AZ-204 Practice Question: Connect to and consume Azure services and third-party services
A developer exposes several backend APIs through Azure API Management. Clients must be throttled by subscription to protect the backend. What should be configured?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse telemetry or storage features (like Application Insights sampling or Blob soft delete) with API throttling mechanisms, overlooking that API Management's rate-limit and quota policies are the correct and direct solution for subscription-based throttling.
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
✓
API Management rate-limit or quota policy
Azure API Management provides built-in rate-limit and quota policies that allow you to throttle client requests based on subscription keys. These policies enforce limits per subscription scope, protecting backend services from excessive traffic by rejecting requests that exceed the defined rate (e.g., requests per second) or quota (e.g., total calls per month). This directly addresses the requirement to throttle clients by subscription.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Blob soft delete
Why it's wrong here
Blob soft delete retains deleted blob data for recovery; it has no role in rate limiting API calls. It is tempting because both features protect backends, and would be correct when accidental deletion of stored objects must be recoverable.
- ✗
Application Insights sampling
Why it's wrong here
Application Insights sampling reduces telemetry volume collected for monitoring, not inbound request rates per subscription. It is tempting because sampling controls load-related data, and would be correct when telemetry costs or volume must be reduced while retaining representative traces.
- ✗
Private DNS zone only
Why it's wrong here
A private DNS zone resolves names to private IP addresses; it performs no request throttling or subscription-based rate limiting. It is tempting because private endpoints secure backend APIs, and would be correct when APIs must be reached only through private network connectivity.
- ✓
API Management rate-limit or quota policy
Why this is correct
Rate-limit and quota policies execute at the API Management gateway, counting calls per subscription key and rejecting excess requests before they reach the backend. This enforces per-subscription throttling, directly satisfying the stated backend protection requirement.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-204 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-204 exam.