- A
Create a separate App Service plan and deploy the new version there.
Why wrong: This approach would require managing two separate App Services, additional cost, and you would need a separate way to route traffic between them.
- B
Use Azure DevOps deployment pipelines with deployment gates.
Why wrong: Deployment gates can control rollout but do not provide the ability to instantly swap or route traffic to different versions.
- C
Use Azure Traffic Manager to route traffic between the old and new versions.
Why wrong: Traffic Manager is a DNS-level traffic routing service. It could work but introduces extra complexity, cost, and latency compared to deployment slots.
- D
Use deployment slots with swapping.
Deployment slots allow you to deploy to a staging slot, test it, and then swap with the production slot. You can also route a percentage of traffic to the staging slot for A/B testing. Swapping back is immediate and provides a fast rollback.
AZ-204 Develop Azure compute solutions Practice Question
This AZ-204 practice question tests your understanding of develop azure compute 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.
You are deploying a new version of an ASP.NET Core web application to Azure App Service. You want to test the new version with a subset of users before making it available to everyone. You also need to be able to switch back instantly if issues are found. Which App Service feature should you use?
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
Use deployment slots with swapping.
Deployment slots in Azure App Service allow you to deploy a new version of your application to a staging slot, then gradually route a subset of user traffic to it using slot-specific routing rules (e.g., cookie-based affinity). If issues arise, you can instantly revert by swapping the slots back, which requires no redeployment and preserves the previous version's warm instances.
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.
- ✗
Create a separate App Service plan and deploy the new version there.
Why it's wrong here
This approach would require managing two separate App Services, additional cost, and you would need a separate way to route traffic between them.
- ✗
Use Azure DevOps deployment pipelines with deployment gates.
Why it's wrong here
Deployment gates can control rollout but do not provide the ability to instantly swap or route traffic to different versions.
- ✗
Use Azure Traffic Manager to route traffic between the old and new versions.
Why it's wrong here
Traffic Manager is a DNS-level traffic routing service. It could work but introduces extra complexity, cost, and latency compared to deployment slots.
- ✓
Use deployment slots with swapping.
Why this is correct
Deployment slots allow you to deploy to a staging slot, test it, and then swap with the production slot. You can also route a percentage of traffic to the staging slot for A/B testing. Swapping back is immediate and provides a fast rollback.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse Azure Traffic Manager (DNS-level routing) with deployment slots (App Service–level routing), not realizing that Traffic Manager cannot provide instant rollback or cookie-based traffic splitting within a single App Service instance.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, deployment slots use the same App Service plan and share the same underlying VM instances, so swapping is a metadata-only operation that flips the routing rules in the front-end load balancer—no cold start or recompilation occurs. The slot-specific routing rules leverage the `x-ms-routing-name` cookie to pin a user to a specific slot, enabling A/B testing without DNS changes. In a real-world scenario, you can combine slot auto-swap with health checks to ensure the staging slot passes validation before traffic is shifted.
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 cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-204 question test?
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: Use deployment slots with swapping. — Deployment slots in Azure App Service allow you to deploy a new version of your application to a staging slot, then gradually route a subset of user traffic to it using slot-specific routing rules (e.g., cookie-based affinity). If issues arise, you can instantly revert by swapping the slots back, which requires no redeployment and preserves the previous version's warm instances.
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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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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