- A
Blob soft delete
Why wrong: Soft delete helps recover deleted blobs but does not enforce immutability for seven years.
- B
Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policy
Immutable storage enforces WORM protection for the required retention period.
- C
Lifecycle management to move blobs to Archive
Why wrong: Lifecycle management reduces cost but does not prevent modification or deletion.
- D
Blob versioning
Why wrong: Versioning preserves versions but does not prevent deletion or modification by itself.
Question 1,143 of 1,170
AZ-104 Implement and Manage Storage Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of implement and manage storage. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 company uses Azure Blob Storage for legal documents. The documents must not be modified or deleted for seven years after upload, even by administrators. What should you configure?
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
✓
Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policy
Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policy (WORM – Write Once, Read Many) ensures that blobs cannot be modified or deleted for a specified retention period, even by administrators. This is the only Azure storage feature that provides legal hold or regulatory compliance for fixed records, such as legal documents that must remain unaltered for seven years.
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.
- ✗
Blob soft delete
Why it's wrong here
Soft delete helps recover deleted blobs but does not enforce immutability for seven years.
When this WOULD be correct
A company wants to recover blobs that are accidentally deleted or overwritten within a specified retention period, but does not require strict legal hold or administrator-proof immutability.
- ✓
Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policy
Why this is correct
Immutable storage enforces WORM protection for the required retention period.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Lifecycle management to move blobs to Archive
Why it's wrong here
Lifecycle management reduces cost but does not prevent modification or deletion.
When this WOULD be correct
A company wants to reduce storage costs by automatically moving blobs that have not been accessed for 30 days to the Cool tier, and blobs older than 90 days to the Archive tier. Lifecycle management would be the correct solution for this cost-optimization scenario.
- ✗
Blob versioning
Why it's wrong here
Versioning preserves versions but does not prevent deletion or modification by itself.
When this WOULD be correct
An organization needs to recover from accidental deletion or overwrite of blobs, and wants to maintain a history of changes for auditing or rollback purposes, without requiring strict immutability. For example, a development team using Azure Blob Storage for application logs that may need to restore earlier versions.
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.
✓Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policyCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
Immutable storage enforces WORM protection for the required retention period.
✗Blob soft deleteWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Blob soft delete protects against accidental deletion but does not prevent modifications, and administrators can still delete blobs within the retention period if they have sufficient permissions.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company wants to recover blobs that are accidentally deleted or overwritten within a specified retention period, but does not require strict legal hold or administrator-proof immutability.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse soft delete with immutable storage, thinking it provides long-term protection against deletion, but they overlook that soft delete does not prevent modifications or administrator actions.
✗Lifecycle management to move blobs to ArchiveWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Lifecycle management moves blobs to different tiers or deletes them based on age, but it does not prevent modification or deletion by administrators. It cannot enforce a write-once, read-many (WORM) state required for legal hold or regulatory compliance.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company wants to reduce storage costs by automatically moving blobs that have not been accessed for 30 days to the Cool tier, and blobs older than 90 days to the Archive tier. Lifecycle management would be the correct solution for this cost-optimization scenario.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse lifecycle management with retention policies, thinking that moving blobs to Archive makes them immutable or that the policy itself prevents deletion, but Archive blobs can still be deleted by administrators.
✗Blob versioningWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Blob versioning preserves previous versions of blobs but does not prevent deletion or modification of the current version by administrators. It cannot enforce a legal hold or retention period that blocks all modifications and deletions.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
An organization needs to recover from accidental deletion or overwrite of blobs, and wants to maintain a history of changes for auditing or rollback purposes, without requiring strict immutability. For example, a development team using Azure Blob Storage for application logs that may need to restore earlier versions.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse versioning with immutability, thinking that preserving all versions inherently protects data from modification or deletion, not realizing that administrators can still delete the current version or entire storage account.
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 often confuse soft delete or versioning with immutable storage, not realizing that only a time-based retention policy (WORM) provides the strict, administrator-proof immutability required for regulatory compliance.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Time-based retention policies in immutable blob storage are enforced at the container level using a policy that locks the container in a WORM state; once the policy is locked, the retention period cannot be shortened, and no user, including the subscription administrator, can delete or overwrite blobs until the period expires. This feature leverages Azure’s legal hold capabilities, which can also be applied per blob, and is compliant with regulations like SEC 17a-4 and FINRA. Under the hood, the Azure Storage service enforces the policy by rejecting any write or delete operations on the blob until the retention interval has elapsed, regardless of the caller’s permissions.
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 media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Quick reference
Azure Blob Storage Tier Comparison
| Tier | Storage Cost | Retrieval Cost | Latency | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot | Highest | Lowest | Immediate | Active data, frequent reads |
| Cool | Lower | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / month |
| Cold | Lower still | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / quarter |
| Archive | Lowest | Highest + rehydration delay | Hours | Long-term compliance retention |
What to study next
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-104 question test?
Implement and Manage Storage — This question tests Implement and Manage Storage — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policy — Immutable blob storage with a time-based retention policy (WORM – Write Once, Read Many) ensures that blobs cannot be modified or deleted for a specified retention period, even by administrators. This is the only Azure storage feature that provides legal hold or regulatory compliance for fixed records, such as legal documents that must remain unaltered for seven years.
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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