Question 86 of 1,170

Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Quick Answer

The answer is metric alerts, because they are the most cost-effective metric alerts vs log analytics approach for monitoring VM CPU and storage capacity thresholds. Azure Monitor metric alerts evaluate lightweight, pre-collected platform metrics like CPU percentage and disk operations at regular intervals, incurring no ingestion or storage costs, whereas log analytics requires sending diagnostic data to a Log Analytics workspace, which charges for data ingestion and retention. On the AZ-104 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of telemetry cost optimization—a common trap is defaulting to log-based alerts for all monitoring, but metric alerts are the correct choice for simple threshold conditions. Remember the memory tip: “Metrics are free to eat, logs cost to keep.”

AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question

This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of monitor and maintain azure resources. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.

The team needs alerts for VM CPU and storage capacity thresholds, but they want to keep telemetry ingestion costs as low as possible. Which approach is best?

Clue words in this question

Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.

Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.

Question 1mediummultiple choice

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A
Use Azure Monitor metric alerts for the threshold conditions.
Metric alerts evaluate native platform metrics directly and do not require broad log ingestion, so they are usually the most cost-aware option for threshold monitoring. For CPU and capacity-type measurements that are available as metrics, this approach gives near real-time alerting with minimal telemetry overhead. It fits the requirement to monitor multiple resources while keeping data collection costs down.
B
Send all VM diagnostic logs to Log Analytics and create only log search alerts.
Why wrong: Log-based alerts can work, but they require more ingestion and are usually more expensive than metric alerts for simple threshold conditions.
C
Create a Recovery Services vault backup policy with a short retention period.
Why wrong: Backup policies protect data recovery, but they do not create operational threshold alerts for CPU or storage capacity.
D
Assign Azure Policy to the subscription to audit CPU and storage trends.
Why wrong: Azure Policy can audit configuration compliance, but it does not track runtime telemetry or trigger threshold notifications.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

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

✓

Use Azure Monitor metric alerts for the threshold conditions.

Azure Monitor metric alerts are the most cost-effective approach because they evaluate lightweight, pre-collected platform metrics (e.g., CPU percentage, disk read/write operations) at regular intervals without ingesting or storing raw log data. This avoids the ingestion and retention costs associated with sending diagnostic logs to a Log Analytics workspace, making it ideal for simple threshold-based monitoring of VM CPU and storage capacity.

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.

✓
Use Azure Monitor metric alerts for the threshold conditions.
Why this is correct
Metric alerts evaluate native platform metrics directly and do not require broad log ingestion, so they are usually the most cost-aware option for threshold monitoring. For CPU and capacity-type measurements that are available as metrics, this approach gives near real-time alerting with minimal telemetry overhead. It fits the requirement to monitor multiple resources while keeping data collection costs down.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Send all VM diagnostic logs to Log Analytics and create only log search alerts.
Why it's wrong here
Log-based alerts can work, but they require more ingestion and are usually more expensive than metric alerts for simple threshold conditions.
✗
Create a Recovery Services vault backup policy with a short retention period.
Why it's wrong here
Backup policies protect data recovery, but they do not create operational threshold alerts for CPU or storage capacity.
✗
Assign Azure Policy to the subscription to audit CPU and storage trends.
Why it's wrong here
Azure Policy can audit configuration compliance, but it does not track runtime telemetry or trigger threshold notifications.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates often assume Log Analytics is always the right choice for alerts because it provides richer data, but they overlook the cost implications of ingesting and storing diagnostic logs for simple threshold monitoring, where metric alerts are both sufficient and far cheaper.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

Azure Monitor metric alerts use the Metrics platform, which stores up to 93 days of data for free (with a 1-minute granularity for most VM metrics) and charges only for alert rule evaluations beyond the free tier. In contrast, Log Analytics charges per GB of data ingested (typically $2.30/GB) and per GB retained, so sending verbose diagnostic logs (e.g., Windows Event logs, Syslog) for simple threshold alerts can quickly escalate costs. A real-world scenario: a team monitoring 100 VMs for CPU > 90% would pay ~$0.10 per alert rule per month with metric alerts, versus potentially hundreds of dollars in Log Analytics ingestion costs if they stream all diagnostic data.

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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.

What to study next

Got this wrong? Here's your next step.

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

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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: Use Azure Monitor metric alerts for the threshold conditions. — Azure Monitor metric alerts are the most cost-effective approach because they evaluate lightweight, pre-collected platform metrics (e.g., CPU percentage, disk read/write operations) at regular intervals without ingesting or storing raw log data. This avoids the ingestion and retention costs associated with sending diagnostic logs to a Log Analytics workspace, making it ideal for simple threshold-based monitoring of VM CPU and storage capacity.

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.

Are there clue words in this question I should notice?

Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

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