[AZ-104] Azure Administrator Roles and Responsibilities 2022

In this post, I am going to cover all the roles and responsibilities of a Microsoft Azure Administrator. There might be various questions in your mind regarding the knowledge an Azure administrator should possess and also how it is going to help him while pursuing this career. So without further delay, let’s find out the answers.

in this blog, we are going to cover the following topics:

Who is an Azure Administrator ?

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform that enables customers to control a range of cloud resources and services, including data transformation, data storage, and many more.

The person who deploys, administers, and keeps an eye on Azure solutions as well as the storage, identity, governance, virtual networks, and computing in a cloud environment is known as an Azure Administrator.

Now, in order to start working in the field, you must first pass the AZ-104 exam. Candidates for this certification should have six months of hands-on experience managing Azure, as well as a solid understanding of the platform’s key services, workloads, governance, and security. Additionally, the person filling this position should be familiar with PowerShell, the Azure interface, the Azure CLI, and Azure Resource Manager templates.

Azure Administrator Certification

Those who administer Cloud services that span compute, networking, storage, security, and other Cloud capabilities inside Microsoft Azure should take the AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator certification exam. Additionally, I covered everything you need to know about the [AZ-104] Microsoft Azure Administrator test in my earlier blog.

Why Is Azure Certification Beneficial?

Azure Administrators are becoming increasingly necessary as a result of the rise in demand for Azure. Therefore, a CV that has this shining certification will have a significant benefit.
A certification results in a massive increase in both work opportunities and income.
Nearly 70% of respondents say that getting certified has increased their income, and 84% say that getting certified has improved their career prospects.
Your employment profile will be improved and your chances of being chosen will rise if you update your LinkedIn profile with this credential.

Also read: Azure SQL Database

Azure Admin Roles and Responsibilities

Roles and Responsibilities

The sole response for how to become an Azure Administrator lies in skill development. Azure is a promising platform known for its user-friendly nature. However, you should also focus on understanding the basic technologies before thinking of a career in Azure System Administration. The basic azure administrator skills you need to have are below.

A clear understanding of core Cloud Computing services is highly crucial for an Azure platform-specific job role. You need to understand the basic functioning of Networking, Databases, Software, and Servers in the Cloud.
Basic Microsoft knowledge is mandatory for professionals looking for a career in Azure System Administration. You need to have experience in using products such as PowerShell and Office 365. As a result, you can understand the ways in which these services Integrate with Azure.
Another important aspect to focus on is programming knowledge. Azure administrators need to have expertise in any one of the programming languages. Basic knowledge in open-source frameworks such as ASP.NET and programming languages such as JavaScript, SQL Server, and HTML5 is preferable.

Also check: Steps to register Azure Free Account

Day to Day Task of Azure Administrator in Azure infrastructure

Ability Restart/bounce the Azure components/clusters/VMs.
Create and manage swap space on deployed cloud system per customer policies In support of the deployed cloud systems and environments.
create custom scripts to automate support processes where applicable Ability to Power off/ Down the un-used VMs Ability to identify issues at Azure level and resolve.
Manage Azure subscriptions and profiles.

Also read: DP 100 Exam – Microsoft Certified Azure Data Scientist Associate and why people in the IT Industry are thinking that it’s a great time to be a data scientist these days.

Role Specific Skills:

1. Configure Networks

The complexity of TCP/IP inter-networking makes it a difficult topic for many IT experts to grasp. Due to the fact that you will never see the hardware supporting the Azure Networking Stack, this complexity increases in Azure.

To be a successful Azure Administrator, you must be familiar with necessary networking activities like:

establishing and setting up virtual networks.
Routing Path orchestration, particularly in a hybrid cloud.
choosing other Azure resources and managing public and private IP addresses for your virtual machines.

Read this blog to learn about some of the most crucial Microsoft Azure terms, including “Azure Availability Zones,” “Azure Region,” “Availability Set,” “Fault Domain,” and “Update Domain,” as well as how they relate to virtual machines.

Read this blog in which we cover Microsoft Azure’s most important concepts like Azure Availability Zones, Region, Availability Set, Fault Domain, and Update Domain, and how it plays a key role in Virtual Machines.

2. Monitor Resources And Log Analytics

You should learn how to use Log Analytics in the Azure portal to write Azure Monitor log queries. Also, one needs to have a basic understanding of how to perform the below tasks:

Use Log Analytics to write a simple query
Understand the schema of your data
Filter, sort, and group results
Apply a time range
Create charts
Save and load queries
Export and share queries

Check out this video blog that covers end to end about Azure Kubernetes Service.

3. Compute

The Azure Administrator is most often identified with infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), which normally boils down to running Virtual Machines (VMs) in the cloud. To that point, to be a successful Azure Administrator, you should have familiarity with either or both of the Hypervisor platforms:

Microsoft Hyper-V
VMware vSphere

Some VM-related Administrative Tasks Include:

Deploying VMs into Virtual Networks.
Configuring VM for Optimum Cost, Performance, and Security.
Backing up VMs and potentially providing Fail-over Recovery.

Containers represent a newer way to virtualize services, and Docker is extremely well-represented in Azure. Therefore, one should understand how to deploy, manage, and monitor containers.

To know more about Azure Scale Set, click here

4. Implement And Manage Storage

Azure provides Administrators with essentially limitless storage. You need space to store VM virtual hard disks, Database Files, Application Data, and potentially useful data. Furthermore, you should also study Powershell/CLI commands, which would help you to create/remove storage.

Also, it is your responsibility to make use of Microsoft tools for Cloud Computing’s shared responsibility Model. Core tasks include:

Securing Data against unauthorized access
Backing Up Data and making it efficient to restore when needed.
Configuring long-term archival storage to maintain corporate compliance.

Read More: About Azure Cost Management Tools. Click here

5. Implement Security And Protecting Identities

The security stakes are high in the Azure public cloud because your business stores its proprietary data on someone else’s infrastructure. The shared responsibility model in cloud computing means the responsibility is on you as an Azure Administrator to make use of Microsoft’s manifold security controls. Also, you’ll need some representative skills which include:

Encrypting data in transit, at rest, and in use.
Protecting Azure Active Directory accounts against compromise.
Reducing the attack surface of all your Azure resources.

Also Read: Our blog post on Azure ExpressRoute vs VPN Gateway. Click here

Syllabus for Azure Administrator Certification

1. Manage Azure Identities and Governance (15-20%)

Manage Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) objects

– create users and groups
– create administrative units
– manage user and group properties
– manage device settings
– perform bulk user updates
– manage guest accounts
– configure Azure AD Join
– configure self-service password reset

Manage role-based access control (RBAC)

– create a custom role
– provide access to Azure resources by assigning roles at different scopes
– interpret access assignments

Manage subscriptions and governance

– configure Azure policies
– configure resource locks
– apply and manage tags on resources
– manage resource groups
– manage subscriptions
– manage costs
– configure management groups

2. Implement and Manage Storage (15-20%)

Secure storage

– configure network access to storage accounts
– create and configure storage accounts
– generate shared access signature (SAS) tokens
– manage access keys
– configure Azure AD Authentication for a storage account
– configure access to Azure Files

Manage Storage

– export from Azure job
– import into Azure job
– install and use Azure Storage Explorer
– copy data by using AZCopy
– implement Azure Storage replication
– configure blob object replication

Configure Azure files and Azure blob storage

– create an Azure file share
– create and configure Azure File Sync service
– configure Azure Blob Storage
– configure storage tiers
– configure blob lifecycle management

3. Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Resources

Automate deployment of virtual machines (VMs) by using Azure Resource Manager templates

– modify an Azure Resource Manager template
– configure a virtual hard disk (VHD) template
– deploy from a template
– save a deployment as an Azure Resource Manager template
– deploy virtual machine extensions

Configure VMs

– configure Azure Disk Encryption
– move VMs from one resource group to another
– manage VM sizes
– add data disks
– configure networking
– redeploy VMs
– configure high availability
– deploy and configure virtual machine scale sets

Create and configure containers

– configure sizing and scaling for Azure Container Instances
– configure container groups for Azure Container Instances
– configure storage for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
– configure scaling for AKS
– configure network connections for AKS
– upgrade an AKS cluster

Create and configure Azure App Service

– create an App Service plan
– configure scaling settings in an App Service plan
– create an App Service
– secure an App Service
– configure custom domain names
– configure backup for an App Service
– configure networking settings
– configure deployment settings

4. Configure and Manage Virtual Networking

Implement and manage virtual networking

– create and configure virtual networks, including peering
– configure private and public IP addresses
– configure user-defined network routes
– implement subnets
– configure endpoints on subnets
– configure private endpoints

– configure Azure DNS, including custom DNS settings and private or public DNS zones

Secure access to virtual networks

– create security rules
– associate a network security group (NSG) to a subnet or network interface
– evaluate effective security rules
– implement Azure Firewall
– implement Azure Bastion

Configure load balancing

– configure Azure Application Gateway
– configure an internal or public load balancer
– troubleshoot load balancing

Monitor and troubleshoot virtual networking

– monitor on-premises connectivity
– configure and use Azure Monitor for Networks
– use Azure Network Watcher
– troubleshoot external networking
– troubleshoot virtual network connectivity

Integrate an on-premises network with an Azure virtual network

– create and configure Azure VPN Gateway
– create and configure Azure ExpressRoute
– configure Azure Virtual WAN

5. Monitor and Back up Azure Resources (10-15%)

Monitor resources by using Azure Monitor

– configure and interpret metrics
– configure Azure Monitor Logs
– query and analyze logs
– set up alerts and actions
– configure Application Insights

Implement backup and recovery

– create a Recovery Services vault
– create a Backup vault
– create and configure backup policy
– perform backup and restore operations by using Azure Backup
– perform site-to-site recovery by using Azure Site Recovery
– configure and review backup reports

Azure Admin Responsibilities/Azure Admin Job Description

Examine the job description for Azure admins as well. Azure administrators primarily handle the deployment, upkeep, and monitoring of Azure systems. However, the other elements frequently mentioned in azure administrators’ job descriptions.

working in a software environment that combines Windows and Unix
managing, keeping track of, and maintaining a multiuser computing environment
Managing many cloud servers and instances of cloud infrastructure services
establishing the private and public cloud systems
deploying workloads while balancing them
choosing a cloud provider that meets the necessary criteria
putting the affordable cloud-based systems in place
Azure Foundations
Azure Architect for SAP Workloads Associate
Azure Administrator Associate
Azure Developer Associate
Azure Solutions Architect Expert Azure DevOps Engineer Associate
Azure Security Engineer Associate
Azure Data Engineer Associate Azure AI Engineer Associate Azure Data Scientist Associate Azure IoT Developer Associate

Salary of Azure Administrator

Azure Admin Salary

Although it can vary depending on your experience and skills, the average Azure Admin salary is $ 105,4733 USD. However, the majority of experienced professionals can expect to make up to $ 179,000. Due to the size of the Azure market, many firms are in need of Azure administrators. However, how much they pay you relies on the demands of the job; some large organisations truly do pay well, while some smaller ones do not.

conclusion

Therefore, there are various Azure Administrator Responsibilities that Azure Admin have to set up and deploy those Custom-Developed Applications and continuously monitor their health. They also need to forecast and manage the demand for the apps, that are hosted on the Azure platform. Finally, Admins need to make sure Data is secured, access is secured, and the applications and data backed up.

IT pros also need to set up and configure the application in Microsoft Azure, mainly using the Azure Control Panels and utilizing technical support as necessary. Also, the apps usually don’t manage themselves, so as with the on-premise line of business applications, you still have to administer that code as well.

The only part of the equation that Microsoft Azure changes are in the area of personnel resource usage. Furthermore, administrators are freed up from managing industry hardware and software. Also, they are proportionately available to manage and enhance the service delivery and quality of IT-specific to their businesses. Therein is the exact appeal for the business decision-maker of Microsoft Azure and why you’re probably going to hear about it very soon if you haven’t already.

Therefore, it’s best to understand how the various Cloud Computing platforms can affect your role and responsibilities as an IT professional.

To apply for the Microsoft Azure Administrator certification exam [AZ-104]

Next Task For You

Begin your journey towards becoming a Microsoft Azure Administrator [AZ-104] by joining our FREE Class. We strongly recommend gaining knowledge from AZ-104 in order to be an effective Azure Administrator. Our course covers the AZ-104 certification.

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