Hybrid Cloud Deployment: Combining Public Cloud and On-Premises Infrastructure
A financial services firm uses a hybrid cloud strategy. They run customer-facing applications in a public cloud and store sensitive customer data in an on-premises data center to meet regulatory compliance. The firm wants to allow its applications in the public cloud to securely access the on-premises data when needed. Which cloud deployment model best describes this setup?
Quick Answer
The answer is hybrid cloud. This is correct because the scenario combines a public cloud for customer-facing applications with an on-premises private infrastructure for sensitive data, requiring secure connectivity between the two environments—typically via VPN or a dedicated circuit like Azure ExpressRoute—to meet regulatory compliance. On the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals AZ-900 exam, this type of hybrid cloud deployment example tests your understanding of how organizations balance scalability with data sovereignty; a common trap is confusing this with a multi-cloud setup, which involves multiple public clouds rather than a mix of public and on-premises. Remember the key distinction: hybrid cloud always bridges a public cloud with your own on-premises infrastructure. A useful memory tip is to think of the word “hybrid” as a hybrid car that uses both gas (on-premises) and electric (public cloud) power sources, seamlessly switching between them as needed.
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse 'hybrid cloud' with 'public cloud' because they see the use of a public cloud provider, but the key differentiator is the integration with on-premises infrastructure to meet compliance requirements.
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
✓
Hybrid cloud
The scenario describes a hybrid cloud deployment model, which combines a public cloud (for customer-facing applications) with an on-premises private cloud (for sensitive data storage) and enables secure connectivity between them, typically through VPN or dedicated circuits like Azure ExpressRoute. This allows the firm to meet regulatory compliance by keeping sensitive data on-premises while leveraging public cloud scalability for applications.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Public cloud
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because a public cloud deployment model uses only cloud resources hosted by a third-party provider. The firm also uses an on-premises data center, so it is not purely public cloud.
When this WOULD be correct
A company runs all its applications and stores all data in a third-party cloud provider's infrastructure, with no on-premises resources. The question would ask: 'Which cloud deployment model uses shared infrastructure over the internet for multiple tenants?'
- ✗
Private cloud
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because a private cloud deployment model is dedicated to a single organization and usually resides on-premises or in a hosted private environment. The firm also uses public cloud services, so it is not purely private cloud.
When this WOULD be correct
An organization requires complete control over its infrastructure for security or compliance reasons, and all applications and data are hosted in a dedicated environment not shared with other organizations.
- ✓
Hybrid cloud
Why this is correct
Correct. A hybrid cloud combines public cloud and private cloud (on-premises) environments, enabling data and application sharing. This matches the firm's setup of running applications in the public cloud while keeping sensitive data on-premises with secure connectivity.
- ✗
Community cloud
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because a community cloud is a collaborative deployment model shared among several organizations with common regulatory or compliance needs. This scenario involves only one firm, not a community.
When this WOULD be correct
A question where multiple organizations with shared regulatory requirements (e.g., healthcare providers sharing patient data) jointly use a cloud infrastructure managed by a third party or internally would make community cloud the correct answer.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The AZ-900 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓Hybrid cloudCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
Correct. A hybrid cloud combines public cloud and private cloud (on-premises) environments, enabling data and application sharing. This matches the firm's setup of running applications in the public cloud while keeping sensitive data on-premises with secure connectivity.
✗Public cloudWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The question describes a setup where applications run in the public cloud but sensitive data remains on-premises, requiring secure connectivity between them. This is a hybrid cloud model, not a pure public cloud, because the on-premises data center is a private component.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company runs all its applications and stores all data in a third-party cloud provider's infrastructure, with no on-premises resources. The question would ask: 'Which cloud deployment model uses shared infrastructure over the internet for multiple tenants?'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may focus on the customer-facing applications being in the public cloud and overlook the on-premises data storage, mistakenly thinking the entire setup is public cloud.
✗Private cloudWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A private cloud is used exclusively by a single organization, but this scenario involves both public cloud and on-premises resources, which is the definition of a hybrid cloud.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
An organization requires complete control over its infrastructure for security or compliance reasons, and all applications and data are hosted in a dedicated environment not shared with other organizations.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think that because sensitive data is stored on-premises, the entire setup is a private cloud, overlooking the public cloud component for customer-facing applications.
✗Community cloudWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
A community cloud is shared by several organizations with common concerns (e.g., compliance, security), but this question describes a single firm using both public and private resources, which is a hybrid cloud, not a community cloud.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question where multiple organizations with shared regulatory requirements (e.g., healthcare providers sharing patient data) jointly use a cloud infrastructure managed by a third party or internally would make community cloud the correct answer.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'community' with 'hybrid' because both involve multiple environments, but community cloud specifically refers to multi-tenant collaboration among organizations, not a single organization's mixed deployment.
Analysis generated from the official AZ-900blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
What is Cloud Computing?
Key term
Private cloud
A private cloud is a cloud computing environment that is used exclusively by a single organization, offering the benefits of cloud services — like scalability and self-service — but with dedicated infrastructure that is not shared with any other company.
Key term
Azure ExpressRoute
Azure ExpressRoute is a dedicated, private, and high-speed network connection from your on-premises data center to Microsoft's cloud, bypassing the public internet for better reliability, security, and performance.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every AZ-900 question from scratch — 981 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on AZ-900
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Which of the following is an example of a 'hybrid cloud' deployment?
medium- A.Using only Azure for all company workloads
- ✓ B.Running customer-facing applications on Azure while keeping sensitive HR data on on-premises servers
- C.Using both Azure and AWS for different workloads
- D.Storing data only in the cloud with no on-premises infrastructure
Why B: A hybrid cloud deployment combines public cloud resources (Azure) with on-premises infrastructure, connected via technologies like VPNs or Azure ExpressRoute. Running customer-facing apps on Azure while keeping sensitive HR data on-premises exemplifies this blend, allowing organizations to maintain compliance or low latency for critical data while leveraging cloud scalability.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-900 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-900 exam.