- A
A diagnostic setting on the VM
Why wrong: Diagnostic settings send logs and metrics to a destination, but they do not create a threshold-based notification by themselves.
- B
A metric alert rule linked to an action group
A metric alert rule watches a platform metric such as CPU percentage and evaluates it against a threshold over time. Linking the alert to an action group lets Azure send the notification to the operations team by email or other channels when the condition is met.
- C
A Log Analytics workspace only
Why wrong: A Log Analytics workspace stores data for later analysis, but it does not notify people unless you also build an alert rule on top of it.
- D
An Azure Policy assignment
Why wrong: Azure Policy controls compliance and deployment behavior, not metric-based alerting or message delivery to an operations team.
AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of monitor and maintain azure resources. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A production VM is using too much CPU. You want Azure to notify the operations team by email when Average Percentage CPU stays above 80 percent for 5 minutes. What should you configure?
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 metric alert rule linked to an action group
A metric alert rule monitors a specific metric (e.g., Percentage CPU) and triggers when a condition (e.g., above 80% for 5 minutes) is met. Linking the alert to an action group allows Azure to send email notifications to the operations team. This is the correct Azure Monitor feature for threshold-based, metric-driven notifications.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
A diagnostic setting on the VM
Why it's wrong here
Diagnostic settings send logs and metrics to a destination, but they do not create a threshold-based notification by themselves.
- ✓
A metric alert rule linked to an action group
Why this is correct
A metric alert rule watches a platform metric such as CPU percentage and evaluates it against a threshold over time. Linking the alert to an action group lets Azure send the notification to the operations team by email or other channels when the condition is met.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
A Log Analytics workspace only
Why it's wrong here
A Log Analytics workspace stores data for later analysis, but it does not notify people unless you also build an alert rule on top of it.
- ✗
An Azure Policy assignment
Why it's wrong here
Azure Policy controls compliance and deployment behavior, not metric-based alerting or message delivery to an operations team.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse diagnostic settings (which only route data) with alert rules (which evaluate conditions and trigger actions), leading them to select Option A thinking it can send notifications directly.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Metric alert rules in Azure Monitor use a time-series aggregation (e.g., average over a 5-minute window) and evaluate the condition using a sliding window. The action group can include email, SMS, webhook, or ITSM actions; for email, Azure Monitor uses SMTP to send the notification. A real-world scenario: if the VM is running a CPU-intensive application, the alert can trigger an autoscale rule or a runbook to mitigate the issue before performance degrades.
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.
TExam Day Tips
- 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.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-104 question test?
Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources — This question tests Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: A metric alert rule linked to an action group — A metric alert rule monitors a specific metric (e.g., Percentage CPU) and triggers when a condition (e.g., above 80% for 5 minutes) is met. Linking the alert to an action group allows Azure to send email notifications to the operations team. This is the correct Azure Monitor feature for threshold-based, metric-driven notifications.
What should I do if I get this AZ-104 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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