- A
Use managed identities for Azure resources instead of service principals with secrets
Managed identities provide an automatically managed identity, reducing the need to manage credentials.
- B
Assign the Contributor role at the subscription scope to allow flexibility
Why wrong: Contributor at subscription scope grants broad permissions, violating least-privilege.
- C
Use storage account keys for access to blob data
Why wrong: Storage account keys provide full access to the storage account, not least-privilege.
- D
Enable Privileged Identity Management (PIM) for just-in-time role assignments
PIM provides time-bound and approved role activation, reducing standing access.
- E
Use a single service principal for all applications
Why wrong: A single service principal would have excessive permissions across multiple resources.
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.
Which TWO actions should you take to implement a least-privilege identity strategy for Azure resources?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"least"Why it matters: You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.
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
Use managed identities for Azure resources instead of service principals with secrets
Managed identities for Azure resources eliminate the need to manage credentials by automatically rotating them and binding them to a resource lifecycle. This removes the risk of secret leakage or mismanagement that exists with service principal secrets, directly supporting a least-privilege identity strategy by ensuring identities are scoped and ephemeral.
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.
- ✓
Use managed identities for Azure resources instead of service principals with secrets
Why this is correct
Managed identities provide an automatically managed identity, reducing the need to manage credentials.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "least" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Assign the Contributor role at the subscription scope to allow flexibility
Why it's wrong here
Contributor at subscription scope grants broad permissions, violating least-privilege.
- ✗
Use storage account keys for access to blob data
Why it's wrong here
Storage account keys provide full access to the storage account, not least-privilege.
- ✓
Enable Privileged Identity Management (PIM) for just-in-time role assignments
Why this is correct
PIM provides time-bound and approved role activation, reducing standing access.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "least" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use a single service principal for all applications
Why it's wrong here
A single service principal would have excessive permissions across multiple resources.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'least privilege' with 'convenience' and select broad roles like Contributor at subscription scope, thinking it provides flexibility, when in reality it grants excessive permissions that violate the core principle.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Managed identities use Azure AD tokens obtained via the Azure Instance Metadata Service (IMDS) endpoint at 169.254.169.254, with automatic rotation every 8 hours. In contrast, service principal secrets are static strings that must be manually rotated and can be leaked in code or configuration files. PIM enables just-in-time activation of roles with time-bound approvals, reducing standing access and aligning with zero-trust principles.
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 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.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
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Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-305 question test?
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: Use managed identities for Azure resources instead of service principals with secrets — Managed identities for Azure resources eliminate the need to manage credentials by automatically rotating them and binding them to a resource lifecycle. This removes the risk of secret leakage or mismanagement that exists with service principal secrets, directly supporting a least-privilege identity strategy by ensuring identities are scoped and ephemeral.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "least". You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
This AZ-305 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-305 exam.
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