A route table on a subnet contains this user-defined route: - 0.0.0.0/0 -> Virtual appliance 10.0.0.4 The subnet is peered to another VNet with address space 10.2.0.0/16. A VM in the subnet sends traffic to 10.2.2.7, and Network Watcher shows the next hop as Virtual network peering instead of the appliance. What explains this result?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Distractor review
User-defined routes never apply to peered networks.
User-defined routes do apply to traffic in a subnet, but they can lose to a more specific route for the destination prefix.
Best answer
The peering route is more specific than the default route, so it is selected first.
Azure uses the longest-prefix match first. The destination 10.2.2.7 falls within the peered VNet prefix 10.2.0.0/16, which is more specific than 0.0.0.0/0. A default route to a virtual appliance does not override a more specific route. To force traffic to the appliance, you need a matching UDR for the peered address range, not only a catch-all default route.
Distractor review
NSG rules always override any route table entry.
NSGs filter traffic after routing decisions and do not determine the next hop. They cannot replace route selection behavior.
Distractor review
Peering only works when both VNets are in the same region.
VNet peering can be global, so the region does not explain the route selection result shown by Network Watcher.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: usable hosts are not the same as total addresses
Subnetting questions often tempt you into counting all addresses. In normal IPv4 subnets, the network and broadcast addresses are not usable host addresses.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
Subnetting questions test whether you can identify the network, broadcast address, usable range, mask and correct subnet. Slow down enough to calculate the block size correctly.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
- Block size helps identify subnet boundaries.
- Network and broadcast addresses are not usable hosts in normal IPv4 subnets.
- The required host count determines the smallest suitable subnet.
TExam Day Tips
- Write the block size before choosing the subnet.
- Check whether the question asks for hosts, subnets or a specific address range.
- Do not confuse /24, /25, /26 and /27 host counts.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A route table contains these entries: 10.0.0.0/8 with next hop Virtual appliance, and 10.1.1.0/24 with next hop Virtual network gateway. Which next hop will Azure use for traffic to 10.1.1.5?
Question 2
You are deploying a stateless web application on Azure virtual machines. The solution must automatically add and remove instances based on CPU demand and allow all instances to be managed as one logical group. Which Azure compute feature should you deploy?
Question 3
You are deploying a Windows Server VM for an internal app. The VM must support Secure Boot and vTPM later, its OS disk must survive host moves, and the team wants the lowest-cost managed disk tier that still behaves like a normal writable OS disk. Which two choices should you make? Select two.
Question 4
You need to deploy several identical virtual machines and ensure that the failure of a single Azure host does not affect all of them. Which feature should you use?
Question 5
You need to connect VNet-Hub and VNet-Spoke so that resources in both virtual networks can communicate privately over the Microsoft backbone. Both virtual networks are in the same region. What should you configure?
Question 6
You need to create a storage account that provides the lowest-cost redundant storage for non-critical data and only needs protection against local disk or server failure within a single datacenter. Which redundancy option should you choose?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-104 question test?
CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The peering route is more specific than the default route, so it is selected first. — Azure routing first applies the most specific prefix match. The UDR for 0.0.0.0/0 is a default route, while the peered VNet prefix 10.2.0.0/16 is much more specific. Because the destination falls inside that peered address space, Azure selects the peering route instead of the virtual appliance. If the goal is to send that traffic to the appliance, a more specific UDR for the 10.2.0.0/16 range is required. Why others are wrong: User-defined routes are valid for subnet traffic, but they do not beat a more specific destination prefix. NSGs are not route selection tools and do not determine the next hop. VNet peering is supported across regions, so same-region peering is not the issue here.
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.
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