AZ-104 Manage Azure Identities and Governance Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of manage azure identities and governance. 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.
Three Azure VMs run the same scheduled script and must access both Storage and Key Vault. The team wants one identity that can be reused if a VM is rebuilt, and they do not want the identity tied to a single machine. What should the administrator create?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
A user-assigned managed identity attached to all three virtual machines.
A user-assigned managed identity is the correct choice because it is an independent Azure resource that can be assigned to multiple VMs, persists independently of any single VM's lifecycle, and can be reused when a VM is rebuilt. This identity provides seamless authentication to both Storage and Key Vault without managing credentials, meeting the requirement for a reusable, non-machine-tied identity.
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.
✗
A system-assigned managed identity on each virtual machine.
Why it's wrong here
This creates a separate identity per VM and the identity lifecycle follows each machine individually.
✗
A service principal with a certificate file copied to each VM.
Why it's wrong here
This still introduces certificate management and is not as clean as a reusable Azure-managed identity.
✓
A user-assigned managed identity attached to all three virtual machines.
Why this is correct
A user-assigned managed identity can be shared across multiple VMs and reused independently of any one VM.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
A shared access signature for each storage account and Key Vault access policy.
Why it's wrong here
SAS tokens and ad hoc access policies do not provide one reusable identity for both services and multiple VMs.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse system-assigned and user-assigned managed identities, incorrectly assuming that system-assigned identities can be shared across VMs or persist after VM deletion, when in fact only user-assigned identities are independent, reusable resources.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
User-assigned managed identities use Azure AD tokens obtained via the Azure Instance Metadata Service (IMDS) endpoint (169.254.169.254). When a VM is rebuilt, the identity is simply reassigned via ARM or Azure CLI, and the new VM can immediately authenticate using the same identity's client ID. This identity can be granted RBAC roles (e.g., Storage Blob Data Contributor) and Key Vault access policies, enabling fine-grained, credential-less access across multiple resources.
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 media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-104 question in full detail.
Manage Azure Identities and Governance — This question tests Manage Azure Identities and Governance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: A user-assigned managed identity attached to all three virtual machines. — A user-assigned managed identity is the correct choice because it is an independent Azure resource that can be assigned to multiple VMs, persists independently of any single VM's lifecycle, and can be reused when a VM is rebuilt. This identity provides seamless authentication to both Storage and Key Vault without managing credentials, meeting the requirement for a reusable, non-machine-tied identity.
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 →
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.