AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question
A development team wants to publish an internet-facing application directly from source code. The solution must support built-in HTTPS, deployment slots for safe testing, and autoscale as demand changes. Which two choices should the administrator select? Select two.
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse Azure Container Instances or virtual machine scale sets as simpler alternatives, but they lack the integrated deployment slots and built-in HTTPS management that App Service provides out of the box.
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
✓
Use Azure App Service.
Azure App Service is a fully managed platform for building, deploying, and scaling web apps. It natively supports publishing directly from source code (via continuous deployment from GitHub, Azure Repos, or Bitbucket), built-in HTTPS (with automatic certificate management), deployment slots for staging and swapping, and autoscale based on metrics or schedules. These features directly satisfy all the requirements stated in the 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.
- ✓
Use Azure App Service.
Why this is correct
Azure App Service is a fully managed PaaS offering specifically built for hosting internet-facing web applications. It provides automatic OS patching, built-in load balancing, TLS/SSL termination, source-control integration, and health checking, so the development team does not have to provision or maintain any underlying VMs. This makes it the correct platform choice for a public web app that requires deployment slots and autoscale functionality.
- ✓
Choose an App Service plan at Standard tier or higher.
Why this is correct
Selecting the Standard tier or higher is required because deployment slots and autoscale are only available in Standard, Premium, or Isolated App Service plans. The Free and Shared tiers do not support these features, and the Free tier provides no SLA, while the Shared tier has limited quotas and no automatic scaling. Upgrading to Standard also enables Always On, which keeps the app pre-loaded and avoids cold-start behavior after idle periods.
- ✗
Use Azure Container Instances for the public application.
Why it's wrong here
Azure Container Instances is a serverless container runtime that runs a container image and exposes its HTTP endpoint, but it is not a web application hosting platform with deployment slots or built-in app lifecycle management. ACI does not support staging environments with traffic swapping, integrated source-control deployment, or autoscale at the application level, and it lacks the managed SLAs and patching that App Service offers. While containers can be used to host web apps, ACI alone is not the correct service for this requirement.
When this WOULD be correct
When the requirement is to run a containerized application quickly without managing orchestration, and features like HTTPS termination are handled by a separate front-end (e.g., Azure Application Gateway), and autoscaling is not needed.
- ✗
Deploy the app on a virtual machine scale set.
Why it's wrong here
A virtual machine scale set is an IaaS solution that runs Windows or Linux VMs behind a load balancer, but it does not offer platform-managed deployment slots or App Service's built-in web hosting capabilities. To get those features, the team would need to manually configure web servers, TLS, deployment automation, and operating-system maintenance, adding substantial operational overhead. VM scale sets may be useful for fully custom workloads, but they are not the correct choice when the goal is to publish a web app with slots and autoscale within a managed PaaS environment.
When this WOULD be correct
A question requiring a highly customizable, multi-tier application with specific OS-level configurations, custom software installations, or need for full control over the VM environment, where scaling out VMs is needed and deployment slots are not a requirement.
- ✗
Use an availability set for the application instances.
Why it's wrong here
An availability set is an Azure IaaS construct that groups VMs across fault domains and update domains to ensure that at least one VM remains available during planned maintenance or hardware failure. It does not provide any application-level web hosting features such as deployment slots, autoscaling, or integrated SSL management. Availability sets merely improve the resilience of a set of VMs; they cannot satisfy a requirement for managed web app capabilities like deployment slots, so this option is incorrect.
When this WOULD be correct
An administrator needs to ensure high availability for a set of virtual machines hosting a critical application within a single region, requiring at least two VMs in different fault and update domains.
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.
✓Use Azure App Service.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
Azure App Service is a fully managed PaaS offering specifically built for hosting internet-facing web applications. It provides automatic OS patching, built-in load balancing, TLS/SSL termination, source-control integration, and health checking, so the development team does not have to provision or maintain any underlying VMs. This makes it the correct platform choice for a public web app that requires deployment slots and autoscale functionality.
✗Use Azure Container Instances for the public application.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Azure Container Instances does not provide built-in HTTPS, deployment slots, or autoscaling; it is designed for simple container workloads without these features.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
When the requirement is to run a containerized application quickly without managing orchestration, and features like HTTPS termination are handled by a separate front-end (e.g., Azure Application Gateway), and autoscaling is not needed.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think container instances are a modern, scalable option for web apps, overlooking that Azure App Service offers the required built-in features like slots and autoscale.
✗Deploy the app on a virtual machine scale set.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Virtual machine scale sets require manual configuration of HTTPS, deployment slots, and autoscale rules, and do not support direct source code deployment with built-in HTTPS and deployment slots like App Service.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question requiring a highly customizable, multi-tier application with specific OS-level configurations, custom software installations, or need for full control over the VM environment, where scaling out VMs is needed and deployment slots are not a requirement.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think VMSS provides autoscaling and is suitable for internet-facing apps, but overlook the specific requirements for built-in HTTPS and deployment slots that are native to App Service.
✗Use an availability set for the application instances.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
An availability set provides high availability for VMs within a datacenter but does not support built-in HTTPS, deployment slots, or autoscaling for internet-facing applications from source code.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
An administrator needs to ensure high availability for a set of virtual machines hosting a critical application within a single region, requiring at least two VMs in different fault and update domains.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse availability sets with high-availability features of PaaS services like App Service, or think that availability sets provide scaling and HTTPS capabilities.
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?”
Go deeper
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Key term
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Azure App Service is a fully managed platform for building, deploying, and scaling web applications and APIs without managing the underlying infrastructure.
Key term
Azure Repos
Azure Repos is a set of version control tools that allow teams to manage their source code, track changes, and collaborate on software projects using Git or Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) within the Microsoft Azure ecosystem.
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Same concept, more angles
2 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. A developer wants to publish an internet-facing web application from source code. The solution must support built-in HTTPS, deployment slots for testing, and autoscale. The team does not want to manage servers. Which Azure service should the administrator recommend?
easy- ✓ A.Azure App Service
- B.Azure Container Instances
- C.Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets
- D.Azure Bastion
Why A: Azure App Service is the correct choice because it provides a fully managed platform for hosting web applications from source code, with built-in support for HTTPS via TLS/SSL certificates, deployment slots for staging and testing, and autoscale capabilities. It eliminates server management, aligning with the requirement for a PaaS (Platform as a Service) solution that handles infrastructure, patching, and scaling automatically.
Variation 2. A developer wants to publish an internet-facing application from source code. Required capabilities include built-in HTTPS, deployment slots, and autoscale, but the team does not want to manage the operating system. Which Azure service should the administrator choose?
medium- A.Azure Container Instances
- B.Azure Virtual Machines
- ✓ C.Azure App Service
- D.Azure Kubernetes Service
Why C: Azure App Service is the correct choice because it provides a fully managed platform for hosting web applications with built-in HTTPS support, deployment slots for staging and swapping, and autoscale capabilities. It abstracts the underlying operating system, allowing the team to focus on code without managing infrastructure.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-104 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AZ-104 exam.