Quick Answer
The answer is an availability set, which is the correct choice because it distributes your two VMs across separate update domains within an Azure datacenter, ensuring that during Azure platform planned maintenance only one domain is rebooted at a time while the other remains available. This design also uses fault domains to protect against underlying hardware failures, giving you high availability without the need for autoscaling. On the AZ-104 exam, this question tests your understanding of the difference between availability sets and scale sets—a common trap is to confuse the two, but remember that scale sets provide autoscaling, which is explicitly not required here. The key exam memory tip is to think of update domains as “maintenance windows” that are rebooted one at a time, while fault domains are separate racks of hardware; an availability set gives you both protections.
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.
You plan to deploy two virtual machines that run the same line-of-business application. The VMs must remain available during planned maintenance of the Azure platform, but autoscaling is not required. What should you use?
A Virtual Machine Scale Set.
Why wrong: A scale set can help, but it is more than the requirement calls for.
An availability set.
This is the classic fit for a small set of highly available VMs.
Azure Container Apps.
Why wrong: Container Apps changes the hosting model entirely.
A private endpoint.
Why wrong: Private endpoints are unrelated to VM availability.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
An availability set.
An availability set ensures that VMs are distributed across multiple fault domains and update domains within an Azure datacenter. This protects against both hardware failures (fault domains) and planned Azure platform maintenance (update domains), as only one update domain is rebooted at a time. Since autoscaling is not required, an availability set is the correct choice for high availability during planned maintenance.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
A Virtual Machine Scale Set.
Why it's wrong here
A scale set can help, but it is more than the requirement calls for.
An availability set.
Why this is correct
This is the classic fit for a small set of highly available VMs.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Azure Container Apps.
Why it's wrong here
Container Apps changes the hosting model entirely.
A private endpoint.
Why it's wrong here
Private endpoints are unrelated to VM availability.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse availability sets (for planned maintenance and hardware fault tolerance) with Virtual Machine Scale Sets (for autoscaling and load balancing), leading them to select the scale set even when autoscaling is explicitly not required.
Detailed technical explanation
An availability set logically groups VMs into up to 3 fault domains (shared power and network) and up to 20 update domains (groups that are rebooted sequentially during maintenance). Azure guarantees that VMs in the same availability set will be placed on different physical racks and power sources, ensuring that a single hardware failure or maintenance event does not affect all VMs. This is achieved through Azure's placement constraints enforced at deployment time, not through runtime scaling or load balancing.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
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FAQ
Deploy and Manage Azure Compute — This question tests Deploy and Manage Azure Compute — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: An availability set. — An availability set ensures that VMs are distributed across multiple fault domains and update domains within an Azure datacenter. This protects against both hardware failures (fault domains) and planned Azure platform maintenance (update domains), as only one update domain is rebooted at a time. Since autoscaling is not required, an availability set is the correct choice for high availability during planned maintenance.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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