A build server hosted in a company datacenter must deploy ARM templates to a target resource group in Azure without storing a user password. The server is not running in Azure, and the team wants to authorize deployments with Azure RBAC. What should be configured?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Best answer
A service principal authenticated with a certificate and assigned RBAC on the target scope
This works from outside Azure and supports noninteractive authentication with Azure RBAC authorization.
Distractor review
A system-assigned managed identity on the build server
Managed identities are tied to Azure resources, so this option is not available for an on-premises server.
Distractor review
A personal user account with multifactor authentication
This is harder to automate and does not meet the requirement to avoid user-password storage.
Distractor review
A shared access signature for the resource group
SAS is a storage-specific delegation mechanism and cannot authorize ARM template deployment.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A route table contains these entries: 10.0.0.0/8 with next hop Virtual appliance, and 10.1.1.0/24 with next hop Virtual network gateway. Which next hop will Azure use for traffic to 10.1.1.5?
Question 2
You are deploying a stateless web application on Azure virtual machines. The solution must automatically add and remove instances based on CPU demand and allow all instances to be managed as one logical group. Which Azure compute feature should you deploy?
Question 3
You are deploying a Windows Server VM for an internal app. The VM must support Secure Boot and vTPM later, its OS disk must survive host moves, and the team wants the lowest-cost managed disk tier that still behaves like a normal writable OS disk. Which two choices should you make? Select two.
Question 4
You need to deploy several identical virtual machines and ensure that the failure of a single Azure host does not affect all of them. Which feature should you use?
Question 5
You need to connect VNet-Hub and VNet-Spoke so that resources in both virtual networks can communicate privately over the Microsoft backbone. Both virtual networks are in the same region. What should you configure?
Question 6
You need to create a storage account that provides the lowest-cost redundant storage for non-critical data and only needs protection against local disk or server failure within a single datacenter. Which redundancy option should you choose?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-104 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: A service principal authenticated with a certificate and assigned RBAC on the target scope — For automation that runs outside Azure, a service principal is the standard noninteractive identity for Azure RBAC-based access. Using a certificate is more secure than storing a password or client secret in a script because the private key can be protected and rotated under standard enterprise controls. The service principal can be granted only the required role on the target resource group, which keeps deployment permissions narrowly scoped and audit-friendly. Why others are wrong: A system-assigned managed identity is only available on supported Azure resources, not on an on-premises build server. A personal user account introduces interactive sign-in friction and poor automation hygiene. A shared access signature works for storage data access, not for ARM deployments or resource management. The service principal with certificate authentication is the secure, Azure-supported pattern for external automation.
What should I do if I get this AZ-104 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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