Question 1hardmultiple choice
Full question →hardmultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A legal department keeps evidence files in Azure Blob Storage. The files are accessed only a few times per year, but they must stay online and be immediately readable when requested. The team wants the lowest-cost online tier and does not want a rehydration step. Which tier should you choose?
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 prioritizes immediate access over storage cost.
Hot satisfies availability, but it is not the lowest-cost online choice for infrequently accessed evidence files.
B
Distractor review
Cool, because it is an online tier for infrequent access.
Cool is online, but Cold is the better fit when access is even rarer and cost matters more.
C
Best answer
Cold, because it keeps data online and is intended for rarely accessed content.
Cold is the right tier because the files must remain immediately readable and cannot be placed into an offline state. The scenario says the data is accessed only a few times per year, so a lower-cost online tier is appropriate. Archive would introduce rehydration delay, which the business explicitly does not want. Cold preserves online availability while reducing storage cost compared with hotter tiers.
D
Distractor review
Archive, because it has the lowest cost and can be opened instantly from the portal.
Archive is offline and requires rehydration before the file can be read again.
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
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Question 2
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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
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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 keeps data online and is intended for rarely accessed content. — Cold is designed for cases where data is very infrequently accessed but still needs to be available right away when someone requests it. That makes it the best compromise here. The legal team wants online accessibility and immediate readability, so Archive is disqualified because it requires rehydration. Cold keeps the data online and lowers the cost relative to Hot and Cool, which is exactly what the scenario asks for. Why others are wrong: Hot is too expensive for a few reads per year. Cool is also online, but it is not the most cost-effective answer for such rare access. Archive would minimize storage cost further, but it violates the no-rehydration requirement because archived blobs are offline until restored.
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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