AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question
A platform team must deploy the same group of Azure VMs every month from source control and wants the deployment to be repeatable and reviewable. Which approach should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse a VM snapshot (a backup artifact) with a deployment template, or think manual portal steps can be 'repeatable' if documented, but Azure explicitly tests the concept that only IaC (Bicep/ARM) ensures true repeatability and auditability from source control.
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
✓
A Bicep template in source control
Bicep is a domain-specific language (DSL) for deploying Azure resources declaratively. Storing a Bicep template in source control ensures the VM deployment is repeatable (same parameters produce identical infrastructure) and reviewable (changes are tracked via pull requests and commit history), meeting the team's requirements for infrastructure as code (IaC).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Manual portal deployment each month
Why it's wrong here
Manual portal deployment is hard to repeat exactly and is difficult to review in source control. It increases the chance of human error and makes it harder to track changes over time. It does not satisfy the requirement for consistent, versioned deployments.
When this WOULD be correct
For a one-time, ad-hoc deployment where speed is prioritized over repeatability and reviewability, such as quickly testing a configuration in a sandbox environment.
- ✓
A Bicep template in source control
Why this is correct
Bicep is an infrastructure-as-code language that is concise, readable, and well suited for Azure deployments. Storing the template in source control makes the deployment repeatable, auditable, and easy to modify over time. It is a strong choice when the team wants the same VM deployment every month.
- ✗
A temporary virtual machine snapshot
Why it's wrong here
A snapshot captures disk state for restore purposes, but it does not define or automate a repeatable deployment process. It is useful for backup and recovery, not for creating standardized infrastructure from source control each month.
When this WOULD be correct
If the question asked for a method to quickly restore a VM to a known state for testing or disaster recovery, a VM snapshot would be correct. For example: 'A team needs to revert a VM to a previous state after a failed update.'
- ✗
A network security group rule collection
Why it's wrong here
A network security group (NSG) rule collection is a traffic-filtering construct, not a deployment mechanism. It defines allowed or denied inbound/outbound flows based on source/destination IP, port, and protocol, but it cannot create virtual machines or specify the complete resource set required for a VM workload. Relying on an NSG rule collection to 'deploy' VMs is a category error: it neither provisions compute nor captures the OS image, virtual network, storage, or other dependencies that a Bicep template would declaratively orchestrate.
When this WOULD be correct
An exam question asks: 'You need to restrict inbound traffic to a subnet for all VMs. Which should you configure?' In that scenario, an NSG rule collection is the correct answer because it defines security rules to allow or deny network traffic.
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.
✓A Bicep template in source controlCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
Bicep is an infrastructure-as-code language that is concise, readable, and well suited for Azure deployments. Storing the template in source control makes the deployment repeatable, auditable, and easy to modify over time. It is a strong choice when the team wants the same VM deployment every month.
✗Manual portal deployment each monthWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Manual portal deployment is not repeatable, reviewable, or sourced from version control, failing the requirements for automation and auditability.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
For a one-time, ad-hoc deployment where speed is prioritized over repeatability and reviewability, such as quickly testing a configuration in a sandbox environment.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think manual deployment is simpler and sufficient for small-scale tasks, overlooking the need for repeatability and reviewability in a platform team context.
✗A temporary virtual machine snapshotWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A temporary virtual machine snapshot is used for backup or recovery, not for repeatable, reviewable deployments from source control. It does not support versioning or infrastructure-as-code practices.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question asked for a method to quickly restore a VM to a known state for testing or disaster recovery, a VM snapshot would be correct. For example: 'A team needs to revert a VM to a previous state after a failed update.'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think a snapshot can be stored and reused for monthly deployments, confusing it with a template or image that can be version-controlled.
✗A network security group rule collectionWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A network security group (NSG) rule collection controls traffic filtering, not VM deployment. It cannot deploy or manage VMs, so it fails to meet the requirement for repeatable and reviewable deployment from source control.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
An exam question asks: 'You need to restrict inbound traffic to a subnet for all VMs. Which should you configure?' In that scenario, an NSG rule collection is the correct answer because it defines security rules to allow or deny network traffic.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse NSG rule collections with deployment templates because both involve rules or definitions, or they might think NSG rules can automate VM provisioning due to the term 'collection' implying a set of resources.
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?”
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About these practice questions
This AZ-104 question is part of Courseiva's 1,049-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more way 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. An operations team wants to deploy the same set of Azure VMs every month from source control. The deployment should be readable, repeatable, and stored as code. What should they use?
easy- ✓ A.Bicep template
- B.Manual portal deployment
- C.Azure Advisor recommendation
- D.Azure Resource Explorer
Why A: Bicep is a domain-specific language (DSL) that uses declarative syntax to deploy Azure resources as code. It provides readability, repeatability, and version control integration, making it ideal for deploying the same set of VMs monthly from source control. Unlike ARM templates, Bicep offers cleaner syntax and modularity, but both are valid infrastructure-as-code solutions.
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.