AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Test 4 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You are deploying a stateless web application on Azure virtual machines. The solution must automatically add and remove instances based on CPU demand and allow all instances to be managed as one logical group. Which Azure compute feature should you deploy?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

A Virtual Machine Scale Set. A Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS) is the correct Azure compute feature because it automatically manages a group of identical, load-balanced VMs that can scale in and out based on CPU demand using autoscale rules. It treats all instances as a single logical group, enabling unified management, patching, and application deployment, which is exactly what the stateless web application requires.

Answer

An availability set

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A Recovery Services vault

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Boot diagnostics

Question 2

A line-of-business application must keep running even if one datacenter in an Azure region has an outage. Which deployment option should you choose for the VMs?

Accepted Answer

Availability zones. Availability zones (Option C) are physically separate datacenters within an Azure region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking. Deploying VMs across two or more zones ensures that if one datacenter fails, the application continues running in the other zone, meeting the requirement for resilience against a single datacenter outage.

Answer

An availability set

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A single virtual machine with Premium SSD

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A proximity placement group

Question 3

A line-of-business app requires protection against a datacenter outage in a region that supports zones. You want the strongest placement resilience available for the VMs. What should you choose?

Accepted Answer

Availability zone. Availability zones are physically separate datacenters within an Azure region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking. Deploying VMs across zones provides the strongest resilience against a datacenter outage because if one zone fails, the other zones remain operational. This is the highest level of protection available within a single region for IaaS VMs.

Answer

Availability set

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Virtual machine scale set

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Resource lock

Question 4

A company runs two identical Linux VMs for a stateless web app in an Azure region that supports availability zones. The business requires protection from a full datacenter outage, not just planned host maintenance. Which deployment choice best meets this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Deploy the VMs across availability zones.. Deploying the two VMs across different availability zones ensures that each VM resides in a physically separate datacenter within the region. This architecture protects against a full datacenter outage, as an availability zone failure affects only one zone, leaving the other VM operational. Availability zones provide a 99.99% SLA for VMs when two or more instances are deployed across zones, which aligns with the requirement for protection beyond planned host maintenance.

Answer

Place both VMs in an availability set.

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Use a proximity placement group for both VMs.

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Deploy both VMs in a single-zone virtual machine scale set.

Question 5

A stateless web app on Azure must add or remove instances automatically when CPU usage changes. Which service should you deploy?

Accepted Answer

Virtual machine scale set with autoscale. A virtual machine scale set (VMSS) with autoscale is the correct choice because it is designed to automatically increase or decrease the number of VM instances based on metrics like CPU usage. Autoscale rules can be configured to scale out when CPU exceeds a threshold (e.g., 75%) and scale in when it drops below a threshold, ensuring the stateless web app handles variable load without manual intervention.

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Single virtual machine

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Availability set

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Managed disk

Question 6

A company has two application VMs in the same Azure region. The main requirement is to reduce downtime during planned host maintenance. The business does not require protection from a complete datacenter outage. Which option should you choose?

Accepted Answer

Availability set. An availability set distributes VMs across multiple fault domains and update domains within a single Azure datacenter. During planned host maintenance, Azure updates one update domain at a time, ensuring that only a subset of VMs are rebooted simultaneously, thereby reducing downtime. This meets the requirement of protecting against planned maintenance without needing cross-datacenter redundancy.

Answer

Availability zones

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Virtual machine scale set

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Proximity placement group

Question 7

A stateless web service must handle traffic spikes by adding or removing instances automatically based on CPU usage. Which Azure service fits best?

Accepted Answer

Virtual machine scale set with autoscale. A Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS) with autoscale is the correct choice because it automatically adjusts the number of VM instances based on CPU utilization metrics, enabling the stateless web service to handle traffic spikes by scaling out (adding instances) and scaling in (removing instances) as needed. This aligns with the requirement for a stateless, elastic, and automated scaling solution.

Answer

One larger standalone VM

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Availability set with two VMs

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Recovery Services vault backup

Question 8

A production workload must continue running if one entire Azure datacenter in the region becomes unavailable. The region supports availability zones, and you want the strongest placement option for a single VM. What should you choose?

Accepted Answer

Availability zone. An availability zone protects against an entire datacenter failure by placing the VM in a physically separate zone within the region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking. This is the strongest placement option for a single VM because it guarantees isolation from other zones, ensuring the workload continues if one datacenter fails. Availability sets only protect against rack-level failures within the same datacenter, not a full datacenter outage.

Answer

Availability set

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Proximity placement group

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Managed disk snapshot

Question 9

A developer has the Contributor role on a resource group. A Bicep deployment that creates a VM with a public IP fails with a policy denial, but the same template succeeds after the public IP resource is removed. Which two statements are true? Select two.

Accepted Answer

The Contributor role allows deployments in the resource group, but it cannot override a deny policy inherited from a higher scope.. The Contributor role grants full management access to resources within the resource group, but it cannot override Azure Policy effects such as 'deny'. Policy inheritance flows from higher scopes (management group, subscription) down to the resource group, and even a Contributor cannot bypass a deny policy assigned at a higher scope. The Bicep deployment fails specifically because the public IP resource violates a policy rule, not because of a lack of permissions on the role itself.

Answer

A CanNotDelete lock is the reason the public IP resource cannot be created.

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Assigning Owner on the resource group would automatically bypass the policy denial and allow the template to deploy unchanged.

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Moving the VM to another subnet in the same virtual network would remove the inherited policy effect.

Question 10

A web front end must automatically add or remove instances based on demand. The application is stateless and all instances should be managed as one group. Which Azure service should you use?

Accepted Answer

Virtual Machine Scale Set. Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) automatically scale the number of VM instances in or out based on demand or a defined schedule, making them ideal for stateless, horizontally scalable applications. They manage all instances as a single group behind a load balancer, ensuring uniform configuration and seamless scaling without manual intervention.

Answer

A single Azure VM with a larger size

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Availability set

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Managed disk snapshots

Question 11

You want to deploy a resource group with Bicep and see the changes Azure plans to make before you apply them. Which command should you run?

Accepted Answer

az deployment group what-if. The `az deployment group what-if` command is correct because it performs a dry-run validation of a Bicep (or ARM) deployment against a resource group, showing the changes Azure will make (create, modify, delete) without actually applying them. This is the Azure equivalent of a 'what-if' analysis, allowing you to review the impact before execution.

Answer

az deployment group create

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az group delete

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az vm update

Question 12

You are creating a new Ubuntu VM and want it to create a local admin account and install packages automatically on the first boot. Which approach should you use?

Accepted Answer

Use cloud-init to run first-boot configuration in Linux.. Cloud-init is the standard method for automating first-boot configuration on Linux VMs in Azure. It processes user-data (such as cloud-config YAML) to create users, install packages, and run scripts during initial boot, making it the correct choice for creating a local admin account and installing packages automatically.

Answer

Use an availability set so the script runs during placement.

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Use a snapshot of the operating system disk.

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Use a custom image and manually log in later.

Question 13

You have already deployed a Windows Server VM. After provisioning, you need to run a PowerShell script once to configure an application and create a registry setting without logging in interactively. Which Azure feature should you use?

Accepted Answer

Custom Script Extension. The Custom Script Extension (CSE) is the correct choice because it allows you to run a PowerShell script on a Windows VM after provisioning, without requiring interactive logon. It executes the script as the local system account, making it ideal for one-time configuration tasks like setting registry keys or installing applications. This aligns with the requirement to run a script once non-interactively.

Answer

cloud-init

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Azure Policy

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Recovery Services vault

Question 14

Before changing a production VM's data disk, you want a point-in-time copy that can be restored later without affecting the VM. What should you create?

Accepted Answer

Snapshot. A snapshot captures a point-in-time, read-only copy of a managed or unmanaged disk. It can be used to create a new disk or restore the original disk without affecting the running VM, making it the correct choice for a non-disruptive backup before a data disk change.

Answer

Availability set

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Azure Policy assignment

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Virtual network peering

Question 15

You need to deploy a new Ubuntu VM that automatically creates an app user and installs packages the first time it boots. Which approach should you use?

Accepted Answer

Use cloud-init in the VM creation settings to perform first-boot configuration.. B is correct because cloud-init is the standard, native mechanism for performing first-boot configuration on Linux VMs in Azure. It allows you to inject a configuration file (e.g., YAML or shell script) during VM creation that automatically creates users, installs packages, and runs custom commands on the first boot, without requiring any post-deployment scripts or manual intervention.

Answer

Use an availability set so the VM runs the initialization tasks during host placement.

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Use an Azure Policy assignment to install the packages after deployment.

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Use a managed disk snapshot and attach it to the VM after deployment.