AZ-900 Practice Test 20 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company plans to use Azure Site Recovery to replicate on-premises virtual machines to Azure for disaster recovery. Due to regulatory restrictions, they cannot use the paired region and must replicate to a specific Azure region in the same continent. Can they select this non-paired region as the recovery target?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can select any Azure region as the target for replication.. Azure Site Recovery allows you to replicate on-premises virtual machines to any Azure region that supports the service, not just the paired region. The paired region is a default recommendation for cost and latency optimization, but it is not a mandatory requirement. Therefore, you can select a non-paired region as the recovery target as long as it is within the same continent and meets regulatory restrictions.

Answer

No, replication is only allowed to the paired region.

Answer

Yes, but only if both regions are within the same availability zone.

Answer

No, only to regions that are within the same geography.

Question 2

A company runs a web application on Azure virtual machines. During a promotional event, the number of users increases significantly. To handle the increased load, the IT team adds five additional virtual machines to the existing pool, so that the total number of VMs increases from three to eight. Which type of scaling is the team using?

Accepted Answer

Horizontal scaling (scale out). Horizontal scaling (scale out) involves increasing the number of virtual machines (VMs) in a pool to distribute load, as seen when the team adds five VMs to go from three to eight. This approach improves capacity by adding more instances, rather than increasing the size of existing ones. In Azure, this is commonly achieved using Virtual Machine Scale Sets or Azure Load Balancer to distribute traffic across the expanded pool.

Answer

Vertical scaling (scale up)

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Elasticity

Answer

High availability

Question 3

A company runs a web application on Azure App Service. They want to route users to the nearest regional deployment based on DNS queries to minimize latency. Which Azure service should they use for this global traffic routing?

Accepted Answer

Traffic Manager. Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic load balancer that routes incoming DNS queries to the nearest regional endpoint based on the user's geographic location, network latency, or other routing methods. This ensures users are directed to the closest Azure App Service deployment, minimizing latency for global traffic.

Answer

Azure Load Balancer

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Application Gateway

Answer

Azure Front Door

Question 4

A company runs multiple virtual machines (VMs) in Azure. The IT team notices that their VMs are hosted on physical hardware that is shared among multiple customers. The team has no ability to specify or control which physical server their VMs run on, and they cannot see the underlying hardware details. The VMs are, however, always available when requested. This scenario exemplifies which essential characteristic of cloud computing as defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)?

Accepted Answer

Resource pooling. Resource pooling is the correct answer because the scenario describes the cloud provider's ability to serve multiple customers from the same physical hardware, with the customer having no control or knowledge of the exact underlying server. This is a core NIST characteristic where computing resources (including storage, processing, memory, and network bandwidth) are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. The fact that VMs are always available when requested further aligns with the elasticity and on-demand nature of resource pooling, but the key is the shared, abstracted infrastructure.

Answer

On-demand self-service

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Broad network access

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Rapid elasticity

Question 5

A company needs to store massive amounts of unstructured data, such as videos and images, that will be accessed over the internet. The data must be highly durable and available. Which Azure service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage. Azure Blob Storage is designed for storing massive amounts of unstructured data, such as videos and images, and provides high durability (99.9999999999% with LRS) and availability through geo-redundancy options. It is accessible over the internet via HTTP/HTTPS, making it ideal for serving content globally.

Answer

Azure Files

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Azure Disk Storage

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Azure Queue Storage

Question 6

A company runs a web application that experiences unpredictable traffic spikes. They want the cloud to automatically increase the number of virtual machine instances during high demand and decrease them when demand drops, without manual intervention. Which cloud computing characteristic does this describe?

Accepted Answer

Elasticity. Elasticity is the ability of a cloud system to dynamically scale resources up and down based on real-time demand. Scalability refers to the ability to handle growth but may not be automatic. High availability focuses on uptime, and fault tolerance ensures operation during failures. This scenario specifically describes automatic scaling, which is elasticity.

Answer

Scalability

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High availability

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Fault tolerance

Question 7

A company needs to run a simple background job that runs every hour for 10 minutes. They want to containerize the job but do not want to manage a container orchestration platform. Which Azure service is simplest and most cost-effective?

Accepted Answer

Azure Container Instances. Azure Container Instances (ACI) is the simplest and most cost-effective choice because it allows you to run a containerized job directly without managing any underlying infrastructure or orchestration platform. For a short-lived, hourly job that runs for only 10 minutes, ACI provides fast startup, per-second billing, and native scheduling via the `--restart-policy Never` flag, making it ideal for background tasks that do not require persistent orchestration.

Answer

Azure Kubernetes Service

Answer

Azure Batch

Answer

Azure Functions

Question 8

A company stores historical sales data in Azure Blob Storage. The data is accessed frequently during the first 30 days after upload, but after that, it is rarely accessed. The company wants to automatically move blobs to a lower-cost storage tier after 30 days without any manual scripting or custom code. Which Azure feature should they use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management policies. Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management policies allow you to define rules that automatically transition blobs to a lower-cost storage tier (e.g., from Hot to Cool or Archive) based on the age of the data. This feature operates natively within Azure Storage, requires no custom code or scripting, and can be configured directly in the Azure portal or via ARM templates. The scenario's requirement for automatic, rule-based tiering after 30 days is exactly what lifecycle management policies are designed to do.

Answer

Azure Automation runbooks with a schedule

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Azure Logic Apps with a recurrence trigger

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Azure Policy to enforce storage tier at creation

Question 9

A company needs to track and optimize costs across multiple Azure subscriptions. They want to allocate budgets and receive notifications when spending exceeds forecasted amounts. Which Azure tool should they use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cost Management. Azure Cost Management is the correct tool because it provides native capabilities to track, analyze, and optimize cloud costs across multiple subscriptions. It allows you to set budgets, configure cost alerts, and receive notifications when actual or forecasted spending exceeds defined thresholds, directly addressing the requirement for budget allocation and proactive spending notifications.

Answer

Azure Advisor

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Azure Policy

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Azure Budgets

Question 10

A company manages multiple Azure subscriptions for different business units. They want to define a standard set of policies, such as allowed VM SKUs and required resource tags, and ensure these policies are always applied whenever a new subscription is created. Which Azure feature should they use to enforce governance at this level?

Accepted Answer

Azure Management Groups. Azure Management Groups allow you to organize subscriptions into a hierarchy and apply governance policies at the management group level. When a new subscription is created under a management group, it automatically inherits the policies assigned to that group, ensuring consistent enforcement across all subscriptions without manual intervention.

Answer

Azure Policy

Answer

Azure Resource Manager templates

Answer

Azure Blueprints

Question 11

A company runs a development subscription in Azure. The finance team wants to set a monthly spending limit of $5,000 for this subscription and receive email alerts when spending reaches 80% and 100% of that limit. The team must also be able to review historical spending trends. Which Azure tool should the finance team use to configure these alerts and track spending?

Accepted Answer

Azure Budgets. Azure Budgets is the correct tool because it allows you to set a spending limit (budget) at the subscription level, configure alerts at specific thresholds (e.g., 80% and 100%), and send email notifications when those thresholds are exceeded. Additionally, Azure Budgets integrates with Azure Monitor to provide historical cost data and trends, enabling the finance team to review spending patterns over time.

Answer

Azure Advisor

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Azure Policy

Answer

Azure Pricing Calculator

Question 12

A company runs a customer-facing e-commerce platform on multiple Azure virtual machines behind a load balancer. The platform experiences unpredictable traffic spikes during promotions. The operations team needs a solution that automatically adds new virtual machines when CPU utilization exceeds 80% and removes virtual machines when utilization drops below 30%. The solution must also ensure that if a virtual machine fails, the load balancer immediately stops routing traffic to it. Which Azure compute service should the team use?

Accepted Answer

Virtual Machine Scale Sets. Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) provide automatic scaling based on metrics like CPU utilization, enabling the platform to add VMs when CPU exceeds 80% and remove VMs when it drops below 30%. Additionally, VMSS integrates with Azure Load Balancer to automatically detect VM failures via health probes and immediately stop routing traffic to unhealthy instances, meeting all stated requirements.

Answer

Azure App Service

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Availability Sets

Answer

Azure Batch

Question 13

A company runs a critical line-of-business application on a single on-premises server. The company is migrating the application to Azure and wants to minimize downtime if the server hardware fails. The architect proposes deploying the application on two Azure virtual machines (VMs) in the same region, placed in an availability set. This configuration is designed to ensure that if one VM fails due to hardware failure or planned maintenance, the other VM remains running and the application stays available. Which cloud computing concept does this configuration primarily illustrate?

Accepted Answer

High availability. High availability (HA) is the correct concept because the configuration uses two VMs in an availability set to ensure the application remains accessible despite hardware failures or planned maintenance. An availability set distributes VMs across fault domains and update domains, guaranteeing that at least one VM stays operational during Azure platform events. This directly aligns with HA's goal of minimizing downtime and maximizing uptime for critical workloads.

Answer

Fault tolerance

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Disaster recovery

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Elasticity

Question 14

A company runs a critical application on multiple Azure virtual machines (VMs) in the East US region. The application requires that the VMs are physically separated from any other customer's workloads and that the underlying physical servers are dedicated to this company alone. The compliance team mandates that no other customer's VMs can run on the same physical hardware. Which Azure compute offering should the company use to meet this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Azure Dedicated Host. Azure Dedicated Host provides single-tenant physical servers dedicated to a single customer, ensuring that no other customer's VMs run on the same hardware. This meets the compliance requirement for physical separation and dedicated underlying servers. The company can deploy VMs directly onto these dedicated hosts, guaranteeing isolation at the hardware level.

Answer

Azure Availability Set

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Azure Virtual Machine Scale Set

Answer

Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances

Question 15

A company plans to deploy a three-tier web application in Azure. The application consists of web servers, application servers, and database servers. The company wants to protect the virtual machines (VMs) from planned maintenance events (e.g., OS updates) and unplanned hardware failures. They want to ensure that at least one VM in each tier remains available during such events. The solution should be deployed entirely within a single Azure region. What should the company use for the VMs?

Accepted Answer

Create an Availability Set containing two VMs per tier, configured with two fault domains and five update domains.. Option B is correct because an Availability Set with two fault domains and five update domains ensures that VMs are distributed across separate physical hardware (fault domains) and that planned maintenance (update domains) is staggered, so at least one VM per tier remains available during both planned and unplanned events. This meets the requirement of high availability within a single Azure region without needing multiple zones.

Answer

Deploy the VMs across three Availability Zones (Zone 1, Zone 2, and Zone 3) within the region.

Answer

Configure a single Virtual Machine Scale Set that includes all the VMs for all three tiers.

Answer

Use a Virtual Machine Scale Set with autoscale configured to always keep a minimum number of VMs running.