Exam AZ-800: Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure
The Microsoft AZ-800 exam is for candidates who can manage fundamental Windows Server workloads on-premises, in hybrid environments, and in the cloud. These individuals should have experience with identity, management, computing, networking, and storage on-premises and hybrid solutions. Moreover, they have to use administrative tools and technologies Windows Admin Center, PowerShell, Azure Arc, and IaaS virtual machine administration.
Knowledge Requirement for the exam
Candidates taking the exam should have advanced skills and experience in working with Windows Server operating systems. They must have knowledge of setting up and controlling Windows Server on-premises, hybrid, and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) platform workloads.
Note: AZ-800 exam will be offered in December 2021.
Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate major tasks:
Candidates will be responsible for integrating Windows Server deployments with Azure services as well as managing Windows Server in on-premises networks. Candidates for this position must be able to manage and maintain Windows Server IaaS workloads on Azure in order to migrate and deploy workloads to Azure. Additionally, they must communicate with enterprise architects, Microsoft 365 administrators, Azure administrators, and network engineers.
In order to become Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate, candidates shave to pass both AZ-800 and AZ-801 exams.
Microsoft AZ-800 Exam Details
Microsoft Azure AZ-800 exam consists of 40-60 questions. The Microsoft Azure AZ-800 questions can be scenario-based single answer questions, multiple-choice questions, arrange in the correct sequence type questions, drag & drop questions, mark review, drag, and drop type questions. However, in order to pass the exam, a candidate must have a score of 700 or higher. Furthermore, the Microsoft AZ-800 exam costs $165 USD and is only available in English.
Microsoft AZ-800 Exam Course Outline
Microsoft provides a course outline for the AZ-800 exam covering the major sections to help in better preparation. This include:
Topic 1: Deploy and manage Azure Directory Domain Services (AD DS) in on-premises and cloud environments (30–35%)
Deploy and manage AD DS domain controllers
- deploy and manage domain controllers on-premises (MicrosoftDocumentation: Deploy and manage Azure IaaS Active Directory domain controllers in Azure)
- deploying and managing domain controllers in Azure (MicrosoftDocumentation: Deploy AD DS in an Azure virtual network)
- deploying read-only domain controllers (RODCs) (MicrosoftDocumentation: AD DS: Read-Only Domain Controllers)
- troubleshoot flexible single master operation (FSMO) roles (MicrosoftDocumentation: Active Directory FSMO roles in Windows)
Configure and manage multi-site, multi-domain, and multi-forest environments
- configuring and manage forest and domain trusts (MicrosoftDocumentation: How trust relationships work for resource forests in Azure Active Directory Domain Services)
- configure and manage AD DS sites (MicrosoftDocumentation: Create and configure an Azure Active Directory Domain Services managed domain)
- configure and manage AD DS replication (MicrosoftDocumentation: Active Directory Replication Concepts)
Create and manage AD DS security principals
- create and manage AD DS users and groups (MicrosoftDocumentation: Create and configure an Azure Active Directory Domain Services managed domain)
- manage users and groups in multi-domain and multi-forest scenarios (MicrosoftDocumentation: Multiple forests with AD DS and Azure AD)
- implement group managed service accounts (gMSAs) (MicrosoftDocumentation: Group Managed Service Accounts Overview)
- Join Windows Servers to AD DS, Microsoft Entra Domain Services, and Microsoft Entra
Implement and manage hybrid identities
- Integrate Microsoft Entra ID, AD DS and Microsoft Entra Domain Services
- implement Microsoft Entra Connect
- manage Microsoft Entra Connect Synchronization
- implement Microsoft Entra Connect cloud sync
- manage Microsoft Entra Domain Services
- managing Microsoft Entra Connect Health
- manage authentication in on-premises and hybrid environments (MicrosoftDocumentation: Microsoft 365 integration with on-premises environments)
- configure and manage AD DS passwords (MicrosoftDocumentation: Password and account lockout policies)
Manage Windows Server by using domain-based Group Policies
- implement Group Policy in AD DS (MicrosoftDocumentation: Administer Group Policy in an Azure Active Directory Domain Services managed domain)
- implementing Group Policy Preferences in AD DS (MicrosoftDocumentation: Group Policy Preferences)
- implement Group Policy in Microsoft Entra Domain Services
Topic 2: Manage Windows Servers and workloads in a hybrid environment (10–15%)
Manage Windows Servers in a hybrid environment
- deploy a Windows Admin Center Gateway server (MicrosoftDocumentation: Install Windows Admin Center)
- configure a target machine for Windows Admin Center Gateway server (MicrosoftDocumentation: Troubleshooting Windows Admin Center)
- configuring PowerShell Remoting (MicrosoftDocumentation: Enable-PSRemoting)
- configure Credential Security Support Provider protocol (CredSSP) or Kerberos Delegation for 2nd Hop Remoting (MicrosoftDocumentation: Making the second hop in PowerShell Remoting)
- configure Just Enough Administration (JEA) for PowerShell Remoting (MicrosoftDocumentation: Just Enough Administration)
Manage Windows Servers and workloads by using Azure services
- manage Windows Servers by using Azure Arc (MicrosoftDocumentation: What is Azure Arc-enabled servers?)
- Create and assign Azure Policy that uses guest configuration extension
- deploy Azure services using Azure VM extensions on non-Azure machines (MicrosoftDocumentation: Virtual machine extensions and features for Windows)
- manage updates for Windows machines (MicrosoftDocumentation: Update Management overview)
- integrate Windows Servers with Log Analytics (MicrosoftDocumentation: Install Log Analytics agent on Windows computers)
- Integrate Windows Servers with Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- manage IaaS VMs in Azure that run Windows Server (MicrosoftDocumentation: Administer and manage Windows Server IaaS Virtual Machine remotely)
- implement Azure Automation for hybrid workloads (MicrosoftDocumentation: Automation Hybrid Runbook Worker overview)
- create runbooks to automate tasks on target VMs (MicrosoftDocumentation: Manage runbooks in Azure Automation)
- Implement Azure Automation State Configuration to prevent configuration drift in IaaS machines (MicrosoftDocumentation: Azure Automation State Configuration overview)
Topic 3: Manage virtual machines and containers (15–20%)
Manage Hyper-V and guest virtual machines
- enable VM enhanced session mode (MicrosoftDocumentation: Enable enhanced console session in VMM)
- Manage VM using PowerShell remoting, PowerShell Direct and Secure Shell (SSH) Direct for Linux VMs
- configure nested virtualization (MicrosoftDocumentation: Run Hyper-V in a Virtual Machine with Nested Virtualization)
- configuring VM memory (MicrosoftDocumentation: Configure virtual machine settings in the VMM compute fabric)
- configure Integration Services (MicrosoftDocumentation: Install Integration Services (SSIS))
- configuring Discrete Device Assignment (MicrosoftDocumentation: Deploy graphics devices using Discrete Device Assignment)
- configure VM Resource Groups (MicrosoftDocumentation: Manage Azure Resource Manager resource groups by using the Azure portal)
- configuring VM CPU Groups (MicrosoftDocumentation: Virtual Machine Resource Controls)
- configure hypervisor scheduling types (MicrosoftDocumentation: Managing Hyper-V hypervisor scheduler types)
- manage VM Checkpoints (MicrosoftDocumentation: Enable or disable checkpoints)
- implement high availability for virtual machines (MicrosoftDocumentation: Availability options for Azure Virtual Machines)
- manage virtual hard disk (VHD) and virtual hard disk v2 (VHDX) files (MicrosoftDocumentation: Manage Virtual Hard Disks (VHD))
- configure Hyper-V network adapter (MicrosoftDocumentation: Create a virtual switch for Hyper-V virtual machines)
- configuring network interface card (NIC) Teaming (MicrosoftDocumentation: Create a new NIC Team on a host computer or VM)
- configure Hyper-V switch
Create and manage containers
- create Windows Server container images (MicrosoftDocumentation: Container Base Images)
- manage Windows Server container images
- configure Container networking (MicrosoftDocumentation: Windows container networking)
- managing container instances (MicrosoftDocumentation: What is Azure Container Instances?)
Manage Azure Virtual Machines that run Windows Server
- manage data disks (MicrosoftDocumentation: Introduction to Azure managed disks)
- resize Azure VM (MicrosoftDocumentation: Change the size of a virtual machine)
- configure connections to VMs (MicrosoftDocumentation: How to connect and sign on to an Azure virtual machine running Windows)
- manage Azure VM network configuration (MicrosoftDocumentation: Virtual networks and virtual machines in Azure)
Topic 4: Implement and manage an on-premises and hybrid networking infrastructure (15–20%)
Implement on-premises and hybrid name resolution
- integrate DNS with AD DS (MicrosoftDocumentation: DNS and AD DS)
- create and manage DNS zones and records (MicrosoftDocumentation: Overview of DNS zones and records)
- configure DNS forwarding/conditional forwarding (MicrosoftDocumentation: Forwarders and conditional forwarders resolution timeouts)
- integrate Windows Server DNS with Azure DNS private zones (MicrosoftDocumentation: Azure Private Endpoint DNS configuration)
- implement Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) (MicrosoftDocumentation: Overview of DNSSEC)
Manage IP addressing in on-premises and hybrid scenarios
- implement and manage IP Address Management (IPAM) (MicrosoftDocumentation: IP Address Management (IPAM))
- implement and configure the Dynamic Host Configuration protocol (DHCP) server role (on-premises only) (MicrosoftDocumentation: How To Install and Configure a DHCP Server in a Workgroup)
- resolve IP address issues in hybrid environments (MicrosoftDocumentation: Troubleshoot migration issues in Exchange Server hybrid environment)
- create and manage DHCP scopes
- create and manage IP reservations (MicrosoftDocumentation: Managing IP Address Space)
- implementing DHCP high availability (MicrosoftDocumentation: Deploy DHCP Failover)
Implement on-premises and hybrid network connectivity
- implementing and managing the Remote Access role (MicrosoftDocumentation: Manage Remote Access)
- implement and manage Azure Network Adapter (MicrosoftDocumentation: Connect standalone servers by using Azure Network Adapter)
- implementing and managing Azure Extended Network (MicrosoftDocumentation: What is Azure Virtual Network?)
- implement and manage Network Policy Server role (MicrosoftDocumentation: Network Policy Server (NPS))
- implementing Web Application Proxy (MicrosoftDocumentation: Web Application Proxy in Windows Server)
- implement Azure Relay (MicrosoftDocumentation: What is Azure Relay?)
- implementing site-to-site VPN (MicrosoftDocumentation: Create a Site-to-Site connection in the Azure portal)
- implement Azure Virtual WAN (MicrosoftDocumentation: What is Azure Virtual WAN?)
- implement Microsoft Entra Application Proxy
Topic 5: Manage storage and file services (15–20%)
Configure and manage Azure File Sync
- create Azure File Sync service (MicrosoftDocumentation: Deploy Azure File Sync)
- creating sync groups
- create cloud endpoints (MicrosoftDocumentation: az storagesync sync-group cloud-endpoint)
- register servers (MicrosoftDocumentation: Register Servers)
- create server endpoints (MicrosoftDocumentation: Create a service endpoint)
- configure cloud tiering (MicrosoftDocumentation: Cloud tiering overview)
- monitor File Sync (MicrosoftDocumentation: Monitor Azure File Sync)
- Migrate Distributed File System (DFS) to Azure File Sync
Configure and manage Windows Server file shares
- configure Windows Server file share access (MicrosoftDocumentation: Overview of file sharing using the SMB 3 protocol in Windows Server)
- configuring file screens (MicrosoftDocumentation: Create a File Screen)
- configure file server resource manager (FSRM) quotas (MicrosoftDocumentation: File Server Resource Manager (FSRM) overview)
- configure BranchCache
- implement and configure Distributed File System (DFS) (MicrosoftDocumentation: Distributed File System (DFS) Functions)
Configure Windows Server storage
- configure disks and volumes (MicrosoftDocumentation: Overview of Disk Management)
- configuring and managing Storage Spaces (MicrosoftDocumentation: Deploy Storage Spaces Direct)
- configure and manage Storage Replica (MicrosoftDocumentation: Storage Replica overview)
- configuring Data Deduplication (MicrosoftDocumentation: Install and enable Data Deduplication)
- Configure Server Message Block (SMB) direct (MicrosoftDocumentation: SMB Direct)
- configuring Storage QoS (MicrosoftDocumentation: Storage Quality of Service)
- configure file systems (MicrosoftDocumentation: Deploy Network File System)
For More: Check Microsoft AZ-800 Exam FAQS
Exam Policies
Exam policies for Microsoft Certification contain all exam-related facts and information, as well as exam-giving methods. Certain rules must be followed during exam time or at testing sites according to these exam policies. Among them are the following:
Exam retake policy
Candidates who fail the exam for the first time must wait 24 hours before retaking the exam, according to this rule. They can reschedule the exam on the certification dashboard during this period. If this occurs a second time, they may be required to wait at least 14 days before taking the exam again. Between the third and fourth attempts, as well as the fourth and fifth attempts, a 14-day waiting time is imposed. Candidates, on the other hand, can only take any exam five times each year. Furthermore, the 12-month timeframe begins with the first try.
Exam reschedule and the cancellation policy
If applicants cancel their exams within 24 hours of the planned appointment, Microsoft will temporarily waive the reschedule and cancellation fees. However, if you reschedule or cancel an appointment at least 6 working days ahead of time, there will be no charge. A fee will be charged if a candidate cancels or reschedules a test within 5 business days of the scheduled exam time. Finally, if a candidate fails to show up for an exam appointment or fails to reschedule for at least 24 hours, the full exam money is forfeited.
Microsoft AZ-800 Exam Study Guide
Exam objectives
Candidates must be familiar with the exam objectives in order to get a strong start on the Microsoft AZ-800 exam preparation. The exam objectives for the Microsoft AZ-800 exam cover crucial subjects that will help you understand the major portions. So, go over the exam guide to learn more about the topics and to improve your preparation.
Microsoft Learning Platform
Microsoft provides access to learning platforms with a variety of tools to assist exam preparation. To prepare for the AZ-800 exam, visit the Microsoft official website to learn everything you need to know about the exam. Additionally, candidates will benefit from this in terms of better learning subjects and passing the exam.
Microsoft Docs
Microsoft documentation is a knowledge base that contains in-depth information about the exam concepts covered in the AZ-800 exam. Furthermore, you may learn about the various scales of different Azure services by consulting Microsoft documentation. This is made up of modules that will help you learn a lot about the various services and concepts included in the exam.
Online Study Groups
Candidates can benefit from online study groups when preparing for exams. Joining study groups, in other words, will allow you to stay in touch with experts and professionals who are already on this path. You can also use this group to discuss your test-related question or issue, as well as take the AZ-800 exam study notes.
Practice Tests
It is crucial to take practice examinations for improving your preparation. You will learn about your weak and strong areas by assessing yourself with Microsoft AZ-800 practice tests. Furthermore, you will be able to improve your answering skills, which will allow you to save a significant amount of time during the exam. Taking the AZ-800 exam practice tests after completing a full topic and then taking the mock exams is the wise way to go. This will also help you revise effectively. So, go online and search for the greatest practice exam tests to prepare for the Microsoft AZ-800 certification exam.
Get yourself certified by preparing and passing Microsoft AZ-800 and AZ-801 exams now!