AZ-104 Implement and Manage Storage — 100 Questions

Question 1

Your company stores departmental documents in an Azure file share. Users need to be able to recover previous versions of files that were deleted or modified accidentally. You need a solution that supports recovery at the file share level without deploying additional virtual machines. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Create share snapshots for the Azure file share.. Option C is correct because Azure file share snapshots provide point-in-time, read-only copies of the entire file share, allowing users to recover previous versions of files that were deleted or modified accidentally. This feature operates at the file share level without requiring any additional virtual machines, making it a straightforward and cost-effective solution for version recovery.

Answer

Enable blob versioning.

Answer

Configure Azure File Sync cloud tiering.

Answer

Enable immutable blob storage.

Question 2

A business-critical application uses an Azure storage account. The company requires that data remain available even if an entire Azure region becomes unavailable. Which redundancy option should you choose?

Accepted Answer

GZRS. D (GZRS) is correct because it combines zone-redundant storage (ZRS) within a primary region with geo-redundant replication to a secondary region, ensuring data remains available even if an entire Azure region becomes unavailable. This meets the business-critical requirement for regional disaster recovery while maintaining high durability and availability.

Answer

LRS

Answer

ZRS

Answer

GRS

Question 3

A partner needs temporary read-only access to a single blob in a storage account for the next 24 hours. The partner must not be able to list other blobs or write data. What should you provide?

Accepted Answer

A service SAS scoped to the blob with read permission and an expiry time.. A service SAS scoped to a specific blob with read permission and an expiry time provides the exact temporary, read-only access required. It restricts access to only that blob, prevents listing other blobs, and automatically expires after 24 hours, meeting all security and functional requirements.

Answer

The storage account access key.

Answer

A private endpoint to the storage account.

Answer

Contributor access to the storage account.

Question 4

You have a storage account named stlogs01. An application running on VM-App01 in Azure must access blobs in the account without storing account keys in code or configuration files. What should you use?

Accepted Answer

A managed identity for VM-App01 and Azure RBAC on the storage account.. Option C is correct because using a managed identity for VM-App01 allows the application to authenticate to Azure Storage without storing any credentials in code or configuration files. The managed identity is automatically managed by Azure AD, and you grant it access to the blob container using Azure RBAC (e.g., the Storage Blob Data Contributor role). This eliminates the need for account keys or shared access signatures.

Answer

A shared access signature stored in a text file on VM-App01.

Answer

The storage account access key hard-coded in the application.

Answer

Anonymous public access for the blob container.

Question 5

You need to grant an external partner temporary read access to a single blob in an Azure storage account without giving access to the account key. What should you create?

Accepted Answer

A shared access signature (SAS). A shared access signature (SAS) is the correct solution because it provides delegated, time-limited access to a specific Azure storage resource (such as a single blob) without exposing the storage account key. You can configure the SAS with read-only permissions, an expiration time, and apply it to a specific blob URL, meeting the requirement for temporary external read access.

Answer

A storage account access key

Answer

A resource lock

Answer

A private endpoint

Question 6

You have a storage account that stores infrequently accessed data that must remain available immediately when requested. You need to minimize storage costs. Which access tier should you use?

Accepted Answer

Cool. The Cool access tier is designed for data that is infrequently accessed but still requires immediate availability when requested, offering lower storage costs than the Hot tier while maintaining low latency access. Since the data must remain available immediately, the Archive tier is unsuitable due to its multi-hour retrieval latency, and the Premium tier is optimized for high-performance scenarios, not cost minimization.

Answer

Premium

Answer

Hot

Answer

Archive

Question 7

A company uses Azure Blob Storage for legal documents. The documents must not be modified or deleted for seven years after upload, even by administrators. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policy. Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policy (WORM – Write Once, Read Many) ensures that blobs cannot be modified or deleted for a specified retention period, even by administrators. This is the only Azure storage feature that provides legal hold or regulatory compliance for fixed records, such as legal documents that must remain unaltered for seven years.

Answer

Blob soft delete

Answer

Lifecycle management to move blobs to Archive

Answer

Blob versioning

Question 8

A storage account hosts blobs used by a public website. You need to reduce the risk of accidental deletion by developers while allowing updates to existing blobs. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Enable blob soft delete.. Blob soft delete protects against accidental deletion by retaining deleted blobs for a specified retention period, allowing recovery. This meets the requirement to reduce risk from developers while still permitting updates to existing blobs, as soft delete only applies to delete operations, not overwrites.

Answer

Enable immutable storage for the container.

Answer

Move the account to premium performance.

Answer

Enable static website hosting only.

Question 9

You need to allow a partner application to upload files to a blob container for the next 24 hours. The partner must not receive the storage account key. What should you provide?

Accepted Answer

A shared access signature (SAS). A shared access signature (SAS) provides delegated, time-limited access to a specific Azure Storage resource (like a blob container) without exposing the storage account key. By generating a SAS token with write permissions and a 24-hour expiry, you grant the partner application the ability to upload files while maintaining security and control over the access window.

Answer

The storage account access key

Answer

The connection string with the account key

Answer

A Recovery Services vault

Question 10

Users in Branch01 access an Azure file share over SMB. Performance is poor because frequently used files are downloaded repeatedly across the WAN. You need to keep a local cache on a Windows Server in Branch01 while keeping Azure Files as the central file share. What should you deploy?

Accepted Answer

Azure File Sync. Azure File Sync is the correct solution because it enables caching of Azure file shares on a Windows Server at the branch location, providing local access to frequently used files while keeping Azure Files as the central authoritative store. It uses a sync engine to maintain a local cache and leverages the SMB protocol for access, reducing WAN latency by serving files from the local server.

Answer

Blob versioning

Answer

Share snapshots

Answer

A private endpoint

Question 11

You plan to store backup files that are written once per week and are rarely accessed except during an audit. The company wants the lowest storage cost but still needs online access within hours, not days. Which blob access tier should you choose?

Accepted Answer

Cool. The Cool tier is the correct choice because it is designed for data that is infrequently accessed and stored for at least 30 days, offering lower storage costs than Hot while still providing millisecond latency for online access. Since backups are written once per week and rarely accessed except during an audit, Cool tier meets the requirement of online access within hours at the lowest storage cost among the online tiers.

Answer

Hot

Answer

Archive

Answer

Premium

Question 12

You need to create a storage account that provides the lowest-cost redundant storage for non-critical data and only needs protection against local disk or server failure within a single datacenter. Which redundancy option should you choose?

Accepted Answer

LRS. A is correct because Locally Redundant Storage (LRS) replicates data three times within a single datacenter in the same region, protecting against local disk or server failures. It is the lowest-cost redundancy option, making it ideal for non-critical data that does not require protection against zone- or region-level outages.

Answer

ZRS

Answer

GRS

Answer

GZRS

Question 13

Your company stores monthly reports in Azure Blob Storage. The reports are rarely accessed, but when needed they must be read within seconds rather than hours. You need to minimize storage cost while preserving near-immediate availability. Which access tier should you use?

Accepted Answer

Cool. Cool tier is correct because it offers low storage cost for infrequently accessed data while maintaining near-immediate (milliseconds) retrieval latency. The reports are rarely accessed but must be available within seconds, which Cool tier satisfies, whereas Archive would incur hours-long rehydration delays.

Answer

Hot

Answer

Archive

Answer

Premium

Question 14

You need to synchronize an on-premises Windows file server with an Azure file share so that branch offices can continue using the local server while keeping cloud-based copies of the files. Which service should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Azure File Sync. Azure File Sync is the correct service because it enables you to centralize your on-premises file shares in Azure Files while maintaining local access to the data. It uses a sync agent installed on the Windows file server to replicate files to an Azure file share, allowing branch offices to continue using the local server with cloud-based copies for backup, disaster recovery, or multi-site access. This directly meets the requirement of keeping the on-premises server operational while maintaining cloud copies.

Answer

Blob versioning

Answer

Azure NetApp Files

Answer

Storage account failover

Question 15

Your application stores compliance documents in Azure Blob Storage. The documents must be kept in a write-once-read-many state for five years and must not be altered or removed during that time. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policy. Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policy enforces a write-once-read-many (WORM) state, ensuring that blobs cannot be modified or deleted for a specified retention period. This directly meets the requirement of keeping compliance documents unaltered for five years, as the policy locks the data at the storage level, overriding any user permissions or delete operations.

Answer

Blob soft delete

Answer

Blob lifecycle management to move data to Cool tier

Answer

A shared access signature

Question 16

You need a storage redundancy option that keeps data available if an entire availability zone in the primary region fails, but you do not need cross-region replication. Which redundancy option should you choose?

Accepted Answer

ZRS. B is correct because Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) synchronously replicates data across three Azure availability zones within a single region, ensuring data remains available if an entire zone fails. This meets the requirement of no cross-region replication while providing zone-level fault tolerance.

Answer

LRS

Answer

GRS

Answer

RA-GRS

Question 17

You need to move infrequently accessed blob data automatically from the Hot tier to the Cool tier after 30 days to reduce cost. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Lifecycle management rules. Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management rules allow you to automatically transition blobs from the Hot tier to the Cool tier based on age or other conditions. By configuring a rule that moves blobs to the Cool tier after 30 days from creation or last modification, you reduce storage costs for infrequently accessed data without manual intervention.

Answer

Blob soft delete

Answer

A private endpoint

Answer

A CanNotDelete lock

Question 18

Your application stores compliance records in Azure Blob Storage. The records must remain in a write-once-read-many state for three years and must not be altered or deleted during that period. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policy. Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policy enforces a WORM (Write-Once, Read-Many) state, preventing any modification or deletion of blobs for a specified retention period. This meets the requirement of keeping compliance records unaltered for three years, as the policy locks the data at the storage level, overriding any user permissions or delete operations.

Answer

Blob soft delete

Answer

Lifecycle management to move data to Archive

Answer

A shared access signature

Question 19

You need to allow recovery of previous versions of files stored in an Azure file share after accidental modification or deletion. Which feature should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Share snapshots for Azure Files. Share snapshots for Azure Files capture point-in-time, read-only copies of the file share, allowing you to recover previous versions of files after accidental modification or deletion. This feature is specifically designed for Azure file shares, not for blobs, and does not require any additional infrastructure.

Answer

Blob versioning

Answer

A shared access signature

Answer

Storage account failover

Question 20

You store long-term financial statements in Azure Blob Storage. The files are almost never accessed, but when they are needed they must be readable immediately without waiting for rehydration. You need to minimize cost. Which access tier should you use?

Accepted Answer

Cool. The Cool access tier is optimal for data that is infrequently accessed but must be available immediately when needed, offering lower storage costs than Hot while maintaining low-latency read access. Archive would require rehydration (taking hours) before reading, violating the requirement for immediate readability. Hot is more expensive for long-term storage of rarely accessed data, and Premium is designed for high-performance workloads, not cost-efficient archival.

Answer

Hot

Answer

Archive

Answer

Premium