AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of deploy and manage azure compute. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A business-critical application runs in a region that does not support availability zones. It uses two Azure VMs and must survive planned maintenance and a single host failure, but it does not need automatic scale-out. Which two actions should the administrator take? Select two.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Place both VMs in the same availability set
Option A is correct because an availability set provides redundancy within a single region that does not support availability zones, protecting against both planned maintenance (via update domains) and host failures (via fault domains). By placing both VMs in the same availability set, Azure ensures they are distributed across multiple fault domains (up to 3) and update domains (up to 20), so a single hardware failure or planned maintenance event does not affect both VMs simultaneously.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Place both VMs in the same availability set
Why this is correct
This is the standard design for spreading VMs across fault and update domains.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Deploy the VMs so Azure distributes them across fault and update domains within that set
Why this is correct
This ensures the VMs are separated for host and maintenance resiliency as intended.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Deploy the VMs in separate availability zones
Why it's wrong here
Zones may not exist in the region, and the scenario explicitly rules out zone-based design.
✗
Convert the workload to a single larger VM
Why it's wrong here
A single VM removes redundancy and does not protect against host failures or maintenance.
✗
Put the VMs in a proximity placement group
Why it's wrong here
This improves co-location and performance, but it does not provide the required resilience.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse availability zones with availability sets, assuming zones are always an option, but the question explicitly restricts the region to non-zone support, making the availability set the only viable redundancy mechanism.
Trap categories for this question
Scenario analysis trap
Zones may not exist in the region, and the scenario explicitly rules out zone-based design.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
An availability set uses fault domains (logical groups of hardware sharing a common power source and network switch) and update domains (logical groups that undergo maintenance sequentially). Azure guarantees that VMs in the same availability set are placed in different fault domains (up to 3) and update domains (up to 20), ensuring that at most one VM is affected during a host failure or planned maintenance. This is achieved through the Azure Resource Manager placing VMs based on the set's configuration at deployment time.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-104 question in full detail.
Deploy and Manage Azure Compute — This question tests Deploy and Manage Azure Compute — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Place both VMs in the same availability set — Option A is correct because an availability set provides redundancy within a single region that does not support availability zones, protecting against both planned maintenance (via update domains) and host failures (via fault domains). By placing both VMs in the same availability set, Azure ensures they are distributed across multiple fault domains (up to 3) and update domains (up to 20), so a single hardware failure or planned maintenance event does not affect both VMs simultaneously.
What should I do if I get this AZ-104 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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