1.1 Current AZ-104 Exam Facts

Source-controlled exam facts

This chapter fixes the baseline facts for the AZ-104 study guide as of 2026-05-05. The source of record is Microsoft Learn, not a forum post, training vendor table, archived PDF, or copied practice-test header. The official certification page identifies AZ-104 as the exam for Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate. The credential is intermediate, the product is Azure, and the role is Administrator. The current skills measured page for this guide is dated April 17, 2026.

The first exam-day mistake is treating AZ-104 like AZ-900 with a few portal screenshots added. AZ-104 expects administration behavior. A candidate needs to know how to implement, manage, monitor, secure, and troubleshoot Azure environments. That includes identity, governance, storage, compute, networking, monitoring, backup, and maintenance. The exam can test what you would choose in the portal, what command family fits a task, what a template is doing, and why a deployment or connection failed.

Two timing numbers often get mixed together. Microsoft lists the AZ-104 assessment time as 100 minutes. Microsoft also describes seat duration for role-based exams, such as 120 minutes for associate or expert exams without labs and 140 minutes when an exam experience may contain labs. The seat duration includes more than active question time. When you register, read the appointment details shown in the registration workflow and again at exam launch.

Do not claim a fixed question count. Microsoft says most certification exams typically contain 40-60 questions, but the number can vary. That wording matters because a candidate who memorizes a fixed count can make poor pacing decisions. If the screen shows case studies, build-list items, hot areas, drag/drop tasks, or interactive work, the effort per item may differ from a simple four-option question.

What changed in the April 17, 2026 outline

The April 17, 2026 change log is mostly stability, not a rewrite. Microsoft notes minor audience-profile changes, no change for the storage domain overall, minor changes for Azure Files and Blob Storage, no change for compute overall, minor VM and container-in-portal changes, no change for networking overall, minor VNet changes, no change for monitoring overall, and minor monitoring-resource changes. For study planning, that means the core administrator map remains intact, but wording-sensitive tasks should follow the current outline.

Source control checklist

• Check the Microsoft certification page before publishing a public guide update.
• Check the AZ-104 study guide page for the latest skills measured date.
• Preserve the official domain weights instead of inventing equal chapter sizes.
• Remove any pass-rate percentage unless it is an official Microsoft claim.
• Replace fixed question counts with "typically 40-60, can vary."
• Keep lab language conditional because labs may be present and can be removed.
• Keep Microsoft Learn access limited and timed, not described as unrestricted resource use.

Exam-fact troubleshooting

A good AZ-104 study plan starts with these facts, then turns them into behavior. Spend the largest study blocks on identity and governance, compute, storage, and networking because those domains carry most of the weight. Do not ignore monitoring and backup just because the percentage is smaller. Monitoring questions often combine signals from multiple services, and backup or failover scenarios expose whether you understand operational maintenance.

Use Microsoft Learn page dates as version tags in your notes. If your notes say "updated before April 17, 2026," flag them for review. If a practice bank says 120 minutes and gives an estimated pass rate, treat that metadata as stale even if the individual technical questions are still useful. Your study guide should preserve current logistics while using practice items to build skill, not to define official policy.

The exam orientation goal is simple: know what Microsoft currently says, study the weighted administrator skills, and avoid myths that distort preparation. AZ-104 is passable with disciplined hands-on practice, but only if the facts guiding that practice are current.