- A
Place the workload in a single VM with a premium SSD.
Why wrong: Incorrect. One VM is still a single point of failure and does not meet the availability requirement.
- B
Place both VMs in an availability set.
Correct. Availability sets are the standard option for protecting VMs from host and maintenance domain failures.
- C
Use availability zones across the region.
Why wrong: Incorrect. Zones are for datacenter-level resilience, which is more than this requirement asks for.
- D
Keep at least two running VMs in that availability set.
Correct. The application needs more than one VM so traffic can continue if one host or update domain is affected.
- E
Replicate the VMs to another region with Azure Site Recovery.
Why wrong: Incorrect. Site Recovery is a disaster recovery solution for regional failover, not the stated in-region platform-failure goal.
AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of deploy and manage azure compute. 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.
An application runs on two VMs in one Azure region. The business wants protection from a single hardware host failure and planned maintenance, but it does not require protection from an entire datacenter outage. Which two 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
Place both VMs in an availability set.
An availability set distributes VMs across multiple fault domains (hardware hosts) and update domains within a single Azure datacenter. This protects against a single hardware host failure and planned maintenance (update domains ensure VMs are not rebooted simultaneously during updates). Option B is correct because it provides this isolation without requiring protection from an entire datacenter outage.
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.
- ✗
Place the workload in a single VM with a premium SSD.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. One VM is still a single point of failure and does not meet the availability requirement.
- ✓
Place both VMs in an availability set.
Why this is correct
Correct. Availability sets are the standard option for protecting VMs from host and maintenance domain failures.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use availability zones across the region.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Zones are for datacenter-level resilience, which is more than this requirement asks for.
- ✓
Keep at least two running VMs in that availability set.
Why this is correct
Correct. The application needs more than one VM so traffic can continue if one host or update domain is affected.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Replicate the VMs to another region with Azure Site Recovery.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Site Recovery is a disaster recovery solution for regional failover, not the stated in-region platform-failure goal.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse availability zones (which protect against datacenter failure) with availability sets (which protect against host failure and maintenance), leading them to select option C when the requirement is only for host-level and maintenance protection.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
An availability set in Azure groups VMs into up to 3 fault domains (shared hardware) and up to 20 update domains (for planned maintenance). When VMs are placed in the same availability set, Azure ensures they are allocated to different fault domains, so a single hardware host failure only affects one VM. Update domains are sequenced so that only one update domain is rebooted at a time during Azure host maintenance, ensuring application availability. This is a cost-effective solution for high availability within a single datacenter, unlike availability zones which require cross-datacenter networking and may introduce additional latency.
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: Place both VMs in an availability set. — An availability set distributes VMs across multiple fault domains (hardware hosts) and update domains within a single Azure datacenter. This protects against a single hardware host failure and planned maintenance (update domains ensure VMs are not rebooted simultaneously during updates). Option B is correct because it provides this isolation without requiring protection from an entire datacenter outage.
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
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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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