- A
Create a new Recovery Services vault and enable backup again with the longer retention period.
Why wrong: That would be unnecessary and disruptive because the existing protected item can keep using the same vault and policy.
- B
Edit the existing backup policy and change the daily retention for future recovery points.
Backup retention is controlled by the backup policy attached to the protected VM. Updating the policy to retain daily recovery points for 90 days changes how future backups are kept without re-registering the workload or creating a new vault. Existing recovery points keep their original retention behavior, while newly created recovery points follow the updated rule. This is the normal, low-impact administrative change.
- C
Take nightly managed disk snapshots because snapshots automatically inherit the Recovery Services vault retention period.
Why wrong: Snapshots are separate from Azure Backup policies and do not automatically inherit vault retention settings.
- D
Change the vault redundancy setting to increase the number of retained recovery points.
Why wrong: Vault redundancy affects data protection geography, not how many days backups are retained.
AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of monitor and maintain azure resources. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 virtual machine is already protected by Azure Backup. The current policy runs daily at 23:00 and keeps daily recovery points for 30 days. The business now wants the same schedule but wants new daily recovery points retained for 90 days. No new vault or re-registration should occur. What should the administrator do?
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
Edit the existing backup policy and change the daily retention for future recovery points.
Option B is correct because Azure Backup allows you to modify an existing backup policy to change the retention duration for future recovery points without creating a new vault or re-registering the VM. By editing the policy and setting the daily retention to 90 days, all new daily recovery points will be retained for the longer period, while existing recovery points remain unaffected by the change.
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.
- ✗
Create a new Recovery Services vault and enable backup again with the longer retention period.
Why it's wrong here
That would be unnecessary and disruptive because the existing protected item can keep using the same vault and policy.
- ✓
Edit the existing backup policy and change the daily retention for future recovery points.
Why this is correct
Backup retention is controlled by the backup policy attached to the protected VM. Updating the policy to retain daily recovery points for 90 days changes how future backups are kept without re-registering the workload or creating a new vault. Existing recovery points keep their original retention behavior, while newly created recovery points follow the updated rule. This is the normal, low-impact administrative change.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Take nightly managed disk snapshots because snapshots automatically inherit the Recovery Services vault retention period.
Why it's wrong here
Snapshots are separate from Azure Backup policies and do not automatically inherit vault retention settings.
- ✗
Change the vault redundancy setting to increase the number of retained recovery points.
Why it's wrong here
Vault redundancy affects data protection geography, not how many days backups are retained.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse vault redundancy settings with retention duration, or assume that a new vault is required to change retention, when in fact Azure Backup policies can be edited in place to adjust retention for future recovery points.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Backup policies define both the backup schedule and retention rules for recovery points. When you edit an existing policy, the new retention settings apply only to future backups; previously created recovery points retain their original retention duration until they expire. This allows for a seamless transition without disrupting existing protected items. In real-world scenarios, this is critical for compliance changes where historical data must be kept for a different period than new data.
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
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-104 question test?
Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources — This question tests Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Edit the existing backup policy and change the daily retention for future recovery points. — Option B is correct because Azure Backup allows you to modify an existing backup policy to change the retention duration for future recovery points without creating a new vault or re-registering the VM. By editing the policy and setting the daily retention to 90 days, all new daily recovery points will be retained for the longer period, while existing recovery points remain unaffected by the change.
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.
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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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