- A
Create a diagnostic setting on the scale set and build a log query alert for CPU samples.
Why wrong: This sends or queries data after ingestion and is unnecessary for a native CPU threshold.
- B
Create an Azure Monitor metric alert on the scale set CPU metric and attach an action group.
Metric alerts evaluate platform metrics directly, so no extra log ingestion is needed. An action group is the correct notification mechanism for email, webhook, SMS, or other responses. This design is the lowest-overhead way to detect sustained CPU pressure on a VM scale set and notify operators quickly.
- C
Configure an autoscale rule and rely on its notification settings for alerting.
Why wrong: Autoscale can react to load, but it is not the best fit for a dedicated operational alert requirement.
- D
Install a monitoring extension that writes CPU readings to storage for later review.
Why wrong: Writing custom CPU samples to storage adds management overhead and does not provide native Azure alerting behavior.
AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of monitor and maintain azure resources. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 operations team manages an Azure virtual machine scale set that hosts a stateless API. They already collect guest logs in Log Analytics, but they do not want to ingest extra performance data just to watch CPU. They need an alert when average CPU across the scale set stays above 80% for 10 minutes, and the notification must support email and a webhook. What should they configure?
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
Create an Azure Monitor metric alert on the scale set CPU metric and attach an action group.
Option B is correct because Azure Monitor metric alerts can directly evaluate the 'Percentage CPU' metric from a virtual machine scale set without ingesting additional performance data into Log Analytics. By setting the aggregation to 'Average' and the threshold to 80% for a duration of 10 minutes, the alert triggers when the condition is met. An action group attached to the alert can send notifications via email and webhook simultaneously, meeting all requirements without extra data ingestion.
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 diagnostic setting on the scale set and build a log query alert for CPU samples.
Why it's wrong here
This sends or queries data after ingestion and is unnecessary for a native CPU threshold.
- ✓
Create an Azure Monitor metric alert on the scale set CPU metric and attach an action group.
Why this is correct
Metric alerts evaluate platform metrics directly, so no extra log ingestion is needed. An action group is the correct notification mechanism for email, webhook, SMS, or other responses. This design is the lowest-overhead way to detect sustained CPU pressure on a VM scale set and notify operators quickly.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Configure an autoscale rule and rely on its notification settings for alerting.
Why it's wrong here
Autoscale can react to load, but it is not the best fit for a dedicated operational alert requirement.
- ✗
Install a monitoring extension that writes CPU readings to storage for later review.
Why it's wrong here
Writing custom CPU samples to storage adds management overhead and does not provide native Azure alerting behavior.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse metric alerts with log query alerts, assuming CPU monitoring requires Log Analytics ingestion, when in fact platform metrics are available natively and can be alerted on directly without extra data collection.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Monitor metric alerts use a time-series database that stores platform-level metrics (like Percentage CPU) at 1-minute granularity for up to 93 days, enabling evaluation of rolling windows (e.g., 10 minutes) without additional cost. The alert rule evaluates the average CPU across all instances in the scale set by aggregating the metric over the specified window, and when the condition is met, it fires the action group, which can invoke an Azure Function or Logic App via webhook for custom remediation. A real-world scenario is a stateless API that must maintain responsiveness; a metric alert can trigger an autoscale rule or notify an on-call engineer without the overhead of log ingestion.
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
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
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: Create an Azure Monitor metric alert on the scale set CPU metric and attach an action group. — Option B is correct because Azure Monitor metric alerts can directly evaluate the 'Percentage CPU' metric from a virtual machine scale set without ingesting additional performance data into Log Analytics. By setting the aggregation to 'Average' and the threshold to 80% for a duration of 10 minutes, the alert triggers when the condition is met. An action group attached to the alert can send notifications via email and webhook simultaneously, meeting all requirements without extra data ingestion.
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
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