AZ-120 Complete Guide: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty Exam Scope, Resources, and Strategy

Microsoft Certified: Azure for SAP Workloads Specialty (AZ-120) is a Specialty certification for engineers who design, migrate, and operate SAP workloads (S/4HANA, SAP HANA, SAP NetWeaver, SAP BW/4HANA) on Azure.While the candidate pool is smaller than other Specialty exams, the market value of an SAP × Azure specialist is exceptionally high. In Japan, major SIs (Accenture, IBM, PwC, Deloitte, NTT Data, Fujitsu) run large numbers of SAP on Azure projects, and AZ-120 holders are most often hired into senior architect positions in the JPY 10-15M annual salary range.

This article walks through the AZ-120 exam specification, how much SAP experience is required, the four exam domains, when to choose M-series VMs vs HANA Large Instances, how to leverage Azure Center for SAP Solutions (ACSS), a 3-4 month roadmap to pass, and the career path to senior SAP × Azure engineer.

AZ-120 Exam Specifications

The AZ-120 exam specifications follow the standard Specialty tier format. 120 minutes, 40-60 questions, a passing score of 700 / 1000, USD 165 / JPY 21,103, and valid for 12 months (renewable via a renewal assessment). It is delivered through Pearson VUE either at a test center or online via OnVUE, and is available in multiple languages including Japanese. Prerequisites are not required, but you will need both AZ-104 (Administrator) level Azure knowledge and SAP Basis administration level SAP knowledge. In addition to multiple-choice questions, the exam includes SAP reference architecture reading, case studies, and sequence-ordering questions, with the majority of questions asking about SAP-specific Azure design decisions.

How Much SAP Experience Do You Need?

AZ-120 is a specialist certification for SAP Basis administrators and SAP infrastructure engineers, and assumes a working understanding of SAP HANA, SAP NetWeaver, SAP BW/4HANA, and SAP S/4HANA architecture. Specifically, you are expected to be comfortable with SAP-specific concepts such as the SAP landscape (DEV / QA / PRD environments), SAP instance types (ASCS / SCS / PAS / AAS), the SAP HANA Tenant Database, the SAP database interface (DBSL), and transport management (CTS / STMS). If you are starting from zero SAP knowledge, a realistic plan is to first work through an official SAP introductory course (SAP Learning Hub or the free openSAP courses) for 50-100 hours before beginning AZ-120 study.

Domain 1: Migrate SAP Workloads to Azure (10-15%)

This domain covers migration strategies for moving on-premises SAP to Azure. The core topics are SAP migration options (choosing between Lift-and-Shift, Re-platform, and Re-architect), Database Migration Option (DMO) (OS / DB / ANY-DB migration via Software Provisioning Manager), SAP Migration Service, SAP HANA System Replication-based minimal-downtime migration, Sybase ASE → SAP HANA or Oracle → SAP HANA conversion, and S/4HANA Conversion (migration from the legacy ECC to S/4HANA). In Japan, projects that combine S/4HANA upgrades with Azure migration for existing ECC customers are growing rapidly, making this domain highly relevant to real-world work.

Domain 2: Design an Azure Solution to Support SAP Workloads (20-25%)

This domain covers the reference architectures for SAP on Azure. The core topics are combined S/4HANA / NetWeaver architectures (ASCS HA, PAS / AAS scale-out, HANA HA), VM sizing (M-series, Mv2, Mv3, E-series, HANA Large Instances), storage selection (Premium SSD, Premium SSD v2, Ultra Disk, Azure NetApp Files [ANF]), network design (low-latency requirements, Proximity Placement Group [PPG], Accelerated Networking), and HADR design (Availability Zone, Availability Set, SAP HANA System Replication, Pacemaker clustering). VM sizing questions appear frequently on the exam, and you need to be able to recall the SAP HANA-certified VM list and the memory / vCPU / SLA / cost trade-offs of each size on demand.

Domain 3: Build and Deploy Azure for SAP Workloads (45-50%, the most important domain)

This is the most heavily weighted core domain and has the biggest impact on whether you pass. The core topics are Azure Center for SAP Solutions (ACSS)-based automated deployment, the Virtual Instance for SAP solutions (VIS) concept, Quality Checks, Bicep / ARM templates for automating SAP infrastructure, installing SAP HANA (Configuration Tool, hdbinst, license configuration), installing SAP NetWeaver (SAPInst, SAP HANA Studio), SAP deployment on MSSQL / Oracle / DB2, Azure NetApp Files-based HANA volume configuration (ANF SLO / Performance Tier), Proximity Placement Group configuration, and Pacemaker + Corosync-based cluster configuration.

Domain 4: Validate and Operate Azure for SAP Workloads (20-25%)

This domain covers validation and production operations for SAP on Azure. Validation topics include SAP HANA recommended-configuration validation (HANA Cockpit, SAP HANA Quality Check), Quality Check tooling (Microsoft's Azure configuration compliance checks), and performance validation (HCMT, the HANA Capability Measurement Tool). Operations topics include backup (Azure Backup for SAP HANA via the Backint protocol, Storage Account snapshots, third-party tools such as Veeam and Commvault), HADR (SAP HANA System Replication, Failover Cluster, Geo-replication), monitoring (Azure Monitor for SAP Solutions, SAP Cloud ALM, SAP Solution Manager integration), patch management (Update Manager, SAP Kernel / Note updates), and SAP Cost Analysis-based Azure cost optimization.

Leveraging Azure Center for SAP Solutions (ACSS)

ACSS is a managed service dedicated to SAP on Azure that went GA in 2022, providing integrated deployment, management, and monitoring for SAP workloads. Its main features are: Virtual Instance for SAP solutions (VIS), a new Azure resource type that represents the SAP landscape; automated S/4HANA / NetWeaver deployment driven internally by Bicep / Terraform; Quality Checks that verify compliance with Azure best practices; SAP Cost Analysis for cost visibility at the SAP instance level; and integrated SAP Performance monitoring.

The 2024 AZ-120 update significantly increased the weight of ACSS-related topics, making ACSS-based deployment the recommended pattern for new SAP on Azure projects. The exam tests ACSS features, limitations, operational procedures, and API patterns.

3-4 Month Roadmap to Pass

Here is a 3-month plan assuming 3+ years of SAP Basis experience plus AZ-104. Month 1: Work through the Migration and Design sections of the Microsoft Learn AZ-120 learning path, and thoroughly read the key SAP on Azure reference architecture patterns (https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/sap/). Month 2: Drill deeply into the build and deploy domain. Use an ACSS demo environment or your company's staging environment to run automated SAP HANA / NetWeaver deployments, and try deploying SAP infrastructure with Bicep templates. Month 3: Finish with the validation and operations domain plus final review. Configure SAP HANA System Replication, validate Azure Backup for SAP HANA, and repeat the official Practice Assessment until you can score 80%+. If your SAP experience is limited, add 2-3 months of SAP fundamentals study (openSAP courses) up front for a total 5-6 month plan.

What to Pursue After AZ-120

If you are targeting a senior SAP × Azure engineer role, the standard path is to pair AZ-104 + AZ-305 for broad Azure architecture skills with SAP certifications (SAP Certified Technology Associate - SAP HANA, SAP S/4HANA Cloud) as a dual-specialist combination. For SAP data integration, DP-300 or DP-700 strengthens the Azure data platform side. For security integration, SC-300 + SC-100 covers GRC design for SAP on Azure. At SAP-focused SIs, combining AZ-120 with SAP Architect (Solution Architect for SAP S/4HANA) and SAP TechEd certifications is highly valued. AZ-120 is frequently listed as a required qualification for senior SAP on Azure architect roles in the JPY 10-15M annual salary range, and the scarcity of dual SAP × Azure specialists makes its ROI exceptionally high.

Frequently Asked Questions

Exam information in this article is based on the official Microsoft Learn AZ-120 page and the SAP on Azure Documentation. This article is not an official Microsoft Corporation product and has no affiliation or sponsorship relationship with Microsoft. SAP is a registered trademark of SAP SE. Microsoft and Azure are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Information reflects the official public materials as of May 24, 2026. Always check the official pages for the latest information.