- A
An availability set that places the VMs in separate fault and update domains.
Availability sets are designed for host-level resilience inside one datacenter. They spread VMs across fault domains and update domains, which helps reduce impact from hardware failures and planned maintenance. Because the requirement does not include surviving a full datacenter outage, an availability set is the right level of protection without the added complexity of zones.
- B
Availability zones with one VM in each zone.
Why wrong: Zones provide stronger protection than needed here and are aimed at datacenter-level failure scenarios.
- C
A virtual machine scale set in a single zone.
Why wrong: A VM scale set helps with identical instances and scaling, but it does not by itself address the stated availability design.
- D
A proximity placement group for both VMs.
Why wrong: Proximity placement groups are for low latency placement, not for reducing maintenance or host-failure impact.
AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of deploy and manage azure compute. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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.
Two legacy application VMs must survive planned maintenance and a single host failure. The vendor requires both VMs to stay in the same region, and a datacenter outage is not part of the requirement. What should the administrator use?
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 availability set that places the VMs in separate fault and update domains.
An availability set protects against planned maintenance and single host failures by placing VMs in separate fault domains (different physical hardware) and update domains (different maintenance windows). This ensures that during planned Azure maintenance, only one VM is rebooted at a time, and if a host fails, only VMs in that fault domain are affected. Since the requirement specifies a single host failure (not a datacenter outage) and both VMs must stay in the same region, an availability set is the correct choice.
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 that places the VMs in separate fault and update domains.
Why this is correct
Availability sets are designed for host-level resilience inside one datacenter. They spread VMs across fault domains and update domains, which helps reduce impact from hardware failures and planned maintenance. Because the requirement does not include surviving a full datacenter outage, an availability set is the right level of protection without the added complexity of zones.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Availability zones with one VM in each zone.
Why it's wrong here
Zones provide stronger protection than needed here and are aimed at datacenter-level failure scenarios.
When this WOULD be correct
If the requirement were to survive a full datacenter outage (e.g., due to a regional disaster) while keeping VMs in the same region, then availability zones with one VM in each zone would be correct. For example: 'Two VMs must remain available if an entire datacenter fails, but must stay within the same region.'
- ✗
A virtual machine scale set in a single zone.
Why it's wrong here
A VM scale set helps with identical instances and scaling, but it does not by itself address the stated availability design.
When this WOULD be correct
An administrator needs to deploy multiple identical VMs that automatically scale based on load, and high availability across zones is not required; a scale set in a single zone provides load balancing and scaling.
- ✗
A proximity placement group for both VMs.
Why it's wrong here
Proximity placement groups are for low latency placement, not for reducing maintenance or host-failure impact.
When this WOULD be correct
An administrator needs to minimize network latency between two VMs for a high-performance computing workload, and availability requirements are met by other means (e.g., application-level replication).
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 availability set that places the VMs in separate fault and update domains.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
Availability sets are designed for host-level resilience inside one datacenter. They spread VMs across fault domains and update domains, which helps reduce impact from hardware failures and planned maintenance. Because the requirement does not include surviving a full datacenter outage, an availability set is the right level of protection without the added complexity of zones.
✗Availability zones with one VM in each zone.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The requirement is to survive a single host failure, not a datacenter outage. Availability zones protect against datacenter failures, but placing one VM in each zone would not protect against a single host failure because each zone contains multiple hosts, and the VMs could still be on the same host within a zone.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the requirement were to survive a full datacenter outage (e.g., due to a regional disaster) while keeping VMs in the same region, then availability zones with one VM in each zone would be correct. For example: 'Two VMs must remain available if an entire datacenter fails, but must stay within the same region.'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'host failure' with 'datacenter failure' and think zones provide high availability for any failure, or they may assume that distributing VMs across zones automatically protects against host failures, not realizing that zones are for datacenter-level redundancy.
✗A virtual machine scale set in a single zone.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A virtual machine scale set in a single zone does not protect against a single host failure because all VMs could be on the same host; it also doesn't meet the requirement of exactly two legacy VMs with separate fault domains.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
An administrator needs to deploy multiple identical VMs that automatically scale based on load, and high availability across zones is not required; a scale set in a single zone provides load balancing and scaling.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think a scale set inherently provides high availability, but without multiple zones or fault domains, it doesn't protect against host failures.
✗A proximity placement group for both VMs.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A proximity placement group ensures low network latency between VMs but does not protect against planned maintenance or single host failure, as VMs can still be placed on the same host or fault domain.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
An administrator needs to minimize network latency between two VMs for a high-performance computing workload, and availability requirements are met by other means (e.g., application-level replication).
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse proximity placement groups with high availability solutions, thinking that placing VMs close together somehow provides redundancy.
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?”
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse availability zones (which protect against datacenter outages) with availability sets (which protect against host and rack failures), leading them to choose zones even though the requirement explicitly excludes a datacenter outage.
Trap categories for this question
Scenario analysis trap
Zones provide stronger protection than needed here and are aimed at datacenter-level failure scenarios.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
An availability set distributes VMs across up to three fault domains (each on separate racks with independent power, cooling, and network) and up to 20 update domains (each rebooted sequentially during planned maintenance). Under the hood, Azure assigns each VM in the set a fault domain ID and update domain ID, ensuring that no two VMs share the same fault domain unless explicitly configured. In a real-world scenario, if a legacy application requires both VMs to remain in the same region but cannot tolerate simultaneous reboots, an availability set with two VMs in separate fault and update domains guarantees at least one VM remains available during a host failure or maintenance event.
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.
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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: An availability set that places the VMs in separate fault and update domains. — An availability set protects against planned maintenance and single host failures by placing VMs in separate fault domains (different physical hardware) and update domains (different maintenance windows). This ensures that during planned Azure maintenance, only one VM is rebooted at a time, and if a host fails, only VMs in that fault domain are affected. Since the requirement specifies a single host failure (not a datacenter outage) and both VMs must stay in the same region, an availability set is the correct choice.
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 →
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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