AZ-204 Practice Question: Connect to and consume Azure services and third-party services
Which TWO Azure services can be used to implement a publish-subscribe messaging pattern?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse Azure Event Hubs (a telemetry ingestion service) with a publish-subscribe broker, since both support multiple consumers, but Event Hubs uses consumer groups for partitioned stream processing, not topic subscriptions with independent message copies.
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
✓
Azure Event Grid
Azure Event Grid (B) is correct because it is a fully managed event-routing service built on a publish-subscribe model, where publishers emit events to topics and subscribers receive them via event subscriptions with filters and push delivery. Azure Service Bus Topics (D) is correct because a topic implements the pub/sub pattern: senders publish messages to the topic and multiple subscriptions (each with its own filters and rules) receive independent copies, unlike a Service Bus Queue which is point-to-point. Azure Queue Storage (A) is not correct because it provides simple point-to-point queue messaging where each message is consumed by a single receiver, not broadcast to multiple subscribers. Azure Notification Hubs (C) is not correct because it is a push-notification broadcast/engagement service for mobile devices (targeting tags, platforms), not a general pub/sub messaging broker. Azure Event Hubs (E) is not correct because it is a high-throughput event-streaming ingestion service based on partitions and consumer groups, where consumers pull from the stream rather than receiving independent subscription copies as in pub/sub.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Azure Queue Storage
Why it's wrong here
Azure Queue Storage delivers each message to a single consumer that deletes it after processing, giving point-to-point rather than publish-subscribe fan-out. It is tempting because it decouples senders from receivers, and it would be correct for load-levelling work distribution among competing worker roles.
- ✓
Azure Event Grid
Why this is correct
Azure Event Grid implements publish-subscribe through event topics and subscriptions, pushing events to subscribers via webhooks or handlers. It satisfies the stem's requirement by decoupling publishers from consumers, using a push delivery model with filtering, unlike pull-based queues. This makes it a valid choice for the pub-sub pattern.
- ✗
Azure Notification Hubs
Why it's wrong here
Azure Notification Hubs pushes messages to mobile device platforms through tags and registrations; it does not provide durable topics with independent subscriptions for backend services. It is tempting because tags resemble subscriptions, and it would be correct when broadcasting push notifications to iOS, Android, or Windows devices.
- ✓
Azure Service Bus Topics
Why this is correct
Service Bus Topics provide publish-subscribe semantics: senders publish to a topic, and each subscription receives its own copy, optionally filtered by rules. This satisfies the pub-sub requirement with durable, brokered delivery, unlike queues, which are point-to-point.
- ✗
Azure Event Hubs
Why it's wrong here
Azure Event Hubs ingests high-volume telemetry streams into partitions, and consumers read from a partition with a cursor; it lacks topic subscriptions with per-subscriber filters. It is tempting because it decouples producers from consumers, and it would be correct for streaming ingestion or event pipelines rather than pub-sub fan-out.
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Key term
Azure Queue Storage
Azure Queue Storage is a cloud service for storing and retrieving large numbers of messages that can be accessed from anywhere, enabling asynchronous communication between application components.
Key term
Azure Service Bus
Azure Service Bus is a cloud-based message broker that allows applications, services, and devices to send and receive messages reliably, even when they are not all running at the same time.
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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.