- A
Enable VM insights in Azure Monitor and use its live map and performance views for historical analysis.
Why wrong: VM insights provides visualization but not proactive alerts unless combined with alerts.
- B
Configure Azure Autoscale for the VMs based on CPU metrics and use Azure Monitor for logging.
Why wrong: Autoscale does not provide analysis of historical trends.
- C
Deploy Application Insights on each VM and use its built-in alerts for performance.
Why wrong: Application Insights is for application-level monitoring, not VM-level metrics.
- D
Enable Azure Monitor on all VMs using the Azure Monitor agent. Create metric alerts for high CPU and memory usage. Use Log Analytics to query and analyze historical performance data.
This provides proactive alerts and historical analysis with low overhead.
Quick Answer
The correct design is to enable Azure Monitor on all VMs using the Azure Monitor agent, create metric alerts for high CPU and memory usage, and use the existing Log Analytics workspace for historical trend analysis. This approach is cost-effective because the Azure Monitor agent collects performance data natively, allowing metric alerts to trigger proactively on resource degradation without the overhead of additional tools or complex configurations. On the AZ-305 exam, this scenario tests your ability to balance monitoring depth with operational simplicity—common traps include over-engineering with third-party solutions or forgetting that metric alerts are ideal for real-time performance thresholds while Log Analytics handles long-term storage cheaply. Remember, the Azure Monitor agent is the single, unified agent for both metrics and logs, so you avoid the legacy dependency on the Log Analytics agent. Memory tip: "One agent, two jobs—metrics for alerts, logs for trends."
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.
Your company runs a mission-critical application on Azure Virtual Machines in a single region. You need to design a monitoring solution that provides proactive alerts for performance degradation and allows the operations team to analyze historical trends. The solution must minimize cost and operational overhead. You have an existing Log Analytics workspace. What should you include in the design?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"minimum / minimize"Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
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
Enable Azure Monitor on all VMs using the Azure Monitor agent. Create metric alerts for high CPU and memory usage. Use Log Analytics to query and analyze historical performance data.
Option D is correct because it uses the Azure Monitor agent to collect performance data from VMs, enabling metric alerts for proactive notification of high CPU and memory usage, while leveraging the existing Log Analytics workspace for cost-effective historical analysis. This approach minimizes operational overhead by using a single agent and native Azure Monitor features without additional services or complex configurations.
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.
- ✗
Enable VM insights in Azure Monitor and use its live map and performance views for historical analysis.
Why it's wrong here
VM insights provides visualization but not proactive alerts unless combined with alerts.
- ✗
Configure Azure Autoscale for the VMs based on CPU metrics and use Azure Monitor for logging.
Why it's wrong here
Autoscale does not provide analysis of historical trends.
- ✗
Deploy Application Insights on each VM and use its built-in alerts for performance.
Why it's wrong here
Application Insights is for application-level monitoring, not VM-level metrics.
- ✓
Enable Azure Monitor on all VMs using the Azure Monitor agent. Create metric alerts for high CPU and memory usage. Use Log Analytics to query and analyze historical performance data.
Why this is correct
This provides proactive alerts and historical analysis with low overhead.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
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 VM insights (which offers rich visualizations but limited historical analysis) with the full monitoring solution required, or mistakenly think Application Insights is appropriate for VM-level performance monitoring when it is designed for application telemetry.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The Azure Monitor agent uses data collection rules (DCRs) to define which performance counters and events to collect, sending data to both Azure Monitor Metrics (for near-real-time alerts) and Log Analytics (for long-term storage and KQL queries). Metric alerts can trigger on thresholds like 90% CPU for 5 minutes, while Log Analytics workspaces retain data for up to 730 days by default, enabling cost-effective historical trend analysis without additional storage costs.
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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
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: Enable Azure Monitor on all VMs using the Azure Monitor agent. Create metric alerts for high CPU and memory usage. Use Log Analytics to query and analyze historical performance data. — Option D is correct because it uses the Azure Monitor agent to collect performance data from VMs, enabling metric alerts for proactive notification of high CPU and memory usage, while leveraging the existing Log Analytics workspace for cost-effective historical analysis. This approach minimizes operational overhead by using a single agent and native Azure Monitor features without additional services or complex configurations.
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: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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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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