AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question
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?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse metric alerts (for performance metrics) with activity log alerts (for management events) or budget alerts (for cost), leading candidates to pick an option that monitors the wrong type of data.
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
✓
A metric alert and an action group
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.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
A metric alert and an action group
Why this is correct
A metric alert continuously evaluates the 'Percentage CPU' counter for VM app01 over a set aggregation window (e.g., 5 minutes), and when the value exceeds 85, the alert fires. The linked action group is essential because it contains the email notification action that actually sends the message to the specified recipients. Without the action group, the metric alert would only appear in the portal or be exposed via APIs, but it would not proactively notify you.
- ✗
A resource lock and Azure Advisor
Why it's wrong here
A resource lock is a management control that prevents accidental deletion or modification of the VM, while Azure Advisor provides proactive best-practice recommendations for cost, security, reliability, and performance. Neither feature evaluates real-time VM metrics like CPU utilization, nor does either subscription-level tool generate threshold-based email alerts. Azure Advisor can recommend scaling or SKU changes based on usage patterns, but it does not send notifications when an 85% CPU threshold is crossed.
When this WOULD be correct
You need to prevent deletion of a critical resource and receive proactive recommendations to improve its reliability and performance. In that case, you would configure a resource lock for protection and use Azure Advisor for recommendations.
- ✗
An activity log alert only
Why it's wrong here
Activity log alerts monitor platform-level events in the Azure activity log, such as VM start/stop, resource deployments, health incidents, or configuration changes — not performance counters like 'Percentage CPU'. Even if an action group is attached to an activity log alert, it only fires when a matching administrative or operational event occurs, so it would never trigger solely because CPU usage exceeded 85%. You need a metric alert to observe telemetry data emitted by the VM's diagnostics or Azure Monitor agent.
When this WOULD be correct
You would use an activity log alert when you need to be notified about operational events, such as when a VM is deleted, a security policy is changed, or a service health incident occurs. For example: 'You need an email when a VM is stopped from the Azure portal.'
- ✗
A budget alert
Why it's wrong here
A budget alert is designed to track cost spending against an Azure subscription or resource group, raising a notification when costs exceed a defined monetary amount. CPU utilization is not a monetary cost signal, and budget alerts operate on data from Microsoft Cost Management, not Azure Monitor's metric pipeline. Therefore, a budget alert cannot detect an 85% CPU threshold; it monitors financial usage and would only email you about overspending, not performance issues.
When this WOULD be correct
You need to receive an email when spending on a resource group exceeds $1000 for the month. A budget alert with an action group would be the correct solution.
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.
✓A metric alert and an action groupCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
A metric alert continuously evaluates the 'Percentage CPU' counter for VM app01 over a set aggregation window (e.g., 5 minutes), and when the value exceeds 85, the alert fires. The linked action group is essential because it contains the email notification action that actually sends the message to the specified recipients. Without the action group, the metric alert would only appear in the portal or be exposed via APIs, but it would not proactively notify you.
✗A resource lock and Azure AdvisorWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A resource lock prevents accidental deletion or modification of resources, and Azure Advisor provides best practice recommendations, but neither can trigger an email based on CPU usage metrics.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
You need to prevent deletion of a critical resource and receive proactive recommendations to improve its reliability and performance. In that case, you would configure a resource lock for protection and use Azure Advisor for recommendations.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse Azure Advisor's monitoring capabilities with alerting, or think that a resource lock combined with Advisor can somehow trigger notifications based on performance metrics.
✗An activity log alert onlyWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
An activity log alert only monitors changes to Azure resources (e.g., creation, deletion) or service health events, not performance metrics like CPU usage. It cannot trigger based on metric thresholds.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
You would use an activity log alert when you need to be notified about operational events, such as when a VM is deleted, a security policy is changed, or a service health incident occurs. For example: 'You need an email when a VM is stopped from the Azure portal.'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse activity log alerts with metric alerts, thinking that 'activity' includes performance monitoring, or they may not fully understand the distinct purposes of different alert types.
✗A budget alertWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A budget alert monitors cost thresholds, not performance metrics like CPU usage. It cannot trigger an email based on average CPU exceeding 85% for 10 minutes.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
You need to receive an email when spending on a resource group exceeds $1000 for the month. A budget alert with an action group would be the correct solution.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'budget' with 'metric thresholds' or think any alert can monitor performance, overlooking that budget alerts are specifically for cost management.
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
Metric
A metric is a quantifiable measurement used to assess the performance, health, or status of IT systems, networks, or applications.
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.
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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.