The answer is an availability set. This is correct because an availability set logically groups your VMs and distributes them across multiple fault domains, which are essentially separate physical hosts with independent power and networking within an Azure datacenter. By placing your identical VMs into an availability set, you ensure that a single host failure only impacts the VMs within that one fault domain, leaving the rest of your application running. On the AZ-104 exam, this concept tests your understanding of high availability at the infrastructure layer, often appearing alongside questions about availability zones or scale sets. A common trap is confusing availability sets with availability zones—remember that sets protect against a single host failure within one datacenter, while zones protect against an entire datacenter failure. For a quick memory tip, think of an availability set as a "safety net" that spreads your VMs across different physical racks, so one broken rack doesn't take down your whole deployment.
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.
You need to deploy several identical virtual machines and ensure that the failure of a single Azure host does not affect all of them. Which feature should you use?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
An availability set
An availability set distributes virtual machines across multiple fault domains (physical hosts) and update domains within an Azure datacenter. By placing VMs in an availability set, you ensure that a failure of a single Azure host (fault domain) does not affect all VMs, as each VM is placed on a different physical host. This meets the requirement for isolation from a single host failure.
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.
✓
An availability set
Why this is correct
Availability sets distribute VMs across fault and update domains to improve resilience.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
A proximity placement group
Why it's wrong here
A proximity placement group optimizes for low latency rather than resilience.
✗
A private endpoint
Why it's wrong here
A private endpoint provides private connectivity to services, not VM resiliency.
✗
A custom script extension
Why it's wrong here
A custom script extension runs scripts on VMs and does not improve resilience.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse availability sets with availability zones, thinking zones are required for host failure isolation, but availability sets provide fault domain isolation within a single datacenter, which is sufficient for the stated requirement.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
An availability set logically groups VMs into up to three fault domains, each corresponding to a separate physical rack with independent power, cooling, and network. Azure guarantees that VMs in the same availability set are placed on different fault domains, so a hardware failure in one rack only impacts VMs in that fault domain. Additionally, update domains (up to 20) ensure that during planned maintenance, only one update domain is rebooted at a time, maintaining service availability.
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-104 question in full detail.
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: An availability set — An availability set distributes virtual machines across multiple fault domains (physical hosts) and update domains within an Azure datacenter. By placing VMs in an availability set, you ensure that a failure of a single Azure host (fault domain) does not affect all VMs, as each VM is placed on a different physical host. This meets the requirement for isolation from a single host failure.
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 →
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.