The answer is to adjust the sampling rate in the Application Insights configuration to 100%. This is correct because under high load, Application Insights uses adaptive sampling by default, which intentionally drops some telemetry data to manage volume; setting the rate to 100% disables this filtering, ensuring all logs are captured. On the Azure Developer Associate AZ-204 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how the Consumption plan’s scaling interacts with telemetry ingestion—a common trap is assuming you need to upgrade to a dedicated plan or increase the budget, but the real fix is a configuration change that does not significantly increase cost since you only pay for function execution time. Remember the memory tip: “Full sample, no gamble”—setting sampling to 100% guarantees complete logs without extra infrastructure spend.
AZ-204 Develop Azure compute solutions Practice Question
This AZ-204 practice question tests your understanding of develop azure compute solutions. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 deploy an Azure Function app that runs on the Consumption plan. The function writes logs to Application Insights. You notice that some log entries are missing during periods of high load. You need to ensure that all logs are captured without significantly increasing cost. What should you do?
Adjust the sampling rate in the Application Insights configuration to 100%.
Setting sampling to 100% ensures all telemetry is sent, but may increase cost; however, for the Consumption plan it's acceptable if volume is manageable.
B
Change the function app to the Premium plan to get more CPU and memory.
Why wrong: Changing the plan increases cost but doesn't directly affect log capture.
C
Create a separate Application Insights resource for the function app.
Why wrong: A separate resource doesn't prevent missing logs.
D
Disable sampling in the function's host.json.
Why wrong: Disabling sampling may still lead to throttling; adaptive sampling is enabled by default.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Adjust the sampling rate in the Application Insights configuration to 100%.
Under high load, Application Insights uses adaptive sampling by default to reduce data volume, which can cause log entries to be dropped. Adjusting the sampling rate to 100% in the Application Insights configuration ensures all telemetry data is captured, while still running on the Consumption plan, which does not significantly increase cost because the function app itself scales and you only pay for execution time and resources used.
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.
✓
Adjust the sampling rate in the Application Insights configuration to 100%.
Why this is correct
Setting sampling to 100% ensures all telemetry is sent, but may increase cost; however, for the Consumption plan it's acceptable if volume is manageable.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Change the function app to the Premium plan to get more CPU and memory.
Why it's wrong here
Changing the plan increases cost but doesn't directly affect log capture.
✗
Create a separate Application Insights resource for the function app.
Why it's wrong here
A separate resource doesn't prevent missing logs.
✗
Disable sampling in the function's host.json.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling sampling may still lead to throttling; adaptive sampling is enabled by default.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often think disabling sampling in host.json or upgrading the plan will fix missing logs, but they overlook that Application Insights sampling is controlled at the Application Insights configuration level, not the function app's host configuration.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Application Insights adaptive sampling automatically adjusts the volume of telemetry sent to the backend based on the rate of data generation, targeting a default maximum of 5 events per second. When sampling is set to 100%, the sampling processor is effectively bypassed, ensuring every log entry is transmitted, but this can increase data ingestion costs if the function generates high volumes of telemetry. The Consumption plan's scaling and pay-per-execution model means the cost impact is primarily from the increased data ingestion, not from compute resources, so the trade-off is acceptable for critical logging scenarios.
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-204 question in full detail.
Develop Azure compute solutions — This question tests Develop Azure compute solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Adjust the sampling rate in the Application Insights configuration to 100%. — Under high load, Application Insights uses adaptive sampling by default to reduce data volume, which can cause log entries to be dropped. Adjusting the sampling rate to 100% in the Application Insights configuration ensures all telemetry data is captured, while still running on the Consumption plan, which does not significantly increase cost because the function app itself scales and you only pay for execution time and resources used.
What should I do if I get this AZ-204 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.
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