- A
Create a Log Analytics query alert on the Activity log and manually notify the on-call team.
Why wrong: Log Analytics query alerts are useful for custom log patterns, but CPU percentage is a native metric and the Activity log does not track VM performance.
- B
Create an Azure Monitor metric alert rule at the resource-group scope and attach an action group.
A metric alert is the right tool for CPU thresholds, and an action group provides the email and SMS notifications. Scoping the alert to the resource group ensures all current VMs are covered without configuring each VM separately.
- C
Export VM diagnostics to a storage account and have operators review the files after each incident.
Why wrong: Storage exports help with troubleshooting after the fact, but they do not create an automated alert or notification path for a threshold breach.
- D
Create a resource lock on the VMs and use Azure Policy to notify the team about CPU spikes.
Why wrong: Locks prevent changes and Azure Policy enforces compliance; neither one is designed to detect runtime CPU conditions or send incident alerts.
Quick Answer
The correct answer is to create an Azure Monitor metric alert rule at the resource-group scope and attach an action group. This works because a metric alert at the resource-group level can monitor the 'Percentage CPU' metric across all VMs in that group simultaneously, using a fixed aggregation window of 10 minutes to evaluate when the average CPU exceeds 80%. The attached action group then handles the email and SMS notifications to the on-call team, fulfilling every requirement with a single, efficient rule. On the AZ-104 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of scoping alerts to resource groups rather than individual VMs, which is a common trap—many candidates mistakenly create separate alerts per VM, wasting time and resources. The key memory tip is "scope saves time": always check if the alert condition applies to all resources in a group, and if so, set the scope at the resource-group level to avoid redundant configurations.
AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of monitor and maintain azure resources. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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.
The operations team manages several Azure VMs in one resource group. They need an alert whenever average CPU percentage on any VM in the group stays above 80% for 10 minutes, and the alert must send email and SMS to the on-call team. What should the administrator configure?
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
Create an Azure Monitor metric alert rule at the resource-group scope and attach an action group.
Option B is correct because Azure Monitor metric alerts can be created at the resource-group scope, which allows a single alert rule to monitor the 'Percentage CPU' metric across all VMs in that group. The alert triggers when the average CPU stays above 80% for 10 minutes (evaluated using a fixed aggregation window). An action group attached to the alert rule sends email and SMS notifications to the on-call team, meeting all requirements without manual intervention.
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.
- ✗
Create a Log Analytics query alert on the Activity log and manually notify the on-call team.
- ✓
Create an Azure Monitor metric alert rule at the resource-group scope and attach an action group.
Why this is correct
A metric alert is the right tool for CPU thresholds, and an action group provides the email and SMS notifications. Scoping the alert to the resource group ensures all current VMs are covered without configuring each VM separately.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Export VM diagnostics to a storage account and have operators review the files after each incident.
Why it's wrong here
Storage exports help with troubleshooting after the fact, but they do not create an automated alert or notification path for a threshold breach.
- ✗
Create a resource lock on the VMs and use Azure Policy to notify the team about CPU spikes.
Why it's wrong here
Locks prevent changes and Azure Policy enforces compliance; neither one is designed to detect runtime CPU conditions or send incident alerts.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may think a metric alert must be created per individual VM, but Azure Monitor supports resource-group scoped metric alerts that apply to all resources of the same type within that scope, simplifying management while still meeting the requirement.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Monitor metric alerts use a time-series evaluation engine that aggregates the 'Percentage CPU' metric over a 10-minute window using the 'Average' aggregation type. The alert rule at resource-group scope implicitly applies to all VMs in that group, and when the threshold is breached, it fires a single alert (not per-VM) unless configured with 'Evaluate on every instance' to generate individual alerts. In real-world scenarios, this approach reduces alert rule management overhead compared to creating separate rules per VM, but note that the action group can include multiple notification channels (email, SMS, webhook) with throttling to prevent alert fatigue.
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
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-104 question test?
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: Create an Azure Monitor metric alert rule at the resource-group scope and attach an action group. — Option B is correct because Azure Monitor metric alerts can be created at the resource-group scope, which allows a single alert rule to monitor the 'Percentage CPU' metric across all VMs in that group. The alert triggers when the average CPU stays above 80% for 10 minutes (evaluated using a fixed aggregation window). An action group attached to the alert rule sends email and SMS notifications to the on-call team, meeting all requirements without manual intervention.
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 →
Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on AZ-104
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. A production VM is using too much CPU. You want Azure to notify the operations team by email when Average Percentage CPU stays above 80 percent for 5 minutes. What should you configure?
easy- A.A diagnostic setting on the VM
- ✓ B.A metric alert rule linked to an action group
- C.A Log Analytics workspace only
- D.An Azure Policy assignment
Why B: A metric alert rule monitors a specific metric (e.g., Percentage CPU) and triggers when a condition (e.g., above 80% for 5 minutes) is met. Linking the alert to an action group allows Azure to send email notifications to the operations team. This is the correct Azure Monitor feature for threshold-based, metric-driven notifications.
Variation 2. An operations team manages an Azure virtual machine scale set that hosts a stateless API. They already collect guest logs in Log Analytics, but they do not want to ingest extra performance data just to watch CPU. They need an alert when average CPU across the scale set stays above 80% for 10 minutes, and the notification must support email and a webhook. What should they configure?
hard- A.Create a diagnostic setting on the scale set and build a log query alert for CPU samples.
- ✓ B.Create an Azure Monitor metric alert on the scale set CPU metric and attach an action group.
- C.Configure an autoscale rule and rely on its notification settings for alerting.
- D.Install a monitoring extension that writes CPU readings to storage for later review.
Why B: Option B is correct because Azure Monitor metric alerts can directly evaluate the 'Percentage CPU' metric from a virtual machine scale set without ingesting additional performance data into Log Analytics. By setting the aggregation to 'Average' and the threshold to 80% for a duration of 10 minutes, the alert triggers when the condition is met. An action group attached to the alert can send notifications via email and webhook simultaneously, meeting all requirements without extra data ingestion.
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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