AZ-204 Practice Test 43 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You manage an API in Azure API Management. The API response varies depending on the caller's subscription key. You need to cache responses per subscription key to reduce backend load. Which policy configuration should you use?

Accepted Answer

Set cache key to include the subscription key. Option A is correct because Azure API Management's caching policy allows you to customize the cache key using the `@(context.Subscription.Id)` expression. By setting the cache key to include the subscription key, each caller's responses are cached separately based on their unique subscription, ensuring that variations in the API response per subscription key are preserved while reducing backend load.

Answer

Use a global cache with no variation

Answer

Disable caching and rely on the backend

Answer

Use rate limiting policy

Question 2

Arrange the steps to deploy a containerized application to Azure Container Instances (ACI) from Azure Container Registry (ACR) in the correct order.

Question 3

Messages failing to process are redelivered by Azure Service Bus. After a message has been delivered and abandoned the maximum number of times (MaxDeliveryCount), where does Service Bus move the message?

Accepted Answer

The message is moved to the dead-letter sub-queue of the original queue. When a message in Azure Service Bus is delivered and abandoned the maximum number of times (as defined by the MaxDeliveryCount property, default 10), the message is automatically moved to the dead-letter sub-queue of the original queue. This dead-letter sub-queue stores messages that cannot be processed successfully, allowing you to inspect and handle them separately without losing the message entirely.

Answer

The message is permanently deleted from the queue

Answer

The message is returned to the front of the queue with its DeliveryCount reset to zero

Answer

The message expires and is discarded according to the Time-to-Live setting

Question 4

A business process requires sending an approval email, waiting up to 48 hours for a manager's response, and then updating a SharePoint list based on the decision. The process owner has no programming experience and wants to build this without writing code. Which Azure service is the most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Azure Logic Apps with the Office 365 Outlook approval action and the SharePoint connector. Azure Logic Apps is the correct choice because it provides a no-code/low-code designer that allows the process owner to visually build the approval workflow using the Office 365 Outlook 'Send approval email' action and the SharePoint connector to update the list. This fully meets the requirement of no programming experience while handling the 48-hour wait and conditional update.

Answer

Azure Durable Functions with the Human Interaction pattern using a timer and event listener

Answer

Azure Data Factory with a Copy Activity pipeline triggered by an Azure Function

Answer

Azure Event Grid with a custom webhook handler that calls the SharePoint REST API

Question 5

An application calls a third-party shipping API through HTTP. The developer must implement retries without overwhelming the remote system during partial outages. Which retry pattern is best?

Accepted Answer

Exponential backoff with jitter and a maximum retry limit. Exponential backoff with jitter and a maximum retry limit is the best pattern because it progressively increases the delay between retries, preventing the client from overwhelming the third-party shipping API during partial outages. Jitter randomizes the delay to avoid thundering herd problems where multiple clients retry simultaneously, and the maximum retry limit ensures the system does not retry indefinitely, preserving resources and allowing for graceful degradation.

Answer

Immediate infinite retries

Answer

Retry only after restarting the application

Answer

Disable all timeout settings

Question 6

An application publishes order events that multiple independent subscribers must process. Subscribers may be added later without changing the publisher. Which Azure messaging service should be used? The team wants the control to be enforceable during normal operations.

Accepted Answer

Azure Service Bus topic. Azure Service Bus topics support a publish/subscribe pattern where multiple independent subscribers can each receive a copy of every published message. Subscribers can be added later without modifying the publisher, and the team can enforce control during normal operations using topic-level authorization rules and subscription filters.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage lifecycle policy

Answer

Azure Storage Queue

Answer

Azure Cache for Redis list only

Question 7

A company deploys a web application to Azure App Service. They want to deploy a new version of the app with zero downtime and the ability to quickly roll back if needed. Which deployment feature should they use?

Accepted Answer

Deployment slots. Deployment slots are separate, live environments within Azure App Service that allow you to stage a new version of your app, perform validation, and then swap it into production with zero downtime. The swap operation ensures all traffic is redirected instantly, and if issues arise, you can immediately swap back to the previous slot for a quick rollback.

Answer

Auto-scaling

Answer

Traffic Manager

Answer

Application Insights

Question 8

An Azure Container Instance running a webhook processor requires a password at startup. The password must not be visible in the portal or container logs. What should be used?

Accepted Answer

Secure environment variable. Secure environment variables in Azure Container Instances are encrypted at rest and in transit, and they are not visible in the Azure portal or container logs. This ensures the password is available to the container at startup without exposing it through the portal interface or log output, meeting the security requirement.

Answer

Container command-line argument

Answer

Public blob containing the password

Answer

Plain environment variable

Question 9

You develop an Azure Functions app that processes images triggered by blob uploads. You need to ensure the function can process images in parallel and handle high upload volumes without missing events. Which trigger and plan combination is recommended?

Accepted Answer

Event Grid trigger on Premium plan. The Event Grid trigger on a Premium plan is recommended because Event Grid provides reliable, high-throughput event delivery with built-in retry and dead-lettering, ensuring no blob upload events are missed. The Premium plan offers dedicated instances and VNET connectivity, which avoids cold starts and allows parallel processing of multiple images concurrently, unlike the Consumption plan which has scaling limitations and potential for event loss under high volume.

Answer

Blob Storage trigger on Consumption plan

Answer

Event Grid trigger on Consumption plan

Answer

Blob Storage trigger on Premium plan

Question 10

You deploy a containerized web application to Azure Container Instances (ACI). The application writes session data to a local directory. You need the data to persist across container restarts (e.g., after a crash or redeployment). Which storage configuration should you use?

Accepted Answer

Mount an Azure Files share as a volume in the container group.. Option B is correct because Azure Files provides a fully managed SMB file share in the cloud that can be mounted as a volume in an Azure Container Instance. This allows session data written to the local directory to persist across container restarts, crashes, or redeployments, as the data lives on the share rather than in the ephemeral container filesystem.

Answer

Use an emptyDir volume within the container group.

Answer

Use the container's own filesystem and copy data to a blob storage on shutdown.

Answer

Enable Azure Disk Encryption on the container group.

Question 11

A document rendering job hosted on App Service returns intermittent 502 errors during deployment. The team wants zero-downtime release with validation before traffic moves. What should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Deploy to a staging slot, validate health, then swap. Deploying to a staging slot allows the new version of the app to be fully initialized and validated via health checks before traffic is routed to it. The swap operation in Azure App Service moves the production traffic to the staging slot without any downtime, as the slots share the same front-end and the swap is atomic. This directly addresses the 502 errors caused by incomplete deployments and ensures zero-downtime release with validation.

Answer

Deploy directly to production during business hours

Answer

Disable health checks

Answer

Restart the App Service plan before each deployment

Question 12

A IoT command API runs in Azure App Service and must call a private API hosted inside a virtual network. Which feature allows outbound access from the app to the VNet?

Accepted Answer

Regional VNet integration. Regional VNet integration enables an Azure App Service app to make outbound calls to resources in a virtual network (VNet) using the app's outbound IP addresses. It works by injecting the app's outbound traffic into the VNet via a delegated subnet, allowing the app to reach private APIs hosted inside the VNet without exposing them to the public internet.

Answer

Azure CDN custom domain

Answer

Application Gateway path routing

Answer

Private Endpoint for the web app only

Question 13

A Kubernetes-based IoT command API on AKS must pull images from Azure Container Registry without storing registry passwords in Kubernetes secrets. What should be used?

Accepted Answer

Attach the ACR to AKS or grant the kubelet managed identity AcrPull. Option C is correct because attaching an ACR to an AKS cluster or granting the kubelet managed identity the AcrPull role enables Azure AD-based authentication without storing credentials in Kubernetes secrets. The kubelet on each node uses its managed identity to obtain an ACR access token via Azure AD, allowing secure image pulls. This approach eliminates the need for manual password management and follows security best practices for Azure-integrated workloads.

Answer

Use an App Service deployment slot

Answer

Store the ACR admin password in every deployment manifest

Answer

Make the container registry public

Question 14

A web app for a claims processing function needs separate staging and production environments. The team must warm up the new version before swapping traffic. Which App Service feature should be used?

Accepted Answer

Deployment slots. Deployment slots are the correct Azure App Service feature for staging and production environments with traffic swapping. They allow you to deploy a new version to a staging slot, warm it up (e.g., by sending requests or using auto-swap with warm-up), and then swap the slot's traffic with the production slot, ensuring zero-downtime deployment and validation before going live.

Answer

Backup and restore

Answer

App Service access restrictions

Answer

Always On only

Question 15

An Azure Functions IoT command API must run for up to 30 minutes and uses a VNet integration feature. The team wants serverless scaling without managing virtual machines. Which hosting plan should be used?

Accepted Answer

Premium plan. The Premium plan (Elastic Premium EP) is the correct choice because it supports VNet integration for accessing resources inside a virtual network, allows execution durations up to 30 minutes (the Consumption plan caps at 10 minutes by default), and provides serverless scaling without requiring you to manage virtual machines. This plan also offers always-ready instances to reduce cold start latency, which is critical for IoT command APIs.

Answer

Azure Batch pool

Answer

Consumption plan

Answer

App Service Free tier