A company needs to store large amounts of unstructured file data (documents, images) that is accessed concurrently from hundreds of Azure VMs. The data must be accessible via the SMB protocol and provide low-latency, high-throughput performance. The solution must be fully managed and support up to 1000 simultaneous connections. Which Azure storage solution should they choose?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Best answer
Azure Files (Premium tier)
Premium Azure Files provides SSD-backed SMB shares, low latency, high IOPS, and supports up to 1000 concurrent connections per share, making it ideal for this scenario.
Distractor review
Azure Blob Storage
Azure Blob Storage is object storage and does not natively support the SMB protocol; accessing it from VMs would require additional components like a file gateway.
Distractor review
Azure NetApp Files
Azure NetApp Files offers SMB shares but is typically more expensive and suited for high-performance computing, not the most cost-effective for general file sharing with up to 1000 connections.
Distractor review
Azure Managed Disks
Managed Disks are block-level volumes attached to a single VM; they cannot be shared concurrently across hundreds of VMs.
Common exam trap
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.
Technical deep dive
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.
Related practice questions
Related AZ-305 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
SAA-C03 VPC practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC.
SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions.
SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions.
SAA-C03 IAM policy practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 IAM policy.
SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions.
SAA-C03 CloudFront practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 CloudFront.
SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions.
SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions.
SAA-C03 Auto Scaling practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 Auto Scaling.
SAA-C03 disaster recovery questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 disaster recovery questions.
SAA-C03 high availability questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 high availability questions.
SAA-C03 cost optimization questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 cost optimization questions.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A company is designing hub-and-spoke networking. Spoke VNets must use a central Azure Firewall for outbound internet traffic. Which two configurations are required?
Question 2
A company is designing private access to a PaaS database from workloads in a VNet. The database should not be reachable over its public endpoint. What should be recommended?
Question 3
A data platform must support analytical queries over petabytes of files in a data lake, while preserving hierarchical namespaces and fine-grained ACLs. Which storage service should you design around?
Question 4
A database workload has an RPO of 15 minutes and an RTO of 4 hours. Cost is more important than near-zero data loss. Which design is usually more appropriate than synchronous multi-region replication?
Question 5
A hub-and-spoke Azure network must centralize outbound inspection and still allow spokes to resolve private endpoint DNS names. Which two components are commonly required? (Choose 2.)
Question 6
A multinational company uses Microsoft Entra ID and several Azure subscriptions. Security administrators need to review privileged role assignments every month and require justification for continued access. Which design should be recommended?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-305 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Azure Files (Premium tier) — Azure Files Premium tier provides SMB file shares with low latency, high throughput, and the ability to handle up to 1000 concurrent connections per share. It is fully managed. Azure Blob Storage does not natively support SMB. Azure NetApp Files also supports SMB but is typically used for specialized workloads and has a higher cost. Azure Managed Disks are block-level storage for individual VMs, not shared file access.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
Discussion
Sign in to join the discussion.