- A
Use a single-instance deployment and add more backup jobs.
Why wrong: Backups help recovery after a failure, but a single VM still has a single point of failure during maintenance or host loss.
- B
Place both VMs in an availability set.
An availability set spreads VMs across fault domains and update domains within one datacenter boundary. That protects the application from planned maintenance and from a single host or rack failure. Because the region does not support availability zones, the availability set is the best way to improve uptime for two VMs that can tolerate one instance being unavailable.
- C
Use availability zones because they always exist in every region.
Why wrong: Availability zones are not available in every Azure region, so this choice fails the stated environment constraint.
- D
Put both VMs on the same dedicated host to avoid migration during maintenance.
Why wrong: A dedicated host can help with placement control, but it does not give the same fault-domain protection as an availability set.
Quick Answer
The answer is to place both VMs in an availability set. This configuration protects against both a single host failure and planned maintenance because an availability set distributes VMs across separate fault domains—which isolate them from physical host failures—and separate update domains—which ensure only one VM is rebooted at a time during Azure’s planned maintenance. On the AZ-104 exam, this scenario tests your understanding that availability zones are not the only high-availability option; when zones are unsupported, the availability set becomes the correct pattern. A common trap is choosing a scale set or a single VM with a reserved IP, but those do not guarantee isolation from host or maintenance events. Remember the mnemonic: “Fault for failure, Update for upkeep”—fault domains handle hardware crashes, update domains handle Azure patching.
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 customer runs two Windows VMs in a region that does not support availability zones. The app can lose one VM but must keep running through planned maintenance and a single host failure. Which deployment pattern should you use?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
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 an availability set.
An availability set ensures that VMs are placed on different fault domains (separate physical hardware) and update domains (separate maintenance batches). This protects against both a single host failure and planned Azure maintenance, meeting the requirement that the app can lose one VM but keep running.
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.
- ✗
Use a single-instance deployment and add more backup jobs.
Why it's wrong here
Backups help recovery after a failure, but a single VM still has a single point of failure during maintenance or host loss.
- ✓
Place both VMs in an availability set.
Why this is correct
An availability set spreads VMs across fault domains and update domains within one datacenter boundary. That protects the application from planned maintenance and from a single host or rack failure. Because the region does not support availability zones, the availability set is the best way to improve uptime for two VMs that can tolerate one instance being unavailable.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use availability zones because they always exist in every region.
Why it's wrong here
Availability zones are not available in every Azure region, so this choice fails the stated environment constraint.
- ✗
Put both VMs on the same dedicated host to avoid migration during maintenance.
Why it's wrong here
A dedicated host can help with placement control, but it does not give the same fault-domain protection as an availability set.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume availability zones are always available or that a dedicated host provides isolation, but the question's constraint (region without zones) and the need for both fault domain and update domain protection point directly to an availability set.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
An availability set distributes VMs across up to 3 fault domains (each with its own power, cooling, and network) and up to 20 update domains (for sequential reboot during maintenance). Under the hood, Azure assigns VMs in the same availability set to different racks in the datacenter, ensuring that a single rack failure or a planned update batch only affects one VM at a time. This pattern is essential for legacy applications that cannot leverage availability zones.
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.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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Deploy and Manage Azure Compute — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-104 question test?
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 an availability set. — An availability set ensures that VMs are placed on different fault domains (separate physical hardware) and update domains (separate maintenance batches). This protects against both a single host failure and planned Azure maintenance, meeting the requirement that the app can lose one VM but keep running.
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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
4 more ways this is tested on AZ-104
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Two backend VMs must remain available if an Azure host is patched or fails. A full datacenter outage is not part of the requirement, and the team wants the VMs to stay in the same region with predictable east-west latency. Which placement option should the administrator choose?
hard- A.Availability zones in separate datacenters
- ✓ B.An availability set
- C.A proximity placement group
- D.A single VM scale set instance
Why B: An availability set distributes VMs across multiple fault domains (separate physical racks with independent power, cooling, and network) within a single Azure datacenter. This protects against host patching and hardware failures while keeping VMs in the same datacenter, ensuring predictable east-west latency. The requirement explicitly excludes a full datacenter outage, so availability zones (which span separate datacenters) are unnecessary.
Variation 2. Based on the exhibit, the business wants two Azure VMs to stay available if a host is patched or fails. A full datacenter outage is not part of the requirement. What should you use?
easy- ✓ A.Deploy the VMs in an availability set.
- B.Deploy the VMs in the same availability zone.
- C.Use a virtual machine scale set with autoscale only.
- D.Place both VMs on a dedicated host.
Why A: An availability set protects against failures within a single datacenter by distributing VMs across multiple fault domains (physical racks with separate power and network) and update domains (groups that are patched sequentially). This ensures that during host patching or a host failure, at least one VM remains available, meeting the requirement without needing to survive a full datacenter outage.
Variation 3. Two app VMs must stay available during planned host maintenance in the same region. Datacenter-level redundancy is not required, but the VMs should be spread across update domains. What should you configure?
easy- ✓ A.Availability set
- B.Availability zone
- C.Azure Backup
- D.Managed disk
Why A: An availability set logically groups VMs to protect against planned maintenance events by distributing them across up to 3 fault domains and 20 update domains. This ensures that during host maintenance, only one update domain is taken offline at a time, keeping the other VMs available. Since datacenter-level redundancy is not required, an availability set is the correct choice.
Variation 4. Two line-of-business VMs in a single region must stay available if one physical host is patched or fails. A zone failure is not part of the requirement. Which three actions should the administrator take? Select three.
medium- ✓ A.Create an availability set for the application VMs before deployment.
- ✓ B.Deploy both VMs into the same availability set.
- ✓ C.Allow Azure to place the VMs across different fault and update domains within the availability set.
- D.Deploy the VMs in separate availability zones to protect against a datacenter outage.
- E.Use a single larger VM and rely on snapshots for uptime.
Why A: Option A is correct because an availability set ensures that VMs are placed on different fault domains (physical hosts) and update domains within a single Azure region, protecting against physical host patching or failure. This meets the requirement of keeping VMs available during a single host event without requiring zone-level redundancy.
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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