AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question
An operations team wants to know when Azure marks a specific storage account unhealthy because of a regional platform issue. They do not want to depend on a custom metric, a Log Analytics query, or any polling script. What should they create?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse resource health alerts with activity log alerts or metric alerts, mistakenly thinking that monitoring operational metrics or logging errors can detect platform-level unavailability, when in fact resource health alerts are the only native, dependency-free mechanism for this specific scenario.
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
✓
A resource health alert for the storage account
A resource health alert is the correct choice because it directly monitors the health of a specific Azure resource, such as a storage account, and triggers when Azure detects a platform-level issue that marks the resource as unhealthy. This alert does not require custom metrics, Log Analytics queries, or polling scripts, aligning perfectly with the team's requirement to avoid those dependencies. Resource health alerts are designed to notify you of service-impacting events originating from the Azure platform, not from your own configuration or usage patterns.
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 metric alert on storage capacity because platform issues always reduce capacity first
Why it's wrong here
The Storage Capacity metric measures the total amount of data stored by your account, which reflects customer usage, not Azure service availability. A platform problem does not inherently change capacity, and capacity can be low or high regardless of health. Even if you set a threshold, it would never tell you that Azure has marked the resource unhealthy; it only tracks a completely different signal.
When this WOULD be correct
A metric alert on storage capacity would be correct if the question asked for a way to be notified when storage usage exceeds a threshold (e.g., 80% capacity) to plan for scaling or cleanup.
- ✓
A resource health alert for the storage account
Why this is correct
Azure Resource Health provides a rolling health signal for a specific resource, such as a storage account, and explicitly reports when the Azure platform declares it unhealthy due to outages or degradation. This alert directly matches the requirement to be notified the moment Azure marks the resource unhealthy, without depending on customer-generated metrics or log ingestion. Resource Health is the authoritative, event-driven source for this exact status.
- ✗
A log alert that searches AzureDiagnostics for unavailable status codes
Why it's wrong here
This approach relies on AzureDiagnostics logs being generated, ingested into a Log Analytics workspace, and then matched by a scheduled query, all of which introduces significant delay and potential for missed events. Unavailable status codes such as 503 or 500 can result from client-side throttling, authentication issues, or transient application errors, not necessarily from Azure declaring the resource unhealthy. The requirement explicitly seeks to avoid dependency on logs and query timing, and Resource Health gives a direct platform status instead.
When this WOULD be correct
A log alert would be correct if the question allowed using Log Analytics and required detecting specific error codes (e.g., 503) from storage account logs, without needing real-time resource health status.
- ✗
An activity log alert on every write operation to the storage account
Why it's wrong here
An activity log alert on write operations would fire on every control-plane change to the storage account, such as updating tags, rotating keys, or modifying networking rules, creating excessive noise while providing no indication of Azure's declared health. The activity log records configuration and management operations, not the platform's real-time health assessments. A write operation can occur during an outage just as easily, and the alert would never specifically capture the moment Azure marks the resource unhealthy.
When this WOULD be correct
This would be correct if the question asked for a way to be notified whenever a specific administrative operation (e.g., a write to the storage account) occurs, such as for auditing or compliance purposes, without using custom metrics or queries.
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.
✓A resource health alert for the storage accountCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
Azure Resource Health provides a rolling health signal for a specific resource, such as a storage account, and explicitly reports when the Azure platform declares it unhealthy due to outages or degradation. This alert directly matches the requirement to be notified the moment Azure marks the resource unhealthy, without depending on customer-generated metrics or log ingestion. Resource Health is the authoritative, event-driven source for this exact status.
✗A metric alert on storage capacity because platform issues always reduce capacity firstWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Storage capacity alerts do not indicate platform-level health; a regional platform issue may not affect capacity, and capacity reduction is not a reliable indicator of service unavailability.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A metric alert on storage capacity would be correct if the question asked for a way to be notified when storage usage exceeds a threshold (e.g., 80% capacity) to plan for scaling or cleanup.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may incorrectly assume that platform issues always manifest as capacity changes, or they may confuse capacity metrics with health metrics.
✗A log alert that searches AzureDiagnostics for unavailable status codesWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The question explicitly states the team does not want to depend on a Log Analytics query or any polling script. A log alert on AzureDiagnostics requires a Log Analytics workspace and query, violating this constraint.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A log alert would be correct if the question allowed using Log Analytics and required detecting specific error codes (e.g., 503) from storage account logs, without needing real-time resource health status.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think log alerts are the most direct way to detect unhealthy status codes, overlooking the requirement to avoid Log Analytics queries and the simpler Resource Health alert option.
✗An activity log alert on every write operation to the storage accountWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
An activity log alert on every write operation would notify on each write, not on platform-level health issues. It does not detect regional platform unavailability and would generate excessive noise.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This would be correct if the question asked for a way to be notified whenever a specific administrative operation (e.g., a write to the storage account) occurs, such as for auditing or compliance purposes, without using custom metrics or queries.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that monitoring all write operations will capture any failure, but they overlook that platform health issues are not write operations and that this alert would be too granular and noisy.
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
Storage account
A cloud storage account is a container that holds a set of cloud storage services and their data, providing a unique namespace and access policies for storing and managing unstructured data.
Key term
Azure resource
An Azure resource is a manageable item available through Microsoft Azure, such as a virtual machine, database, or web app.
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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.