You removed public IP addresses from a backend subnet containing 20 VMs. The VMs still need outbound internet access for updates, and the organization wants all outbound traffic to appear from one predictable public IP. No inbound publishing is required. Which Azure service should you use?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Distractor review
A public load balancer with inbound NAT rules for each VM.
Inbound NAT rules are for publishing inbound access, not for simplified outbound-only egress.
Best answer
Azure NAT Gateway associated with the subnet.
NAT Gateway provides outbound-only internet connectivity with a stable public IP or public IP prefix.
Distractor review
A private load balancer with a backend pool of the VMs.
Private load balancing distributes internal traffic but does not provide internet egress from the subnet.
Distractor review
A VPN gateway connection to a remote network.
A VPN gateway is for hybrid connectivity, not for providing predictable outbound internet NAT.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: usable hosts are not the same as total addresses
Subnetting questions often tempt you into counting all addresses. In normal IPv4 subnets, the network and broadcast addresses are not usable host addresses.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
Subnetting questions test whether you can identify the network, broadcast address, usable range, mask and correct subnet. Slow down enough to calculate the block size correctly.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
- Block size helps identify subnet boundaries.
- Network and broadcast addresses are not usable hosts in normal IPv4 subnets.
- The required host count determines the smallest suitable subnet.
TExam Day Tips
- Write the block size before choosing the subnet.
- Check whether the question asks for hosts, subnets or a specific address range.
- Do not confuse /24, /25, /26 and /27 host counts.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A route table contains these entries: 10.0.0.0/8 with next hop Virtual appliance, and 10.1.1.0/24 with next hop Virtual network gateway. Which next hop will Azure use for traffic to 10.1.1.5?
Question 2
You are deploying a stateless web application on Azure virtual machines. The solution must automatically add and remove instances based on CPU demand and allow all instances to be managed as one logical group. Which Azure compute feature should you deploy?
Question 3
You are deploying a Windows Server VM for an internal app. The VM must support Secure Boot and vTPM later, its OS disk must survive host moves, and the team wants the lowest-cost managed disk tier that still behaves like a normal writable OS disk. Which two choices should you make? Select two.
Question 4
You need to deploy several identical virtual machines and ensure that the failure of a single Azure host does not affect all of them. Which feature should you use?
Question 5
You need to connect VNet-Hub and VNet-Spoke so that resources in both virtual networks can communicate privately over the Microsoft backbone. Both virtual networks are in the same region. What should you configure?
Question 6
You need to create a storage account that provides the lowest-cost redundant storage for non-critical data and only needs protection against local disk or server failure within a single datacenter. Which redundancy option should you choose?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-104 question test?
CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Azure NAT Gateway associated with the subnet. — NAT Gateway is the best fit when VMs need outbound internet access without public IP addresses and with a consistent source address. Associating it with the subnet lets all outbound flows from those VMs use the gateway's public IP or prefix. This meets the requirement without opening inbound access, which is exactly the pattern for patching, software downloads, and general egress control. Why others are wrong: A public load balancer with inbound NAT rules focuses on inbound publishing and does not solve the outbound-only requirement cleanly. A private load balancer provides internal load distribution but no internet egress. A VPN gateway is intended for site connectivity and does not create the predictable public outbound IP that this scenario requires.
What should I do if I get this AZ-104 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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