- A
Deploy the application on a virtual machine scale set.
Correct. A VM scale set supports adding and removing identical instances automatically as demand changes.
- B
Configure the deployment to use availability zones.
Correct. Availability zones place instances in separate datacenters within the region for better outage resilience.
- C
Use a single availability set with one VM to reduce complexity.
Why wrong: Incorrect. A single VM cannot scale out and remains a single point of failure.
- D
Use a proximity placement group for the workload.
Why wrong: Incorrect. Proximity placement groups improve latency locality, but they do not provide zone resilience or autoscale.
- E
Deploy one larger VM with a premium SSD instead of multiple instances.
Why wrong: Incorrect. One larger VM still leaves a single instance failure risk and cannot absorb datacenter loss by itself.
AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of deploy and manage azure compute. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 stateless application must keep serving traffic if one datacenter in the region fails, and it must also add or remove instances during daily load spikes. Which two deployment choices should the administrator make? Select two.
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
Deploy the application on a virtual machine scale set.
A virtual machine scale set (VMSS) allows automatic scaling of instances in response to load spikes, meeting the requirement to add or remove instances dynamically. Combined with availability zones, which distribute instances across physically separate datacenters within a region, the application remains available even if one entire datacenter fails. This pair ensures both high availability and elastic scaling for a stateless application.
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.
- ✓
Deploy the application on a virtual machine scale set.
Why this is correct
Correct. A VM scale set supports adding and removing identical instances automatically as demand changes.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✓
Configure the deployment to use availability zones.
Why this is correct
Correct. Availability zones place instances in separate datacenters within the region for better outage resilience.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use a single availability set with one VM to reduce complexity.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. A single VM cannot scale out and remains a single point of failure.
- ✗
Use a proximity placement group for the workload.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Proximity placement groups improve latency locality, but they do not provide zone resilience or autoscale.
- ✗
Deploy one larger VM with a premium SSD instead of multiple instances.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. One larger VM still leaves a single instance failure risk and cannot absorb datacenter loss by itself.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse availability sets (which protect against rack-level failures within a single datacenter) with availability zones (which protect against entire datacenter failures), leading them to pick a single availability set as sufficient for datacenter failure resilience.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Availability zones are physically separate locations within an Azure region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking. A VMSS configured across zones uses a fault domain count of up to 3 (one per zone), ensuring that a zonal failure affects only a subset of instances. The VMSS autoscale feature uses metrics like CPU or memory thresholds to trigger scale-out or scale-in operations, leveraging the Azure Monitor autoscale engine to adjust instance counts within seconds of threshold breaches.
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.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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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: Deploy the application on a virtual machine scale set. — A virtual machine scale set (VMSS) allows automatic scaling of instances in response to load spikes, meeting the requirement to add or remove instances dynamically. Combined with availability zones, which distribute instances across physically separate datacenters within a region, the application remains available even if one entire datacenter fails. This pair ensures both high availability and elastic scaling for a stateless application.
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
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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