- A
Create an Azure Monitor metric alert and link it to an action group.
This is the standard way to send automated notifications based on CPU thresholds.
- B
Create an Azure Advisor recommendation alert.
Why wrong: Azure Advisor gives recommendations and is not used for real-time CPU threshold alerting.
- C
Create an activity log alert for the virtual machine.
Why wrong: Activity log alerts track management operations, not guest or platform performance metrics like CPU percentage.
- D
Create a subscription budget alert.
Why wrong: Budget alerts are used for cost management, not VM performance monitoring.
Question 417 of 1,170
Configuring Metric Alerts and Action Groups for CPU Monitoring
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.
You need to be notified whenever the average CPU usage of VM-App01 exceeds 80 percent for 10 minutes. The solution must send an email to the operations team automatically. 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
✓
Create an Azure Monitor metric alert and link it to an action group.
Option A is correct because Azure Monitor metric alerts can evaluate performance counters like CPU usage over a specified time window (e.g., 10 minutes) and trigger an action group when the threshold (80%) is exceeded. The action group can be configured with an email notification to the operations team, meeting the requirement automatically.
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.
- ✓
Create an Azure Monitor metric alert and link it to an action group.
Why this is correct
This is the standard way to send automated notifications based on CPU thresholds.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Create an Azure Advisor recommendation alert.
Why it's wrong here
Azure Advisor gives recommendations and is not used for real-time CPU threshold alerting.
When this WOULD be correct
You need to be alerted when Azure Advisor identifies a recommendation for your VM, such as 'Right-size underutilized VMs' or 'Enable backup for VMs'. An Advisor recommendation alert would email the team when such a recommendation is generated.
- ✗
Create an activity log alert for the virtual machine.
Why it's wrong here
Activity log alerts track management operations, not guest or platform performance metrics like CPU percentage.
When this WOULD be correct
You need to be notified when a virtual machine is deleted or stopped. An activity log alert for the 'Delete Virtual Machine' or 'Deallocate Virtual Machine' operation would be correct.
- ✗
Create a subscription budget alert.
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.
✓Create an Azure Monitor metric alert and link it to an action group.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
This is the standard way to send automated notifications based on CPU thresholds.
✗Create an Azure Advisor recommendation alert.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Azure Advisor recommendation alerts notify about recommendations for cost, security, reliability, and performance, not real-time metric thresholds like CPU usage. They cannot trigger on a specific metric condition such as CPU > 80% for 10 minutes.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
You need to be alerted when Azure Advisor identifies a recommendation for your VM, such as 'Right-size underutilized VMs' or 'Enable backup for VMs'. An Advisor recommendation alert would email the team when such a recommendation is generated.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'recommendation' with 'alert' and think Advisor can monitor metrics, or they may recall that Advisor provides proactive insights and assume it can trigger on performance thresholds.
✗Create an activity log alert for the virtual machine.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Activity log alerts monitor changes to Azure resources (e.g., VM creation, deletion), not performance metrics like CPU usage. They cannot trigger based on metric thresholds.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
You need to be notified when a virtual machine is deleted or stopped. An activity log alert for the 'Delete Virtual Machine' or 'Deallocate Virtual Machine' operation would be correct.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse activity log alerts with metric alerts, thinking that any alert on a VM can monitor performance, or they may not understand the distinct purposes of different alert types.
✗Create a subscription budget alert.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Subscription budget alerts monitor cost spending against a budget, not performance metrics like CPU usage. They cannot trigger on average CPU exceeding a threshold.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question asked for notification when the cost of VM-App01 exceeds a certain amount (e.g., $500) for a month, then a subscription budget alert would be correct.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse budget alerts with performance alerts, thinking 'budget' relates to resource usage rather than financial cost.
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 activity log alerts (which track management-plane operations) with metric alerts (which track performance data), leading candidates to choose Option C when they need real-time metric-based monitoring.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Monitor metric alerts use a multi-dimensional metric signal (e.g., Percentage CPU) with a dynamic or static threshold and an aggregation granularity (e.g., 10-minute average). The alert rule evaluates the metric every 1 minute using a sliding window, and when the condition is met, it fires and invokes the linked action group, which can send email, SMS, or webhook notifications. A common nuance is that the 'evaluation frequency' and 'window size' must be configured correctly to avoid alert fatigue or missed detections.
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?
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: Create an Azure Monitor metric alert and link it to an action group. — Option A is correct because Azure Monitor metric alerts can evaluate performance counters like CPU usage over a specified time window (e.g., 10 minutes) and trigger an action group when the threshold (80%) is exceeded. The action group can be configured with an email notification to the operations team, meeting the requirement automatically.
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 →
Same concept, more angles
2 more ways this is tested on AZ-104
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A production Azure VM farm runs customer-facing APIs. Operations wants an automatic notification when the average Percentage CPU on any VM stays above 85 percent for 10 minutes, and the notification must reach both email and SMS recipients. Which two Azure Monitor items must be configured? Select two.
hard- ✓ A.Metric alert rule
- ✓ B.Action group
- C.Diagnostic setting
- D.Workbook
- E.Service health alert
Why A: A Metric alert rule is correct because it monitors the 'Percentage CPU' metric on Azure VMs and can trigger when the average value exceeds 85% for a duration of 10 minutes. This rule evaluates the metric over a specified time window and fires an alert based on the threshold condition, meeting the requirement for automatic notification based on performance metrics.
Variation 2. You need to receive an email when average CPU usage on VM-App01 exceeds 85 percent for 10 minutes. Which Azure Monitor components should you configure?
medium- ✓ A.A metric alert and an action group
- B.A resource lock and Azure Advisor
- C.An activity log alert only
- D.A budget alert
Why A: A metric alert monitors a specific Azure resource metric (like CPU percentage) and triggers when a condition (e.g., average > 85%) is met over a specified evaluation period (e.g., 10 minutes). An action group defines the notification actions (e.g., sending an email) when the alert fires. Together, they fulfill the requirement to receive an email based on a performance threshold.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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