AZ-900 Describe Azure architecture and services Practice Test 25 — 15 Questions

Question 1

An application needs to store session state that can be accessed by multiple web server instances. The state must be retrieved in under 1 millisecond. Which Azure service BEST meets this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cache for Redis. Azure Cache for Redis is an in-memory data store that provides extremely low-latency (sub-millisecond) read and write operations, making it ideal for storing session state that must be accessed quickly by multiple web server instances. Unlike disk-based storage services, Redis keeps data in RAM, ensuring consistent retrieval times under 1 millisecond even under load.

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Azure SQL Database

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Azure Blob Storage

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Azure Table Storage

Question 2

Which Azure service provides a content delivery network (CDN) that caches static content at edge locations worldwide to reduce latency for users?

Accepted Answer

Azure CDN. Azure CDN is the correct answer because it is specifically designed as a content delivery network that caches static content (such as images, CSS, JavaScript files) at edge locations worldwide. By distributing cached copies closer to users, it reduces latency and offloads origin server traffic. Azure Front Door also uses edge caching but is primarily a global load balancer and application delivery controller, not a dedicated CDN service.

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Azure Front Door

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Azure Traffic Manager

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Azure Application Gateway

Question 3

Which Azure service allows developers to build, train, and deploy machine learning models at scale using a managed cloud environment?

Accepted Answer

Azure Machine Learning. Azure Machine Learning is the correct service because it provides a fully managed cloud environment specifically designed for the end-to-end machine learning lifecycle, including building, training, and deploying models at scale. It offers capabilities like automated ML, pipeline orchestration, and integration with MLOps tools, which are not available in the other listed services.

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Azure Cognitive Services

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Azure Bot Service

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Azure Databricks

Question 4

Which Azure service enables the creation of private endpoints so that Azure PaaS services like Storage and SQL Database are accessible only through a private IP within a VNet?

Accepted Answer

Azure Private Link with Private Endpoints. Azure Private Link with Private Endpoints is the correct service because it enables you to access Azure PaaS services (e.g., Storage, SQL Database) over a private IP address within your Virtual Network (VNet). This ensures traffic never traverses the public internet, as the private endpoint uses a network interface with a private IP from your VNet, mapping the PaaS service to your VNet.

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VNet Service Endpoints

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Azure Firewall

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Network Security Groups

Question 5

Which Azure service provides a managed Kubernetes environment that reduces the complexity and operational overhead of running Kubernetes?

Accepted Answer

Azure Kubernetes Service. Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is the correct answer because it is a managed Kubernetes service that handles critical operational tasks such as health monitoring, patching, and upgrades of the control plane, thereby reducing the complexity and overhead of running Kubernetes. Unlike unmanaged Kubernetes, AKS abstracts the master node management, allowing you to focus on deploying and managing your containerized applications.

Answer

Azure Container Instances

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Azure Container Apps

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Azure App Service

Question 6

Which Azure database service is specifically optimized for running open-source MariaDB workloads as a fully managed service?

Accepted Answer

Azure Database for MariaDB. Azure Database for MariaDB is the correct answer because it is a fully managed relational database service specifically built for the MariaDB community edition, offering high availability, automated backups, and scaling. It uses the same wire protocol as MySQL but is tailored to MariaDB's specific engine features and versioning, such as support for the Aria storage engine and Galera cluster replication.

Answer

Azure Database for MySQL

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Azure SQL Database

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Azure Cosmos DB

Question 7

What is the primary purpose of Azure Virtual Network (VNet)?

Accepted Answer

To provide a private, isolated network for Azure resources. Azure Virtual Network (VNet) enables Azure resources, such as VMs and App Services, to securely communicate with each other, the internet, and on-premises networks. It provides network isolation and segmentation, allowing you to define private IP address spaces, subnets, and routing rules. This makes B the correct answer because the primary purpose of a VNet is to create a private, isolated network environment in the cloud.

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To provide identity and access management for Azure resources

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To distribute traffic across multiple Azure regions

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To store and manage encryption keys

Question 8

Which Azure service provides a managed Apache Kafka-compatible event streaming service for high-throughput data pipelines?

Accepted Answer

Azure Event Hubs. Azure Event Hubs is the correct answer because it provides a fully managed, native Apache Kafka-compatible event streaming platform designed for high-throughput data ingestion and processing. It supports the Kafka protocol (including Kafka Connect and Kafka Streams) without requiring you to run any Kafka clusters, making it ideal for real-time data pipelines and analytics.

Answer

Azure Service Bus

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Azure Queue Storage

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Azure Event Grid

Question 9

A retail company needs to process real-time inventory updates from thousands of stores simultaneously. Which Azure data ingestion service BEST handles this scale?

Accepted Answer

Azure Event Hubs. Azure Event Hubs is a big data streaming platform and event ingestion service capable of ingesting millions of events per second from concurrent sources. It is designed for high-throughput, real-time data ingestion scenarios like processing inventory updates from thousands of stores, making it the best fit for this scale.

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Azure Service Bus

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Azure Queue Storage

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Azure IoT Hub

Question 10

Which Azure service provides a fully managed time-series database optimized for IoT and operational data?

Accepted Answer

Azure Data Explorer. Azure Data Explorer (ADX) is a fully managed, high-performance big data analytics service optimized for time-series and log data, making it ideal for IoT and operational scenarios. It uses a columnar storage engine and Kusto Query Language (KQL) to ingest and query massive volumes of time-stamped data with sub-second latency. This directly matches the requirement for a fully managed time-series database for IoT and operational data.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB

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Azure SQL Database

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Azure Table Storage

Question 11

A developer wants to host a static website with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. Which Azure service is the MOST cost-effective option?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage static website hosting. Azure Blob Storage static website hosting is the most cost-effective option because it allows you to serve static content (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) directly from a storage container at a fraction of the cost of compute-based services. There is no need to provision or pay for virtual machines, app service plans, or orchestration layers, as the content is served via HTTP from Azure's highly durable and low-cost blob storage infrastructure.

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Azure App Service

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Azure Virtual Machines

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Azure Kubernetes Service

Question 12

Which Azure service provides a dedicated, hardware-isolated physical server for hosting virtual machines to meet compliance and licensing requirements?

Accepted Answer

Azure Dedicated Host. Azure Dedicated Host provides a single-tenant, hardware-isolated physical server dedicated to your Azure subscription. This ensures that virtual machines run on a server that is not shared with any other customer, meeting strict compliance and licensing requirements such as those for Windows Server per-core licensing or SQL Server licensing that require dedicated hardware.

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Azure Isolated VM sizes

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Azure Reserved Instances

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Azure Spot VMs

Question 13

Which Azure networking service enables you to create a hub-and-spoke network topology where multiple VNets are connected and can communicate through a central hub VNet?

Accepted Answer

Azure VNet Peering. Azure VNet Peering is the correct service because it directly connects two or more Azure Virtual Networks (VNets) using the Microsoft backbone infrastructure, enabling a hub-and-spoke topology where multiple spoke VNets communicate through a central hub VNet. Unlike VPN-based solutions, VNet Peering provides low-latency, private connectivity without traversing the public internet, and it supports transitive routing only when explicitly configured via a network virtual appliance (NVA) or Azure Route Server in the hub.

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Azure VPN Gateway

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Azure Load Balancer

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Azure Front Door

Question 14

A company needs a globally distributed, multi-master database that guarantees less than 10 milliseconds latency for reads and writes regardless of geographic location. Which Azure service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB. Azure Cosmos DB is the correct choice because it is a globally distributed, multi-master database service that offers turnkey global distribution, single-digit millisecond latency (less than 10 ms) for both reads and writes at any scale, and supports multiple consistency models. Its multi-master capability allows any region to accept writes, which is essential for the stated requirement of low-latency writes regardless of geographic location.

Answer

Azure SQL Database with geo-replication

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Azure Cache for Redis

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Azure Database for PostgreSQL with read replicas

Question 15

Which Azure service provides automatic failover and load balancing for SQL Server databases across multiple Azure VMs?

Accepted Answer

SQL Server Always On availability groups on Azure VMs. B is correct because SQL Server Always On availability groups on Azure VMs provide native high availability and disaster recovery for SQL Server, including automatic failover between replicas and built-in read/write load balancing via listener endpoints. This service operates at the SQL Server instance level, supporting multiple Azure VMs in an availability set or availability zone, and uses Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) for health monitoring and automatic failover.

Answer

Azure SQL Database with active geo-replication

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Azure Load Balancer

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Azure Site Recovery