The answer is high availability. This is the correct choice because high availability in cloud computing ensures that an application remains accessible even if an entire data center fails, typically through redundant infrastructure deployed across multiple availability zones. In a load-balanced, multi-AZ configuration, traffic automatically fails over to healthy instances, maintaining uptime despite a complete data center outage. On the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals AZ-900 exam, this concept tests your understanding of how Azure’s regional architecture supports business continuity; a common trap is confusing high availability with disaster recovery, which focuses on recovering from catastrophic failures rather than maintaining continuous uptime. Remember the memory tip: “HA keeps you up, DR brings you back.”
AZ-900 Describe cloud concepts Practice Question
This AZ-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe cloud concepts. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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.
A retail company runs its e-commerce platform on a public cloud. During a major sale event, they want to ensure that the application remains accessible even if an entire data center fails. Which cloud computing concept does this describe?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
High availability
Option C is correct because high availability ensures that the application remains accessible even if an entire data center fails, typically through redundant infrastructure across multiple availability zones. This is achieved by deploying the application in a load-balanced, multi-AZ configuration that automatically fails over to healthy instances, maintaining uptime despite a complete data center outage.
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.
✗
Scalability
Why it's wrong here
Scalability is about adjusting resources to handle load, not about maintaining availability during failures.
✗
Elasticity
Why it's wrong here
Elasticity is automatic scaling, not fault tolerance.
✓
High availability
Why this is correct
High availability is designed to minimize downtime and keep services running during component failures.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Disaster recovery
Why it's wrong here
Disaster recovery involves restoring services after a major outage, not preventing downtime during a failure.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse high availability with disaster recovery, but high availability is about real-time failover to maintain uptime, while disaster recovery is about restoring service after a major outage, often with data loss or downtime.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
High availability in Azure is commonly implemented using Availability Zones, which are physically separate data centers within a region, each with independent power, cooling, and networking. Azure Load Balancer or Application Gateway distributes traffic across VMs in different zones, and health probes (e.g., TCP or HTTP probes) detect failures to reroute traffic within seconds. A subtle behavior is that high availability does not protect against region-wide failures; for that, you need geo-redundancy or disaster recovery across regions.
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 company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-900 question in full detail.
Describe cloud concepts — This question tests Describe cloud concepts — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: High availability — Option C is correct because high availability ensures that the application remains accessible even if an entire data center fails, typically through redundant infrastructure across multiple availability zones. This is achieved by deploying the application in a load-balanced, multi-AZ configuration that automatically fails over to healthy instances, maintaining uptime despite a complete data center outage.
What should I do if I get this AZ-900 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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