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AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator

Run, secure and monitor real Azure environments — and walk into the AZ-104 exam prepared.

  • 32 hours of live, trainer-led sessions
  • 14 guided hands-on labs in a real Azure subscription
  • Day-wise plan mapped to the five AZ-104 skill areas
  • Mock exam with question-by-question review
  • Weekday and weekend batches in IST and Gulf Time
  • 30 days of post-training doubt support
Aligned to Microsoft exam AZ-104
Duration
4 Days | 32 Hrs
Next batch
Batches on request
Delivery
Live Online · Classroom · Onsite · Corporate
Level
Intermediate
Exam
AZ-104
Language
English

Why learn AZ-104 with Ace Skills

  • Certified trainers

    Learn from practitioners who hold the certification and use the technology at work.

  • Hands-on labs

    Practise every major topic in guided labs, not slides.

  • Exam-focused prep

    Day-wise plan mapped to the official skills outline, with a mock exam.

  • Post-training support

    Ask the trainer questions for 30 days after your batch ends.

Course overview

Azure administrators keep production running: they decide who can do what, where data lives, how workloads scale and how quickly a team recovers when something breaks. This four-day, trainer-led course builds exactly those habits. Every concept is introduced with a short explanation and then practised straight away in a real Azure subscription, so by the end of each day you have configured, broken and fixed the services you will be tested on.

The plan follows the five skill areas of the AZ-104 exam in a practical order. Day one sets up identity and governance — Microsoft Entra ID, role-based access control, Azure Policy, budgets and resource organisation — because every later decision depends on them. Day two covers storage accounts, secure data access and infrastructure as code with ARM templates and Bicep. Day three moves to compute: virtual machines, scale sets, containers and App Service. Day four connects everything with virtual networking, private access, load balancing, monitoring, backup and recovery.

How the course is taught

Sessions are live and interactive, with a trainer who has administered Azure in real environments. Fourteen guided labs total roughly ten hours of hands-on work, and each lab ends with a short checkpoint so you can confirm the result before moving on. The final afternoon is dedicated to exam readiness: how the question types work, how to approach case studies, and a 40-question mock exam reviewed question by question.

Batches run on weekdays or across two weekends, with timings in IST and options suited to the Gulf region. After the course you keep access to the trainer for 30 days of doubt support while you prepare to book your exam with Microsoft.

This course is aligned to the published AZ-104 skills outline. Exam details on this page are reviewed regularly, but Microsoft can change exams at any time, so always confirm the current outline and price on Microsoft Learn before booking.

Key features

  • Trainer with hands-on Azure administration experience
  • Real Azure lab subscription — no simulators
  • 14 guided labs with checkpoints
  • Infrastructure as code with Bicep from Day 2
  • Case-study and exam-strategy session
  • 40-question mock exam with review
  • Course completion certificate from Ace Skills Consulting
  • 30 days of post-training doubt support

Who should attend

  • System administrators moving workloads to the cloud
  • Cloud and IT support engineers
  • Network engineers taking on Azure responsibilities
  • DevOps engineers who need administration depth
  • AZ-900 holders progressing to associate level

Prerequisites

  • Working knowledge of Windows or Linux administration
  • Networking basics: IP addressing, DNS and VPNs
  • Familiarity with PowerShell or Bash
  • AZ-900 (Azure Fundamentals) or equivalent experience recommended

Curriculum

4 Days · 32 Hours · 16 Modules · 14 Labs

  1. Microsoft Entra ID

    • Tenants, users and groups
    • Licence assignment
    • External (B2B) users
    • Self-service password reset
    • Lab: Create users and groups and bulk-assign licences · 45 min

    Access control

    • Azure RBAC: built-in vs custom roles
    • Scope and role inheritance
    • Interpreting role assignments
    • Lab: Assign scoped RBAC roles and test least privilege · 45 min

    Governance

    • Management groups and subscriptions
    • Azure Policy and initiatives
    • Resource locks and tags
    • Cost management and budgets
    • Lab: Enforce tagging with Azure Policy and a resource lock · 40 min

    Resource deployment basics

    • Azure Resource Manager
    • Resource groups
    • Moving resources between groups and subscriptions

  2. Storage accounts

    • Redundancy options
    • Access tiers
    • Lifecycle management
    • Firewalls and private endpoints
    • Lab: Configure storage with lifecycle rules and a private endpoint · 50 min

    Data access

    • SAS tokens
    • Stored access policies
    • Access key rotation
    • Identity-based access for Azure Files
    • Lab: Generate and test a SAS token and stored access policy · 35 min

    Blob & Files

    • Containers
    • Versioning and soft delete
    • Object replication
    • Azure File Sync overview
    • AzCopy

    ARM templates & Bicep

    • Template structure and parameters
    • Deploy, modify and export templates
    • Convert ARM to Bicep
    • Lab: Deploy a VM and storage account with Bicep · 50 min

  3. Virtual machines

    • Sizing, disks and disk encryption
    • Availability sets vs availability zones
    • VM Scale Sets with autoscale
    • Moving VMs
    • Lab: Deploy a zone-redundant VM Scale Set with autoscale · 55 min

    Containers

    • Azure Container Registry
    • Azure Container Instances
    • Azure Container Apps scaling
    • Lab: Push an image to ACR and run it in Container Apps · 45 min

    App Service

    • Plans and scaling
    • Deployment slots
    • Custom domains and TLS certificates
    • Backup
    • Networking options
    • Lab: App Service with a staging slot swap and custom domain · 45 min

  4. Virtual networking

    • VNets and subnets
    • Peering
    • User-defined routes
    • Public IP addresses
    • Lab: Hub-spoke peering with UDRs and NSG rules · 50 min

    Secure access

    • NSGs and ASGs
    • Azure Bastion
    • Service endpoints vs private endpoints
    • Azure DNS (public and private zones)
    • Lab: Private DNS zone and Bastion access · 35 min

    Load balancing

    • Azure Load Balancer (internal and public)
    • Application Gateway
    • Troubleshooting connectivity with Network Watcher
    • Lab: Public load balancer for two VMs · 40 min

    Monitor & maintain

    • Azure Monitor metrics and logs
    • Log Analytics and KQL basics
    • Alerts and action groups
    • Recovery Services vault and Azure Backup policies
    • Site Recovery overview
    • Lab: Alerts and Log Analytics queries · 35 min
    • Lab: Back up and restore a VM · 35 min

    Exam readiness

    • Exam strategy
    • Approaching case studies
    • 40-question mock exam with review
Download full syllabus (PDF)

Skills you will gain

  • Microsoft Entra ID
  • Azure RBAC
  • Azure Policy
  • Resource Manager & Bicep
  • Storage accounts
  • Azure Files
  • VMs & scale sets
  • App Service
  • Container Apps & ACI
  • VNets & peering
  • NSGs
  • Azure DNS
  • Load Balancer
  • Application Gateway
  • Azure Monitor
  • Log Analytics
  • Azure Backup
  • Site Recovery

Tools & technologies

  • Azure portal
  • Azure CLI
  • Azure PowerShell
  • Bicep
  • ARM templates
  • Azure Storage Explorer
  • AzCopy
  • Azure Cloud Shell

Certification exam

Exam details
Exam nameMicrosoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate
Exam codeAZ-104
Number of questions40–60
Duration100 minutes
Passing score700 / 1000 (scaled)
Exam feeUS$165 (set by the vendor; may vary by country)
Voucher includedNo — book directly with the vendor
Question formatMultiple choice, Multiple response, Drag and drop, Case study, Performance-based lab
DeliveryOnline proctored or Test centre
Validity & renewal1 year (free online renewal assessment)

Skill areas measured

  1. Manage Azure identities and governance
  2. Implement and manage storage
  3. Deploy and manage Azure compute resources
  4. Implement and manage virtual networking
  5. Monitor and maintain Azure resources

Exam details last verified on 11 Oct 2026. Vendors change exams; confirm on the official vendor page before booking. Official exam page (opens in a new tab)

Schedule & Pricing

Live Online

Individual

Price on request

  • 32 hours of live, trainer-led sessions
  • 14 hands-on labs
  • Ace Skills course completion certificate

Onsite / Classroom

At your office or our centre

Pricing depends on location, group size and dates.

  • Delivered at your premises or an Ace centre
  • Same curriculum and labs as live online
  • Dates planned around your team

Corporate / Team

Private batch for your organisation

A private batch with content adapted to your environment and goals.

  • Customised curriculum
  • Private batch, online or onsite
  • Progress and assessment reports
  • GST invoice and PO-based billing

No public batches scheduled — Talk to an Advisor for a private batch.

Projects & labs you will build

  • Day 2 · 50 min

    Configure storage with lifecycle rules and a private endpoint

  • Day 2 · 50 min

    Deploy a VM and storage account with Bicep

  • Day 3 · 55 min

    Deploy a zone-redundant VM Scale Set with autoscale

  • Day 4 · 50 min

    Hub-spoke peering with UDRs and NSG rules

Your certificate

Certificate of Completion — Ace Skills Consulting

Awarded on completing the course. It records the course title and training hours, and you can share it on your LinkedIn profile.

The Microsoft certification itself is awarded by Microsoft when you pass exam AZ-104.

Frequently asked questions

Is AZ-104 suitable if I am new to Azure?

Yes, if you already administer servers or networks. If you have never used a cloud portal, complete AZ-900 or our free Azure basics session first.

Do I get hands-on access?

Yes. Every learner works in a lab subscription for all 14 labs; access details are shared before Day 1.

Is the exam fee included?

Only when the batch shows the "Exam voucher included" badge. Otherwise you book the exam directly with Microsoft.

What if I miss a session?

Recordings (where enabled) are available for 30 days, and you can join the same day in a later batch once at no extra cost.

Do you run weekend batches?

Yes. Weekend batches run over two consecutive weekends and cover the same 32 hours.

Can you train our whole team?

Yes. Request a corporate quote for a private online or onsite batch with a curriculum adjusted to your environment.

How long is the certification valid?

One year. Microsoft offers a free online renewal assessment before it expires.

Will this course stay valid if Microsoft updates the exam?

We map the curriculum to the current skills outline and update it when Microsoft revises the exam. The "last verified" date on this page shows when we last checked.

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Train your team on AZ-104

Private batches online or at your office in India and the GCC, with a curriculum adapted to your environment.