AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question
Exhibit
Current alert rule: Name: StorageTxnAlert Target: storage account stprod001 Signal type: Metric Metric: Transactions Condition: Greater than 100 in 5 minutes Action group: SecOps Change request: notify the team when anyone edits the storage account network rules or disables public access.
Based on the exhibit, the security team wants an alert whenever someone changes the configuration of a storage account, such as disabling public network access. The current rule is a metric alert on transaction count. What should you use instead?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse metric alerts (which monitor performance counters like transaction count) with activity log alerts (which monitor resource management operations), leading them to choose options that track the wrong type of data.
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 activity log alert for write operations on the storage account resource.
Activity log alerts are designed to monitor Azure resource-level operations, such as write actions that modify storage account configurations. Option D is correct because it creates an alert specifically for write operations on the storage account resource, which captures events like disabling public network access. This is the appropriate method for detecting configuration changes, unlike metric alerts which track performance data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Keep the metric alert and lower the threshold to 10 transactions.
Why it's wrong here
Lowering the metric alert threshold to 10 transactions does not change what is being monitored; Azure Monitor metrics for storage accounts capture data-plane operations such as blob reads and writes, not control-plane actions like modifying firewall rules or enabling public network access. A configuration change does not necessarily generate transactions, so a lower threshold simply amplifies noise from normal usage without detecting administrative changes.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question asked for a metric alert to detect a sudden drop in storage account transactions (e.g., due to a network outage) and the threshold needed adjustment to trigger earlier.
- ✗
Create a service health alert because storage account settings affect platform status.
Why it's wrong here
Service health alerts in Azure Monitor are designed to notify about Azure-wide platform incidents, regional outages, and planned maintenance affecting a service such as storage. They are driven by the Azure Health service and are not triggered by configuration changes to your specific storage account; an administrator editing a network rule is a tenant-level control-plane action that has no effect on platform status, so the alert would never fire for that event.
When this WOULD be correct
A service health alert would be correct if the question asked to be notified when Azure declares an outage or planned maintenance affecting storage accounts, or when a region-wide issue impacts storage services. For example: 'Create an alert to notify the team if Azure reports a service issue with storage accounts in the East US region.'
- ✗
Use a Log Analytics query alert against VM guest logs to detect network-rule changes.
Why it's wrong here
Log Analytics query alerts run against data collected in a Log Analytics workspace, and VM guest logs contain only operating-system-level events from the virtual machine itself. Storage account network-rule modifications are managed through Azure Resource Manager and are recorded in the Azure Activity log, not in the guest OS; they would not appear in any VM log stream, making this approach irrelevant. Additionally, this would require unnecessary log-forwarding setup and still miss the control-plane events.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question were: 'You need to alert when a specific application running on a VM changes its network configuration, such as disabling a firewall rule. What should you use?' In that case, VM guest logs would capture the application-level changes.
- ✓
Create an activity log alert for write operations on the storage account resource.
Why this is correct
Configuration changes to a storage account are control-plane actions and appear in the Azure Activity log. An activity log alert on write operations is the right monitoring approach because it detects management changes, not traffic patterns.
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.
✓Create an activity log alert for write operations on the storage account resource.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
Configuration changes to a storage account are control-plane actions and appear in the Azure Activity log. An activity log alert on write operations is the right monitoring approach because it detects management changes, not traffic patterns.
✗Keep the metric alert and lower the threshold to 10 transactions.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Lowering the threshold to 10 transactions does not change the metric type; it still monitors transaction count, not configuration changes like disabling public network access. Activity log alerts are required for resource configuration changes.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question asked for a metric alert to detect a sudden drop in storage account transactions (e.g., due to a network outage) and the threshold needed adjustment to trigger earlier.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think reducing the threshold makes the alert more sensitive to any change, not realizing that metric alerts only track performance metrics, not configuration operations.
✗Create a service health alert because storage account settings affect platform status.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Service health alerts monitor issues with Azure services themselves, not configuration changes to individual resources like storage accounts. The question asks for alerts on storage account configuration changes, which are tracked via the Azure activity log, not service health.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A service health alert would be correct if the question asked to be notified when Azure declares an outage or planned maintenance affecting storage accounts, or when a region-wide issue impacts storage services. For example: 'Create an alert to notify the team if Azure reports a service issue with storage accounts in the East US region.'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that changes to storage account settings (like disabling public network access) could affect the platform's health status, or they confuse service health alerts with resource-level monitoring. The term 'service health' sounds like it covers all health-related alerts.
✗Use a Log Analytics query alert against VM guest logs to detect network-rule changes.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The question asks about detecting configuration changes to a storage account, not about VM guest OS logs. Log Analytics query alerts against VM guest logs would only capture events within the VM, not Azure resource-level changes like storage account network rule modifications.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question were: 'You need to alert when a specific application running on a VM changes its network configuration, such as disabling a firewall rule. What should you use?' In that case, VM guest logs would capture the application-level changes.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse Azure resource-level changes (tracked via Activity Log) with guest OS-level changes (tracked via Log Analytics), or think that all monitoring requires Log Analytics queries.
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?”
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Managed Identities for Azure Resources
Key term
Azure resource
An Azure resource is a manageable item available through Microsoft Azure, such as a virtual machine, database, or web app.
Key term
Activity log
An activity log is a record of all operations performed on Azure resources, capturing who did what, when, and where, for auditing and troubleshooting purposes.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.