After the announcement of the new Microsoft Azure certifications at Microsoft Inspire in Las Vegas, I decided to take the beta exam, which was available to upgrade my current Azure certifications. Since I had already passed Exam 70-533 Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions, I needed exam AZ-102 to do the transition. Today I got confirmation that I passed the Microsoft exam AZ-102 and earned the Microsoft Certified Azure Administrator Associate certification. Since that time, Microsoft changed the exams, and you will now need to take exam AZ-103 to get the Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator certification. The overall content and exam subjects are still the same, but instead of taking two exams, AZ-100 and AZ-101, you only need to take AZ-103.

I already took the new available beta Exam for the Microsoft Certified Azure Architect at Microsoft Ignite; however, for the results, I still need to wait a bit.

What is Exam AZ-103 Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate

The new certifications are based on different job roles, like Azure Administrator, Azure Developer, and Azure Architect. You can read more about the new Azure Certifications here on my blog.

Earning Azure Administrator Associate certification demonstrates understanding of services across the IT lifecycle, and ability to take requests for infrastructure services, applications, and environments. Candidates for this certification are typically Azure Administrators who manage cloud services spanning storage, security, networking, and compute cloud capabilities. They recommend services to use for optimal performance and scale, as well as provision, size, monitor, and adjust resources.

This is excellent news to start in the day while I am flying to a customer in Paris today for some more Azure work.

Exam Preparation

The skills measured in AZ-103 are a mix of the former AZ-100 and AZ-101 and will focus on Azure Infrastructure and deployment, Azure Integration, and Azure Security. If you are just getting started with Microsoft Azure, I recommend that you take first the exam AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals. This is not a required exam, but it is a great way to validate your knowledge. However, if you feel comfortable you can also directly start with the Azure Administrator Associate exam. To prepare for the Azure Fundamentals exam, check out the following Microsoft Learn module.

I often get asked how I prepared for exams such as this. It makes sense to certify the knowledge you already have. I usually use Microsoft free online courses on Channel 9, Virtual Academy and now the new Microsoft Learn. However, I realized that also the Azure Documentation is a great resource to learn. I recommend you check the skills needed for the exam, in this case, AZ-103 and read the specific Azure Documentation for these topics, and also try it out. The best training and learning experience you always get by trying things out. You will not just learn the specific subject you are looking on, but you will also learn a lot about other related topics.

AZ-103 Microsoft Learn Certified Azure Administrator

Microsoft Learn Azure Administrator

Microsoft Learn gives you the chance to filter the modules by related topics and is one of the best, if not the best starting point for the AZ-103: Microsoft Azure Administrator exam.

I hope this helps you to prepare and study for the AZ-103 exam and if you have any questions, please let me know in the comments.