A production VM must generate an alert when average CPU exceeds 80 percent for 10 minutes. The alert must be evaluated continuously, but email notifications should be suppressed outside 08:00 to 18:00 on weekdays. What should the administrator configure?

A log query alert only, with the query scheduled to run during business hours

This stops evaluation outside the schedule, which means the alert would not continue to monitor continuously.

A diagnostic setting that sends CPU logs to a storage account and a Logic App for email delivery

Diagnostic settings export telemetry, but they do not create threshold-based alerting logic on their own.

An action group with an email receiver and a virtual machine extension to pause the workload outside business hours

This changes workload behavior rather than suppressing notification delivery, and it does not satisfy the monitoring requirement.

What does this AZ-104 question test?

Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: A metric alert rule with an action group and an alert processing rule that suppresses actions outside business hours — A metric alert is the right signal because CPU percentage is a native Azure metric and should be evaluated continuously. An action group delivers the email, and an alert processing rule can suppress notifications during the excluded schedule while leaving the alert rule active. That separation is important: monitoring continues 24/7, but people are only notified during the approved business window. Why others are wrong: Option A prevents alert evaluation outside business hours, so it fails the continuous monitoring requirement. Option C is for telemetry export, not alert timing or notification control. Option D alters the VM itself instead of controlling alert delivery, and it does not address the required threshold logic or business-hour suppression.

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.