Question 1hardmulti select
Full question →hardmulti selectObjective-mapped
A scheduled script runs on several Azure VMs. The VMs are rebuilt often, and the script must always use the same Azure identity across every rebuild without storing secrets on disk. Which two steps should the administrator take? Select two.
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.
A
Best answer
Create a user-assigned managed identity.
Correct. A user-assigned managed identity is independent of any one VM and can outlive rebuilds.
B
Best answer
Assign that user-assigned identity to each VM that runs the script.
Correct. The same identity can be attached to multiple VMs, so the script keeps a stable identity.
C
Distractor review
Use a system-assigned managed identity on one VM and clone it.
Incorrect. System-assigned identities are tied to one VM lifecycle and are not reusable across rebuilds.
D
Distractor review
Store a service principal secret in the script configuration.
Incorrect. Storing secrets on disk violates the requirement and creates a credential management burden.
E
Distractor review
Use a shared access signature to authenticate to Azure Resource Manager.
Incorrect. SAS is for storage access scenarios, not for authenticating to Azure management APIs.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
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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?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create a user-assigned managed identity. — The requirement is for an identity that survives VM replacement and can be reused across several machines. A user-assigned managed identity fits because it is created as a standalone Azure resource and can be attached to any eligible VM. By assigning the same identity to each rebuilt VM, the automation keeps working without embedding passwords, certificates, or client secrets in the guest OS. Why others are wrong: A system-assigned identity is bound to one VM and disappears with that resource, so it cannot satisfy reuse across rebuilds. Secrets on disk are explicitly disallowed. A SAS token is not the right authentication model for Azure Resource Manager and would not solve the identity persistence requirement.
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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