AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✓

  Use file recovery from the backup point

  Why this is correct

  Use the built-in Azure Backup file recovery feature: navigate to the Recovery Services vault, select the VM's backup item, choose File Recovery, pick the recovery point that predates the deletion, and download a script that mounts a read-only copy of the VM's disk. This lets you browse the filesystem and retrieve the single deleted document without performing a full VM restore, minimizing downtime and saving compute resources. It is the most direct and sanctioned method for restoring individual files from an Azure VM backup point.

• ✓

  Mount the recovery point and copy the file back

  Why this is correct

  Mounting the recovery point manually and copying the file back is a valid alternative to the automated File Recovery workflow. You can obtain the iSCSI mount script or use Azure CLI/PowerShell to attach the recovery point as a drive on a Windows VM (or as a network share on Linux), then copy the deleted document to its original location. This achieves the same outcome with more manual control, but you must remember to cleanly unmount the recovery point afterward to release the temporary iSCSI connection and avoid leaving a mounted snapshot. Because it accesses the backup point directly without restoring the entire VM, this approach is correct for a single-file recovery.

• ✗

  Recreate the VM in another region

  Why it's wrong here

  Recreating the VM in another region is a region-level disaster recovery or migration action, not a file-level restore. You would need to export and copy the VM's managed disks or fail over a replica, which takes significant time and may produce a copy that was snapshot after the deletion, meaning it might not include the deleted document at all. It also requires recreating networking, public IPs, and other dependencies, so it is massively overkill for retrieving a single file and is not connected to the specific recovery point that holds the document.

  When this WOULD be correct

  If the question asked for recovering an entire VM after a regional disaster (e.g., primary region outage) and the backup was geo-redundant, then recreating the VM in another region from the backup would be appropriate.

• ✗

  Change the VM size

  Why it's wrong here

  Changing the VM size only modifies the virtual machine's allocated compute and memory resources; it does not access or interact with any backup recovery point. Resizing cannot rewind the filesystem, expose deleted files, or bring back a document that was removed from the OS disk. Moreover, a size change typically triggers a VM restart and may redeploy the VM to another host, causing unnecessary downtime and offering zero recovery benefit for a missing file.

  When this WOULD be correct

  A question asks how to improve performance for a VM that is consistently hitting CPU or memory limits, and the solution must involve resizing the VM to a larger SKU.

• ✗

  Disable the backup policy

  Why it's wrong here

  Disabling the backup policy stops all future backups and may cause the existing recovery points to expire or be retained depending on your configuration, so it does not create a way to retrieve the deleted document. In fact, if you disable protection and choose to keep backup data, the existing recovery point still exists but is not automatically mounted or exposed for file access, and if you choose to delete backup data, you risk permanently losing the only recovery point that contains your file. This action neither mounts nor restores anything, and it reduces or eliminates future protection, making it counterproductive.

  When this WOULD be correct

  If the question asked 'Which action should you take to stop incurring backup costs for a VM that is no longer needed?' then disabling the backup policy would be appropriate.

Option-by-option analysis

Why each answer is right or wrong

Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The AZ-104 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.

Analysis generated from the official AZ-104blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”

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