Personal Insights
Exam Study Resources for AZ-120 Planning and Administering Microsoft Azure for SAP Workloads
[Update]: Author’s Note: 29-Feb-2020: I finally got my results after waiting 3 months for it. Woohoo!
[Update]: Author’s Note: 30-Dec-2020:
Change of Certification Expiry
Basically from June 2021, newly earned certifications will have a 1-year certification validity that will require renewal a below.
Renewal of Microsoft Certification
Microsoft Learning has announced a renewal schedule for role based and speciality certtifications. By Early Feb 2021, Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty, you will receive notification via email to renew via an online assessment without going through the exams that we had to go through.
Goto the links above to read further details
[Update]: Author’s Note: 21-Feb-2020: Exam AZ-120 is now officially Generally Available and out of beta]
I thought it would be useful to post this for the benefit of SAP Technical Architects/Basis Administrators as written in my earlier article SAP Expert Role Guide to Microsoft Azure Skills and Certification.
First, lets understand the criteria of the exam as released by Microsoft on 21-Feb-20.
It is pretty self-explanatory, and it is recommended for people to undertake AZ-103: Azure Administrator or AZ-300: Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies or AZ-301: Microsoft Azure Architect Design. You have to pass both AZ-300 and AZ-301 to achieve the credential Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert. For example, I took both AZ-300 and AZ-301 but did not take the AZ-103. I will not provide any information on these exams as there are already plenty of articles online.
Likewise, by passing AZ-120: Planning and Administering Microsoft Azure for SAP Workloads (beta), you will get the credential Microsoft Certified: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty.
Skills measured for AZ-120 exam can be downloaded here.
- Migrate SAP Workloads to Azure (10-15%)
- Design an Azure Solution to Support SAP Workloads (20-25%)
- Build and Deploy Azure SAP Workloads (35-40%)
- Validate Azure Infrastructure for SAP Workloads (10-15%)
- Operationalize Azure SAP Architecture (10-15%)
For those who are new to SAP on Azure, Microsoft Learning released these Level 100-200 Beginner resources where it is a good starting point where there are two learning pathways.
Microsoft Learn
Explore Azure for SAP workloads – Learn | Microsoft Docs
If you fairly well-advanced up to Level 300-400, there is still a need to able to understand and absorb the content (which are distributed across Microsoft Docs). Most people will find it hard to locate the documentation. I recommend starting here:
SAP on Azure – Getting Started on Microsoft Docs
[Authors Note: 25-Jan-2020]
My colleagues Nick Morgan and Bartosz Jarkowski had recently released a new SAP on Azure Implementation Guide which encapsulates most if not all the documentation in Microsoft Docs. Go to the link above to download it. Its a hefty volume of 221 pages but I find it is very comprehensive and up-to-date.
Other useful content includes blogs from my colleagues from Microsoft Global SAP Deployment Engineering Team:
- SAP on Azure–Designing for availability and recoverability
- SAP on Azure Architecture – Designing for performance and scalability
- SAP on Azure Architecture – Designing for security
- SAP on Azure–Designing for Efficiency and Operations
Other blogs by other Microsoft folks including Cameron Gardiner has very detailed Level 400 information.
New technical community site (since May 2019)
Legacy MSDN community site (up to May 2019)
Microsoft, all the necessary content are structured according to the AZ-120 exam criteria above. As Azure technologies change very frequently throughout the year, some of the Microsoft Docs actually outpace the exam criteria so it might be best to follow a structure.
Last, but not least it is also important to do practical labs. In beta exams, there are no labs but I reckon this will come when it is made generally available. Take time out here to do some of the exercises.
Online Labs Available@Github (90-150 minutes each)
AZ 120 Module 1: Foundations of SAP on Azure
- Lab 1a: Implementing Linux clustering on Azure VMs
- Lab 1b: Implementing Windows clustering on Azure VMs
AZ 120 Module 3: Implementing SAP on Azure
- Lab 3a: Implement SAP architecture on Azure VMs running Linux
- Lab 3b: Implement SAP architecture on Azure VMs running Windows
Certification resources
- Training and certification guide
- Exam Replay
- Certification poster
- Support for certifications
- Certification dashboard
Happy Learning and I wish everyone all the best for #TechIntensity. I would recommend reading this article by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella “The necessity of tech intensity in today’s digital world”.
Other relevant articles in SAP technical community
Quick Guide to SAP on Azure SLA and OLA
Quick Project Manager’s Guide to SAP on Azure
Quick Reference to SAP on Azure Components for HA and DR
SAP Customer Center of Excellence for Azure
SAP Customer Center of Excellence for Azure: Govern, Design, Innovate & Build
SAP Center of Excellence for Azure: Sustain & Run
Microsoft Cloud Operating Model & SAP on Azure Migration Scenarios
SAP IT Service Operations Management on Azure
SAP Security Operations on Azure
SAP Expert Role Guide to Microsoft Azure Skills and Certification
Exam Study Resources for AZ-120 Planning and Administering Microsoft Azure for SAP Workloads.
Worst SAP Production Outage Disasters
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Profile & Disclaimers here
Hi Chin,
Thanks for the informations. I am SAP BODS technical lead and I have done AZ-300 and AZ-301. Do l need to have the SAP BASIS knowledge to do this certification.
Thanks
Hi Jyoti,
I would think the there are basis technical elements you need to know. It is more weighted toward Azure IaaS (your AZ-300 and AZ-301 is more of course). From the SAP perspective, I would say topics of SAP migration and things like that are Basis focussed. However, it should not mean that you don't understand all these things and will not pass the AZ-120 exam. BODs developers typically I would say might be useful to take other exams that can help in your job role:
Read the article below, I have a table summarizing this:
https://blogs.sap.com/2019/12/15/sap-expert-role-guide-to-microsoft-azure-skills-and-certification/
Best of luck!
Regards,
Chin Lai
Hi Chin,
I am Working as SAP ABAP developer for the past 6 years and have worked with Migration,Upgrade and implementation Projects and have domain experience of MM, SD and PM.
I wanted to understand if this certification of SAP on Azure will help boost my career.
Regards,
Pooja
Hi Pooja,
As I have replied to Jyoti, AZ-120 is more focused on technical basis folks rather than developers. You might want to refer to the link when I replied to her for better understanding of the mapping to other Azure certifications
Whether it will be boost your career or not, I would say it depends. If your company is planning to migrate to Azure, it will be good for ABAP developers to build up skills in Azure because there are SAP can be integrated tightly with Azure Services.
Read more on SAP Center of Excellence for Azure in these links below.
SAP Expert Role Guide to Microsoft Azure Skills and Certification
SAP Customer Center of Excellence for Azure
SAP Customer Center of Excellence for Azure: Govern, Design, Innovate & Build
Hello Chin,
What if someone has already booked exam slot when only Beta was available?
Ex- I booked exam slot for 25th Feb 2020, when booked only Beta was available, Now We have GA on 21st?
Which exam will pop-up for me on 25th? Beta or GA?
Thanks!
Nishant
Hi,
I am not entirely sure. Might be worthwhile to check in with Pearson. If you read the exam criteria, the difference is with “performance-based testing” which are the labs. More than likely, you will get the labs in GA. I don’t believe there are any other differences in the format in terms of questions.
Hope this helps and good luck for the exam!
Regards,
Chin Lai