The answer is to enable soft-delete and purge protection on the key vault. Soft-delete retains a deleted key vault and its keys for a configurable retention period, allowing recovery if accidentally removed, while purge protection prevents permanent deletion until the retention period expires, even if someone tries to force a purge. On the Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert AZ-305 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of data protection and resilience for customer-managed keys (CMKs) in Azure Key Vault, often appearing as a distractor where candidates mistakenly choose RBAC or firewall rules—neither of which block deletion, only access. A common trap is assuming logging or access controls alone suffice, but only the combination of soft-delete and purge protection directly prevents accidental deletion. Memory tip: think “soft to recover, purge to lock” — soft-delete gives you a safety net, purge protection locks that net in place.
AZ-305 Design infrastructure solutions Practice Question
This AZ-305 practice question tests your understanding of design infrastructure 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.
A company is designing a solution for storing sensitive documents in Azure Blob Storage. They require that all data be encrypted at rest using a customer-managed key (CMK) stored in Azure Key Vault. Additionally, they want to prevent any accidental deletion of the key vault and its keys. Which combination of actions should they take?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable soft-delete and purge protection on the key vault
Option A is correct because enabling soft-delete and purge protection on the key vault prevents accidental deletion. Option B is incorrect because RBAC alone does not prevent deletion. Option C is incorrect because firewall rules do not prevent deletion. Option D is incorrect because logging does not prevent deletion.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Assign the Key Vault Contributor role to only the security team
Why it's wrong here
RBAC does not prevent deletion by an owner.
✗
Configure firewall rules to restrict network access
Enable soft-delete and purge protection on the key vault
Why this is correct
Soft-delete and purge protection prevent deletion.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
✗
Enable diagnostic settings and send logs to a Log Analytics workspace
Why it's wrong here
Logging does not prevent deletion.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-305 question in full detail.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related AZ-305 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Design infrastructure solutions — This question tests Design infrastructure solutions — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable soft-delete and purge protection on the key vault — Option A is correct because enabling soft-delete and purge protection on the key vault prevents accidental deletion. Option B is incorrect because RBAC alone does not prevent deletion. Option C is incorrect because firewall rules do not prevent deletion. Option D is incorrect because logging does not prevent deletion.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related AZ-305 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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Question Discussion
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