The answer is an availability set, because it provides planned maintenance protection for VMs in the same region without covering full datacenter outages. An availability set logically groups VMs across multiple update domains—up to 20—so that during Azure host maintenance, only one update domain is rebooted at a time, keeping your application VMs available. This directly meets the requirement to stay online during planned updates while avoiding the cost and complexity of an availability zone, which would protect against a full datacenter failure. On the AZ-104 exam, this question tests your ability to distinguish between high-availability options: availability sets for intra-datacenter resilience versus availability zones for cross-datacenter protection. A common trap is choosing zones when only planned maintenance is needed, but remember that zones add redundancy across separate physical locations. Memory tip: think of an availability set as a “neighborhood” within one datacenter—if one house (update domain) is under maintenance, the rest stay powered on.
AZ-104 Deploy and Manage Azure Compute Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of deploy and manage azure compute. 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.
Two application VMs are in the same Azure region. They must stay available during planned host maintenance, but the business does not require protection from a full datacenter outage. Which placement option should you use?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Availability set
An availability set distributes VMs across multiple fault domains (up to 3) and update domains (up to 20) within a single Azure datacenter. This ensures that during planned host maintenance, only one update domain is taken offline at a time, keeping the application VMs available. Since the requirement does not include protection from a full datacenter outage, an availability set is the correct and cost-effective placement option.
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.
✓
Availability set
Why this is correct
An availability set spreads VMs across fault and update domains so planned maintenance affects only part of the group at a time.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Availability zone
Why it's wrong here
A zone can improve resilience, but it is more than required when only host maintenance protection is needed.
✗
Shared disk
Why it's wrong here
A shared disk supports clustering scenarios, but it does not place VMs to reduce maintenance impact.
✗
Snapshot set
Why it's wrong here
Snapshots help capture disk state for recovery, but they do not distribute running VMs across maintenance boundaries.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often choose Availability zones because they see 'high availability' and assume it's always the best option, missing the explicit constraint that only planned host maintenance needs to be covered, not a full datacenter outage.
Trap categories for this question
Scenario analysis trap
A shared disk supports clustering scenarios, but it does not place VMs to reduce maintenance impact.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, an availability set guarantees that VMs are placed on different physical racks (fault domains) and different maintenance schedules (update domains). Azure assigns a fault domain based on the host hardware, and during platform updates, it reboots VMs one update domain at a time, ensuring at least one VM remains running. A subtle behavior: if you add VMs to an availability set after creation, they may not be automatically placed on separate fault domains unless you redeploy them; it's best to create all VMs within the set at deployment time.
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-104 question in full detail.
Deploy and Manage Azure Compute — This question tests Deploy and Manage Azure Compute — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Availability set — An availability set distributes VMs across multiple fault domains (up to 3) and update domains (up to 20) within a single Azure datacenter. This ensures that during planned host maintenance, only one update domain is taken offline at a time, keeping the application VMs available. Since the requirement does not include protection from a full datacenter outage, an availability set is the correct and cost-effective placement option.
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 →
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. Two application VMs run in the same Azure region. The business wants to reduce the chance that both VMs are rebooted during planned host maintenance, but a datacenter outage is not part of the requirement. What should the administrator configure?
easy
✓ A.Availability set
B.Availability zone
C.Azure Load Balancer
D.Virtual machine scale set
Why A: An availability set ensures that VMs are placed on different fault domains and update domains within the same Azure datacenter. This configuration guarantees that during planned host maintenance, only one update domain is rebooted at a time, reducing the chance that both VMs are rebooted simultaneously. Since the requirement explicitly excludes a datacenter outage, an availability set is the correct choice to protect against planned maintenance events.
Variation 2. A company has two application VMs in the same Azure region. The main requirement is to reduce downtime during planned host maintenance. The business does not require protection from a complete datacenter outage. Which option should you choose?
easy
A.Availability zones
✓ B.Availability set
C.Virtual machine scale set
D.Proximity placement group
Why B: An availability set distributes VMs across multiple fault domains and update domains within a single Azure datacenter. During planned host maintenance, Azure updates one update domain at a time, ensuring that only a subset of VMs are rebooted simultaneously, thereby reducing downtime. This meets the requirement of protecting against planned maintenance without needing cross-datacenter redundancy.
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Question Discussion
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