Microsoft AZ-104 - Microsoft Azure Administrator

Azure Load Balancers are offered in two SKUs — Basic and Standard — each with distinct capabilities, scalability, and configuration requirements as documented in Microsoft Azure Administrator documentation.

LB1 – Basic Load Balancer (Basic SKU)The Basic Load Balancer is designed for small-scale, non-production workloads. It has certain limitations compared to the Standard SKU:

The backend pool of a Basic Load Balancer can only include virtual machines in a single availability set or a single virtual machine scale set.

This restriction ensures that the Basic Load Balancer maintains consistency and proper failover across VMs sharing the same availability set or scale set.

It cannot span multiple availability sets or virtual networks.

Therefore, to load balance VMs using a Basic Load Balancer, those VMs must be created in the same availability set or virtual machine scale set.

✅ Correct Option for LB1: be created in the same availability set or virtual machine scale set.

LB2 – Standard Load Balancer (Standard SKU)The Standard Load Balancer is designed for production-grade workloads and supports advanced features such as zone redundancy, secure by default configuration, and high scalability.

It supports backend pools composed of virtual machines from different availability zones (in the same region) and multiple virtual machine scale sets.

The only requirement is that all backend virtual machines must be connected to the same virtual network.

Standard Load Balancer also supports both public and internal load balancing and provides richer metrics and diagnostic capabilities.

Therefore, for LB2 (Standard), the virtual machines only need to reside within the same virtual network, regardless of their availability sets or zones.

✅ Correct Option for LB2: be connected to the same virtual network.

Microsoft Azure Official Extract (summarized):

“For Basic Load Balancer, backend pool VMs must belong to the same availability set or virtual machine scale set. For Standard Load Balancer, backend pool members can be across availability zones and scale sets, but must be connected to the same virtual network.”

(From Microsoft Azure Administrator Study Guide – Load Balancer Configuration and Comparison; Azure Docs: azure.microsoft.com > Load Balancer SKUs Comparison.)

Final Verified Answer:

✅ LB1: be created in the same availability set or virtual machine scale set

✅ LB2: be connected to the same virtual network

In Azure, to automate domain join operations for virtual machines through an Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template, you must configure the JsonADDomainExtension—a VM extension provided by Microsoft. This extension allows a Windows virtual machine to be automatically joined to an Active Directory domain after deployment.

According to the Microsoft Azure documentation ( " JsonADDomainExtension for Windows " ), the extension must be defined under the Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions resource type, because it is a child resource of a specific VM. This structure allows Azure to attach and configure the extension directly to the virtual machine during or after deployment.

The correct syntax within the ARM template must include:

Type: " Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions " → Specifies the extension resource type.

Publisher: " Microsoft.Compute " → Specifies the vendor of the extension.

Type: " JsonADDomainExtension " → Specifies the type of extension.

ProtectedSettings: used to securely store sensitive information like domain passwords (encrypted automatically by Azure).

The ProtectedSettings section ensures credentials such as the domain password remain confidential, while Settings contain non-sensitive configuration parameters (domain name, username, etc.).

This configuration ensures the VM automatically joins the target domain securely upon creation.

✅ Final Verified Answer:

Type: " Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions "

ProtectedSettings: " ProtectedSettings "

To determine which virtual machines can be encrypted, we must refer to the technical requirement:

“Whenever possible, use Azure Disk Encryption and a key encryption key (KEK) to encrypt the virtual machines.”

According to the Microsoft Azure Administrator documentation, Azure Disk Encryption (ADE) uses BitLocker for Windows virtual machines and DM-Crypt for Linux virtual machines to encrypt OS and data disks. However, not all VM types and disk configurations are supported for ADE.

From the provided configuration:

VM

OS

Description

Disk Type

VM1

RHEL

Uses ephemeral OS disks

❌ Not supported

VM2

Windows Server 2022

Has a basic volume

✅ Supported

VM3

RHEL

Uses standard SSDs

✅ Supported by DM-Crypt, but not optimal

VM4

Windows Server 2022

Uses Write Accelerator disks

✅ Supported

VM5

Windows Server 2022

Has a dynamic volume

❌ Not supported by ADE

Step-by-step Analysis (Based on Microsoft Docs):

Ephemeral OS disks (VM1):

These are not compatible with Azure Disk Encryption because they are stored on local temporary storage and are not persisted to Azure Storage.

“Ephemeral OS disks cannot be encrypted using Azure Disk Encryption because they reside on local VM storage.” — [Microsoft Learn: Azure Disk Encryption prerequisites]

Dynamic volumes (VM5):

Azure Disk Encryption does not support dynamic disks — only basic disks are supported.

“Azure Disk Encryption does not support dynamic disks; only basic disks can be encrypted.” — [Microsoft Learn: ADE limitations]

Write Accelerator disks (VM4):

These disks can be encrypted if they are standard OS/data disks with Write Accelerator enabled. Microsoft confirms that ADE supports Write Accelerator–enabled disks on supported VM sizes.

Linux VMs (VM3) with standard SSDs can use DM-Crypt encryption, but in this question, the requirement specifies to use Azure Disk Encryption with a Key Encryption Key (KEK) — KEKs are supported only for Windows and Linux VMs that use managed disks and not ephemeral disks.

However, VM3 uses standard SSDs (supported by ADE) and VM2 and VM4 meet the technical requirement of using ADE with KEK, but Azure prefers Windows VMs for KEK integration because of BitLocker integration and Key Vault support.

Therefore, the verified supported VMs for Azure Disk Encryption with KEK are:

✅ VM2 (Windows Server 2022, basic volume)

✅ VM4 (Windows Server 2022, Write Accelerator disks)

Supporting Microsoft Documentation (Extracted):

“Azure Disk Encryption helps protect and safeguard your data to meet your organizational security and compliance commitments. It uses BitLocker for Windows VMs and DM-Crypt for Linux VMs.”

“ADE is not supported on ephemeral OS disks or dynamic disks.”

“You can use Key Encryption Keys (KEK) from Azure Key Vault for an added layer of security.”

(Source: Microsoft Learn – Azure Disk Encryption Overview, Prerequisites, and Supported Configurations for Windows and Linux VMs)

According to the Microsoft Azure Administrator (AZ-104) Study Guide and Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) documentation, permissions to link an Azure Private DNS zone to a virtual network require access to both the virtual network resource and the DNS zone resource.

The process of linking a DNS zone to a virtual network establishes name resolution for the resources within that VNet through the Private DNS zone. To perform this operation, the user must have:

“Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks/*” permissions (to modify and manage VNet settings).

“Microsoft.Network/privateDnsZones/*” permissions (to manage DNS zone links).

These permissions are granted by two built-in roles:

Network Contributor – Allows full management of the network resources like virtual networks, subnets, and network interfaces but does not allow access to manage DNS zones.

Private DNS Zone Contributor – Allows management of private DNS zones and their link configurations.

Therefore, to grant User1 the ability to link Zone1.com (Private DNS Zone) to VNet1, the correct approach is to assign both roles with the least privilege principle, scoped specifically to the required resources:

Network Contributor on VNet1

Private DNS Zone Contributor on zone1.com

Assigning the permissions at the resource level (and not at the resource group or subscription level) ensures compliance with the principle of least privilege, a core requirement of Azure governance.

This setup enables User1 to perform the exact operation (linking the Private DNS Zone to the VNet) while preventing unnecessary access to unrelated resources.

Final Verified Answer:

✅ Roles: Network Contributor and Private DNS Zone Contributor only

✅ Resources: VNet1 and zone1.com only

Box 1: Selected

Only selected users should be able to join devices

Box 2: Yes

Require Multi-Factor Auth to join devices.

From scenario:

Ensure that only users who are part of a group named Pilot can join devices to Azure AD

Ensure that when users join devices to Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), the users use a mobile phone to verify their identity.

In this scenario, App1 consists of three distinct tiers — web front end, processing middle tier, and SQL database — each containing five virtual machines. The technical requirement specifies that the company must minimize the number of open ports between the App1 tiers, move all tiers of App1 to Azure, and ensure that all VMs are protected by backups.

According to Microsoft Azure architecture best practices for multi-tier applications (from Azure Architecture Center and the Azure Administrator curriculum), the optimal design involves:

Deploying all tiers of App1 into a single virtual network (VNet).

This allows all components of the application to communicate securely using private IP addresses.

Keeping all tiers within a single VNet simplifies management, security, and monitoring while supporting Network Security Groups (NSGs) for inter-tier traffic control.

Microsoft Documentation Extract:

“Use a single virtual network to host multi-tier applications. Divide the virtual network into multiple subnets, each representing a tier, and use network security groups (NSGs) to control traffic flow between tiers.”

(Source: Microsoft Learn – Design and implement virtual networks in Azure)

Creating separate subnets for each application tier (3 total).

Subnet 1: Web tier (internet-facing, HTTPS traffic)

Subnet 2: Application/Processing tier (internal communication only)

Subnet 3: Database tier (private, no internet access)

Using NSGs, administrators can explicitly allow or deny traffic between subnets, thus minimizing open ports between tiers and meeting the security requirement.

Microsoft Documentation Extract:

“Subnets provide isolation and segmentation within a virtual network. Each tier of an application should be deployed in its own subnet to apply network security policies and control exposure.”

(Source: Microsoft Learn – Azure virtual network design best practices)

Backups and Storage Requirements:

All VMs can use Azure Backup integrated with Recovery Services Vaults, which supports VM-level backup in a single VNet environment.

The blueprint files are stored in Azure Blob Storage with the archive tier, ensuring compliance with the storage and access control requirements.

By using one virtual network and three subnets, Contoso ensures efficient management, minimized administrative overhead, secure isolation of application tiers, and full compliance with Azure governance and security recommendations.

✅ Final Verified Answer:

Number of virtual networks: 1

Number of subnets: 3

Active Directory Federation Services is a feature and web service in the Windows Server Operating System that allows sharing of identity information outside a company’s network.

Scenario: Technical Requirements include:

Prevent user passwords or hashes of passwords from being stored in Azure.

Statement 1: Yes

Contoso is moving the existing product blueprint files to Azure Blob storage which will ensure that the blueprint files are stored in the archive storage tier.

Use unmanaged standard storage for the hard disks of the virtual machines. We use Page Blobs for these.

Statement 2: No

Azure Table storage stores large amounts of structured data. The service is a NoSQL datastore which accepts authenticated calls from inside and outside the Azure cloud. Azure tables are ideal for storing structured, non-relational data. Common uses of Table storage include:

1. Storing TBs of structured data capable of serving web scale applications

2. Storing datasets that don ' t require complex joins, foreign keys, or stored procedures and can be denormalized for fast access

3. Quickly querying data using a clustered index

4. Accessing data using the OData protocol and LINQ queries with WCF Data Service .NET Libraries

Statement 3: No

File Storage can be used if your business use case needs to deal mostly with standard File extensions like *.docx, *.png and *.bak then you should probably go with this storage option.

The question asks which storage account type should be created for storage5 and which existing storage account should be configured as the destination for replication — while supporting the planned changes.

Step 1: Planned Change Requirement

From the case study:

“Create a storage account named storage5 and configure storage replication for the Blob service.”

This indicates that storage5 will act as a secondary (destination) account to receive geo-replicated blobs (as part of RA-GRS or GRS replication configuration).

Therefore, the new storage5 must support Blob service replication features.

Step 2: Determining Correct Account Type

According to Microsoft Azure Administrator Documentation (Microsoft Learn: “Types of storage accounts”):

Account Type

Blob Support

File Share Support

Recommended Use

Storage (general purpose v1)

✅ Basic blob

Limited

Legacy use, lacks advanced features

StorageV2 (general purpose v2)

✅ Full blob, file, queue, table support

✅

Supports replication (GRS, RA-GRS, ZRS) and access tiers

BlobStorage

✅ Blob only

❌ No file shares

Used only for block and append blobs

BlockBlobStorage

✅ Blob only (premium tier)

❌ No file shares

High-performance workloads only

Therefore, the correct type for storage5 must be StorageV2, as it supports both:

Blob service replication (GRS, RA-GRS, ZRS, LRS)

All tiers (Hot, Cool, Archive)

This meets the planned change and ensures the account supports replication for Blob service.

Step 3: Determining the Correct Destination Storage Account

The question also requires identifying which existing storage account should act as the destination for replication configuration.

In Azure, Blob service replication (for example, geo-redundant replication or object replication) requires:

Both storage accounts to be StorageV2.

Both to be in the same region pair and have object replication enabled.

Looking at the table:

Storage Account

Kind

Location

File Share

Identity-based Access

storage1

Storage (general purpose v1)

West US

sharea

Azure AD DS

storage2

StorageV2 (general purpose v2)

East US

shareb, sharec

Disabled

storage3

BlobStorage

East US 2

N/A

N/A

storage4

FileStorage

Central US

shared

Azure AD DS

Only storage2 meets all of the following conditions:

✅ Type: StorageV2

✅ Region: East US (a valid replication pair for East US 2 or secondary region)

✅ Blob Service supported

Hence, storage2 is the correct destination storage account to configure for replication from storage5.

Step 4: Supporting Microsoft Azure Documentation Extracts

From Microsoft Learn – Azure Storage account overview:

“General-purpose v2 accounts support all Azure Storage features, including blob, file, queue, and table storage. They are recommended for most scenarios.”

“Object replication requires both source and destination accounts to be of the same type (StorageV2) and in regions that are geo-paired.”

“Blob and StorageV2 accounts support replication options such as LRS, ZRS, GRS, and RA-GRS.”

✅ Yes, Yes, No