AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question
A line-of-business app runs on two Azure VMs in the same region. The business wants to reduce the chance that both VMs are affected by the same planned host update. What should the administrator use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse availability sets (logical grouping for update/fault domain isolation within a single datacenter) with availability zones (physical separation across datacenters), or mistakenly think a load balancer provides high availability against planned maintenance, when it only distributes traffic and does not affect host placement.
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
✓
An availability set
An availability set ensures that VMs are placed on different fault domains and update domains within an Azure datacenter. Fault domains isolate VMs from shared hardware failures, while update domains ensure that planned host updates (e.g., OS patching) are applied sequentially across groups, so not all VMs are rebooted simultaneously. This directly reduces the chance that both VMs are affected by the same planned host update.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
An availability set
Why this is correct
An availability set spreads VMs across fault domains and update domains within a datacenter environment. This reduces the chance that a planned host update or a hardware issue affects both VMs at the same time. It is the right choice when the goal is host-level resilience for VMs in the same region.
- ✗
A public load balancer
Why it's wrong here
A load balancer distributes traffic across healthy VMs, but it does not control how Azure places the VMs for resilience. If both VMs were on the same host or update domain, the load balancer would not prevent a maintenance event from affecting both at once.
When this WOULD be correct
An administrator needs to distribute incoming internet traffic across multiple VMs to improve application availability and scalability. The correct answer would be a public load balancer when the question focuses on load balancing, not fault domain isolation.
- ✗
A managed image
Why it's wrong here
A managed image captures the OS and data disk configuration of a source VM, enabling you to deploy identical VMs later. However, it is purely a deployment artifact; it contains no placement metadata and does not influence how Azure distributes the resulting VMs across fault or update domains. Even if you create dozens of VMs from the same managed image, they could all land on the same physical host, leaving you vulnerable to a single hardware failure or maintenance window, so it cannot satisfy an availability requirement.
When this WOULD be correct
When an organization needs to deploy multiple VMs with identical configurations across regions for disaster recovery, a managed image ensures consistency and rapid provisioning.
- ✗
A private endpoint
Why it's wrong here
A private endpoint provides private access to a PaaS service over a VNet. It has no effect on VM placement, fault domains, or host update behavior. It is unrelated to the availability requirement in this scenario.
When this WOULD be correct
An administrator needs to ensure that a VM accessing an Azure SQL database uses a private IP address from the VNet, avoiding exposure to the public internet. In that scenario, a private endpoint would be the correct answer.
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.
✓An availability setCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
An availability set spreads VMs across fault domains and update domains within a datacenter environment. This reduces the chance that a planned host update or a hardware issue affects both VMs at the same time. It is the right choice when the goal is host-level resilience for VMs in the same region.
✗A public load balancerWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A public load balancer distributes traffic across VMs but does not protect against planned host updates affecting both VMs simultaneously, as it does not control the underlying host maintenance schedule.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
An administrator needs to distribute incoming internet traffic across multiple VMs to improve application availability and scalability. The correct answer would be a public load balancer when the question focuses on load balancing, not fault domain isolation.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think a load balancer provides high availability against all types of failures, including planned maintenance, because it distributes traffic and can detect VM health.
✗A managed imageWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A managed image is used to create standardized VM configurations, not to protect against planned host updates. It does not provide fault isolation across update domains.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
When an organization needs to deploy multiple VMs with identical configurations across regions for disaster recovery, a managed image ensures consistency and rapid provisioning.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'managed' with 'managed availability' or think that using a managed image somehow distributes VMs across hosts, but it only captures the OS and data disks.
✗A private endpointWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A private endpoint provides secure connectivity to Azure PaaS services over a private IP address, but it does not protect VMs from planned host updates or provide fault tolerance across update domains.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
An administrator needs to ensure that a VM accessing an Azure SQL database uses a private IP address from the VNet, avoiding exposure to the public internet. In that scenario, a private endpoint would be the correct answer.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse private endpoints with high availability solutions, thinking that isolating network traffic also isolates VMs from host maintenance events.
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
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Dynamic Membership Groups
Key term
Region
A region is a distinct geographic location where a cloud provider operates multiple data centers that are connected by low-latency networks and provide cloud services.
Key term
Azure datacenter
An Azure datacenter is a physical facility that houses Microsoft's cloud computing infrastructure, including servers, storage, and networking equipment, to deliver Azure services globally.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every AZ-104 question from scratch — 1,049 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.