MS-900 Describe cloud concepts Practice Test 9 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company needs to ensure that their cloud data and applications remain available even if an entire Azure region experiences an outage. They also want to minimize latency by hosting resources in multiple geographic locations. Which cloud concept addresses these requirements?

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

Accepted Answer

Geo-redundancy. Geo-redundancy (Option B) is correct because it specifically addresses the requirement for data and application availability during an entire Azure region outage by replicating resources across multiple geographically separated regions, such as Azure paired regions (e.g., East US and West US). This also minimizes latency by allowing traffic to be routed to the nearest available region, leveraging Azure Traffic Manager or Azure Front Door for global load balancing.

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Scalability

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Measured service

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Resource pooling

Question 2

A company wants to reduce hardware maintenance costs by moving to the cloud. They need to maintain full control over the operating system, applications, and security configurations, but do not want to manage physical servers or data center facilities. Which cloud service model should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides virtualized computing resources over the internet, allowing the company to deploy and manage their own operating systems, applications, and security configurations while offloading the physical hardware and data center management to the cloud provider. This model gives the highest level of control over the software stack without the burden of maintaining physical servers, aligning perfectly with the requirement to reduce hardware maintenance costs while retaining full administrative access.

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Software as a Service (SaaS)

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Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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On-premises

Question 3

A healthcare organization must keep sensitive patient data on-premises due to regulatory compliance, but wants to use cloud services for other applications like customer relationship management and collaboration. Which cloud deployment model best meets this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Hybrid cloud. The hybrid cloud model is correct because it allows the healthcare organization to keep sensitive patient data on-premises (private cloud) for regulatory compliance (e.g., HIPAA), while leveraging public cloud services for customer relationship management and collaboration tools like Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365. This deployment model provides a unified environment where workloads can be distributed across on-premises and cloud infrastructure, ensuring data sovereignty and compliance without sacrificing scalability or cost efficiency.

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Public cloud

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Private cloud

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Community cloud

Question 4

A financial services firm uses a public cloud provider for its customer-facing web application, but stores sensitive client data on its own on-premises servers. A secure VPN connection is used to transfer anonymized data from the public cloud to the on-premises environment for processing. Which cloud deployment model does this describe?

Accepted Answer

Hybrid cloud. This scenario describes a hybrid cloud because it combines a public cloud provider for the customer-facing web application with an on-premises private cloud for sensitive client data, connected via a secure VPN. The hybrid cloud model enables organizations to leverage the scalability and cost-efficiency of public cloud resources while maintaining strict control over sensitive data in a private environment. The use of a VPN to transfer anonymized data between the two environments is a key characteristic of hybrid cloud architecture, as it ensures secure communication across the boundary.

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Public cloud

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Private cloud

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Community cloud

Question 5

A company runs a custom application on a cloud provider's infrastructure. The provider manages the physical servers, networking, and storage, but the company installs, configures, and patches the operating system and application. Which cloud service model is this?

Accepted Answer

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). This scenario describes Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) because the cloud provider manages the underlying physical infrastructure (servers, networking, storage), while the customer retains control over the operating system, middleware, and application. In IaaS, the customer is responsible for OS patching, configuration, and application management, which matches the given responsibilities.

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Software as a Service (SaaS)

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Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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Function as a Service (FaaS)

Question 6

A company wants to use a cloud service where they only manage their data and user access, while the cloud provider handles everything from the physical infrastructure to the applications. Which cloud service model is this?

Accepted Answer

Software as a Service (SaaS). This scenario describes Software as a Service (SaaS), where the cloud provider manages the entire stack—physical infrastructure, operating system, middleware, runtime, data, and applications—while the customer only manages their data and user access. In SaaS, the provider delivers fully functional applications over the internet, such as Microsoft 365, where users simply log in and use the software without any infrastructure or platform management responsibilities.

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Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

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Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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On-premises deployment

Question 7

A cloud provider offers a service where customers can provision virtual machines, storage, and networks on-demand through a web portal. The customer is responsible for patching the guest operating system. Which cloud service model best describes this offering?

Accepted Answer

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). (Infrastructure as a Service) because the customer provisions fundamental compute, storage, and networking resources on-demand, and retains control over the guest OS, including patching. In IaaS, the provider manages only the physical infrastructure (hypervisor, networking, storage hardware), while the customer is responsible for the OS and applications, matching the scenario exactly.

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Software as a Service (SaaS)

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Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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Desktop as a Service (DaaS)

Question 8

A marketing manager can access the company's cloud resources from her laptop at home, her tablet while traveling, and her smartphone. Which essential characteristic of cloud computing does this describe?

Accepted Answer

Broad network access. Broad network access means cloud resources can be accessed over standard network protocols (e.g., HTTPS, TLS) from a wide range of client devices, such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones. The scenario explicitly describes access from multiple device types and locations, which is the defining characteristic of broad network access as per NIST SP 800-145.

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Resource pooling

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Scalability

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Measured service

Question 9

A company runs its customer relationship management (CRM) system using a cloud provider's SaaS offering. They also use virtual machines (IaaS) from the same provider to host a legacy application. In this scenario, who is responsible for patching the operating system of the virtual machines?

Accepted Answer

The customer is responsible for patching the operating system of the virtual machines.. In an IaaS model, the cloud provider is responsible for the security of the physical infrastructure, hypervisor, and network, but the customer retains responsibility for the guest operating system and applications. Since the virtual machines are IaaS resources, the customer must manage OS patches, updates, and configuration. This follows the shared responsibility model, where the customer is accountable for anything they configure or deploy within the virtual machine.

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The cloud provider is fully responsible for patching all components.

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The cloud provider patches the OS for all services equally.

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No patching is needed because the cloud handles everything.

Question 10

During a Microsoft 365 planning workshop, host custom applications on virtual machines while managing the operating system. Cloud concept or benefit best matches this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provides virtualized computing resources over the internet, including virtual machines where you can host custom applications and have full control over the operating system. This matches the requirement because IaaS gives you the flexibility to manage the OS, install custom software, and configure the environment without worrying about the underlying physical hardware.

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Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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Hybrid cloud

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Software as a Service (SaaS)

Question 11

A service owner is comparing Microsoft 365 capabilities and needs to meter compute and storage usage for consumption-based billing. Cloud concept or benefit best matches this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Measured service. Measured service is a core cloud computing concept where resource usage (such as compute and storage) is metered, tracked, and billed based on actual consumption. This directly matches the service owner's requirement for consumption-based billing, as Microsoft 365 uses metering for services like Azure Active Directory and Exchange Online to enable pay-as-you-go models.

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Sensitivity labels

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Microsoft Planner

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Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

Question 12

During requirements gathering, an IT manager says the organization must let users provision resources from a portal without provider interaction. Cloud concept or benefit best matches this requirement?

Accepted Answer

On-demand self-service. On-demand self-service is a core NIST-defined characteristic of cloud computing that allows users to provision computing resources—such as virtual machines, storage, or network capacity—automatically through a web portal or API without requiring human interaction from the service provider. This directly matches the IT manager's requirement for users to provision resources from a portal without provider interaction, making option A correct.

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Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

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Microsoft Planner

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Sensitivity labels

Question 13

A help desk lead is documenting the correct Microsoft 365 approach to keep a workload on-premises while using Microsoft cloud collaboration services. Cloud concept or benefit best matches this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Hybrid cloud. A hybrid cloud model is the correct approach because it allows an organization to keep a specific workload on-premises while leveraging Microsoft cloud collaboration services (such as Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, or Teams). This is achieved through integration technologies like Azure AD Connect for identity synchronization and Exchange Hybrid Configuration Wizard for mail routing, enabling a seamless coexistence between on-premises and cloud environments.

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Sensitivity labels

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Microsoft Planner

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Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

Question 14

A compliance-aware administrator is selecting the right Microsoft 365 capability to use Microsoft 365 and another public cloud provider for different workloads. Cloud concept or benefit best matches this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Multi-cloud. Multi-cloud is the correct answer because the requirement explicitly involves using Microsoft 365 alongside another public cloud provider for different workloads. Multi-cloud refers to the strategy of leveraging services from multiple cloud providers (e.g., Microsoft Azure and AWS) to avoid vendor lock-in, optimize costs, or meet compliance needs. This directly matches the scenario of using Microsoft 365 and another public cloud provider together.

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Microsoft Planner

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Sensitivity labels

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Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

Question 15

A department head asks which Microsoft 365 option should be used to access cloud resources from laptops, tablets, and phones over the internet. Cloud concept or benefit best matches this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Broad network access. Broad network access is a core NIST cloud characteristic that enables resources to be accessed over the internet by standard protocols (e.g., HTTPS, TLS) from a wide range of client devices such as laptops, tablets, and phones. This directly matches the requirement for accessing cloud resources from multiple device types over the internet.

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Sensitivity labels

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Microsoft Planner

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Data Loss Prevention (DLP)