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Preparing for a AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator interview in 2026? This comprehensive guide covers the most frequently asked questions across freshers and experienced levels, with detailed answers written by industry professionals. Each answer explains both the concept and how to articulate it clearly during an interview.
Roles these questions apply to: Azure Administrator, Cloud Engineer, Infrastructure Engineer
Expected salary range: ₹6–20 LPA
Core skills tested: Azure AD, VMs, Storage, Networking, ARM Templates
How to Use This Guide
- Read each answer carefully — understand the concept, don’t just memorize
- Practice explaining each answer aloud in your own words
- For technical questions, try implementing the concept hands-on
- Focus on questions relevant to your target role and experience level
- Prepare 2–3 real examples from your projects for each concept
AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator Interview Questions with Answers
1. What are the main areas covered in AZ-104?
AZ-104 covers five domains: Manage Azure Identities and Governance (15–20%), Implement and Manage Storage (15–20%), Deploy and Manage Compute Resources (20–25%), Configure and Manage Virtual Networking (20–25%), and Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources (10–15%). Each domain requires both conceptual understanding and hands-on configuration ability.
2. Explain Azure Resource Groups and their purpose.
Resource Groups are logical containers for Azure resources that share a common lifecycle. All resources must belong to exactly one RG. Benefits: deploy/delete together, apply RBAC at group level, organise by application/environment/department, view costs per group. Resources in different regions can share an RG. Deleting an RG deletes all resources within it — use locks to prevent accidental deletion.
3. What is Azure RBAC and how does it work?
Role-Based Access Control assigns permissions using: Security Principal (who — user, group, service principal, managed identity) + Role Definition (what — collection of permissions like Reader, Contributor, Owner) + Scope (where — management group, subscription, resource group, or individual resource). RBAC is additive (permissions accumulate), deny assignments override allows. Custom roles are possible.
4. Explain the difference between Azure Storage account types.
StorageV2 (general purpose v2): supports Blob, File, Queue, Table — most common. BlobStorage: legacy, blob-only. BlockBlobStorage (Premium): high-performance block blobs. FileStorage (Premium): high-performance file shares. Performance tiers: Standard (HDD-backed) and Premium (SSD-backed). Redundancy: LRS, ZRS, GRS, RA-GRS, GZRS, RA-GZRS — ranging from single-datacenter to cross-region replication.
5. How do you configure Azure Virtual Networks and subnets?
VNet creation: define address space (CIDR block like 10.0.0.0/16), create subnets (smaller CIDR ranges like 10.0.1.0/24), assign NSGs for traffic filtering. Key concepts: VNet peering (connect VNets), VPN Gateway (connect to on-premises), Service Endpoints/Private Endpoints (secure access to PaaS), DNS settings, and Network Watcher for diagnostics.
6. What are Network Security Groups (NSGs)?
NSGs contain security rules that allow/deny inbound and outbound traffic based on: priority (100–4096, lower = higher priority), source/destination (IP, service tag, application security group), port, and protocol (TCP/UDP/Any). Applied to subnets or individual NICs. Default rules allow VNet internal traffic and deny internet inbound. Evaluated per-rule, first match wins.
7. Explain Azure Load Balancer vs Application Gateway.
Azure Load Balancer operates at Layer 4 (TCP/UDP) — distributes traffic based on IP and port, supports internal and public configurations, ultra-low latency. Application Gateway operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS) — URL-based routing, SSL termination, WAF, cookie-based session affinity, header rewrites. Use Load Balancer for non-HTTP traffic; App Gateway for web applications needing URL routing or WAF.
8. How do you implement Azure Backup?
Azure Backup uses Recovery Services Vaults. Steps: create vault, define backup policy (schedule + retention), enable backup for resources (VMs, SQL, Files, Blobs). Supported workloads: Azure VMs (full/incremental snapshots), SQL Server in Azure VMs, Azure Files, on-premises via MARS agent. Features: application-consistent snapshots, geo-redundant storage, instant restore, and soft delete protection.
9. What are ARM Templates?
ARM (Azure Resource Manager) Templates are JSON files that define Azure infrastructure as code. They enable: repeatable deployments, version control, what-if analysis (preview changes), parallel resource creation, and idempotent execution. Structure: parameters (inputs), variables (reusable values), resources (what to deploy), outputs (return values). Bicep is the newer, simpler DSL that compiles to ARM JSON.
10. How does Azure Monitor work?
Azure Monitor collects: Metrics (numerical time-series data — CPU, memory, requests), Logs (structured event data in Log Analytics workspace — queried with KQL), Activity Log (control-plane operations). Configure: Diagnostic Settings (route data to workspace/storage/event hub), Alerts (metric/log-based notifications), Action Groups (who to notify and how), Workbooks (custom visualisations), and Autoscale rules.
Interview Preparation Tips for AZ-104 Roles
For Freshers
- Focus on core concepts and fundamentals (questions 1–5)
- Build at least 2 hands-on projects you can discuss in detail
- Prepare to explain your learning journey and motivation
- Practice coding/configuration challenges related to Azure AD, VMs, Storage, Networking, ARM Templates
For Experienced Professionals
- Prepare architecture and design discussions (questions 6–10)
- Have production war stories ready — problems you solved and lessons learned
- Be ready to whiteboard solutions and discuss trade-offs
- Show leadership through mentoring examples and process improvements
Prepare with Structured Training
AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator Training at SkilBrill includes dedicated interview preparation with mock interviews conducted by hiring professionals. The programme covers all concepts tested in these questions through hands-on labs and real-world projects. Placement support with 200+ hiring partners. Call +91 8610964691.
