Certification Spotlight: Azure Administrator Associate.

Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate

The Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) is currently one of the most popular Microsoft certifications. And with good reason, because it demonstrates the certified professional's expertise and skill in managing the heart of the Microsoft cloud, Azure.

The Azure Administrator knows how to manage Azure subscriptions, secure identities, and many other responsibilities, such as:

• administer the infrastructure
• configure virtual networking
• connect Azure and on-premises sites
• manage network traffic
• implement storage solutions
• create and scale virtual machines
• implement web apps and containers
• back up and share data
• monitor Azure solutions.

Essential to the Azure cloud services, the Azure Administrator will provision, size, monitor, and adjust resources as appropriate. They are part of a larger team dedicated to implementing an organization's cloud infrastructure and very often are also part of DevOps teams to make sure that services are deployed and maintained as reliable as possible. It is recommended to have knowledge of scripting in Powershell and Azure DevOps.

How to prepare for the Certification

People who want to prepare for this certification should have some background as a system engineer or similar, and preferably, passed the Azure Fundamentals exam (AZ-900). In only four days, the M-AZ104, Azure Administrator course will help to prepare for the certification. Some self-study is required afterwards and then the exam can be done. The chance of passing the exam is higher, if the exam is booked two weeks after completing the M-AZ104 course.

In short, the steps to achieve the AZ-104 Azure Administrator certification are:

• Prepare by following the course, M-AZ104. The exam tests the following, so make sure you know about:
  • Manage Azure identities and governance (15–20%)
  • Implement and manage storage (15–20%)
  • Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (20–25%)
  • Configure and manage virtual networking (20-25%)
  • Monitor and maintain Azure resources (10–15%)
• Book the AZ-900 exam two weeks after the course.
• Optional: show off your new certification on LinkedIn

As soon as the Azure Administrator exam (AZ-104) has been passed, there is access to a wealth of other certifications.

Certify to boost your career and salary

According to our latest IT Skills and Salary Report, certifications lead to more success at work, more efficiency, and higher salary. Naturally, salary is also influenced by role, region, and amount of experience. Would you like to learn more?

Next certification spotlight: Microsoft Certified: Azure Architect