Microsoft

Microsoft AZ-204, Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure, retired on July 31, 2026 together with the Azure Developer Associate certification. Microsoft now points developers toward AI-200, the Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate path. AI-200 is not a like-for-like rename: it keeps cloud-development disciplines but moves the role toward back-end services and AI-enabled application architecture. Keep the Azure development skills that still transfer AZ-204 built useful habits around compute, storage, security, monitoring, messaging, APIs, and deployment. Those skills still matter because AI applications are still applications. They need reliable hosting, identity, secrets,…

Microsoft AZ-104 makes more sense when you stop treating Azure administration as five unrelated exam domains. An administrator rarely manages identity without affecting resources, deploys compute without networking, restricts a storage account without thinking about DNS and permissions, or configures monitoring without considering recovery. The current Microsoft AZ-104 separates these skills for measurement, but strong candidates learn to reconnect them into one operating model. Azure administration becomes easier to reason about when those domains are treated as one operating system. Identity and governance define who can change resources and under…

AI-900 retired on June 30, 2026. The current Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals exam is AI-901, and the AI-901 beginner study path provides an introduction to the revised learning sequence rather than treating it as a simple code change. Microsoft AI-901 still includes responsible AI and common AI workloads, but it now expects foundational technical skills, Python familiarity, Azure resources, REST/SDK/CLI awareness, and practical implementation with Microsoft Foundry. The current blueprint gives 40–45% to identifying AI concepts and capabilities and 55–60% to implementing AI solutions with Microsoft Foundry. That is a…

DP-900 remains Microsoft’s active Azure Data Fundamentals exam in 2026. It is designed for people beginning to work with data in the cloud, but “fundamentals” does not mean memorizing product names. The current blueprint expects candidates to understand core data concepts, relational and non-relational patterns, transactional and analytical workloads, and the Azure services that support those patterns. The July 21, 2026 skills outline keeps the exam centered on concepts rather than administration. Candidates preparing for Microsoft DP-900 should be able to look at a workload and explain why a relational…

AZ-900 remains Microsoft’s active exam for Azure Fundamentals in 2026. The current blueprint, measured as of July 20, still concentrates on three broad areas: cloud concepts, Azure architecture and services, and Azure management and governance. That sounds simple, but the exam is easiest when candidates understand relationships rather than memorize product names. The role of AZ-900 is orientation. It gives new learners a mental model for cloud computing and Microsoft Azure before they move into administration, development, data, security, networking, architecture, or another role. It is not designed to prove…

Microsoft AZ-140 is the current specialty exam for professionals who configure and operate Azure Virtual Desktop. The role combines Azure infrastructure with end-user computing: identity, networking, host pools, session hosts, images, applications, FSLogix profiles, security, automation, monitoring, and troubleshooting. Microsoft’s current English AZ-140 skills were updated on July 20, 2026. The Microsoft AZ-140 exam places its greatest emphasis on planning and implementing Azure Virtual Desktop infrastructure, with additional domains for identity and security, user environments and applications, and monitoring and management. AZ-140 is not a fundamentals exam. Candidates should already…

MS-900, the exam for the retired Microsoft 365 Fundamentals credential, retired on March 31, 2026. Candidates can no longer schedule the exam, so older material that presents MS-900 as the starting point for Microsoft 365 certification needs to be updated. The durable parts of the old blueprint—cloud concepts, Microsoft 365 services, security, compliance, pricing, and support—still provide useful orientation. The retired MS-900 exam was broad. It introduced productivity and collaboration services, Microsoft 365 security and compliance, service management, and licensing at a fundamentals level. That breadth made it useful for…

DP-203 retired on March 31, 2025, together with the Azure Data Engineer Associate certification. The closest current Microsoft data-engineering path is Microsoft DP-700: Implementing Data Engineering Solutions Using Microsoft Fabric. For data engineers who once treated DP-203 as the benchmark, the useful question is no longer how to finally pass that exam. It is how to carry durable Azure data-engineering skills into Fabric without repeating what you already know. The old journey still produced transferable skills DP-203 preparation built useful habits around ingestion, transformation, batch and streaming patterns, data lakes,…

SC-100 is an architecture exam, not a product inventory. Microsoft’s English outline effective October 21, 2026 describes a cybersecurity architect who translates strategy into capabilities across identity, devices, data, AI, applications, network, infrastructure, DevOps, governance, security operations, and posture management. The revised guide is now in force, so study it rather than treating October 21 as an upcoming boundary. The exam is part of Microsoft Certified: Cybersecurity Architect Expert. Use SC-100 practice scenarios to expose weak relationships among domains; architecture readiness depends on whether you can combine requirements and trade-offs…

Microsoft AI-900 retired on June 30, 2026. Azure AI Fundamentals remains an active certification, but the required exam is now Microsoft AI-901. The new exam is more technical than the old AI-900 path: candidates still need core AI concepts, but they also need foundational implementation awareness, familiarity with Azure resources, and basic Python knowledge. What changed from AI-900 to AI-901 AI-900 was primarily conceptual. It asked candidates to recognize common AI workloads, machine-learning ideas, computer vision, natural-language processing, generative AI, and responsible AI. AI-901 keeps those foundations but places more…

AZ-700 remains Microsoft’s active exam for Azure network engineering in 2026. The current blueprint, updated in July 2026, expects candidates to plan, implement, manage, monitor, and troubleshoot Azure networking solutions across core infrastructure, hybrid connectivity, application delivery, private access, and network security. That makes AZ-700 different from a broad Azure administration exam. The network engineer is expected to reason about traffic paths, address spaces, routing, DNS, application delivery, private connectivity, resiliency, performance, and security as one connected system. Knowing how to create a virtual network is necessary, but it is…

Microsoft retired AZ-204 and the Azure Developer Associate certification on July 31, 2026. The replacement developer credential is Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate, measured by AI-200. That change is substantial: AI-200 keeps backend cloud-development responsibilities but adds a clear emphasis on AI solution components, vector databases, Azure data services, containerized applications, security, monitoring, and troubleshooting. Developers who studied AZ-204 have not wasted their effort. App Service, Functions, containers, messaging, storage, identity, APIs, monitoring, and deployment remain valuable Azure development skills. What changed is the certification target and the surrounding workload….

Microsoft AZ-104 remains Microsoft’s active exam for Azure Administrator Associate in 2026. The current blueprint, measured as of April 17, focuses on identity and governance, storage, compute, virtual networking, and monitoring and maintenance. Those domains are not separate in real work; they interact every time an administrator deploys or troubleshoots an Azure workload. Candidates preparing for Microsoft AZ-104 should be comfortable with the Azure portal, PowerShell, Azure CLI, ARM templates or Bicep, and Microsoft Entra ID. More importantly, they should understand how scope, identity, network paths, resource configuration, monitoring, and…

Microsoft MS-102 is still current on October 6, 2026, but Microsoft states that the exam retires on November 30, 2026 at 11:59 PM Central Standard Time. That timing matters: candidates preparing now should understand the current role and blueprint without treating the exam as an evergreen path that will remain available indefinitely. The April 28, 2026 blueprint positions the Microsoft 365 administrator as the integrating hub across tenant operations, Microsoft Entra identity and access, Defender XDR security, and Microsoft Purview compliance. Microsoft has announced replacement courseware such as AB-650, but…

AZ-500 is no longer an active Microsoft exam. Microsoft retired Azure Security Engineer Associate on August 31, 2026 and replaced it with Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate, measured by SC-500. The old Azure-security skills are still valuable, but publishing an Azure security roadmap around AZ-500 now would send candidates toward a closed exam. The current SC-500 exam validates end-to-end security controls for cloud and AI workloads. Microsoft summarizes the role around identity/access/governance, storage/database/network security, compute security, and security posture management. That keeps much of the practical Azure-security foundation while…