How to Pass the AZ-104: A 6-Week Study Plan

You won't pass the AZ-104 by memorizing: the exam lasts 100 minutes, has long scenario questions, and may include interactive tasks in an Azure environment. This plan spreads the five official domains over 6 weeks, at 8 to 10 hours a week, and pairs theory with practice at every step.

If you already manage Azure at work, you can compress it to 3 or 4 weeks. Some people do it in 3, as we tell in how I passed the AZ-104 in 3 weeks. If you've never used Azure, start with the AZ-900.

Before you start

• An Azure subscription to practice with. The free account covers almost the entire outline. Delete resources after each exercise to avoid charges, or use the AZ-104 labs if you'd rather not use your own subscription.
• Portal, Azure CLI, and PowerShell. Microsoft expects experience with all three. Do each exercise at least once in the portal and once from the command line.
• The outline at hand. The current one is from October 26, 2023. The weights are: identity and governance 20–25%, storage 15–20%, compute 20–25%, networking 15–20%, and monitoring 10–15%. You'll find the summary in the AZ-104 guide.
• A diagnostic on day 1. Take the practice exam demo before you study. It shows which domains are hardest for you and lets you order the plan.

Week 1: identity and governance

It's one of the heaviest domains and the foundation for everything else.

• Microsoft Entra ID: users and groups, properties, licenses, external users (B2B), and self-service password reset (SSPR).
• RBAC: built-in roles (Owner, Contributor, Reader, and the service-specific ones), assignments at different scopes, and how to interpret a user's effective access.
• Governance: Azure Policy, resource locks, tags, resource groups, subscriptions, and management groups.
• Costs: alerts, budgets, and Azure Advisor recommendations.

Practice: create a management group, assign a policy that requires a tag, and check that it blocks a resource without one. Then assign a role to a user on a resource group and review their effective access.

Week 2: storage

• Storage accounts: creation, redundancy (LRS, ZRS, GRS, GZRS), object replication, and encryption.
• Access: firewalls and virtual networks, SAS tokens, stored access policies, access keys, and identity-based access for Azure Files.
• Blob Storage and Azure Files: containers, file shares, access tiers (hot, cool, cold, archive), lifecycle management, versioning, snapshots, and soft delete.
• Tools: Azure Storage Explorer and AzCopy.

Practice: create a GRS account, generate a read-only SAS with a short expiry, and set up a lifecycle rule that moves blobs to cool after 30 days.

Week 3: compute

• ARM and Bicep: interpret, modify, and deploy templates, export a deployment, and convert ARM to Bicep. Expect questions that show you a template and ask what it does.
• Virtual machines: sizes, disks, Azure Disk Encryption, moving a VM across resource groups, subscriptions, or regions, availability zones, availability sets, and Virtual Machine Scale Sets.
• Containers: Azure Container Registry, Container Instances, and Container Apps, and how to scale them.
• App Service: plans and scaling, certificates and TLS, custom domains, backups, networking, and deployment slots.

Practice: deploy a VM with a Bicep file, resize it, and add a disk. Then create an App Service with a staging slot and do a swap.

Week 4: virtual networking

It's the domain where most people lose points, because of the long scenario questions.

• Virtual networks: subnets, peering, public IPs, and user-defined routes (UDR).
• Secure access: network security groups (NSGs) and application security groups, how to evaluate effective rules, Azure Bastion, service endpoints, and private endpoints.
• Names and load balancing: Azure DNS, internal and public load balancers, and how to troubleshoot connectivity and load balancing.

Practice: create two peered VNets with a VM in each. Block traffic with an NSG and use effective rules to find which rule blocks it. Connect to a VM with no public IP through Bastion.

Week 5: monitoring, backup, and review

• Azure Monitor: metrics, log settings, Log Analytics queries (basic KQL), alert rules, action groups, alert processing rules, Insights for VMs, storage, and networks, and Network Watcher with Connection Monitor.
• Azure Backup: Recovery Services vault and Backup vault, policies, backup and restore, and reports and alerts.
• Azure Site Recovery: set up replication and run a failover to another region.

Practice: create an alert that emails you when a VM goes above 80% CPU. Back up that VM and restore a file.

End of the week: use the AZ-104 deep dive to review the topics you were least sure about.

Week 6: practice exams

• A full practice exam every other day, under real conditions: 100 minutes, no pauses.
• Review every mistake and go back to that week's exercise if the topic was about configuration.
• Use the cheat sheet to review CLI and PowerShell commands, redundancy levels, and RBAC and Policy scopes.
• Try Microsoft's exam sandbox to get to know the interface and question types.
• Book when you consistently score above 75%.

The mistakes that make people fail most

1. Studying only theory. The exam may include interactive tasks, and almost every question is a scenario. Without practice in the portal and the CLI, it shows.
2. Mixing up RBAC and Azure Policy. RBAC controls who can do what. Policy controls which configurations are allowed, no matter who makes them.
3. Leaving networking for last. Peering, NSGs, and effective routes produce the longest questions. If you reach that part tired, time runs out.
4. Ignoring the command line. Some questions show an Azure CLI or PowerShell command and ask what it does or what's missing.
5. Booking without measuring your level. A retake costs the same as the first attempt. Check how much the AZ-104 costs and how to renew it for free before you pay.

Practice with Brains4Cloud

• Guide and deep dive for the five domains.
• Cheat sheet for the final review.
• Labs in a simulated Azure portal.
• Practice exam with scenario questions and an explanation for every option. Create your free account and start with the demo.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to pass the AZ-104? At 8 to 10 hours a week, about 6 weeks. If you already manage Azure, 3 or 4 weeks can be enough. If you're starting from scratch, begin with the AZ-900 and add one or two months.

Does the AZ-104 have labs? It may include interactive components, meaning tasks you complete in an Azure environment. That's why it pays to practice every topic in the portal.

Which domain is the hardest? For most people, virtual networking: it has the longest scenario questions and mixes peering, NSGs, routes, and DNS.

What score do I need? 700 out of 1000.

Is there a free official practice test? Yes. Microsoft offers a free practice assessment on AI Skills Navigator. You need to sign in.