The answer is that a protected item can be recovered after accidental deletion within the default grace period of 14 days. This is correct because Azure Backup soft delete prevents immediate purging of deleted backup data, retaining it for a 14-day grace period during which the data remains recoverable, effectively protecting against accidental or malicious deletion. On the AZ-104 exam, this concept tests your understanding of data protection and recovery options within Recovery Services vaults; a common trap is assuming the grace period is 7 days or that soft delete applies to the vault itself rather than the backup items. Remember that the soft delete grace period is always 14 days by default, and you can re-enable protection during this window without data loss. A helpful memory tip: think of "14 days of safety" — like a two-week refund window for your backups.
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.
Which two statements about Azure Backup soft delete are correct? Select two.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Deleted backup data is retained for a grace period
Azure Backup soft delete ensures that deleted backup data is not immediately purged but retained for a default grace period of 14 days. This allows recovery of accidentally deleted backup items, such as Recovery Services vault backup data, without data loss. Option A is correct because the grace period is a core feature of soft delete.
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.
✓
Deleted backup data is retained for a grace period
Why this is correct
Soft delete keeps deleted backup data recoverable for a limited time window.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
A protected item can be recovered after accidental deletion within that period
Why this is correct
During the grace period, administrators can recover the deleted backup item.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
It permanently deletes backups immediately
Why it's wrong here
Immediate permanent deletion is the opposite of what soft delete is designed to prevent.
✗
It changes the VM to a different availability zone
Why it's wrong here
Soft delete is a vault protection setting, not a compute placement feature.
✗
It only applies to Azure Policy assignments
Why it's wrong here
Soft delete is part of Azure Backup protection, not Azure Policy governance.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse soft delete with immediate permanent deletion (Option C) or incorrectly associate it with unrelated Azure features like availability zones or Azure Policy, rather than recognizing it as a backup-specific retention mechanism.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Soft delete works by marking deleted backup data as 'soft-deleted' and retaining it for 14 days (configurable up to 14 days) in the Recovery Services vault. During this period, the backup data is invisible to normal operations but can be restored via the 'Undelete' option. This is critical in scenarios where an administrator accidentally deletes a backup policy or backup instance, preventing permanent data loss.
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: Deleted backup data is retained for a grace period — Azure Backup soft delete ensures that deleted backup data is not immediately purged but retained for a default grace period of 14 days. This allows recovery of accidentally deleted backup items, such as Recovery Services vault backup data, without data loss. Option A is correct because the grace period is a core feature of soft delete.
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 →
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Based on the exhibit, a backup administrator accidentally stopped protection for a critical VM and then deleted its backup item. The team wants Azure Backup to retain the deleted item long enough to recover it after the mistake is discovered the next day. What should be enabled on the vault?
medium
✓ A.Soft delete for backup data
B.A read-only resource lock on the VM
C.A network security group rule allowing port 445
D.Instant restore snapshots set to 30 days
Why A: Soft delete for backup data is the correct answer because it provides a safety net for accidentally deleted backup items. When enabled, Azure Backup retains deleted backup data for an additional 14 days (default) in a soft-deleted state, allowing administrators to recover the data before it is permanently purged. This directly addresses the scenario where protection was stopped and the backup item was deleted, as the data remains recoverable within the retention period.
Variation 2. An administrator accidentally stopped protection for a critical VM and then deleted its backup item. The mistake was discovered a day later, and the organization wants deleted backup data to remain recoverable for a grace period. Which feature should be enabled on the Recovery Services vault?
hard
✓ A.Soft delete on the Recovery Services vault.
B.An action group attached to the vault alerts.
C.Diagnostic settings that export vault events to Log Analytics.
D.Cross-region restore for the vault.
Why A: Soft delete on the Recovery Services vault provides a grace period (default 14 days) during which deleted backup data is retained in a soft-deleted state, allowing recovery even after a backup item is deleted. This feature is specifically designed to protect against accidental deletion, as it prevents permanent removal of backup data until the soft-delete period expires or is manually purged.
Variation 3. An administrator accidentally deletes a VM backup item from a Recovery Services vault. The company wants a built-in protection feature that helps recover the deleted backup item during the retention window. Which feature is this?
easy
A.Archive tier
B.Availability zones
C.Private endpoint
✓ D.Soft delete
Why D: Soft delete is a built-in protection feature for Azure Recovery Services vaults that preserves deleted backup data for an additional 14 days (default retention period) after deletion. When a backup item is accidentally deleted, soft delete retains the data in a 'soft deleted' state, allowing administrators to recover it within the retention window before permanent deletion occurs. This feature is enabled by default for new vaults and helps prevent data loss from accidental or malicious deletions.
Variation 4. Based on the exhibit, the VM backup item was accidentally deleted from the vault yesterday, but the VM itself still exists. What should you do to resume protection with the existing backup item?
medium
A.Delete the VM and recreate it so the backup can start again.
✓ B.Recover or undelete the backup item from the vault before the soft-delete retention expires.
C.Create a new action group so the vault can re-enable protection.
D.Disable diagnostic settings on the vault and then re-enable them.
Why B: Azure Backup uses soft-delete for backup items, which retains deleted backup data for 14 days by default. Since the backup item was accidentally deleted yesterday, it is still in the soft-delete state and can be recovered or undeleted from the vault before the retention period expires. Once recovered, protection can be resumed on the existing VM without data loss or reconfiguration.
Variation 5. The team accidentally stopped protection for a VM and deleted its backup data. They want Azure Backup to keep deleted backup items recoverable for a grace period so the item can be undeleted if needed. Which vault feature should be enabled?
medium
A.Instant restore
✓ B.Soft delete
C.A new backup policy
D.A private endpoint for the vault
Why B: Soft delete is the correct feature because it provides a grace period (default 14 days) during which deleted backup data is retained in a soft-deleted state. This allows administrators to recover (undelete) backup items that were accidentally deleted, including cases where protection was stopped and data was removed. Without soft delete, deleted backup data is permanently purged and cannot be recovered.
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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