Exam AZ-103 Microsoft Azure Administrator has been updated to AZ-104

Azure Administrators are the individuals responsible for implementing, monitoring, and maintaining Microsoft Azure solutions, including major services related to compute, storage, network, and security for businesses and corporations.

Microsoft has created the Certified Azure Administrator Associate certification to verify the skills of these administrators and assign the credential to those that meet or exceed the measured criteria.

When this exam was first released, it was a two part exam, consisting of:

Exam AZ-100: Microsoft Azure Infrastructure and Deployment

Exam AZ-101: Microsoft Azure Integration and Security

Both of these exams formally retired on May 1, 2019

Exam AZ-102: Microsoft Azure Administrator Certification Transition – this exam was offered in the same time period as the AZ-100 and AZ-101. It was intended only for candidates that had taken Exam 70-533: Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions.

If learners had not taken Exam 533, they were not granted the certification by taking the AZ-102 exam.

While it was released, the transition exam was intended for people who had already demonstrated skills with respect to all the domain content. Basically, this exam covered the delta content between the 70-533 certification and what was covered under AZ-102.

All of the transition exams that Microsoft released over that time period (as there were titles available under other technology branches) covered net new content that wasn’t covered in enough depth prior, and content on aspects of the technology that had changed between the releases.

AZ-102 was formally retired June 30, 2019.

Just ahead of the June 30, 2019 retirement date for AZ-102, at the time when AZ-100 and AZ-101 retired in May 1, 2019, Exam AZ-103: Microsoft Azure Administrator was released. That new exam combines the skills covered in AZ-100 and AZ-101 with the majority of the new exam coming from AZ-100.

There was no prerequisite to pass 70-533 and there was only the one exam.

The domain topics for AZ-103 were:

Manage Azure subscriptions and resources (15-20%)
Implement and manage storage (15-20%)
Deploy and manage virtual machines (VMs) (15-20%)
Configure and manage virtual networks (30-35%)
Manage identities (15-20%)

AZ-103 is now being replaced with Exam AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator – it is now available (as of April 2, 2020).

AZ-104 has some changes to the domain topics as follows:

Manage Azure identities and governance (15-20%)
Implement and manage storage (10-15%)
Deploy and manage Azure compute resources (25-30%)
Configure and manage virtual networking (30-35%)
Monitor and back up Azure resources (10-15%)

AZ-103 is still available to test under as it is not expected to retire until August 31, 2020 (planned, at the time of this writing).

I have my Exam AZ-103: Microsoft Azure Administrator Study Guide available online right now and I am working to update it to the new domain topics for AZ-104

Stay tuned…

Azure Certification Question of the Day (QOTD) – AZ-103 003 – ANSWERED

You are the Azure Cloud Consultant for your organization, and you have been tasked with configuring VNet Peering.

You need to review the corporate needs to have the desired connectivity across all Azure public regions, keeping all your traffic on the Microsoft Backbone.

Which of the following statements below is TRUE regarding Global VNet Peering? (Choose three)

A) You can peer across VNets only in Azure public regions with non-overlapping address spaces.
B) You can peer across VNets in any Azure public regions regardless of any overlapping address spaces.
C) You can globally peer within a given subscription.
D) You can globally peer across subscriptions.
E) You can peer virtual networks in the same region, or different regions
F) You can peer virtual networks only in the same region
G) You can peer virtual networks only in different regions

Correct answer:

A, D, and E

You can configure peering of your VNets in any Azure public regions with non-overlapping address spaces, across deployment models, as well as across subscriptions, where the virtual networks in the same region, or in different regions.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/global-vnet-peering-now-generally-available/

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/create-peering-different-subscriptions

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-network/virtual-network-manage-peering#requirements-and-constraints

Certification QOTD – AZ-103 001 – ANSWERED

QUESTION 1 – ANSWERED

You’re running your environment in Azure and you review the following resources

Resource Group – rgmain001

Storage Account – samain001

Azure File Sync – afs001

samain001 contains a file share called IMAGES that contains 1,000 image files.

You need to synchronize the files in Azure to an on-premises Windows server named IMGSYS001.

Which three actions should you perform? Each correct answer presents part of the solution.

A) Mount the current Blob storage in state as a file system

B) Transfer data with the AzCopy

C) Create a sync group and a cloud endpoint

D) Register IMGSYS001
E) Install the Azure File Sync agent on IMGSYS001

Correct answer:

C, D, E

Step 1 (E): Install the Azure File Sync agent on IMGSYS001 – The Azure File Sync agent is a downloadable package that enables Windows Server to be synced with an Azure file share

Step 2 (D): Register IMGSYS001.

Register Windows Server with Storage Sync Service – establishes a trust relationship between your physical server (or cluster) and the Storage Sync Service.

Step 3 (C): Create a sync group and a cloud endpoint – defines the sync topology for a set of files. Endpoints within a sync group are kept in sync with each other. A sync group must contain one cloud endpoint, which represents an Azure file share and one or more server endpoints. A server endpoint represents a path on registered server.

AzCopy is a command-line utility designed for copying data to/from Microsoft Azure Blob, File, and Table storage, using simple commands designed for optimal performance. You can copy data between a file system and a storage account, or between storage accounts but it is not the best answer to fully synchronize files in Azure to an on-premises server.

You can mount Blob storage as a file system with blobfuse, but this is only available through the Linux file system. Blobfuse is a virtual file system driver for Azure Blob storage.

Certification QOTD – AZ-103 001

We are kicking off the Certification Question of the Day [QOTD] with a question for Exam AZ-103: Microsoft Azure Administrator.

Passing this exam will grant you the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate certification.

Here is your question – remember, tomorrow I will provide the answer to the question, so be sure to come back.

AZ-103 001

You’re running your environment in Azure and you review the following resources

Resource Group – rgmain001
Storage Account – samain001
Azure File Sync – afs001

samain001 contains a file share called IMAGES that contains 1,000 image files.

You need to synchronize the files in Azure to an on-premises server named IMGSYS001.

Which three actions should you perform? Each correct answer presents part of the solution.

A) Mount the current Blob storage in state as a file system
B) Transfer data with the AzCopy
C) Create a sync group and a cloud endpoint
D) Register IMGSYS001
E) Install the Azure File Sync agent on IMGSYS001

And here is the updated blog post with the answer – Certification QOTD – AZ-103 001 – ANSWERED