Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A compliance team keeps signed contract scans in Azure Blob Storage. The files are usually read only a few times per year, but when a reviewer needs one, it must be available immediately without waiting for rehydration. Which access tier should the administrator use?
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.
A
Distractor review
Hot, because it is optimized for frequent access and immediate retrieval.
Hot is online and immediately readable, but it is typically more expensive than necessary for infrequently accessed data.
B
Distractor review
Cool, because it is online and suited to infrequent access while remaining immediately readable.
Cool is an online tier and can work, but the question asks for the best fit when data is accessed rarely and immediate availability is required. There is a more cost-optimized online option.
C
Distractor review
Archive, because it is the lowest-cost option and can still be read instantly.
Archive is the lowest-cost storage tier, but it is offline. It cannot satisfy the requirement for immediate reading.
D
Best answer
Cold, because it is designed for infrequently accessed data and remains online for immediate reads.
Cold is the best fit for data that is rarely read but must still be available immediately when needed. It keeps the blob online, unlike Archive, so there is no waiting for rehydration. This makes it suitable for compliance documents or records that are accessed occasionally but must open quickly during reviews.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- 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.
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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?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Cold, because it is designed for infrequently accessed data and remains online for immediate reads. — Cold is the right tier when the data is infrequently accessed yet still needs to be available immediately. It gives the administrator a lower-cost online option without the delay of Archive rehydration. That makes it a strong fit for signed contracts, legal records, or similar documents that are rarely opened but must be instantly readable when a reviewer requests them. Why others are wrong: Hot is online and fast, but it is usually intended for frequently accessed content and is not the most cost-efficient answer. Cool is also online, but the question’s scenario points to a rarely accessed, still-online workload where Cold is the better match. Archive cannot satisfy immediate-read requirements because it requires rehydration before the blob can be opened.
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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