AZ-104 Implement and Manage Virtual Networking Practice Question
Two virtual machines named VM-Web01 and VM-Web02 host the same public web application. Users on the internet must connect through a single public IP address, and incoming requests should be distributed across both VMs. What should you deploy?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse an internal load balancer with a public load balancer, mistakenly thinking any load balancer can provide internet-facing access, but only a public load balancer exposes a public IP address for external clients.
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 public load balancer
A public load balancer (Azure Load Balancer with a public frontend IP) is required because it provides a single public IP address for internet clients and distributes incoming traffic across the backend VMs (VM-Web01 and VM-Web02) using a configured load-balancing rule. This ensures high availability and scalability for the web application.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
An internal load balancer
Why it's wrong here
An internal load balancer is unsuitable because it only receives a private VIP from the virtual network, so it cannot accept inbound traffic from the public internet. This design is intended for private, internal workloads that are not directly exposed to external users; it would fail the requirement to make the VMs reachable via a public endpoint.
When this WOULD be correct
An internal load balancer would be correct if the question specified that the web application is accessed only by internal users within the same virtual network, and no internet-facing public IP is needed.
- ✓
A public load balancer
Why this is correct
A public load balancer is the correct choice because it presents a single public IP address to internet clients and uses a backend pool containing vm-web01 and vm-web02. It applies health probes to each backend VM and forwards new connections only to healthy instances, thereby distributing traffic while also providing fault tolerance if one VM becomes unresponsive.
- ✗
A private DNS zone
Why it's wrong here
A private DNS zone is wrong because DNS resolution only maps domain names to IP addresses and does not perform traffic routing, health checking, or failover between VMs. Moreover, a private DNS zone is scoped to an internal virtual network, so it would not be visible to internet clients and cannot provide a public-facing entry point to the two VMs.
When this WOULD be correct
You need to resolve custom domain names (e.g., 'app.internal') to private IP addresses of VMs within a virtual network, without exposing them to the internet. For example, deploying a private DNS zone linked to a VNet for internal name resolution.
- ✗
A Recovery Services vault
Why it's wrong here
A Recovery Services vault is incorrect because it is a backup and site-recovery service that stores recovery points and manages replication for Azure VMs. It has no role in network traffic distribution, load balancing, or exposing VMs to the internet, so it cannot satisfy the requirement of routing user traffic across the two web servers.
When this WOULD be correct
You need to protect Azure VMs by enabling backup. The question would ask: 'Which Azure resource should you create to store backup data and configure backup policies for Azure VMs?'
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 public load balancerCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
A public load balancer is the correct choice because it presents a single public IP address to internet clients and uses a backend pool containing vm-web01 and vm-web02. It applies health probes to each backend VM and forwards new connections only to healthy instances, thereby distributing traffic while also providing fault tolerance if one VM becomes unresponsive.
✗An internal load balancerWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
An internal load balancer only handles traffic within a virtual network, not from the internet. Since users must connect from the internet through a single public IP, a public load balancer is required.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
An internal load balancer would be correct if the question specified that the web application is accessed only by internal users within the same virtual network, and no internet-facing public IP is needed.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse internal and public load balancers, thinking any load balancer can handle internet traffic, or they may overlook the requirement for a public IP address.
✗A private DNS zoneWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A private DNS zone resolves names within a private network, not for internet-facing traffic. It cannot provide a single public IP address or distribute incoming internet requests across VMs.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
You need to resolve custom domain names (e.g., 'app.internal') to private IP addresses of VMs within a virtual network, without exposing them to the internet. For example, deploying a private DNS zone linked to a VNet for internal name resolution.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse DNS-based load balancing with actual load balancing, thinking that a DNS zone can distribute traffic by resolving to multiple IPs, but it lacks health probing and session persistence.
✗A Recovery Services vaultWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A Recovery Services vault is used for backup and disaster recovery, not for distributing incoming internet traffic across VMs.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
You need to protect Azure VMs by enabling backup. The question would ask: 'Which Azure resource should you create to store backup data and configure backup policies for Azure VMs?'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse Recovery Services vault with a service that provides high availability or failover, mistakenly thinking it can distribute traffic.
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
Public IP address
A globally unique IP address assigned to a device that allows it to communicate directly over the internet.
Key term
IP address
An IP address is a unique numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.
About these practice questions
One of 1,049 original AZ-104 practice questions on Courseiva, each with a full explanation and wrong-answer analysis — not exam dumps or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.