AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question
An operations team maintains a hardened Windows base image that includes patch baseline settings and monitoring agents. They need to publish new versions, replicate the image to another region, and deploy future VMs from the same controlled image source. What should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse a simple snapshot or managed disk copy with the versioning, replication, and lifecycle management capabilities that only an Azure Compute Gallery provides.
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
✓
An Azure Compute Gallery image version.
An Azure Compute Gallery (formerly Shared Image Gallery) is the correct service for managing, versioning, replicating, and deploying custom Windows images across regions. It supports multiple image versions, regional replication, and allows you to deploy VMs from a controlled, hardened base image. Snapshots alone lack versioning and cross-region replication capabilities.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
A snapshot of the generalized OS disk.
Why it's wrong here
A snapshot of a generalized OS disk captures a single point-in-time state of one managed disk. While a snapshot can be used to create a new disk or VM, it lacks the versioned, multi-region, multi-resource image management features of Compute Gallery. Snapshots cannot bundle an OS disk and data disks together, do not support replication across regions, and have no concept of image definitions or version lineage.
When this WOULD be correct
A snapshot would be correct if the question asked for a one-time backup of a generalized VM disk to be used for creating a single VM in the same region, without need for versioning, replication, or sharing across teams.
- ✓
An Azure Compute Gallery image version.
Why this is correct
A Compute Gallery image version is the correct mechanism because it stores a fully generalized VM image as a managed, versioned resource. This lets you maintain multiple versions (e.g., quarterly patch baselines), replicate them to other Azure regions for faster or resilient deployment, and use any version as the source for thousands of identical VMs. It provides controlled rollback and a standardized, repeatable image distribution pipeline.
- ✗
A VM extension on an existing VM.
Why it's wrong here
A VM extension is a small agent or script that runs on an already-provisioned VM to perform post-deployment tasks such as installing software, applying security baselines, or running a custom script. Extensions modify a live instance and do not encapsulate the entire OS disk or boot state, so they cannot be used as a reusable image source to create new VMs. They solve configuration drift, not image distribution.
When this WOULD be correct
When the question asks how to install monitoring agents or apply patch configurations to existing VMs without modifying the base image, a VM extension would be the correct answer.
- ✗
An availability set for the image resources.
Why it's wrong here
An availability set is a VM placement construct that spreads virtual machines across fault domains and update domains to protect against Azure hardware failures and planned maintenance. It has no role in capturing, versioning, or replicating an OS image, and it cannot be used as a source for creating new VMs. Image resources themselves are not placed inside availability sets—only running VMs are.
When this WOULD be correct
When the question asks for a way to ensure high availability of a multi-VM application by distributing VMs across isolated hardware within a single region, an availability set would be the correct answer.
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.
✓An Azure Compute Gallery image version.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
A Compute Gallery image version is the correct mechanism because it stores a fully generalized VM image as a managed, versioned resource. This lets you maintain multiple versions (e.g., quarterly patch baselines), replicate them to other Azure regions for faster or resilient deployment, and use any version as the source for thousands of identical VMs. It provides controlled rollback and a standardized, repeatable image distribution pipeline.
✗A snapshot of the generalized OS disk.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A snapshot of the generalized OS disk does not support replication to another region or centralized version management for publishing new image versions. Azure Compute Gallery is required for multi-region replication and controlled image versioning.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A snapshot would be correct if the question asked for a one-time backup of a generalized VM disk to be used for creating a single VM in the same region, without need for versioning, replication, or sharing across teams.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think a snapshot is sufficient because it captures the disk state, but they overlook the need for replication and version management, which are not features of snapshots.
✗A VM extension on an existing VM.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A VM extension is used to configure software or agents on an existing VM, not to publish, replicate, or deploy new VM images from a controlled source.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
When the question asks how to install monitoring agents or apply patch configurations to existing VMs without modifying the base image, a VM extension would be the correct answer.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse VM extensions with the ability to manage image configurations, thinking extensions can be used to enforce settings on new VMs from a base image.
✗An availability set for the image resources.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
An availability set is used to distribute VMs across fault and update domains for high availability, not for managing, versioning, or replicating custom images across regions.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
When the question asks for a way to ensure high availability of a multi-VM application by distributing VMs across isolated hardware within a single region, an availability set would be the correct answer.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse availability sets with replication or distribution capabilities, thinking that 'availability' implies making the image available in multiple regions.
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?”
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Managed Identities for Azure Resources
Key term
Cross-Region Replication
Cross-Region Replication is the automated copying of data from a storage bucket in one geographic region to a bucket in a different geographic region for disaster recovery, compliance, or lower latency access.
Key term
Replication
Replication is the process of copying and synchronizing data across multiple servers or storage devices to ensure availability, reliability, and fault tolerance.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.