AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator

What's inside

AZ-104 doesn't reward clicking through the portal from memory. It rewards knowing which role, setting or tool does the job, and why.

This independent study guide for the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate exam distils what AZ-104 really expects you to understand into the comparisons, limits and gotchas that everyday Azure administration turns on. No padding, no screenshots, no memorised answers: just the reasoning you need to pick the right role, SKU, setting or command, and to know what it can't do.

Organised by technology

Fifteen chapters, each readable on its own and together covering all five AZ-104 skills areas:

• Identities and governance: Microsoft Entra users, groups and licences, external users, SSPR, Azure RBAC and custom roles, Azure Policy, resource locks, tags, management groups and cost management.
• Storage: storage account types and redundancy, object replication, encryption, SAS and stored access policies, storage firewalls and private endpoints, Azure Files, access tiers and lifecycle management, AzCopy.
• Compute: ARM templates and Bicep, virtual machines, disks and availability, scale sets, Container Registry, Container Instances, Container Apps and AKS, App Service plans, scaling and deployment slots.
• Networking: virtual networks and peering, public IP addresses, VPN Gateway, user-defined routes, Azure Firewall, NSGs, Azure Bastion, service and private endpoints, Azure DNS and load balancing.
• Monitoring and maintenance: Azure Monitor metrics, logs and alerts, action groups, Network Watcher, Azure Backup and Site Recovery.

Inside

• Comparison tables for every close call, such as which role, which storage account kind or which load balancer SKU fits which task.
• 40+ Common trap callouts that name the answers that look right but aren't, and explain what's right instead.
• 25 diagrams, from NSG rule evaluation and RBAC scopes to storage redundancy, hub-and-spoke peering and the alert pipeline.
• Key takeaways at the end of every chapter for fast revision.
• A glossary of 600+ terms, each linked to Microsoft Learn, with a free online version for print readers.

Up to date

Azure changes quickly. This edition reflects Microsoft's documentation as of September 2026, including recent retirements and replacements, and notes where the exam's traditional answer and today's product differ.

Understanding, not memorising

This book contains no exam questions. It explains the knowledge the exam expects, so you can answer questions you have never seen and run Azure with the same confidence long after exam day.

Written by Tony Rough, a cloud architect with more than twenty years in IT infrastructure who holds the Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Azure Administrator and Azure Security Engineer certifications.

Part of the Ultra Transcenders series from Distilled Press. An independent publication, not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by Microsoft Corporation.

Chapters

1. Microsoft Entra ID: users, groups, devices and licences
2. Access control with Azure RBAC
3. Governance: policy, tags, locks, subscriptions and cost
4. Storage accounts: types, redundancy, encryption and data transfer
5. Securing access to storage
6. Blob and file data: tiers, protection and lifecycle
7. Infrastructure as code: ARM templates and Bicep
8. Virtual machines and scale sets
9. Containers: registries, instances, Container Apps and AKS
10. Azure App Service
11. Virtual networks and connectivity
12. Securing virtual networks: NSGs, Bastion and private access
13. Name resolution and load balancing
14. Monitoring with Azure Monitor and Network Watcher
15. Backup and disaster recovery

Plus an appendix glossary of 600+ terms, each linked to Microsoft Learn, and free online for print readers.

Sample diagrams