- A
An availability set with two VMs
Why wrong: An availability set protects against host update and fault domain issues, but it does not provide datacenter-level separation across zones.
- B
Availability zones for the two VMs
Availability zones are the right design when the business needs resiliency against a full datacenter or zone outage within a supported region. Placing the VMs in different zones keeps the application available if one zone has a failure, assuming the load balancer and application are designed accordingly.
- C
A single virtual machine scale set instance
Why wrong: A single instance scale set does not provide redundancy. If that instance fails, the application still goes down.
- D
A proximity placement group
Why wrong: A proximity placement group can improve latency by co-locating resources, but it is not a resiliency mechanism for zone or datacenter loss.
AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of deploy and manage azure compute. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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 public web application runs on two identical VMs behind a load balancer. The region supports availability zones. The business wants the app to keep serving traffic if one datacenter in the region becomes unavailable. What should the administrator use?
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
Availability zones for the two VMs
Option B is correct because deploying the two VMs in different availability zones within the same region protects against a single datacenter failure. Each availability zone is a physically separate datacenter with independent power, cooling, and networking. If one zone goes down, the load balancer automatically routes traffic to the VM in the other zone, ensuring the application continues serving traffic.
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.
- ✗
An availability set with two VMs
Why it's wrong here
An availability set protects against host update and fault domain issues, but it does not provide datacenter-level separation across zones.
- ✓
Availability zones for the two VMs
Why this is correct
Availability zones are the right design when the business needs resiliency against a full datacenter or zone outage within a supported region. Placing the VMs in different zones keeps the application available if one zone has a failure, assuming the load balancer and application are designed accordingly.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
A single virtual machine scale set instance
Why it's wrong here
A single instance scale set does not provide redundancy. If that instance fails, the application still goes down.
- ✗
A proximity placement group
Why it's wrong here
A proximity placement group can improve latency by co-locating resources, but it is not a resiliency mechanism for zone or datacenter loss.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is confusing an availability set (which protects against rack failures within a single datacenter) with availability zones (which protect against full datacenter outages), leading candidates to choose the cheaper but insufficient option A.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Availability zones are physically separate locations within an Azure region, each with independent infrastructure (power, cooling, networking). The load balancer uses health probes (e.g., TCP or HTTP) to detect zone failures and automatically reroute traffic to healthy VMs in other zones. In a real-world scenario, if a regional disaster affects one zone, the application remains available with zero manual intervention, achieving a 99.99% SLA when VMs are distributed across zones.
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?
Deploy and Manage Azure Compute — This question tests Deploy and Manage Azure Compute — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Availability zones for the two VMs — Option B is correct because deploying the two VMs in different availability zones within the same region protects against a single datacenter failure. Each availability zone is a physically separate datacenter with independent power, cooling, and networking. If one zone goes down, the load balancer automatically routes traffic to the VM in the other zone, ensuring the application continues serving traffic.
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
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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