Question 481 of 881
AZ-204 Develop Azure compute solutions Practice Question
You have an Azure App Service web app that experiences high CPU usage during peak hours. You need to scale out automatically based on CPU load. Which scaling solution should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse 'scale sets autoscale' (which is for VMs) with App Service autoscale, or think Traffic Manager can scale resources, when it only distributes traffic.
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
✓
Autoscale with a CPU percentage rule
Autoscale with a CPU percentage rule is the correct solution because Azure App Service supports built-in autoscaling that can automatically increase or decrease the number of instances based on a metric like CPU percentage. This allows the web app to handle peak-hour traffic by scaling out when CPU usage exceeds a defined threshold, ensuring performance without manual intervention.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Manual scaling
Why it's wrong here
Manual scaling requires an administrator to explicitly increase or decrease the instance count of an Azure App Service plan. While it can address high CPU by adding more instances, it lacks the automation needed to react dynamically and proactively to fluctuating load conditions. This approach is inefficient and impractical for continuously managing performance based on real-time metrics like CPU percentage.
- ✗
Traffic Manager
Why it's wrong here
Azure Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic load balancer that distributes incoming requests across multiple endpoints, typically for global distribution, high availability, or improved responsiveness. It operates at the DNS level, directing users to the best available endpoint, but it does not monitor individual App Service instance CPU utilization or automatically provision/deprovision resources based on performance metrics. Therefore, it cannot scale an App Service web app in response to high CPU.
- ✓
Autoscale with a CPU percentage rule
Why this is correct
Azure Autoscale is the correct solution for dynamically adjusting the number of App Service instances based on performance metrics. By configuring an autoscale rule with a CPU percentage threshold, the system automatically scales out (adds instances) when the CPU utilization exceeds the defined limit, and scales in (removes instances) when it drops below a specified lower threshold. This ensures optimal performance and cost efficiency by matching resource capacity to demand.
- ✗
Scale sets autoscale
Why it's wrong here
Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets are designed to deploy and manage a group of identical, load-balanced virtual machines, allowing for automatic scaling based on demand or a defined schedule. However, App Service web apps run on a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) abstraction layer, not directly on user-managed virtual machines. Therefore, using Virtual Machine Scale Sets for autoscale is fundamentally incompatible with the App Service architecture.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 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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