containers, tiers, soft delete, lifecycle management, versioning). Around 6–12 questions.
Deploy and manage Azure compute resources20–25%
Explore key topics
Automate deployment using ARM templates or Bicep — interpret existing files, modify them, deploy resources, and convert between formats. Create and configure virtual machines including encryption at host, sizing, disks, availability zones and sets, and Virtual Machine Scale Sets. Provision and manage containers via Azure Container Registry, Container Instances, and Container Apps. Configure Azure App Service — service plans, scaling, certificates, custom DNS, deployment slots, and networking. Around 8–15 questions.
Implement and manage virtual networking15–20%
Explore key topics
Configure virtual networks, subnets, peering, public IPs, user-defined routes, and troubleshoot connectivity. Configure secure access via NSGs, application security groups, Azure Bastion, service endpoints, and private endpoints. Configure name resolution (Azure DNS) and load balancing (internal and public load balancers). Around 6–12 questions.
Monitor and maintain Azure resources10–15%
Explore key topics
Monitor with Azure Monitor — metrics, log settings, log queries, alert rules, action groups, alert processing rules, Insights for VMs/storage/networks, plus Azure Network Watcher with Connection Monitor. Implement backup and recovery using Recovery Services vaults, Azure Backup vaults, backup policies, and Azure Site Recovery for failover to a secondary region. Around 4–9 questions.
Designed for AZ-104
How Azure Mastery helps you pass AZ-104
Azure Mastery ships with 612 AZ-104 practice questions, every one written specifically against the current (April 2026) skills outline. Each question carries a domain tag mapped to the official five domains, so you always know which area you're being tested on and where your weak spots are clustered. Bicep snippets, Azure CLI commands, and PowerShell cmdlets appear in roughly a third of the questions — matching the format of the live exam.
The on-device Exam IQ engine predicts your AZ-104 score before you sit the exam. After roughly 30 questions it has enough signal to give a confidence-scored prediction (e.g. "786 ±37, 68% confidence") — and tells you the specific topics that are dragging your readiness down. No vague "study more" advice; just a ranked list of objectives where improvement would move your score the furthest.
The adaptive study plan rebuilds itself from your answer history. Get a Bicep-snippet question wrong? You'll see another infrastructure-as-code question in the next session. Master "NSG vs ASG vs Azure Firewall" three sessions running and the engine backs off, surfacing fresh storage redundancy or Azure Monitor scenarios. The plan optimises for the gap between where you are and the 700 pass score, not for blind volume.
Knowledge decay tracking matters more for AZ-104 than for foundational exams — five domains is a lot to retain, and the topic you mastered three weeks into your study window is the topic you'll forget by exam day if you stop revising. Azure Mastery tracks every topic's decay curve and flags topics approaching expiry. The padlock icon on the Today screen is your "revisit before you forget" cue, and weak-spot drills automatically pull from decayed topics first.
Real exam simulation mode runs at AZ-104's actual length and time pressure: a randomised 40–60-question set drawn from the full 612-question bank, weighted by domain percentages from the April 2026 outline, with the 100-minute timer running and no jumping back to flag-and-review. It's the closest you can get to the live Pearson VUE / online-proctored experience without sitting the exam.
Answer Coach turns each missed answer into a private, grounded lesson: the misconception, key distinction, and rule to remember. It always uses authored certification guidance; on supported devices, an optional on-device model may rewrite the note only when it passes grounding checks.
During your first week, Aura adapts the next step as you go. Every session ends with a concise recap of what changed, what to focus on, and the best follow-up.
Everything essential runs on-device. Your answer history, readiness gauge, and coaching stay private. Optional sync uses your private iCloud account; there is no Azure Mastery account, tracking, or external processing server.
6-week study plan
Suggested AZ-104 study plan
Most candidates pass AZ-104 after four to eight weeks of focused study, depending on prior Azure experience. The six-week plan below maps onto the five AZ-104 domains, Azure Mastery's adaptive sessions, and the in-app exam simulator. Adjust pace to taste — the readiness gauge tells you when you're done, not the calendar.
Identity, governance, storage
Days 1–2: Microsoft Entra ID — users, groups, licences, external users, SSPR.
Days 3–4: Azure RBAC — built-in roles, role assignments at management group / subscription / resource group / resource scope.
Days 5–7: Subscriptions, management groups, Azure Policy, resource locks, tags, cost management with alerts and budgets.
Days 8–10: Storage account configuration, access (SAS tokens, access keys, identity-based for Files), redundancy, replication, encryption.
Days 11–14: Azure Files (shares, snapshots, soft delete) and Azure Blob Storage (tiers, lifecycle, versioning).
Compute and networking
Days 15–17: ARM templates and Bicep — read, modify, deploy, convert. Azure Mastery has dedicated drills for reading Bicep snippets.
Days 18–21: Virtual machines — provisioning, sizing, disks, availability zones and sets, Virtual Machine Scale Sets, encryption at host.
Days 22–24: Containers (ACR, ACI, ACA) and Azure App Service (plans, scaling, certificates, custom DNS, deployment slots).
Days 25–28: Virtual networking — VNets, subnets, peering, NSGs, application security groups, Azure Bastion, service and private endpoints, Azure DNS, load balancers.
Monitor, backup, sharpen, simulate
Days 29–31: Azure Monitor — metrics, logs, log queries, alert rules and action groups, Insights, Network Watcher.
Days 32–35: Backup and recovery — Recovery Services vaults, Azure Backup, backup policies, Site Recovery for failover testing.
Days 36–38: Run Focus Weak Spots every morning — the app surfaces the highest-leverage questions for your weakest domains.
Days 39–41: Two end-to-end Exam Simulator runs at full 100-minute length. Review carefully after each.
Day 42: Light review only. Sleep. Sit the exam if your readiness gauge is 750+ with reasonable confidence.
Inside the app
Every Microsoft question type, on iPhone
AZ-104's question bank uses the same formats Microsoft puts on the live exam — not just multiple choice. Each visualisation below is a faithful mock of how the type renders inside Azure Mastery on iPhone and iPad. Exam-simulator mode runs all of them at full 100-minute length with no flag-and-review jumps, mirroring Pearson VUE.
Which access tier should you configure for the Legal department's storage account?
Hot
Cool
Cold
Archive
Multiple choice
A real AZ-104 question-bank example with one correct answer. The app explains every option after you answer.
Exam-specific sample
Which two storage account kinds can host Azure file shares? Select two.
StorageV2 (general purpose v2)
FileStorage
BlobStorage
BlockBlobStorage
Multi-select
A real AZ-104 multi-select item. Every required selection must be correct to earn the mark.
All-or-nothing
Arrange the steps to deploy resources using an ARM template in the correct order.
⋮⋮1Create or identify the target resource group
⋮⋮2Author or export the ARM template JSON file
⋮⋮3Validate the template: az deployment group validate
⋮⋮4Deploy: az deployment group create or use the Azure portal Deploy button
Drag-and-drop
A real AZ-104 interactive-format prompt, rendered for touch on iPhone and iPad.
Interactive item
You need to configure autoscaling for a virtual machine scale set in the Azure Portal.
Hotspot
A real AZ-104 prompt that tests recognition inside a visual or contextual interface.
Tap target
VMSS Instances Not Scaling Out
1Solution: Reduce the time aggregation window for the scale-out rule from 10…
2Solution: Lower the scale-out CPU threshold from 75% to 60%. Does this solution…
3Solution: Verify that the autoscale setting is enabled (not disabled) for the…
Case studies
A real AZ-104 case-study scenario with linked questions that share the same requirements and environment.
Multi-question
✕Your answer: Hot
✨ Answer Coach:The Hot tier carries the highest per-gigabyte storage cost in exchange for the lowest access cost, which is wasted spend for data the Legal department touches only rarely and keeps for a decade.
— grounded in authored certification guidance
Answer Coach
Answer Coach uses the bank's authored rationale to explain the misconception, key distinction, and rule to remember. On supported devices, an optional on-device model may rewrite the note only when it passes grounding checks.
App exclusive
Frequently asked
AZ-104 FAQs
How much does the AZ-104 exam cost?
The AZ-104 voucher is USD $165 in the United States. Pricing varies by region — in the UK it's typically around £128. Microsoft sometimes runs free-voucher promotions during events such as Microsoft Build or Microsoft Ignite, so check your Microsoft Learn profile for any active offers before booking. AZ-104 also requires annual renewal (free, online), so factor that into long-term cost planning.
Does the AZ-104 certification expire?
Yes. Microsoft Associate certifications including AZ-104 expire annually. Renewal is free — a 25–30 question online assessment on Microsoft Learn within the six-month window before your expiration date. The renewal targets recent skills outline updates, so staying current is straightforward if you remain broadly active in the role. (Fundamentals certifications such as AZ-900 are different — those don't expire.)
What is the AZ-104 retake policy if I fail?
The first retake is allowed after 24 hours. Second and third retakes each require a 14-day wait. Microsoft caps retakes at five attempts per 12-month rolling period. Each attempt requires a new voucher purchase.
How long should I study for AZ-104?
Most candidates plan four to eight weeks with prior Azure experience, or longer if they are new to administration. Practise identity and governance, storage, compute, virtual networking, and monitoring in the portal and with Azure CLI, PowerShell, and Bicep so you can choose and apply the right administration method. Azure Mastery's readiness gauge tells you when you're exam-ready.
AZ-104 vs AZ-900 — which should I take first?
If you have less than six months of hands-on Azure experience, take AZ-900 (Microsoft Azure Fundamentals) first — it builds the conceptual map AZ-104 assumes you already have. If you have a year or more of practical Azure work, you can skip AZ-900 and go straight to AZ-104. Most hiring managers care about AZ-104 specifically; AZ-900 is often dropped from CVs once AZ-104 is on it.
AZ-104 vs AZ-305 — which next?
Pass AZ-104 first. AZ-104 is the Associate-level operational cert; AZ-305 is the Expert-level architectural cert. AZ-305 assumes you already understand Azure operations (the AZ-104 material) and adds requirements gathering, capacity planning, governance design, and choosing between competing service options. Most architects hold both — AZ-104 to prove they've done the work, AZ-305 to prove they can design it.
Where AZ-104 fits
Certification paths that include AZ-104
AZ-104 is the workhorse Associate cert — it appears as the Associate-level prerequisite or terminal exam in five Microsoft Azure certification paths. Tap any other exam to see its dedicated study app page.
AZ-104 sits in the middle of the Azure cert path. AZ-900 builds the foundation; AZ-305, SC-500, and AZ-700 are current next steps for architecture, cloud and AI security, and networking specialisms.
Ready to pass AZ-104?
Download Azure Mastery free. 612 AZ-104 practice questions across all five domains, AI score prediction, full-length exam simulator, adaptive study plan. iPhone & iPad.
