- A
Place the VMs in different availability zones within the same region.
Spreading the workload across multiple availability zones protects against a datacenter-level failure within the region. It also keeps traffic local to the region, which matches the requirement that cross-region failover is not needed.
- B
Use an availability set and expect it to cover a zone outage.
Why wrong: Availability sets protect against host and rack failures through fault and update domains, but they do not span datacenters or zones. A zone outage is outside what an availability set is designed to handle.
- C
Deploy the workload in a zone-enabled virtual machine scale set.
A zone-enabled VM scale set can place instances across zones automatically, which satisfies the need to avoid manual placement errors. It also gives you a platform-managed way to distribute instances for resilience.
- D
Keep all instances in one zone and rely on the load balancer.
Why wrong: A load balancer only distributes traffic among healthy targets; it does not provide zone-level resiliency if every instance lives in the same zone. That design still fails if the zone goes down.
- E
Use a paired region for automatic in-region zone balancing.
Why wrong: A paired region is useful for disaster recovery planning, but it is not an in-region zone balancing feature. The requirement calls for surviving a single datacenter outage without adding cross-region failover.
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 customer-facing service needs to survive a single datacenter outage in a zone-supported region. You do not need cross-region failover, but you do need Azure to spread instances without manual placement errors. Which two deployment choices satisfy that goal? Select two.
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
Place the VMs in different availability zones within the same region.
Option A is correct because availability zones are physically separate datacenters within a region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking. Placing VMs in different zones ensures that a single datacenter outage does not affect all instances, meeting the survivability requirement without manual placement errors. Azure automatically distributes VMs across selected zones, eliminating human error in instance placement.
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.
- ✓
Place the VMs in different availability zones within the same region.
Why this is correct
Spreading the workload across multiple availability zones protects against a datacenter-level failure within the region. It also keeps traffic local to the region, which matches the requirement that cross-region failover is not needed.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use an availability set and expect it to cover a zone outage.
Why it's wrong here
Availability sets protect against host and rack failures through fault and update domains, but they do not span datacenters or zones. A zone outage is outside what an availability set is designed to handle.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question asked for protection against hardware failures within a single datacenter (e.g., rack or chassis failure) and did not require zone-level resilience.
- ✓
Deploy the workload in a zone-enabled virtual machine scale set.
Why this is correct
A zone-enabled VM scale set can place instances across zones automatically, which satisfies the need to avoid manual placement errors. It also gives you a platform-managed way to distribute instances for resilience.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Keep all instances in one zone and rely on the load balancer.
Why it's wrong here
A load balancer only distributes traffic among healthy targets; it does not provide zone-level resiliency if every instance lives in the same zone. That design still fails if the zone goes down.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question required cost optimization and allowed manual recovery, or if the region did not support availability zones and you were using a single datacenter with a load balancer for high availability within that datacenter.
- ✗
Use a paired region for automatic in-region zone balancing.
Why it's wrong here
A paired region is useful for disaster recovery planning, but it is not an in-region zone balancing feature. The requirement calls for surviving a single datacenter outage without adding cross-region failover.
When this WOULD be correct
When the requirement is to survive a region-wide outage and you need automatic replication across geographically separated regions for disaster recovery, such as for compliance or high availability across regions.
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.
✓Place the VMs in different availability zones within the same region.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
Spreading the workload across multiple availability zones protects against a datacenter-level failure within the region. It also keeps traffic local to the region, which matches the requirement that cross-region failover is not needed.
✗Use an availability set and expect it to cover a zone outage.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
An availability set protects against rack-level failures within a single datacenter, not against an entire datacenter outage. Zone outages span multiple datacenters, so availability sets cannot survive a zone failure.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question asked for protection against hardware failures within a single datacenter (e.g., rack or chassis failure) and did not require zone-level resilience.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse availability sets with availability zones, thinking both provide datacenter-level fault tolerance, but availability sets only distribute VMs across fault domains within one datacenter.
✗Keep all instances in one zone and rely on the load balancer.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Keeping all instances in one zone does not survive a single datacenter outage because a zone outage would take down all instances. The load balancer cannot redistribute traffic if all backend instances are in the failed zone.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question required cost optimization and allowed manual recovery, or if the region did not support availability zones and you were using a single datacenter with a load balancer for high availability within that datacenter.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think a load balancer provides automatic failover across zones, but it only distributes traffic among healthy instances; if all instances are in one zone, a zone outage makes them all unhealthy.
✗Use a paired region for automatic in-region zone balancing.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Paired regions are for cross-region disaster recovery, not for surviving a single datacenter outage within a zone-supported region. They do not provide automatic zone balancing within a region.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
When the requirement is to survive a region-wide outage and you need automatic replication across geographically separated regions for disaster recovery, such as for compliance or high availability across regions.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse paired regions with availability zones, thinking they provide in-region redundancy, or they may misinterpret 'automatic in-region zone balancing' as a feature of paired regions.
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 confusing availability sets (which protect against rack failures within a single datacenter) with availability zones (which protect against full datacenter outages), leading candidates to incorrectly select Option B as a valid solution for zone-level resilience.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Availability zones offer a 99.99% SLA for VMs when two or more instances are deployed across two or more zones, compared to 99.95% for availability sets. A zone-enabled virtual machine scale set (Option C) automatically distributes instances across zones based on a 'zone balance' property, which can be set to 'true' to ensure even distribution without manual intervention. Under the hood, each zone corresponds to one or more distinct datacenters with a minimum latency of 1-2 milliseconds between zones, ensuring physical separation while maintaining low-latency connectivity.
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: Place the VMs in different availability zones within the same region. — Option A is correct because availability zones are physically separate datacenters within a region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking. Placing VMs in different zones ensures that a single datacenter outage does not affect all instances, meeting the survivability requirement without manual placement errors. Azure automatically distributes VMs across selected zones, eliminating human error in instance placement.
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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