Hey You,

It’s that time again.

The magical “Renew your certification” popped up when I navigated to https://learn.microsoft.com, and like every year, I clicked it with that little bit of fear and a lot of curiosity.

I’m talking about the Azure Administrator Associate renewal, which is something every admin either forgets, panics about, or (in my case) uses as an excuse to open a beer after passing it.

This year, I renewed it for the third time and trust me, the questions were surprisingly solid. Not tricky, not impossible, but enough to make you realize that Microsoft quietly moved the cheese while you weren’t looking.

So instead of breaking the NDA and giving you the actual questions, let me walk you through what Microsoft really tested — the themes, the traps, and the stuff you actually need to understand if you want to ace this thing.

App Services – Same, but smarter

If you think App Services is still about “deploy a web app” think again.

This year’s renewal was laser focused on:

• Runtime stacks (yes, .NET 9 and PHP 8.4 did made their appearance)
• Windows vs Linux App Services plans – Knowing when you need seperate plans
• Deployment Center (Github integration, CI/CD pipeline, permissions, etc).
• VNet Integration – and the hidden cost of picking the wrong tiere

Pro Tip: The cheapest App Service plan that supports VNet integration is P1V2 (Premium). Everything below that is a “Yeah buddy… nice try… but… NO!!!”

Azure Container Instances – Still not a full kubernetes, but close enough though

ACI questions were all about networking and persistence.

Think:

How do you make a container keep its data after a restart?

Answer: Azure File share, not blob storage

Also, region awareness matters, if your container instance and VNet are in different regions, forget about integration.

This year Microsoft really wanted you to understand that you can’t just throw containers anywhere. The question literally punished anyone wo didn’t read the fine print:

VNet must be in the same region.

Ouch

Storage, it’s always storage… ALWAYS STORAGE

If this renewal had a theme, it was storage. Every other question had something to do with it.

Topics that came up:

• Lifecycle management (Hot -> Cool -> Archive Transitions)
• Which account types support it? (Hint: Storagev2 and Blob Storage only)
• SAS Tokens – temporary, time-based access (January 1st to 31st anyone?)
• Redundancy (ZRS = 3 copies)
• Private endpoint vs service endpoint

If you see “private ip address” the correct answer is Private Endpoint

If you see “Azure backbone” go for Service Endpoint

Subtle difference… big trap!!!

Azure Bastion – Because nobody wants to expose RDP to the internet

Right? … right? Seriously? RIGHT???

Microsoft clearly loves bastion now. You can tell because it keeps showing up like a clingy ex in every admin exam.

Main focus areas:

• You must have an AzureBastionSubnet (minim /26 prefix)
• Bastion works across peered VNets, even across regions
• You don’t need multiple Bastions if the VNets are peered

So yeah, the correct answer was 1 Bastion Host. And yes, they asked it like they were hoping you’d pick 4.

Backup & Recovery Services – Snapshots, Vaults and Math

There were multiple questions about backup policies, especially around “instant recovery snapshots”.

Here’s the trick:

• Snapshots live in the Backup Resource Group
• You can keep them for max 5 days
• The rest (long-term backups) live inside the Recovery Services Vault

So if they ask you “How many restore points collections on January 10?” remember this formula:

Only snapshots from the last 2 days live in the resource group

Everything else is LONG GONE!

Virtual Machines – The old but GOLD section

Topics:

• Availability sets and fault domains (that’s where you configure them)
• Choosing the right VM size for data warehousing -> Storage optimized (LS-Series)
• Scale sets: if you want to add custom VMs, you need Flexible orchestration, not Uniform

So yeah, the correct answer was “change the orchestration mode” not “change the OS disk”.

It’s always the orchestration. Always.

Microsoft Entra ID (a.k.a. Azure AD)

This part… was actually fun. You could tell Microsoft is slowly blending Entra into everything.

Topics they hit:

• Administrative units (to delegate management to specific departments)
• Dynamic membership rules with -and / -or logic (operator precedence matters!)
• System assigned managed identities and their ability to get Azure AD roles
• Who can get directory roles? Only users and managed identities, not resource groups

I saw at least 2… YES TWO questions that looked easy until you remembered that resource groups aren’t identities.

Nice try Microsoft!

Networking, VNets & Peering

The “connectivity section revolved” around subtle logic:

• A VM can only join VNets in the same region
• VNets in different region? You need peering, not wishful thinking
• Bastion in one region can still mange VMs across peered VNets

These are the small things that separate the “click-and-pray” admins from the ones who ACTUALLY understand what’s going on under the hood. We all know who we’re talking about.

Bonus: Policy, Vaults & Retention

A few sneaky questions touched on:

• Difference between Backup vault and Recovery Services vault
• Retention limits on instant recovery snapshots (max = 5 days)
• Default vault usage per region and resource type

If you only skimmed docs this year, this is where you’d lose easy points

Conclusion – It’s not about memorizing, it’s about knowing

The 2025 renewal wasn’t about trick questions; it was about administrative logic. Microsoft wants to see if you understand why something works a certain way, not just where to click.

Every question could be answered if you stopped for two seconds and thought:

What would I actually do in production?

That’s the real secret. Not memorizing, not guessing… just practical understanding.

So yeah, passed it. Got the badge extended to 2027 and treated myself to a well-deserved coffee (it might be Irish).

If you’re about to take your renewal soon:

Relax. Read the question twice. Think like an admin, not like a textbook.

And when you pass… you know… celebrate like one.

Cheers,

Engin