AZ-900 Describe Azure architecture and services Practice Question
Which Azure service provides dedicated physical servers for regulatory or licensing requirements where hardware cannot be shared with other customers?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse Azure Dedicated Host with Azure Isolated VM sizes, but Isolated VM sizes only guarantee isolation from other VM sizes on the same host, not a dedicated physical server, whereas Dedicated Host provides full physical server exclusivity.
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
✓
Azure Dedicated Host
Azure Dedicated Host provides physical servers dedicated to a single Azure subscription, ensuring that hardware is not shared with other customers. This meets regulatory or licensing requirements that mandate hardware isolation, such as specific compliance standards or software licensing agreements that restrict usage to dedicated hardware.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Azure Reserved VM Instances
Why it's wrong here
Azure Reserved VM Instances are a one- or three-year billing commitment that discounts the hourly compute rate for VMs of a matching SKU and region, but the VMs themselves are still deployed on Azure's shared, multi-tenant compute infrastructure. The reservation does not change where your VM runs; it only locks in a lower cost in exchange for a term commitment. RIs are a financial instrument, not an infrastructure or isolation solution.
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Azure Spot VMs
Why it's wrong here
Azure Spot VMs run on the same shared physical servers that host other tenants' workloads, and they provide no hardware isolation guarantee. Their price is discounted because Azure can reclaim the capacity at any time when they need the infrastructure back. Spot VMs are a cost optimization for batch or stateless workloads, not a solution for licensing or physical compliance requirements.
- ✓
Azure Dedicated Host
Why this is correct
Azure Dedicated Host gives you a physical server in an Azure datacenter that is exclusively reserved for your organization's use, with full control over maintenance and host configuration. Because the hardware is not shared with any other tenant, it satisfies stringent compliance, regulatory, and data-sovereignty requirements. This model also lets you apply your own Windows Server or SQL Server licenses on dedicated hardware under existing Microsoft license mobility terms.
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Azure Isolated VM sizes
Why it's wrong here
Azure Isolated VM sizes are large SKUs whose virtual network and compute are isolated from other customer workloads at the hypervisor level, but they still run on hardware shared with other customers in the Azure fleet. While they offer a high degree of logical isolation for sensitive workloads, they do not provide a dedicated physical host and therefore cannot meet hardware-level isolation or bring-your-own-license requirements that demand separate physical infrastructure.
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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.