AZ-204 Develop Azure compute solutions Practice Test 14 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Which TWO features of Azure App Service can help you reduce application downtime during deployments?

Accepted Answer

Deployment slots.. Deployment slots (C) are a feature of Azure App Service that allow you to deploy a new version of your application to a staging slot, perform validation, and then swap it into production with zero downtime. Slot swap with auto-swap (E) automates this process, ensuring that the production slot is updated only after the staging slot is fully warmed up and ready, eliminating downtime during the transition.

Answer

Continuous deployment from GitHub.

Answer

Traffic Manager.

Answer

Auto-heal.

Question 2

You are developing a solution that uses Azure Container Registry (ACR) to store Docker images. You need to ensure that only authorized users can deploy images from ACR to an AKS cluster. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Use the AKS cluster's managed identity with AcrPull role assignment.. Using an AKS cluster's managed identity with the AcrPull role assignment enables secure, password-less authentication to ACR. Option A is incorrect because AKS RBAC controls Kubernetes resources, not ACR permissions. Option B is incorrect because storing ACR credentials as Kubernetes secrets is less secure and requires manual management. Option D is incorrect because enabling the admin account on ACR is a shared credential approach that is not recommended for production.

Answer

Configure AKS RBAC to limit image pull permissions.

Answer

Use Kubernetes secrets to store ACR credentials.

Answer

Enable the admin account on ACR and use the credentials in AKS.

Question 3

You need to run a batch job every night that processes data from Azure Blob Storage and writes results to Azure SQL Database. The job may run for up to 2 hours. Which Azure service should you use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Container Instances.. Azure Container Instances (ACI) is the correct choice because it allows you to run a containerized batch job on-demand without managing underlying infrastructure. The job's duration of up to 2 hours fits well within ACI's default timeout of 60 minutes (configurable up to 24 hours), and you can trigger it nightly via a scheduler like Azure Logic Apps or a timer-triggered Azure Function. ACI provides fast startup, per-second billing, and direct access to Azure Blob Storage and SQL Database via connection strings or managed identities.

Answer

Azure Logic Apps.

Answer

Azure Batch.

Answer

Azure Functions (Consumption plan).

Question 4

You are designing a solution that uses Azure Functions to process events from Azure Event Hubs. The function must process events in order and exactly once per partition. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Use the Event Hubs trigger for Azure Functions with default configuration.. The Event Hubs trigger for Azure Functions, by default, processes events in order and exactly once per partition. It uses checkpointing to track the offset of the last successfully processed event, ensuring that each event is processed only once and in sequence within a partition. This default behavior aligns with the requirement without needing additional configuration.

Answer

Enable session state in the function app.

Answer

Use a Service Bus queue trigger with a singleton lock.

Answer

Disable checkpointing to ensure no duplicates.

Question 5

You are developing a serverless application using Azure Functions. The function must process messages from an Azure Storage Queue and write results to Azure Cosmos DB. Which binding should you use for the output?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB output binding. The Azure Cosmos DB output binding allows you to write the results of queue-triggered function execution directly to a Cosmos DB container. The function processes messages from an Azure Storage Queue (input binding) and uses the output binding to insert or upsert documents into Cosmos DB without writing any SDK code.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage output binding

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB input binding

Answer

Azure Storage Queue output binding

Question 6

You have an Azure App Service web app that experiences high CPU usage during peak hours. You need to scale out automatically based on CPU load. Which scaling solution should you use?

Accepted Answer

Autoscale with a CPU percentage rule. Autoscale with a CPU percentage rule is the correct solution because Azure App Service supports built-in autoscaling that can automatically increase or decrease the number of instances based on a metric like CPU percentage. This allows the web app to handle peak-hour traffic by scaling out when CPU usage exceeds a defined threshold, ensuring performance without manual intervention.

Answer

Manual scaling

Answer

Traffic Manager

Answer

Scale sets autoscale

Question 7

You are running a containerized application on Azure Container Instances. The application requires a custom DNS server. How should you configure this?

Accepted Answer

Use the 'dnsConfig' property in the container group configuration. Azure Container Instances (ACI) supports custom DNS server configuration at the container group level via the 'dnsConfig' property in the deployment JSON or ARM template. This property allows you to specify an array of DNS server IP addresses and optional search domains, which are applied to all containers within the group. Environment variables cannot override DNS resolution, and the Dockerfile's DNS settings are ignored by ACI because the container group's network stack is managed by the Azure platform.

Answer

Set the DNS server in the container's environment variables

Answer

Set the restart policy to 'Always'

Answer

Configure the DNS server in the Dockerfile

Question 8

You need to deploy an Azure Functions app that runs on a dedicated App Service plan. The function must be triggered by an HTTP request and call a downstream API that requires OAuth 2.0 authentication. Which approach should you use to store the API credentials securely?

Accepted Answer

Use Key Vault references in the function app settings. Azure Key Vault references in function app settings allow you to securely store and retrieve sensitive information like OAuth 2.0 credentials (client ID, client secret) without exposing them in code or configuration files. The function app resolves these references at runtime using a managed identity, ensuring credentials are never stored in plaintext or accessible via source control.

Answer

Use Azure App Configuration with plain text

Answer

Store credentials in a configuration file in the deployment package

Answer

Store credentials in the function code as constants

Question 9

You are developing a background job that runs every hour to process data. You choose Azure Functions with a timer trigger. What is the correct format for the cron expression to run at the start of every hour?

Accepted Answer

0 0 * * * *. In Azure Functions timer triggers, the cron expression uses six fields: {second} {minute} {hour} {day} {month} {day-of-week}. To run at the start of every hour (i.e., at minute 0 and second 0 of every hour), the expression must be '0 0 * * * *'. Option C correctly sets second to 0, minute to 0, and hour to '*' (every hour), with the remaining fields as '*' (every day, every month, every day-of-week).

Answer

0 * * * * *

Answer

* 0 * * * *

Answer

0 0 0 * * *

Question 10

You are designing a solution that uses Azure Batch for parallel processing of large datasets. Each task requires significant CPU and memory. You need to minimize compute costs while ensuring tasks complete within a deadline. Which pool configuration should you use?

Accepted Answer

Low-priority VMs with a task retry policy. Low-priority VMs (now called Spot VMs) offer significant cost savings but can be preempted. Using them with a task retry policy ensures completion. Dedicated VMs are more expensive.

Answer

A mix of dedicated and low-priority VMs without retry

Answer

Use Azure Container Instances instead of Batch

Answer

Dedicated VMs only

Question 11

You have an Azure Web App that uses Azure SQL Database. You need to securely connect to the database using Managed Identity. Which connection string setting should you use?

Accepted Answer

Server=tcp:myserver.database.windows.net;Database=mydb;Authentication=Active Directory Managed Identity;User Id=myapp;. It uses the 'Authentication=Active Directory Managed Identity' keyword, which tells the SQL client to acquire an access token from Azure AD via the managed identity endpoint. The 'User Id' is set to the name of the managed identity (the app's system-assigned or user-assigned identity), and no password is needed because the token is obtained automatically. This enables a passwordless, secure connection to Azure SQL Database without storing credentials.

Answer

Server=tcp:myserver.database.windows.net;Database=mydb;User Id=myadmin;Password=mypassword;

Answer

Server=tcp:myserver.database.windows.net;Database=mydb;Integrated Security=True;

Answer

Server=tcp:myserver.database.windows.net;Database=mydb;Authentication=Active Directory Password;User Id=myuser@domain.com;Password=...;

Question 12

You are deploying a containerized application using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). You need to ensure that sensitive configuration data, such as API keys, is not stored in container images. Which Kubernetes resource should you use?

Accepted Answer

Secret. Kubernetes Secrets are specifically designed to store sensitive data like API keys, connection strings, and passwords. They are stored in etcd as base64-encoded values (and can be encrypted at rest) and are injected into pods as environment variables or mounted as volumes, ensuring the sensitive data never resides in the container image.

Answer

Deployment

Answer

ConfigMap

Answer

PersistentVolume

Question 13

You are building a real-time dashboard that displays data from Azure Event Hubs. You need to aggregate events over a one-minute window and update the dashboard every minute. Which Azure service should you use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Stream Analytics. Azure Stream Analytics is the correct choice because it is designed for real-time stream processing, allowing you to aggregate events from Azure Event Hubs over a one-minute tumbling window and output results to a dashboard or sink. It natively supports windowing functions (e.g., TumblingWindow, HoppingWindow) and can handle high-throughput, low-latency data streams, making it ideal for updating a dashboard every minute.

Answer

Azure Data Factory

Answer

Azure Analysis Services

Answer

Azure Logic Apps

Question 14

You are planning to migrate an on-premises application to Azure App Service. The application consists of a web frontend and a background worker that processes messages from a queue. Which TWO Azure services should you use to implement this solution?

Accepted Answer

Azure Functions. Azure Functions (C) is correct because it provides a serverless compute service that can be triggered by queue messages, making it ideal for the background worker that processes messages from a queue. Azure App Service (D) is correct because it hosts the web frontend, providing a fully managed platform for web applications with built-in scaling and load balancing.

Answer

Azure Kubernetes Service

Answer

Azure Batch

Answer

Azure Logic Apps

Question 15

You are designing a serverless application using Azure Functions that needs to read from an Azure Storage Blob, process the data, and write to Azure Cosmos DB. Which THREE bindings are required?

Accepted Answer

HTTP trigger. The HTTP trigger is correct because the question describes a serverless application that needs to be invoked to read from Blob Storage, process data, and write to Cosmos DB. An HTTP trigger allows the function to be started via an HTTP request, which is the typical entry point for such event-driven processing. Without a trigger, the function cannot execute; the HTTP trigger provides the necessary invocation mechanism.

Answer

Cosmos DB input binding

Answer

Timer trigger