AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources — 50 Questions

Question 1

You need to be notified whenever the average CPU usage of VM-App01 exceeds 80 percent for 10 minutes. The solution must send an email to the operations team automatically. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Create an Azure Monitor metric alert and link it to an action group.. Option A is correct because Azure Monitor metric alerts can evaluate performance counters like CPU usage over a specified time window (e.g., 10 minutes) and trigger an action group when the threshold (80%) is exceeded. The action group can be configured with an email notification to the operations team, meeting the requirement automatically.

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Create an Azure Advisor recommendation alert.

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Create an activity log alert for the virtual machine.

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Create a subscription budget alert.

Question 2

Your company wants to query performance and event data from multiple Azure virtual machines by using Kusto Query Language. The operations team also wants to centralize retention and analysis of this data. What should you deploy?

Accepted Answer

A Log Analytics workspace.. A Log Analytics workspace is the correct choice because it is the central repository in Azure Monitor for collecting telemetry and log data from Azure virtual machines. It supports Kusto Query Language (KQL) for querying performance and event data, and it provides centralized retention, analysis, and alerting capabilities, meeting both requirements.

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Azure Advisor.

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Azure Network Watcher only.

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A network security group.

Question 3

You need to retain Azure Firewall logs for long-term analysis in a Log Analytics workspace and also archive them in a storage account for compliance. What should you configure on the Azure Firewall resource?

Accepted Answer

Diagnostic settings. Diagnostic settings on the Azure Firewall resource allow you to stream platform logs and metrics to a Log Analytics workspace for long-term analysis and to a storage account for archival and compliance. This is the only configuration that simultaneously supports both destinations for the firewall's log data.

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A resource lock

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An availability set

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A VNet peering connection

Question 4

You need to notify the security team whenever anyone deletes a resource group in the subscription. Which alert type should you configure?

Accepted Answer

An activity log alert. Option C is correct because an activity log alert monitors subscription-level events recorded in the Azure Activity Log, including resource group deletion operations. When a user deletes a resource group, the 'Microsoft.Resources/subscriptions/resourceGroups/delete' operation is logged, and an activity log alert can be configured to trigger on that specific operation, sending notifications to the security team.

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A metric alert on CPU percentage

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A budget alert

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A log alert based only on guest OS event logs

Question 5

Your operations team needs to run Kusto queries across collected sign-in logs, VM performance counters, and Azure Activity Log data in a central location. What should you deploy?

Accepted Answer

A Log Analytics workspace. A Log Analytics workspace is the central repository in Azure that ingests and stores diagnostic data from multiple sources, including sign-in logs (Azure AD), VM performance counters (Azure Monitor for VMs), and Azure Activity Logs. It supports Kusto Query Language (KQL) for running complex queries across all collected data, making it the correct choice for this requirement.

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An availability zone

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A NAT gateway

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A standard public IP address

Question 6

A Virtual Machine Scale Set must add instances automatically when average CPU usage is above 75 percent and remove instances when CPU drops below 30 percent. Which feature should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Autoscale rules in Azure Monitor. Autoscale rules in Azure Monitor allow you to define conditions for automatically scaling a Virtual Machine Scale Set (VMSS) based on metrics like average CPU usage. You can set a scale-out rule to add instances when CPU exceeds 75% and a scale-in rule to remove instances when CPU drops below 30%, with a cool-down period to prevent flapping. This is the native Azure feature designed for such metric-based auto-scaling scenarios.

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A Recovery Services vault policy

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Boot diagnostics

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Azure Advisor only

Question 7

You need to collect guest operating system performance counters and Windows event logs from several Azure virtual machines into a central queryable platform. Which Azure component should you configure?

Accepted Answer

A Log Analytics workspace. A Log Analytics workspace is the correct Azure component for collecting guest OS performance counters and Windows event logs from Azure VMs. It serves as a central repository where diagnostic data from Azure Monitor agents (such as the Log Analytics agent or Azure Monitor Agent) is ingested, stored, and made available for querying via Kusto Query Language (KQL). This enables you to analyze performance metrics and event logs across multiple VMs in a unified, queryable platform.

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A Recovery Services vault

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An Azure Policy initiative

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A route table

Question 8

Your operations team needs to receive a Microsoft Teams or email notification whenever a production application becomes unavailable. You have already created an availability test in Azure Monitor. What should you configure next?

Accepted Answer

A metric or log alert rule linked to an action group. An availability test in Azure Monitor detects when an application is unavailable, but it does not inherently trigger notifications. To send a Teams or email alert, you must create a metric or log alert rule that references the availability test's results and link it to an action group, which defines the notification actions (e.g., email, SMS, webhook to Teams). This is the standard Azure Monitor workflow for proactive incident response.

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A management group

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A resource lock

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A private endpoint

Question 9

You need to view recommendations about underutilized virtual machines, security improvements, and cost-saving opportunities in Azure. Which service should you use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Advisor. Azure Advisor provides personalized best-practice recommendations related to reliability, security, performance, operational excellence, and cost.

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Azure Policy

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Network Watcher

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Azure Backup

Question 10

You need to keep Azure activity log data for longer than the default retention period and make it available for analysis. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Diagnostic settings for the activity log. The default retention period for Azure activity logs is 90 days. To retain activity log data beyond this period and make it available for analysis (e.g., in a Log Analytics workspace, storage account, or Event Hubs), you must configure diagnostic settings for the activity log. This allows you to stream the log data to a destination of your choice, where you can set custom retention policies.

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A resource lock on the subscription

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An availability zone

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A scale set autoscale policy

Question 11

You need an alert that emails administrators when CPU on VM-DB01 exceeds a threshold. Which two Azure Monitor components work together to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

A metric alert and an action group. A metric alert monitors a specific performance metric (like CPU percentage) on a target resource (VM-DB01) and triggers when the value crosses a defined threshold. An action group defines the notification actions (e.g., sending an email to administrators) that execute when the alert fires. Together, they form the core alerting workflow in Azure Monitor: the metric alert evaluates the condition, and the action group delivers the response.

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A budget alert and a private DNS zone

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A Recovery Services vault and a route table

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An activity log export and a lock

Question 12

Your operations team wants to query collected VM log data by using Kusto Query Language and retain it centrally for analysis. Which Azure resource should you deploy?

Accepted Answer

A Log Analytics workspace. A Log Analytics workspace is the correct Azure resource because it serves as the central repository for VM log data collected via Azure Monitor agents. It supports Kusto Query Language (KQL) for querying and analyzing the collected data, enabling the operations team to perform advanced log analytics and retention. This aligns directly with the requirement to query and retain VM log data centrally.

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An availability set

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A local user account on each VM

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A network security group

Question 13

Your company wants to know when an Azure service outage in the region might affect subscribed resources, even if no metric threshold has been crossed yet. Which alert type should you configure?

Accepted Answer

A Service Health alert. Service Health alerts are designed to notify you about Azure service incidents, maintenance, health advisories, and security advisories that may impact your subscribed resources. Unlike metric alerts, they trigger based on Azure's own health status rather than any metric threshold you configure, making them ideal for detecting region-wide outages before they affect your specific metrics.

Answer

A metric alert

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A budget alert

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A boot diagnostics alert

Question 14

You need to suppress alert notifications for a group of virtual machines every Sunday during a planned maintenance window, without deleting the underlying alert rules. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Create an alert processing rule for the maintenance window.. An alert processing rule (formerly action rule) allows you to apply actions or suppress notifications for specific alert rules during defined time windows without modifying the underlying alert rules. By configuring a suppression action rule for the maintenance window (every Sunday), you can prevent notifications from being sent while the alert rules remain active and continue to evaluate conditions.

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Disable diagnostic settings during the maintenance window.

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Delete and recreate the alert rules every week.

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Move the VMs to a different subscription on Sundays.

Question 15

You need to collect performance counters and event logs from multiple Azure virtual machines and query the data centrally by using Kusto Query Language. Which Azure resource should you deploy?

Accepted Answer

A Log Analytics workspace. A Log Analytics workspace is the correct Azure resource because it ingests performance counters and event logs from Azure virtual machines via the Azure Monitor agent or the legacy Log Analytics agent, and stores them in a centralized repository. You can then query this data using Kusto Query Language (KQL) to perform real-time analysis, troubleshooting, and reporting across multiple VMs.

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A Recovery Services vault

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Azure Network Watcher

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A load balancer

Question 16

You want Azure to recommend ways to reduce cost, improve performance, and strengthen security across your subscriptions. Which service should you use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Advisor. Azure Advisor is the correct service because it provides personalized recommendations across your Azure subscriptions to optimize for cost, performance, reliability, and security. It analyzes your resource configuration and usage telemetry, then generates actionable recommendations such as right-sizing underutilized VMs, enabling geo-redundant storage, or applying security rules. This directly matches the question's requirement for a unified tool that suggests improvements in all three areas.

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Azure Policy

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Azure Backup

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Virtual network peering

Question 17

Your company needs to retain Azure Activity Log data longer than the built-in retention period and make it available for future analysis. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Diagnostic settings for the Activity Log. Azure Activity Log has a default retention period of 30 days for Standard tier subscriptions and 90 days for others. To retain data longer, you must configure diagnostic settings to stream the Activity Log to a Log Analytics workspace (for long-term querying) or to an Azure Storage account (for archival). Diagnostic settings allow you to define the retention duration beyond the built-in limit, enabling future analysis.

Answer

A CanNotDelete lock on the subscription

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An availability set

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An NSG flow log only

Question 18

You need to send an email whenever CPU utilization on VM-Prod01 exceeds 90 percent for 15 minutes. Which Azure Monitor components should you configure?

Accepted Answer

A metric alert and an action group. A metric alert monitors a specific resource metric (like CPU utilization) and triggers when a condition (e.g., >90%) is met for a given duration (15 minutes). An action group defines the notification or remediation action (e.g., sending an email). Together, they fulfill the requirement to send an email when CPU utilization exceeds 90% for 15 minutes.

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An activity log alert only

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A resource lock and Azure Advisor

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A budget alert and a private endpoint

Question 19

You need to receive an email when average CPU usage on VM-App01 exceeds 85 percent for 10 minutes. Which Azure Monitor components should you configure?

Accepted Answer

A metric alert and an action group. A metric alert monitors a specific Azure resource metric (like CPU percentage) and triggers when a condition (e.g., average > 85%) is met over a specified evaluation period (e.g., 10 minutes). An action group defines the notification actions (e.g., sending an email) when the alert fires. Together, they fulfill the requirement to receive an email based on a performance threshold.

Answer

A resource lock and Azure Advisor

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An activity log alert only

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A budget alert

Question 20

You want Azure to identify underutilized virtual machines and recommend ways to reduce cost and improve security posture. Which service should you use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Advisor. Azure Advisor analyzes Azure resources and provides recommendations related to cost, security, reliability, performance, and operational excellence.

Answer

Azure Policy

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Azure Backup

Answer

Virtual network peering