Microsoft Azure certifications are in great demand in the IT industry right now. The most significant reason for the immense popularity and demand for Azure certifications is its role-based model. The main aim of these certifications is to make the candidates industry-ready and capable of handling real-life tasks. Microsoft Azure is a pretty emerging market-leader by controlling approximately 29% of the application workload of the entire cloud market.
If you are thinking about opting for the Microsoft Azure certification, then you must be clear with the differences between AZ 103 and AZ 104. Know about the differences to avoid any confusion before appearing for the examination.
Comparison of AZ-103 and AZ-104 Certification Examinations
Before we begin, you must know that AZ-104 is the new standard examination for becoming a Microsoft Azure Administrator. This examination was introduced on April 2, 2020, as a replacement for the Azure 103 certification examination.
That is why many candidates are still confused about both the examinations. Let us have a look at the comparison of both the examinations to get clear about them.
Comparison of the Basics of the Examinations
The first aspect for comparison of the AZ103 and AZ104 is related directly with the necessary details of both the examinations. Rs. 4800 is the cost of registration for both the examinations. The difference here is that the Azure 103 examination is currently available in four different languages, which are English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean. In contrast, the Azure 104 examination is only made available in the English language till now.
Comparison in Target Audience
Another aspect of comparison between both the examinations is the target audience. As AZ-104 is the latest version of the AZ 103 certification exam for the position of Microsoft Azure Administrator. So, the target audience for both the examinations would be the IT professionals who are thinking about becoming a Microsoft Azure Administrator.
Azure Administrator should have excellent skills in governance, workloads, core Azure services, and security. Other than that, another critical aspect for the job role of Microsoft Azure Administrator is their capability to make recommendations for different services to achieve desirable performance and scalability. They are also responsible for the implementation, management, monitoring identity, compute, storage, and governance in the cloud infrastructure.
The new version of the examination is considered to be better than the previous version for the new job roles of Microsoft Azure Administrators.
Comparison in Exam Prerequisites
The exam prerequisites are another important aspect for comparison between the Azure AZ103 certification examination and the Azure AZ104 examination. If you have a look at the official page of both the examinations, you won’t find any prerequisites mentioned for any of the certification examinations.
Still, there is a specific set of skill set and knowledge required for the candidate to appear in any of the Azure certification examinations. If we see the new Azure Administrator certification examination, the candidates would require more experience and knowledge as compared to the Azure 103 certification examination. Let us have a look at some prerequisites that portray the difference between AZ103 and AZ104 examinations.
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Six months of hands-on experience in the administration of Azure workloads
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Excellent skills to work with the Azure services
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Enhanced knowledge of Azure workloads, security, and governance
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Hands-on experience of using ARM templates, Command Line Interface, PowerShell, and Azure Portal
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Profound skills in operating systems, storage structures, virtualization, cloud infrastructure, and networking
Comparison in Domains Covered in the Examination
If we compare the domains covered in the AZ 103 examination and the AZ 104 examination, there would be differences visible among them. The domains covered in the Azure 103 certification examination are:
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Identity management
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Configuring and managing the virtual networks
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Deploying and managing the virtual machines (VMs)
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Management and implementation of storage
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Managing the Azure resources and subscriptions
While the domains covered in the AZ 104 certification examination are:
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Azure resources monitoring and backup
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Managing and configuring virtual networks
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Management and implementation of storage
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Deploying and managing the virtual machines (VMs)
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Managing the Azure governance and identities
If we have a look at the domains covered in both the examinations, one could see the similarities between them. Two similar domains covered in both the certification examinations are managing and configuring virtual networks and management and implementation of storage.
On the other hand, the new version of Microsoft Azure Administrator certification focuses more on deploying and managing the computing resources. In comparison, the older version of this certification focused more on the management and deployment of virtual networks.
These were some crucial differences that every IT professional must take into consideration before appearing for the Microsoft Azure Administrator certification examination. If you wish to qualify in the first attempt, you must be clear with all the differences between AZ 103 and AZ 104 examinations to avoid any confusion.
