The answer is to deploy the VMs across separate availability zones. This is the correct choice because availability zones are physically separate datacenters within an Azure region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking, ensuring that if one datacenter fails, the application remains available in the other zone. On the AZ-104 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of high-availability architecture, specifically the difference between zone-level and fault-domain-level protection; a common trap is confusing availability sets—which only protect against rack-level failures within a single datacenter—with availability zones, which guard against entire datacenter outages. Remember the memory tip: zones stop datacenter disasters, sets stop server rack splinters.
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.
Exhibit
Requirement note:
- ProductionApp must stay online during a single datacenter outage.
- Region: East US 2
- The region supports multiple availability zones.
- Two Windows VMs will host the app tier.
Based on the exhibit, which deployment choice should the administrator use to keep the application available if one datacenter in the Azure region fails?
Requirement note:
- ProductionApp must stay online during a single datacenter outage.
- Region: East US 2
- The region supports multiple availability zones.
- Two Windows VMs will host the app tier.
A
Place both VMs in the same availability set.
Why wrong: An availability set protects against host maintenance and hardware failure, but not a full datacenter outage.
B
Deploy the VMs across separate availability zones.
Availability zones place resources in physically separate datacenters within the region. If one datacenter fails, the other zone can continue serving traffic. This matches the requirement for surviving a single datacenter outage and is the preferred Azure design when zone support is available.
C
Use a proximity placement group for both VMs.
Why wrong: A proximity placement group improves latency by placing resources close together. It does not provide resilience against a datacenter failure.
D
Use a larger VM size for each virtual machine.
Why wrong: A larger VM size can improve performance, but it does not change the failure domain or add resilience.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Deploy the VMs across separate availability zones.
Availability zones are physically separate datacenters within an Azure region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking. Deploying VMs across separate availability zones ensures that if one datacenter fails, the application remains available in the other zone, providing resilience against datacenter-level failures.
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.
✗
Place both VMs in the same availability set.
Why it's wrong here
An availability set protects against host maintenance and hardware failure, but not a full datacenter outage.
✓
Deploy the VMs across separate availability zones.
Why this is correct
Availability zones place resources in physically separate datacenters within the region. If one datacenter fails, the other zone can continue serving traffic. This matches the requirement for surviving a single datacenter outage and is the preferred Azure design when zone support is available.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use a proximity placement group for both VMs.
Why it's wrong here
A proximity placement group improves latency by placing resources close together. It does not provide resilience against a datacenter failure.
✗
Use a larger VM size for each virtual machine.
Why it's wrong here
A larger VM size can improve performance, but it does not change the failure domain or add resilience.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse availability sets (which protect against rack failures) with availability zones (which protect against datacenter failures), leading them to incorrectly choose an availability set for datacenter-level resilience.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Availability zones are physically separate locations within an Azure region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking, and are connected through high-speed, private fiber-optic links. When deploying VMs across zones, Azure automatically distributes them to ensure no single point of failure at the datacenter level. In a real-world scenario, if a regional disaster affects one zone, the application continues to run in the other zone, but you must also consider data replication (e.g., managed disks with zone-redundant storage) to maintain data consistency.
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: Deploy the VMs across separate availability zones. — Availability zones are physically separate datacenters within an Azure region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking. Deploying VMs across separate availability zones ensures that if one datacenter fails, the application remains available in the other zone, providing resilience against datacenter-level failures.
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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Question Discussion
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