AZ 104: Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate

The AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate course is designed for IT professionals who want to develop the expertise needed to manage Azure resources, implement security, monitor workloads, and support cloud infrastructures. This training provides comprehensive, hands-on experience to help you confidently pass the AZ-104 certification exam and excel in an Azure administrator role.

This course equips learners with the core skills required to manage Azure subscriptions, implement storage solutions, configure virtual networks, secure identities, and monitor cloud environments. Through practical labs and real-world scenarios, participants learn how to deploy and manage compute resources, optimize performance, maintain governance, and ensure business continuity in Azure. The training aligns fully with Microsoft’s AZ-104 exam objectives, ensuring that learners gain both certification readiness and practical operational skills.

Module 1: Manage Azure Identities and Governance

Topics Covered:

• Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
• User and group management
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
• Subscriptions and resource groups
• Azure Policies and Blueprints

Hands-On Labs:

• Create and manage Azure AD users and groups
• Assign roles using RBAC for least-privilege access
• Create and manage resource groups
• Apply Azure Policies to enforce governance
• Configure and test access permissions

Module 2: Implement and Manage Storage

Topics Covered:

• Storage accounts (Blob, File, Disk)
• Access keys, SAS tokens, RBAC
• Replication and redundancy options
• Storage tools and automation
• Backup and restore operations

Hands-On Labs:

• Create a storage account with secure access settings
• Upload and manage Blob storage
• Configure Azure File Shares and map them to Windows/Linux
• Implement storage replication (LRS/GRS)
• Create and restore backups using Azure Backup

Module 3: Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources

Topics Covered:

• Virtual machine creation and management
• VM availability and scaling
• App Services deployment
• Containers and container registries
• Introduction to AKS management

Hands-On Labs:

• Deploy a Windows and Linux VM
• Configure VM networking, disks, and extensions
• Implement VM availability sets and scale sets
• Deploy a web app using Azure App Service
• Create an Azure Container Registry and deploy a container

Module 4: Configure and Manage Virtual Networking

Topics Covered:

• Virtual networks, IP addressing, subnetting
• Network security groups and routing
• DNS services in Azure
• VPN Gateway and VNet-to-VNet connectivity
• Load balancing and traffic distribution

Hands-On Labs:

• Create and configure a virtual network with multiple subnets
• Implement NSGs and test inbound/outbound rules
• Set up custom DNS and verify name resolution
• Configure a site-to-site VPN using Azure VPN Gateway
• Deploy and test Azure Load Balancer and Application Gateway

Module 5: Monitor and Back Up Azure Resources

Topics Covered:

• Azure Monitor, Logs, Metrics
• Log Analytics workspaces
• Alerts and dashboards
• Cost management and optimization
• Backup and recovery solutions

Hands-On Labs:

• Configure Azure Monitor and Log Analytics workspace
• Create metric alerts and activity log alerts
• Build monitoring dashboards
• Analyze performance and cost reports
• Configure and test Azure Site Recovery (ASR)

Module 6: Secure and Protect Azure Resources

Topics Covered:

• Azure security best practices
• Identity protection and conditional access
• Azure Key Vault configuration
• Encryption options in Azure
• Azure Defender and Security Center

Hands-On Labs:

• Configure Conditional Access policies
• Create and manage secrets in Azure Key Vault
• Enable and review Azure Defender recommendations
• Implement disk and storage encryption
• Review and apply security baseline policies

Module 7: Governance and Compliance 

Topics Covered:

• Resource tagging and cost governance
• ARM templates and JSON structure
• Management group hierarchy
• Hybrid governance considerations

Hands-On Labs:

• Apply tags and create automated tag policies
• Deploy resources using ARM templates
• Configure management groups and assign policies
• Build a basic governance model for an enterprise scenario