AZ-104 Azure Administrator PBQs

Simulate real exam tasks with 10 interactive scenarios covering all exam domains

PBQ 1: Storage Account Access Issues

Scenario: Users report errors accessing blobs in a storage account. The error message indicates "AuthorizationFailure".

Current Configuration:

  • Storage account uses Azure AD auth
  • Blob containers have private access level
  • Users have "Storage Blob Data Reader" role

Solution Steps:

Verify the Microsoft.Storage resource provider is registered
Check if users have Storage Blob Data Reader at container level (not just account level)
Validate conditional access policies aren't blocking access
Domain: Storage (25%) | Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
graph TD A[User] --> B[Azure AD Auth] B --> C[Check RBAC Assignment] C --> D[Storage Account] D --> E[Container ACL] style A fill:#0078D4 style B fill:#107C10 style C fill:#0078D4 style D fill:#107C10 style E fill:#0078D4

Key Services: Azure Storage, Azure AD, RBAC

PBQ 2: Cross-Region VNet Peering

Scenario: Connect VNet-A (East US) to VNet-B (West Europe) with these requirements:

  • Allow resources to communicate privately
  • Minimize latency between regions
  • Block internet ingress

Configuration Steps:

Create global VNet peering between both VNets
Configure NSGs to block internet traffic
Enable Azure Bastion for secure management
Domain: Networking (30%) | Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
graph LR subgraph East US A[VNet-A] --> B[Peering] end subgraph West Europe C[VNet-B] --> B end style A fill:#0078D4 style B fill:#107C10 style C fill:#0078D4

Key Services: VNet Peering, NSGs, Azure Bastion

PBQ 3: Bulk User Import

Scenario: Onboard 200 new employees with these requirements:

  • Assign to "Sales" or "Engineering" groups
  • Enforce MFA for all users
  • Generate temporary passwords

Implementation Steps:

Prepare CSV file with Azure AD Connect format
Use PowerShell for bulk import: New-AzureADUser
Configure Conditional Access MFA policy
Domain: Identity (15%) | Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
graph TB A[HR CSV File] --> B[Azure AD Connect] B --> C[Azure AD] C --> D[Conditional Access] D --> E[MFA Enforcement] style A fill:#0078D4 style B fill:#107C10 style C fill:#0078D4 style D fill:#107C10 style E fill:#0078D4

Key Services: Azure AD, PowerShell, Conditional Access

PBQ 4: High Availability VMs

Scenario: Configure two VMs running a mission-critical app with:

  • 99.95% uptime SLA
  • Automatic failover
  • Even load distribution

Configuration Steps:

Create Availability Set with 2 fault domains
Deploy VMs to different Update Domains
Place behind Load Balancer
Domain: Compute (20%) | Difficulty: ★★★☆☆
graph LR A[Load Balancer] --> B[VM1] A --> C[VM2] B --> D[Availability Set] C --> D style A fill:#0078D4 style B fill:#107C10 style C fill:#107C10 style D fill:#0078D4

Key Services: Availability Sets, Azure Load Balancer

PBQ 5: Backup Policy Design

Scenario: Create a backup policy for Azure VMs with:

  • Daily backups retained for 30 days
  • Weekly backups retained for 12 months
  • Encrypted backups

Implementation Steps:

Create Recovery Services Vault
Configure Backup Policy with:
  • Daily schedule (RPO 24h)
  • Weekly retention (12 months)
Enable Azure Disk Encryption
Domain: Monitoring & Backup (10%) | Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
pie title Backup Policy "Daily (30 days)" : 70 "Weekly (12 months)" : 30

Key Services: Recovery Services Vault, Azure Backup

PBQ 6: App Service Scaling

Configure auto-scaling for a web app expecting 10x traffic spikes during sales.

Use App Service Plan with metric-based scaling rules on CPU usage.

PBQ 7: NSG Troubleshooting

Diagnose why VM can't connect to SQL Database despite correct firewall rules.

Check NSG inbound rules and Service Endpoints.

PBQ 8: Cost Optimization

Reduce $50K/month bill by identifying wasted resources.

Use Azure Advisor and resize underutilized VMs.

PBQ 9: Hybrid Connectivity

Connect on-prem network to Azure via VPN Gateway.

Configure Site-to-Site VPN with BGP routing.

PBQ 10: Role-Based Access

Grant team least-privilege access to manage VMs but not networks.

Assign Virtual Machine Contributor role.

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