AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✗

  Always

  Why it's wrong here

  The Always restart policy in Azure Container Instances relaunches the container group every time it stops, regardless of whether the process exited with code 0 or a non-zero code. For a one-time import job that finishes successfully, this would cause the container to execute repeatedly in an infinite loop, re-running the import logic and potentially creating duplicate or corrupted data. The job is meant to run once and then remain terminated, so Always is inappropriate because it forces continuous re-execution even after a clean exit.

  When this WOULD be correct

  Choose 'Always' for a long-running service like a web server or API endpoint that must be automatically restarted if it stops, ensuring high availability.

• ✗

  OnFailure

  Why it's wrong here

  The OnFailure restart policy restarts the container group only when the process exits with a non-zero exit code, which signifies an error. In the context of a one-time import job, this means a transient failure could trigger automatic retries, potentially leading to an unbounded restart loop if the underlying issue isn't resolved. While a successful run would stop cleanly, the job's semantics are 'run exactly once'—not 'retry on failure'—so OnFailure introduces an unwanted retry behavior that doesn't match the requirement of a strictly one-time task.

  When this WOULD be correct

  This policy would be correct for a job that should automatically retry on failure, such as a data processing task that must be re-run if it fails due to transient errors. For example, a batch job that imports data from an external source and should restart only if the import fails.

• ✓

  Never

  Why this is correct

  Never is the correct restart policy for a one-time task that should run once and then stop. Azure Container Instances will not try to restart the container after it exits, even if it finishes successfully. That behavior matches import jobs, batch scripts, and other short-lived workloads that should complete and remain stopped.

• ✗

  Manual

  Why it's wrong here

  Manual is not a valid restart policy for Azure Container Instances. The only restart policies supported by the ACI API and CLI are Always, OnFailure, and Never. Attempting to set Manual as the restartPolicy parameter would cause a validation error and prevent the container group from being created. This option is a distractor that might sound plausible but has no technical basis in the platform.

  When this WOULD be correct

  If the question were about a Docker container running on a virtual machine or a Kubernetes pod, where you can manually restart the container after it stops, then 'Manual' could be a plausible option. However, for Azure Container Instances, it is not a valid choice.

Option-by-option analysis

Why each answer is right or wrong

Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The AZ-104 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.

Analysis generated from the official AZ-104blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”

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