- A
Manual portal deployment each month
Why wrong: Manual portal deployment is hard to repeat exactly and is difficult to review in source control. It increases the chance of human error and makes it harder to track changes over time. It does not satisfy the requirement for consistent, versioned deployments.
- B
A Bicep template in source control
Bicep is an infrastructure-as-code language that is concise, readable, and well suited for Azure deployments. Storing the template in source control makes the deployment repeatable, auditable, and easy to modify over time. It is a strong choice when the team wants the same VM deployment every month.
- C
A temporary virtual machine snapshot
Why wrong: A snapshot captures disk state for restore purposes, but it does not define or automate a repeatable deployment process. It is useful for backup and recovery, not for creating standardized infrastructure from source control each month.
- D
A network security group rule collection
Why wrong: An NSG rule collection controls network traffic, not infrastructure deployment. It cannot create VMs or describe the full set of Azure resources needed for a repeatable build. It is unrelated to infrastructure-as-code deployment workflows.
AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of deploy and manage azure compute. 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.
A platform team must deploy the same group of Azure VMs every month from source control and wants the deployment to be repeatable and reviewable. Which approach should they use?
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
A Bicep template in source control
Bicep is a domain-specific language (DSL) for deploying Azure resources declaratively. Storing a Bicep template in source control ensures the VM deployment is repeatable (same parameters produce identical infrastructure) and reviewable (changes are tracked via pull requests and commit history), meeting the team's requirements for infrastructure as code (IaC).
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.
- ✗
Manual portal deployment each month
Why it's wrong here
Manual portal deployment is hard to repeat exactly and is difficult to review in source control. It increases the chance of human error and makes it harder to track changes over time. It does not satisfy the requirement for consistent, versioned deployments.
When this WOULD be correct
For a one-time, ad-hoc deployment where speed is prioritized over repeatability and reviewability, such as quickly testing a configuration in a sandbox environment.
- ✓
A Bicep template in source control
Why this is correct
Bicep is an infrastructure-as-code language that is concise, readable, and well suited for Azure deployments. Storing the template in source control makes the deployment repeatable, auditable, and easy to modify over time. It is a strong choice when the team wants the same VM deployment every month.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
A temporary virtual machine snapshot
Why it's wrong here
A snapshot captures disk state for restore purposes, but it does not define or automate a repeatable deployment process. It is useful for backup and recovery, not for creating standardized infrastructure from source control each month.
When this WOULD be correct
If the question asked for a method to quickly restore a VM to a known state for testing or disaster recovery, a VM snapshot would be correct. For example: 'A team needs to revert a VM to a previous state after a failed update.'
- ✗
A network security group rule collection
Why it's wrong here
An NSG rule collection controls network traffic, not infrastructure deployment. It cannot create VMs or describe the full set of Azure resources needed for a repeatable build. It is unrelated to infrastructure-as-code deployment workflows.
When this WOULD be correct
An exam question asks: 'You need to restrict inbound traffic to a subnet for all VMs. Which should you configure?' In that scenario, an NSG rule collection is the correct answer because it defines security rules to allow or deny network traffic.
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.
✓A Bicep template in source controlCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
Bicep is an infrastructure-as-code language that is concise, readable, and well suited for Azure deployments. Storing the template in source control makes the deployment repeatable, auditable, and easy to modify over time. It is a strong choice when the team wants the same VM deployment every month.
✗Manual portal deployment each monthWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Manual portal deployment is not repeatable, reviewable, or sourced from version control, failing the requirements for automation and auditability.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
For a one-time, ad-hoc deployment where speed is prioritized over repeatability and reviewability, such as quickly testing a configuration in a sandbox environment.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think manual deployment is simpler and sufficient for small-scale tasks, overlooking the need for repeatability and reviewability in a platform team context.
✗A temporary virtual machine snapshotWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A temporary virtual machine snapshot is used for backup or recovery, not for repeatable, reviewable deployments from source control. It does not support versioning or infrastructure-as-code practices.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question asked for a method to quickly restore a VM to a known state for testing or disaster recovery, a VM snapshot would be correct. For example: 'A team needs to revert a VM to a previous state after a failed update.'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think a snapshot can be stored and reused for monthly deployments, confusing it with a template or image that can be version-controlled.
✗A network security group rule collectionWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A network security group (NSG) rule collection controls traffic filtering, not VM deployment. It cannot deploy or manage VMs, so it fails to meet the requirement for repeatable and reviewable deployment from source control.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
An exam question asks: 'You need to restrict inbound traffic to a subnet for all VMs. Which should you configure?' In that scenario, an NSG rule collection is the correct answer because it defines security rules to allow or deny network traffic.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse NSG rule collections with deployment templates because both involve rules or definitions, or they might think NSG rules can automate VM provisioning due to the term 'collection' implying a set of resources.
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 confuse a VM snapshot (a backup artifact) with a deployment template, or think manual portal steps can be 'repeatable' if documented, but Azure explicitly tests the concept that only IaC (Bicep/ARM) ensures true repeatability and auditability from source control.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Bicep templates are transpiled into Azure Resource Manager (ARM) JSON templates, which are idempotent — deploying the same template multiple times results in the same resource state unless parameters change. Under the hood, Bicep uses declarative syntax to define resources like 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines', and source control integration (e.g., Git) enables CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Azure DevOps) to automate deployments with rollback capabilities via commit history.
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.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-104 question test?
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: A Bicep template in source control — Bicep is a domain-specific language (DSL) for deploying Azure resources declaratively. Storing a Bicep template in source control ensures the VM deployment is repeatable (same parameters produce identical infrastructure) and reviewable (changes are tracked via pull requests and commit history), meeting the team's requirements for infrastructure as code (IaC).
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 →
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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