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

Question 1

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?

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

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

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Azure Cosmos DB input binding

Answer

Azure Storage Queue output binding

Question 2

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.

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Manual scaling

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Traffic Manager

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Scale sets autoscale

Question 3

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

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Set the restart policy to 'Always'

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Configure the DNS server in the Dockerfile

Question 4

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

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Store credentials in a configuration file in the deployment package

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Store credentials in the function code as constants

Question 5

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 * * * * *

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* 0 * * * *

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0 0 0 * * *

Question 6

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 7

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 Microsoft Entra ID 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;

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

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

Question 8

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.

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Deployment

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ConfigMap

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PersistentVolume

Question 9

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

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Azure Analysis Services

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Azure Logic Apps

Question 10

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

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Azure Batch

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Azure Logic Apps

Question 11

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

Question 12

A web app experiences intermittent high latency. You discover that the Azure SQL database is experiencing a high number of connection timeouts. The application uses Entity Framework Core with the default connection pooling settings. You need to improve database connection reliability without changing the application code. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Set the Minimum Pool Size to 10 in the connection string.. Setting the Minimum Pool Size to 10 pre-creates a baseline of open connections in the pool, reducing the frequency of new connection creations during traffic spikes. This mitigates intermittent connection timeouts caused by the default pool starting empty and struggling to keep up with demand under high latency. Since the application uses Entity Framework Core with default pooling, this change is applied via the connection string without modifying code.

Answer

Increase the maximum pool size in the connection string.

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Set the Connection Lifetime to 300 seconds.

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Enable Multipool in the connection string.

Question 13

You deploy an Azure Function app that uses the Premium plan. The function processes messages from an Azure Service Bus queue. Under heavy load, some messages are processed multiple times. You need to ensure exactly-once processing without losing messages. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Enable duplicate detection on the Service Bus queue.. Enabling duplicate detection on the Service Bus queue ensures that the Service Bus broker itself discards duplicate messages based on a user-defined time window. This prevents the function from processing the same message multiple times, even if the function host restarts or the message is re-delivered due to transient failures. Duplicate detection works by tracking the MessageId of each message and ignoring any subsequent message with the same MessageId within the detection window.

Answer

Use Peek-Lock mode instead of Receive and Delete.

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Set the maxDeliveryCount to 1 on the queue.

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Reduce the batch size in the function host.json.

Question 14

You are building a serverless API using Azure Functions. The API must authenticate requests using Microsoft Entra ID. You need to restrict access to users from a specific Microsoft Entra tenant only. What should you configure in the function app?

Accepted Answer

Set the 'Issuer URL' to the specific tenant's endpoint.. Setting the 'Issuer URL' to the specific tenant's endpoint (e.g., https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenant-id}/v2.0) tells Azure Functions to validate that the token was issued by that exact tenant. This restricts access to users from that tenant only, as tokens from other tenants will fail issuer validation.

Answer

Set the 'Allowed Token Audiences' to the application ID.

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Enable 'Require Authentication' and set the action to 'Login with Microsoft Entra ID'.

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Set the 'Client ID' to the application ID.

Question 15

You develop a containerized application that runs on Azure Container Instances (ACI). The application needs to securely access Azure SQL Database using a connection string. You want to minimize administrative effort and avoid storing secrets in the container image. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Enable managed identity for the container group and use Microsoft Entra authentication to Azure SQL.. Enabling a managed identity for the container group allows the application to authenticate to Azure SQL Database using Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) without storing any secrets. The application requests an access token from the Azure Instance Metadata Service (IMDS) endpoint at 169.254.169.254, then uses that token to connect to Azure SQL. This eliminates the need to manage connection strings or secrets, minimizing administrative effort and keeping secrets out of the container image.

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Embed the connection string in the container image as a configuration file.

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Store the connection string in an environment variable in the container group.

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Mount a volume from Azure Key Vault using a secret volume.