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. 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.
Refer to the exhibit. You have an Azure Policy definition as shown. The policy is assigned at the subscription scope. What is the result when a user tries to create a VM with SKU Standard_D8s_v3?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The VM creation is denied.
The Azure Policy definition shown uses a 'Deny' effect for VM SKUs that do not match the allowed list. Since Standard_D8s_v3 is not in the allowed list (which includes Standard_D2s_v3, Standard_D4s_v3, and Standard_D8s_v3), the policy denies the VM creation. The 'Deny' effect prevents the resource from being created and logs a denial event in the activity log.
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.
✗
The VM is created successfully.
Why it's wrong here
The policy denies non-allowed SKUs.
✗
The VM is created but flagged as non-compliant.
Why it's wrong here
Deny effect blocks creation; it does not allow creation with non-compliance.
✗
The VM SKU is automatically changed to Standard_D4s_v3.
Why it's wrong here
Deny does not modify; it blocks.
✓
The VM creation is denied.
Why this is correct
Standard_D8s_v3 is not in the allowed list.
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 may confuse the 'Deny' effect with 'Audit' or 'Modify', assuming non-compliant resources are either flagged or auto-corrected, rather than understanding that 'Deny' blocks creation outright.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Policy 'Deny' effect works by intercepting the resource creation request at the Azure Resource Manager (ARM) layer, evaluating the policy rule, and returning a 403 Forbidden error if the resource is non-compliant. The policy definition uses an 'allowedValues' constraint on the 'sku' property, which is evaluated against the requested SKU. This is similar to role-based access control (RBAC) but operates at the resource property level, ensuring governance without requiring manual intervention.
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
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
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: The VM creation is denied. — The Azure Policy definition shown uses a 'Deny' effect for VM SKUs that do not match the allowed list. Since Standard_D8s_v3 is not in the allowed list (which includes Standard_D2s_v3, Standard_D4s_v3, and Standard_D8s_v3), the policy denies the VM creation. The 'Deny' effect prevents the resource from being created and logs a denial event in the activity log.
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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Question Discussion
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