AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of monitor and maintain azure resources. 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.
Exhibit
Azure Backup recovery point
---------------------------
Protected item: win-file01
Restore points available: 2026-04-25 23:00, 2026-04-26 23:00
Recovery option selected in portal: Restore virtual machine
User impact: One file missing at C:\Data\Reports\April.xlsx
Goal: Recover only the deleted file
Based on the exhibit, a user deleted one file from a Windows Azure VM. The VM is still running, and the administrator wants to restore only that file instead of recovering the full machine. Which restore approach should be used?
Exhibit
Azure Backup recovery point
---------------------------
Protected item: win-file01
Restore points available: 2026-04-25 23:00, 2026-04-26 23:00
Recovery option selected in portal: Restore virtual machine
User impact: One file missing at C:\Data\Reports\April.xlsx
Goal: Recover only the deleted file
A
Use the VM restore option and overwrite the entire VM.
Why wrong: A full VM restore would bring back the whole server and is unnecessary when only a single file is missing.
B
Mount the recovery point and copy the file back to the VM.
Azure Backup supports file-level recovery by mounting the recovery point so you can browse the backup content and copy back only the missing file. This minimizes impact and avoids replacing the entire VM.
C
Increase the VM size and redeploy the workload.
Why wrong: Resizing the VM does not recover deleted data. It only changes compute capacity.
D
Enable a diagnostic setting on the VM and recover the file from logs.
Why wrong: Diagnostic logs are not a data recovery mechanism. They may help with investigation, but they cannot restore the deleted file.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Mount the recovery point and copy the file back to the VM.
Option B is correct because Azure VM backup allows you to mount a recovery point as a disk on another VM or the same VM, enabling file-level restore without overwriting the entire VM. This approach uses the 'File Recovery' feature of Azure Backup, which presents the recovery point as an iSCSI target that can be mounted and browsed to copy individual files back to the running VM.
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.
✗
Use the VM restore option and overwrite the entire VM.
Why it's wrong here
A full VM restore would bring back the whole server and is unnecessary when only a single file is missing.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question asked for recovering a VM after a catastrophic failure where the entire VM is corrupted or unavailable, and the goal is to restore the full machine to a previous state.
✓
Mount the recovery point and copy the file back to the VM.
Why this is correct
Azure Backup supports file-level recovery by mounting the recovery point so you can browse the backup content and copy back only the missing file. This minimizes impact and avoids replacing the entire VM.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Increase the VM size and redeploy the workload.
Why it's wrong here
Resizing the VM does not recover deleted data. It only changes compute capacity.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question asked how to resolve performance issues due to insufficient resources (e.g., CPU or memory) and redeploy the workload to take advantage of the new size.
✗
Enable a diagnostic setting on the VM and recover the file from logs.
Why it's wrong here
Diagnostic logs are not a data recovery mechanism. They may help with investigation, but they cannot restore the deleted file.
When this WOULD be correct
If the question asked how to collect and analyze VM performance metrics or application logs for troubleshooting, enabling diagnostic settings would be correct.
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.
✓Mount the recovery point and copy the file back to the VM.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
Azure Backup supports file-level recovery by mounting the recovery point so you can browse the backup content and copy back only the missing file. This minimizes impact and avoids replacing the entire VM.
✗Use the VM restore option and overwrite the entire VM.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The VM restore option overwrites the entire VM, which is not suitable for restoring a single file without affecting other data or the running state.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question asked for recovering a VM after a catastrophic failure where the entire VM is corrupted or unavailable, and the goal is to restore the full machine to a previous state.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that VM restore is the only way to recover data from a backup, not realizing that file-level restore is possible by mounting the recovery point.
✗Increase the VM size and redeploy the workload.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Increasing VM size and redeploying the workload does not restore a deleted file; it only changes the VM's hardware resources and re-deploys the application, which does not recover the deleted file from a backup.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question asked how to resolve performance issues due to insufficient resources (e.g., CPU or memory) and redeploy the workload to take advantage of the new size.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may mistakenly think that redeploying the workload after resizing the VM will restore the original state, confusing infrastructure changes with data recovery.
✗Enable a diagnostic setting on the VM and recover the file from logs.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Diagnostic settings capture performance and log data, not file-level restore points. They cannot be used to recover a specific deleted file from a VM.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question asked how to collect and analyze VM performance metrics or application logs for troubleshooting, enabling diagnostic settings would be correct.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse diagnostic logs with backup data, thinking logs contain file contents or can be used for file recovery.
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 may assume file-level recovery requires restoring the entire VM (Option A) or confuse diagnostic logs with backup data (Option D), not realizing that Azure Backup's mount-and-copy feature is specifically designed for granular file recovery from a running VM.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Backup's file-level recovery works by creating a temporary iSCSI target from a recovery point snapshot, which you mount to the VM using the provided script (e.g., 'mount_windows_azure_uri.ps1'). The mounted disk is read-only and exposes the file system at the point-in-time of the backup, allowing you to copy the deleted file back to the original location. This process does not require stopping the VM and leverages the Azure Backup Vault's underlying blob snapshots.
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.
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: Mount the recovery point and copy the file back to the VM. — Option B is correct because Azure VM backup allows you to mount a recovery point as a disk on another VM or the same VM, enabling file-level restore without overwriting the entire VM. This approach uses the 'File Recovery' feature of Azure Backup, which presents the recovery point as an iSCSI target that can be mounted and browsed to copy individual files back to the running VM.
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.