Configure a Metric Alert for High CPU with Email and SMS Notifications
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.
Quick Answer
The answer is a Metric alert rule. This is the correct choice because it directly monitors the 'Percentage CPU' metric on Azure VMs, evaluating the average value over a sliding window of 10 minutes and firing when it exceeds the 85% threshold, which satisfies the requirement for a metric-based automatic notification. On the AZ-104 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of Azure Monitor’s alerting capabilities, specifically the distinction between Metric Alerts (for performance metrics like CPU) and Activity Log Alerts (for resource-level events). A common trap is confusing Metric Alerts with Service Health alerts or Action Groups—remember that the alert rule itself defines the condition and signal, while the Action Group handles the email and SMS delivery. For a memory tip, think “Metric for measurement, Action for notification” to keep the two components separate.
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse a Metric alert rule with a Diagnostic setting, thinking that streaming metrics to a destination automatically triggers notifications, or they mistakenly select a Service health alert because they associate 'notification' with Azure service health, not VM-level performance.
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
✓
Metric alert rule
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.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Metric alert rule
Why this is correct
Metric alert rules evaluate numeric platform metrics and trigger when thresholds are crossed.
- ✓
Action group
Why this is correct
Action groups define who receives notifications and which actions run when alerts fire.
- ✗
Diagnostic setting
Why it's wrong here
Diagnostic settings export logs and metrics, but they do not create threshold-based notifications.
When this WOULD be correct
A diagnostic setting would be correct if the question asked: 'Which Azure Monitor item must be configured to stream VM metrics to a Log Analytics workspace for long-term analysis?' or 'Which item enables sending platform logs to an Event Hub for integration with a SIEM?'
- ✗
Workbook
Why it's wrong here
Workbooks visualize operational data, but they do not send alerts to recipients.
When this WOULD be correct
A question asks: 'You need to create a custom dashboard that displays the average CPU usage of all VMs in a resource group over the last 24 hours, with the ability to filter by VM name.' In that scenario, a Workbook would be the correct tool.
- ✗
Service health alert
Why it's wrong here
Service health alerts report Azure platform incidents, not workload CPU thresholds on VMs.
When this WOULD be correct
A question asks: 'You need to be notified when Azure experiences a service outage that affects your virtual machines. Which Azure Monitor item should you configure?' In that scenario, a Service health alert would be correct.
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.
✓Metric alert ruleCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
Metric alert rules evaluate numeric platform metrics and trigger when thresholds are crossed.
✗Diagnostic settingWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A diagnostic setting controls collection and routing of resource logs and metrics to destinations like Log Analytics or storage, but it does not define alerting actions (email/SMS). The question requires notification actions, which are configured in an action group, not a diagnostic setting.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A diagnostic setting would be correct if the question asked: 'Which Azure Monitor item must be configured to stream VM metrics to a Log Analytics workspace for long-term analysis?' or 'Which item enables sending platform logs to an Event Hub for integration with a SIEM?'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse diagnostic settings with alert rules because both involve metrics and can trigger actions, but diagnostic settings only route data; they do not evaluate conditions or send notifications directly.
✗WorkbookWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Workbooks are for creating interactive reports and visualizations from Azure Monitor data, not for configuring notifications. They cannot send alerts to email or SMS.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question asks: 'You need to create a custom dashboard that displays the average CPU usage of all VMs in a resource group over the last 24 hours, with the ability to filter by VM name.' In that scenario, a Workbook would be the correct tool.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse Workbooks with alert rules because both are part of Azure Monitor, and Workbooks can display metrics, leading them to think they can also trigger notifications.
✗Service health alertWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Service health alerts notify about Azure service issues, outages, or planned maintenance, not about VM performance metrics like Percentage CPU. This question requires monitoring VM-level metrics, not Azure platform health.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question asks: 'You need to be notified when Azure experiences a service outage that affects your virtual machines. Which Azure Monitor item should you configure?' In that scenario, a Service health alert would be correct.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'service health' with 'health of the VM service' or think it covers all health-related notifications, but it specifically refers to Azure platform health, not VM performance.
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
Managed Identities for Azure Resources
Key term
Azure Monitor
Azure Monitor is a cloud service that collects, analyzes, and acts on telemetry data from your Azure and on-premises resources to help you understand performance and availability.
Key term
Metric
A metric is a quantifiable measurement used to assess the performance, health, or status of IT systems, networks, or applications.
About these practice questions
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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. 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.
Variation 2. 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?
medium- ✓ A.Create an Azure Monitor metric alert and link it to an action group.
- B.Create an Azure Advisor recommendation alert.
- C.Create an activity log alert for the virtual machine.
- D.Create a subscription budget alert.
Why A: 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.
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.