The answer is to increase the provisioned throughput (RU/s) for the container, as this directly raises the request units per second available to handle read operations, eliminating the HTTP 429 throttling errors during peak demand. Cosmos DB meters all operations in request units (RUs), and when your application’s read traffic exceeds the allocated RU/s, the service returns a 429 to protect performance; boosting the container’s throughput instantly resolves this bottleneck without any code changes. On the AZ-204 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of Cosmos DB scaling mechanics and the distinction between throughput, indexing, and consistency—a common trap is confusing multi-region writes (which improve write latency) with read performance. Remember that throttling is always a capacity issue, not a configuration or consistency one, so the fix is to add more RUs. A helpful memory tip: “429 means you need more RUs—scale up, don’t change the rules.”
AZ-204 Practice Question: Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize Azure solutions
This AZ-204 practice question tests your understanding of monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize azure solutions. 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.
Your application uses Azure Cosmos DB with the SQL API. You notice that read requests are being throttled (HTTP 429) during peak hours. You need to improve read performance without changing the application code. Which action should you take?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Increase the provisioned throughput (RU/s) for the container
Option B is correct because increasing RU/s for the container directly increases throughput, reducing throttling. Option A is wrong because adding a global index is not a standard Cosmos DB concept; indexing is automatic. Option C is wrong because changing consistency to Strong reduces performance. Option D is wrong because enabling multi-region writes improves write availability, not read performance.
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.
✗
Add a composite index to the container
Why it's wrong here
Composite indexes improve query performance, not throughput.
✓
Increase the provisioned throughput (RU/s) for the container
Why this is correct
More RU/s means more capacity for reads and writes.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Enable multi-region writes for the Cosmos DB account
Why it's wrong here
Multi-region writes improve write latency, not read throughput.
✗
Change the default consistency level to Strong
Why it's wrong here
Strong consistency is slower and more resource-intensive.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→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
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-204 question in full detail.
Identify which AZ-204 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize Azure solutions — This question tests Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize Azure solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Increase the provisioned throughput (RU/s) for the container — Option B is correct because increasing RU/s for the container directly increases throughput, reducing throttling. Option A is wrong because adding a global index is not a standard Cosmos DB concept; indexing is automatic. Option C is wrong because changing consistency to Strong reduces performance. Option D is wrong because enabling multi-region writes improves write availability, not read performance.
What should I do if I get this AZ-204 question wrong?
Identify which AZ-204 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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