AZ-104 Implement and Manage Storage Practice Question
A lifecycle rule moves blobs to the archive tier after 90 days. A file was archived 2 weeks ago, and a reporting job now needs to read it tomorrow morning. What should you expect?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume the Archive tier is simply a 'cold' storage that can be read slowly, but in reality it is an offline tier requiring explicit rehydration, which introduces significant latency.
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
✓
The file must be rehydrated to an online tier before it can be read, so access is delayed.
Blobs in the Azure Archive tier are offline and cannot be read directly. To access the data, you must first rehydrate the blob to an online tier (Hot, Cool, or Cold) using a copy or change-tier operation, which introduces a delay (typically up to 15 hours for standard priority rehydration). The file was archived only 2 weeks ago, so it is still in the Archive tier and requires rehydration before the reporting job can read it tomorrow morning.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The file is immediately readable, but only through the archive endpoint and at a higher request rate.
Why it's wrong here
There is no special 'archive endpoint' that serves archived blobs immediately; archived blobs use the same storage account endpoint as other blobs, but read requests return an error (typically HTTP 409, BlobBeingRehydrated) until the blob is rehydrated to an online tier. The archive tier is offline, meaning the blob data is not available for immediate access regardless of the request rate or the specific endpoint used. Higher request rate or throttling adjustments do not trigger rehydration; rehydration is a separate, time-consuming operation that must complete before normal reads succeed. Thus, the assumption that any endpoint or request-rate configuration can make archive blobs instantly readable is false.
When this WOULD be correct
If the question specified that the blob is in the cool tier (not archive) and the account uses read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS), then the blob would be immediately readable from the secondary region even if the primary is unavailable.
- ✓
The file must be rehydrated to an online tier before it can be read, so access is delayed.
Why this is correct
Archive tier is offline storage. If a job needs the blob tomorrow, the blob must first be rehydrated to an online tier such as hot or cool. Rehydration takes time, so the data is not instantly available. This is an important operational consideration when lifecycle policies move data to archive based on age.
- ✗
The file is permanently deleted when it enters archive, so the job must use a backup restore.
Why it's wrong here
The archive tier does not delete the blob; it transitions it to a cost-optimized, offline storage tier while preserving the blob's metadata and underlying data. A lifecycle policy that moves a blob to archive is an accessibility change, not a destructive operation, so the blob still exists in storage and can be rehydrated to an online tier when needed. Permanent deletion would be a separate action, such as an explicit Delete Blob operation or a retention policy with deletion rules. Because the blob is still present, using a backup restore is unnecessary and redundant; you simply rehydrate it instead.
When this WOULD be correct
In a scenario where a lifecycle management policy is configured to delete blobs after a certain period (e.g., 90 days) instead of moving them to archive, and the file has passed that deletion threshold, then the file would be permanently deleted and require backup restore.
- ✗
The file can be read immediately if the account has read-access geo-redundancy enabled.
Why it's wrong here
Read-access geo-redundancy (RA-GRS) replicates your blob data to a secondary region and allows read access from that secondary endpoint, but it does not change the blob's tier or make archive blobs online. The archive tier is offline storage, and any attempt to read an archived blob—whether from the primary or secondary endpoint—requires a rehydration step first. RA-GRS only protects durability and availability through replication; it does not bypass the archive tier's fundamental offline nature. Therefore, even with RA-GRS enabled, the file cannot be read immediately after lifecycle moves it to archive.
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.
✓The file must be rehydrated to an online tier before it can be read, so access is delayed.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
Archive tier is offline storage. If a job needs the blob tomorrow, the blob must first be rehydrated to an online tier such as hot or cool. Rehydration takes time, so the data is not instantly available. This is an important operational consideration when lifecycle policies move data to archive based on age.
✗The file is immediately readable, but only through the archive endpoint and at a higher request rate.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Blobs in the archive tier are offline and cannot be read directly; they must be rehydrated to an online tier first. The archive endpoint does not provide immediate read access, and request rate is not relevant.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question specified that the blob is in the cool tier (not archive) and the account uses read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS), then the blob would be immediately readable from the secondary region even if the primary is unavailable.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse the archive tier with the cool tier or assume that Azure provides some form of direct read access to archived data, similar to how some other cloud providers offer immediate retrieval at higher cost.
✗The file is permanently deleted when it enters archive, so the job must use a backup restore.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Azure Blob Storage archive tier does not delete blobs; it keeps them in an offline state. The file is still present but requires rehydration before reading.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
In a scenario where a lifecycle management policy is configured to delete blobs after a certain period (e.g., 90 days) instead of moving them to archive, and the file has passed that deletion threshold, then the file would be permanently deleted and require backup restore.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse the archive tier with a deletion action, assuming that 'archiving' means removing the data permanently, or they may think that cold storage tiers automatically delete data after a set time.
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?”
Quick reference
Azure Blob Storage Tier Comparison
| Tier | Storage Cost | Retrieval Cost | Latency | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot | Highest | Lowest | Immediate | Active data, frequent reads |
| Cool | Lower | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / month |
| Cold | Lower still | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / quarter |
| Archive | Lowest | Highest + rehydration delay | Hours | Long-term compliance retention |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Managed Identities for Azure Resources
Key term
Archive tier
Archive tier is an ultra-low-cost Azure Blob Storage access tier designed for long-term retention of data that is rarely accessed and can tolerate hours of retrieval latency.
Key term
Blob
A blob is a large piece of unstructured data, like a photo or video, stored in the cloud with a unique identifier.
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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.