AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question
You need to deploy a group of identical Azure virtual machines and ensure they are distributed across fault domains and update domains to reduce the impact of host failures and planned maintenance. Which feature should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse availability sets with availability zones, thinking zones are required for fault domain distribution, but availability sets provide fault and update domain isolation within a single Azure region without requiring multiple zones.
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
✓
An availability set
An availability set is the correct feature because it logically groups VMs to isolate them from each other during host failures and planned maintenance. It distributes VMs across up to 3 fault domains (each with separate power, cooling, and network) and up to 20 update domains (which are rebooted sequentially during maintenance), ensuring that not all VMs are impacted simultaneously.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
An availability set
Why this is correct
An availability set is the correct choice because it logically groups identical VMs across multiple fault domains and update domains, each with distinct underlying hardware and scheduled maintenance windows. This configuration guarantees that during an Azure datacenter outage or planned maintenance, only a subset of the VMs is affected, preserving overall service availability and meeting the requirement for host-level resiliency.
- ✗
A proximity placement group
Why it's wrong here
A proximity placement group is focused on minimizing network latency by placing VMs as close together as possible, often within the same data center rack or region; it is not designed to improve resiliency. In fact, this co-location can increase the risk that a single hardware failure impacts multiple VMs simultaneously, so it does not satisfy the need for fault-domain separation.
When this WOULD be correct
When deploying VMs that require low network latency between them, such as for high-performance computing or latency-sensitive applications, a proximity placement group ensures VMs are physically close to each other.
- ✗
A private endpoint
Why it's wrong here
A private endpoint is a PaaS-level networking feature that provides private, secure connectivity from a virtual network to an Azure service (such as a storage account or SQL database) without exposing it to the public internet. It has no influence on how the VMs themselves are placed or distributed across infrastructure, and thus cannot contribute to the high-availability requirement of the identical VM fleet.
When this WOULD be correct
You need to ensure that a virtual machine accesses an Azure Storage account privately, without traversing the public internet. The question would specify a requirement for private connectivity to an Azure service.
- ✗
A custom script extension
Why it's wrong here
The custom script extension is a VM extension that executes a supplied script on the guest OS after deployment, commonly used for software installation, configuration, or post-deployment setup. While it simplifies automation, it operates entirely within the VM and does not influence the physical placement or redundancy of the underlying hosts, so it offers no availability guarantee for the VM group.
When this WOULD be correct
When the question asks how to automatically install software or run a PowerShell script on Azure VMs during or after deployment, such as 'You need to configure a VM to run a custom configuration script on first boot.'
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.
✓An availability setCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
An availability set is the correct choice because it logically groups identical VMs across multiple fault domains and update domains, each with distinct underlying hardware and scheduled maintenance windows. This configuration guarantees that during an Azure datacenter outage or planned maintenance, only a subset of the VMs is affected, preserving overall service availability and meeting the requirement for host-level resiliency.
✗A proximity placement groupWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A proximity placement group reduces network latency between VMs but does not distribute them across fault domains or update domains for high availability.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
When deploying VMs that require low network latency between them, such as for high-performance computing or latency-sensitive applications, a proximity placement group ensures VMs are physically close to each other.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse proximity placement groups with availability sets because both involve grouping VMs, but they serve different purposes: one for low latency, the other for high availability.
✗A private endpointWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A private endpoint provides secure connectivity to Azure PaaS services over a private IP address, not fault or update domain distribution for VMs.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
You need to ensure that a virtual machine accesses an Azure Storage account privately, without traversing the public internet. The question would specify a requirement for private connectivity to an Azure service.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'private' with 'high availability' or think that a private endpoint somehow isolates VMs from failures.
✗A custom script extensionWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A custom script extension is used to run scripts on VMs after deployment for configuration or software installation, not to manage fault domain and update domain distribution across a group of VMs.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
When the question asks how to automatically install software or run a PowerShell script on Azure VMs during or after deployment, such as 'You need to configure a VM to run a custom configuration script on first boot.'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse the 'custom' aspect with the ability to customize VM placement or think that extensions can influence availability features.
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
Dynamic Membership Groups
Key term
Group
A group is a collection of users, devices, or other objects that are assigned permissions and policies together for simplified management in identity and governance systems like Microsoft Entra ID.
Key term
Availability
Availability is the measure of how often a system or service is operational and accessible when needed, typically expressed as a percentage of uptime.
About these practice questions
One of 1,049 original AZ-104 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
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.