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.
Exhibit
Recovery Services vault: RSV-Prod
Protected item: vm-app-03
Current backup policy
---------------------
Backup frequency: Daily
Backup time: 23:00
Instant restore snapshots: 2 days
Daily retention: 7 days
Weekly retention: Not configured
Monthly retention: Not configured
Yearly retention: Not configured
Requirement
-----------
Keep daily recovery points for 30 days
Based on the exhibit, a VM is protected by Azure Backup. The business wants daily backups at 11:00 PM, retention of daily recovery points for 30 days, and no changes to the existing vault or VM. The current policy already backs up every day but keeps recovery points for only 7 days. What should the administrator modify?
Exhibit
Recovery Services vault: RSV-Prod
Protected item: vm-app-03
Current backup policy
---------------------
Backup frequency: Daily
Backup time: 23:00
Instant restore snapshots: 2 days
Daily retention: 7 days
Weekly retention: Not configured
Monthly retention: Not configured
Yearly retention: Not configured
Requirement
-----------
Keep daily recovery points for 30 days
A
Create a new VM and attach the existing backup vault to it.
Why wrong: Adding a new VM does not alter retention for the already protected VM or its backup schedule.
B
Edit the backup policy and change daily retention to 30 days.
The schedule is already correct, so the only missing setting is retention. Updating the backup policy to keep daily recovery points for 30 days satisfies the requirement without changing the vault or protected item.
C
Enable soft delete on the vault.
Why wrong: Soft delete protects deleted backup data for a grace period, but it does not extend the planned retention duration for valid recovery points.
D
Move the VM to another availability zone.
Why wrong: Availability zones improve compute resilience, but they do not change backup schedule or retention settings.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Edit the backup policy and change daily retention to 30 days.
Option B is correct because the existing backup policy already performs daily backups at 11:00 PM, but its retention setting for daily recovery points is only 7 days. By editing the policy and changing the daily retention to 30 days, the administrator meets the business requirement without creating a new VM, altering the vault, or modifying the VM itself. Azure Backup policies allow modification of retention durations independently of backup frequency, so this is a straightforward configuration change.
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 a new VM and attach the existing backup vault to it.
Why it's wrong here
Adding a new VM does not alter retention for the already protected VM or its backup schedule.
When this WOULD be correct
This would be correct if the question stated that the existing VM is corrupted or needs to be replaced, and the new VM must be protected under the same backup vault with the desired retention policy.
✓
Edit the backup policy and change daily retention to 30 days.
Why this is correct
The schedule is already correct, so the only missing setting is retention. Updating the backup policy to keep daily recovery points for 30 days satisfies the requirement without changing the vault or protected item.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Enable soft delete on the vault.
Why it's wrong here
Soft delete protects deleted backup data for a grace period, but it does not extend the planned retention duration for valid recovery points.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct if the question asked: 'The business wants to ensure that if a backup is accidentally deleted, it can be recovered within 14 days. What should the administrator configure?'
✗
Move the VM to another availability zone.
Why it's wrong here
Availability zones improve compute resilience, but they do not change backup schedule or retention settings.
When this WOULD be correct
This option would be correct in a scenario where the VM is in an availability set or zone that is experiencing failures, and the goal is to improve application availability by distributing VMs across zones. For example, a question asking how to increase VM resilience against datacenter failures.
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.
✓Edit the backup policy and change daily retention to 30 days.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
The schedule is already correct, so the only missing setting is retention. Updating the backup policy to keep daily recovery points for 30 days satisfies the requirement without changing the vault or protected item.
✗Create a new VM and attach the existing backup vault to it.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Creating a new VM does not address the requirement to change retention for the existing VM's backups. The existing VM already has a backup policy that needs modification, not a new VM.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This would be correct if the question stated that the existing VM is corrupted or needs to be replaced, and the new VM must be protected under the same backup vault with the desired retention policy.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that creating a new VM is necessary to apply a new policy, not realizing that existing backup policies can be edited directly.
✗Enable soft delete on the vault.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Enabling soft delete on the vault does not change the retention period of recovery points; it only protects against accidental deletion of backup data. The requirement is to extend daily retention to 30 days, which is a policy setting, not a soft delete feature.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct if the question asked: 'The business wants to ensure that if a backup is accidentally deleted, it can be recovered within 14 days. What should the administrator configure?'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse soft delete with extending retention, thinking it helps retain backups longer, but soft delete is about recovery from deletion, not retention duration.
✗Move the VM to another availability zone.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Moving the VM to another availability zone does not change the backup retention period. The requirement is to extend daily recovery point retention from 7 to 30 days, which is a policy setting, not a zone change.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
This option would be correct in a scenario where the VM is in an availability set or zone that is experiencing failures, and the goal is to improve application availability by distributing VMs across zones. For example, a question asking how to increase VM resilience against datacenter failures.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates might confuse availability zones with backup or disaster recovery concepts, thinking that moving zones could affect backup retention or that it's a way to protect data longer.
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 may think they need to create a new policy or modify the VM (e.g., move it to another zone) to change retention, when in fact Azure Backup allows direct editing of the existing policy's retention duration without any other infrastructure changes.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Backup policies consist of a backup schedule and a retention rule set, where retention is defined by a combination of daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly retention points. When you edit a policy, the change applies to all associated protected items (VMs) without requiring reconfiguration of the backup engine; the new retention setting takes effect for future recovery points, while existing recovery points are retained according to the old policy until they expire. This is implemented via the Azure Backup Management Plane, which uses a retention window based on the number of days specified, and recovery points are automatically pruned when they exceed the retention duration.
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-104 question in full detail.
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: Edit the backup policy and change daily retention to 30 days. — Option B is correct because the existing backup policy already performs daily backups at 11:00 PM, but its retention setting for daily recovery points is only 7 days. By editing the policy and changing the daily retention to 30 days, the administrator meets the business requirement without creating a new VM, altering the vault, or modifying the VM itself. Azure Backup policies allow modification of retention durations independently of backup frequency, so this is a straightforward configuration change.
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
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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. Your team wants every protected Azure VM in a vault to be backed up once each day and kept for 30 days. Which Recovery Services vault setting should you configure?
easy
A.A diagnostic setting
B.A resource lock
✓ C.A backup policy
D.An action group
Why C: A backup policy defines the frequency and retention duration for backups. By configuring a backup policy with a daily backup schedule and a retention period of 30 days, you ensure that each protected Azure VM in the Recovery Services vault is backed up once per day and the backups are kept for 30 days. This is the correct setting to meet the team's requirements.
Variation 2. Which two settings can you configure in an Azure Backup policy for a virtual machine? Select two.
easy
✓ A.Backup schedule
✓ B.Retention period
C.Virtual network peering
D.Network security group rules
E.Public IP allocation
Why A: Option A is correct because an Azure Backup policy for a virtual machine includes a 'Backup schedule' setting that defines how often (e.g., daily or weekly) and at what time the backup job runs. This schedule controls the frequency of recovery point creation, which is essential for meeting recovery point objectives (RPOs).
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Question Discussion
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