- AZ-120 Domain Overview: The Four Content Areas
- Domain 1: Migrate SAP Workloads to Azure
- Domain 2: Design and Implement Infrastructure
- Domain 3: High Availability and Disaster Recovery
- Domain 4: Maintain SAP Workloads on Azure
- Building a Study Plan Around Domain Weight
- Exam Format, Fee, and Scoring Mechanics
- Who Actually Sits for AZ-120
- FAQ
- Migration and infrastructure domains are tied for the largest share, each at 25-30% of AZ-120.
- HADR and maintenance domains each carry 20-25%, so together they roughly equal the other two.
- The exam is a 100-minute proctored assessment scored on Microsoft's 700-point scale, not raw percentage.
- Azure Administrator Associate is strongly recommended but not a mandatory prerequisite for AZ-120.
AZ-120 Domain Overview: The Four Content Areas
Microsoft Certified: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty - the AZ-120 credential - validates the ability to plan, deploy, and operate SAP landscapes on Azure infrastructure. The exam, officially titled Planning and Administering Azure for SAP Workloads, organizes its content into four domains. Two of them are weighted as co-largest, and the other two split the remainder almost evenly.
| Domain | Weight | Core Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Migrate SAP workloads to Azure | 25-30% | Assessment, sizing, and migration execution |
| Design and implement infrastructure to support SAP workloads on Azure | 25-30% | Compute, storage, networking, identity |
| Design and implement high availability and disaster recovery (HADR) | 20-25% | Resiliency and failover design |
| Maintain SAP workloads on Azure | 20-25% | Ongoing operations and monitoring |
Because migration and infrastructure jointly dominate the outline, candidates who under-invest in either one put a large chunk of their score at risk. For a broader walkthrough of preparation strategy that complements this domain breakdown, see the AZ-120 Study Guide 2026.
Domain 1: Migrate SAP Workloads to Azure
This domain assesses whether a candidate can take an existing SAP landscape - often running on SAP Business Suite or SAP NetWeaver - and move it to Azure with minimal disruption. Expect scenario questions that describe a source environment and ask you to choose the correct assessment tool, migration method, or sizing approach.
Migrate SAP Workloads to Azure
Candidates must understand how to evaluate an on-premises SAP estate, plan the move, and validate that the migrated system meets performance expectations.
- Assessing source systems and mapping SAP components to Azure services
- Selecting appropriate migration approaches for different SAP database and application layers
- Sizing target Azure infrastructure based on SAP workload requirements
- Validating post-migration performance and functional parity
This is also the domain where familiarity with SAP HANA specifics tends to matter most, since HANA-based migrations often involve different considerations than traditional AnyDB deployments. If you're still mapping out whether your background covers these areas, the AZ-120 Requirements 2026 guide breaks down the recommended technical foundation in more detail.
Domain 2: Design and Implement Infrastructure
Tied with migration as the largest domain, this section tests your ability to design the Azure foundation that SAP workloads run on. It draws directly on the recommended background areas of Azure compute, storage, networking, and identity.
Design and Implement Infrastructure to Support SAP Workloads on Azure
You need working knowledge of how each infrastructure layer supports SAP-specific performance and reliability requirements - not generic Azure administration alone.
- Selecting virtual machine sizes and families suited to SAP application and database tiers
- Configuring storage options for throughput and latency needs of SAP databases
- Designing network topology, connectivity, and segmentation for SAP landscapes
- Implementing identity and access controls appropriate to SAP environments
Because this domain overlaps with general Azure infrastructure skills, candidates who already hold Azure Administrator Associate - a certification Microsoft strongly recommends before attempting AZ-120 - typically find this section more approachable. It's not a mandatory prerequisite, but the overlap is significant enough that many test-takers pursue it first.
Key Takeaway
Treat Domains 1 and 2 as a combined study block rather than separate topics - migration decisions and infrastructure design constantly inform each other on real SAP-on-Azure projects and on the exam.
Domain 3: High Availability and Disaster Recovery
The HADR domain shifts focus from "getting SAP onto Azure" to "keeping it running when something fails." Expect questions built around failure scenarios: a database node goes down, a region becomes unavailable, or a maintenance window requires zero downtime.
Design and Implement High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR)
This domain tests architectural judgment as much as technical steps - you're expected to choose the right resiliency pattern for a given SAP scenario.
- Designing high-availability architectures for SAP application and database layers
- Configuring disaster recovery across Azure regions for SAP landscapes
- Understanding failover mechanisms specific to SAP HANA and traditional database platforms
- Balancing recovery time and recovery point objectives against infrastructure cost
Because this domain sits at 20-25%, it's smaller than migration or infrastructure individually, but it's frequently where candidates lose points because HADR concepts require connecting Azure availability features with SAP-specific clustering and replication behavior. If you want a sense of how this domain contributes to overall exam difficulty, How Hard Is the AZ-120 Exam? covers where candidates commonly struggle.
Domain 4: Maintain SAP Workloads on Azure
The final domain covers the day-to-day and periodic operational tasks that keep an already-running SAP-on-Azure environment healthy. This is where the exam checks your operational discipline rather than your design skills.
Maintain SAP Workloads on Azure
Expect questions on ongoing monitoring, patching, and lifecycle management of SAP systems hosted on Azure infrastructure.
- Monitoring SAP workload health and performance using Azure-native tooling
- Applying updates and patches without disrupting SAP availability targets
- Managing capacity adjustments as SAP workload demand changes
- Troubleshooting common operational issues across compute, storage, and network layers
Also weighted at 20-25%, this domain rounds out the exam by pairing well with Domain 3 - resiliency design and ongoing maintenance are naturally linked, and many exam scenarios blend the two.
Building a Study Plan Around Domain Weight
Rather than studying the four domains in equal proportion, allocate time roughly in line with their scoring weight. Because migration and infrastructure are jointly the largest domains, they deserve the most calendar time and the most hands-on lab repetition.
Migrate SAP Workloads to Azure
- Practice assessment and sizing scenarios
- Review migration approaches for HANA and traditional databases
Design and Implement Infrastructure
- Build and configure compute, storage, and network resources for a sample SAP landscape
- Review identity configuration relevant to SAP access
HADR and Maintenance
- Work through failover and disaster recovery scenarios
- Practice monitoring and patching workflows
Review and Practice Exams
- Take timed practice tests on the main practice test platform
- Revisit weak domains identified from practice results
This weighting-first approach is one piece of a larger prep strategy; for the full methodology including resource selection and pacing, see the AZ-120 Study Guide 2026.
Exam Format, Fee, and Scoring Mechanics
AZ-120 is delivered as a 100-minute proctored, computer-based assessment that may include interactive components alongside standard multiple-choice items. You can take it at a Pearson VUE test center or remotely through OnVUE online proctoring, whichever fits your schedule better.
If your first attempt doesn't succeed, Microsoft's retake policy allows a second attempt after a 24-hour waiting period. Beyond that, additional waiting periods typically apply for further attempts, so it's worth reviewing weak domains carefully before scheduling a retake rather than rushing back in. For details on total costs including retakes and renewal, see AZ-120 Certification Cost 2026.
Once earned, the certification is valid for 12 months. Microsoft offers a free online renewal assessment available during the six months before expiration, and passing it extends validity by another year - useful to know since SAP-on-Azure guidance and services evolve quickly. Scheduling logistics, including test windows and how skills-outline update dates like April 17, 2026 affect content, are covered in AZ-120 Exam Dates 2026.
Who Actually Sits for AZ-120
AZ-120 is aimed at professionals who design, deploy, and operate SAP environments specifically on Azure - a narrower audience than general Azure infrastructure roles. Typical candidates come from SAP Basis, SAP infrastructure architecture, or cloud migration backgrounds and are expected to already be comfortable with SAP HANA, SAP Business Suite, and SAP NetWeaver concepts alongside core Azure services like compute, storage, networking, and identity.
Because Azure Administrator Associate is strongly recommended (though not mandatory) before attempting AZ-120, many candidates arrive with that foundation already in place and use AZ-120 to layer SAP-specific expertise on top. If you're weighing whether this specialty credential fits your career path, Is the AZ-120 Certification Worth It? examines the return on the investment of time and the exam fee in more depth, and AZ-120 Jobs looks at where this specific skill set tends to get hired.
Practicing with scenario-style questions that mirror the four domains above is one of the most direct ways to close knowledge gaps before exam day - you can work through domain-tagged practice questions on our practice test platform to see which of the four content areas needs the most attention.
FAQ
Start with either Migrate SAP Workloads to Azure or Design and Implement Infrastructure, since both are weighted at 25-30% and jointly represent the largest share of the exam.
They carry slightly less individual weight at 20-25% each, but together they still make up close to half the exam, so they deserve serious, not minimal, preparation.
No. The percentage ranges are meant to guide your study allocation beforehand, not something tested directly during the 100-minute assessment.
It's strongly recommended by Microsoft but not a mandatory prerequisite; you can attempt AZ-120 without holding it first.
You can retake the exam after a 24-hour waiting period following a failed first attempt, giving you time to revisit weaker domains before scheduling again.