The answer is to increase the retain daily backup points setting to 30 days. This setting directly controls how long daily recovery points are preserved in the Recovery Services vault, and changing it from 7 to 30 days extends the backup retention period as requested. On the AZ-104 exam, this concept tests your understanding of Azure Backup’s retention policy configuration, often appearing in scenario-based questions where you must select the correct property to modify. A common trap is confusing this with the backup schedule or weekly/monthly retention rules, but the key is that daily retention is the primary control for short-term backup lifespan. Remember the mnemonic: “Daily points dictate days”—if the business wants backups kept for 30 days, you adjust the daily backup points value, not the frequency or the vault settings.
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.
Exhibit
Azure Backup policy
- Schedule: Daily at 01:00
- Retain instant recovery snapshots: 2 days
- Retain daily backup points: 7 days
- Retain weekly backup points: Not configured
Business requirement: Keep daily backups for 30 days
Based on the exhibit, what should the administrator change if the business wants backups to be kept for 30 days instead of 7 days?
Azure Backup policy
- Schedule: Daily at 01:00
- Retain instant recovery snapshots: 2 days
- Retain daily backup points: 7 days
- Retain weekly backup points: Not configured
Business requirement: Keep daily backups for 30 days
A
Change the backup schedule from daily to hourly.
Why wrong: Changing frequency does not increase the retention period for existing daily recovery points.
B
Increase the retain daily backup points setting to 30 days.
The requirement is about how long daily recovery points are kept, not how often backups run. The policy setting that controls that is the retention value for daily backup points. Updating it from 7 days to 30 days keeps the restore points available for the required period while leaving the backup schedule unchanged.
C
Increase the instant recovery snapshot retention to 30 days.
Why wrong: Instant recovery snapshots are short-lived local snapshots and are not the same as long-term backup retention.
D
Enable a CanNotDelete lock on the Recovery Services vault.
Why wrong: A lock protects the vault from deletion, but it does not change how long backup restore points are retained.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Increase the retain daily backup points setting to 30 days.
The backup retention policy in Azure Backup is configured via the 'Retain daily backup points' setting, which specifies how many days daily recovery points are kept. To change retention from 7 to 30 days, the administrator must increase this value to 30. This directly controls the lifespan of daily backups in the Recovery Services vault.
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.
✗
Change the backup schedule from daily to hourly.
Why it's wrong here
Changing frequency does not increase the retention period for existing daily recovery points.
✓
Increase the retain daily backup points setting to 30 days.
Why this is correct
The requirement is about how long daily recovery points are kept, not how often backups run. The policy setting that controls that is the retention value for daily backup points. Updating it from 7 days to 30 days keeps the restore points available for the required period while leaving the backup schedule unchanged.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Increase the instant recovery snapshot retention to 30 days.
Why it's wrong here
Instant recovery snapshots are short-lived local snapshots and are not the same as long-term backup retention.
✗
Enable a CanNotDelete lock on the Recovery Services vault.
Why it's wrong here
A lock protects the vault from deletion, but it does not change how long backup restore points are retained.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is confusing 'instant recovery snapshot retention' (short-term local snapshots) with 'daily backup point retention' (long-term vault retention), leading candidates to incorrectly select option C.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Backup uses a tiered retention model: instant recovery snapshots (typically kept for 1–5 days) are stored locally on the same storage as the VM for fast restores, while daily/weekly/monthly/yearly backup points are stored in the vault's geo-redundant storage. The 'Retain daily backup points' setting defines the number of daily recovery points retained in the vault; increasing it to 30 means Azure Backup will keep each daily backup for 30 days before automatically pruning it. This is independent of the backup frequency—changing frequency only affects how often a new point is created, not how long it lives.
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 cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
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: Increase the retain daily backup points setting to 30 days. — The backup retention policy in Azure Backup is configured via the 'Retain daily backup points' setting, which specifies how many days daily recovery points are kept. To change retention from 7 to 30 days, the administrator must increase this value to 30. This directly controls the lifespan of daily backups in the Recovery Services vault.
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.
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