The answer is Microsoft Entra ID Sign-in logs. These logs capture every authentication attempt, including success or failure status, application name, and user location via IP address, making them the ideal data source for monitoring sign-in failures by application and location when streamed to a Log Analytics workspace. On the AZ-305 exam, this tests your understanding of which log category supports operational dashboards for identity security—a common trap is confusing Audit logs (which track configuration changes, not authentication events) or Provisioning logs (which cover synchronization) with the sign-in logs that actually record login outcomes. Remember that sign-in failures are authentication events, so you need the log named after the action itself. A helpful memory tip: “Sign-in logs show the sign-in story—success, failure, app, and geography.”
AZ-305 Practice Question: Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions
This AZ-305 practice question tests your understanding of design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 wants to monitor sign-in failures for their Microsoft Entra ID-integrated applications. They need a dashboard in Azure Monitor showing sign-in failures by application and user location. Which data source should they stream to a Log Analytics workspace?
Why wrong: Audit logs record changes to Microsoft Entra ID objects (e.g., user updates, policy changes), not sign-in attempts.
B
Microsoft Entra ID Sign-in logs
Sign-in logs capture successful and failed sign-in attempts with details like application, user, and location, making them suitable for monitoring sign-in failures.
C
Microsoft Entra ID Provisioning logs
Why wrong: Provisioning logs track when users are created, updated, or deleted in external applications (e.g., ServiceNow), not sign-in events.
D
Office 365 Activity logs
Why wrong: Office 365 activity logs record actions in Microsoft 365 services, not sign-in attempts to Microsoft Entra ID-integrated applications.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Microsoft Entra ID Sign-in logs
Microsoft Entra ID Sign-in logs contain detailed information about every sign-in attempt, including success or failure status, application name, user location (IP address), and failure reasons. Streaming these logs to a Log Analytics workspace enables you to build custom dashboards in Azure Monitor that visualize sign-in failures by application and user location. Audit logs track configuration changes, not authentication events; Provisioning logs cover user/group synchronization; and Office 365 Activity logs focus on workload-specific actions, not general sign-in failures.
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.
✗
Microsoft Entra ID Audit logs
Why it's wrong here
Audit logs record changes to Microsoft Entra ID objects (e.g., user updates, policy changes), not sign-in attempts.
✓
Microsoft Entra ID Sign-in logs
Why this is correct
Sign-in logs capture successful and failed sign-in attempts with details like application, user, and location, making them suitable for monitoring sign-in failures.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Microsoft Entra ID Provisioning logs
Why it's wrong here
Provisioning logs track when users are created, updated, or deleted in external applications (e.g., ServiceNow), not sign-in events.
✗
Office 365 Activity logs
Why it's wrong here
Office 365 activity logs record actions in Microsoft 365 services, not sign-in attempts to Microsoft Entra ID-integrated applications.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Audit logs with Sign-in logs, assuming Audit logs capture all security events, but Audit logs specifically exclude authentication attempts and location data.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The Sign-in logs in Microsoft Entra ID are generated by the authentication service and include fields such as 'Status' (Success/Failure), 'AppDisplayName', 'IPAddress', 'Location', and 'FailureReason'. When streamed to a Log Analytics workspace via diagnostic settings, these logs are stored in the 'SigninLogs' table, which can be queried using KQL (Kusto Query Language) to aggregate failures by application and geolocation. A common real-world scenario is detecting a spike in failed sign-ins from a specific region, indicating a potential brute-force attack, which can be visualized on an Azure Workbook.
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 company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-305 question in full detail.
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions — This question tests Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Microsoft Entra ID Sign-in logs — Microsoft Entra ID Sign-in logs contain detailed information about every sign-in attempt, including success or failure status, application name, user location (IP address), and failure reasons. Streaming these logs to a Log Analytics workspace enables you to build custom dashboards in Azure Monitor that visualize sign-in failures by application and user location. Audit logs track configuration changes, not authentication events; Provisioning logs cover user/group synchronization; and Office 365 Activity logs focus on workload-specific actions, not general sign-in failures.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 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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