The answer is that Azure Policy’s ‘audit’ effect is used to evaluate and flag non-compliant resources without blocking them. This is correct because the audit effect checks resources against your defined policy rules and then logs any violations in the compliance logs, but it deliberately takes no enforcement action—meaning it neither prevents the creation of new resources nor disrupts existing workloads. On the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals AZ-900 exam, this concept tests your understanding of the difference between audit and the more restrictive ‘deny’ effect; a common trap is assuming audit automatically fixes or blocks non-compliant resources. Remember the memory tip: “Audit alerts, but never halts”—it simply shines a light on compliance issues so administrators can review them later without impacting operations.
AZ-900 Describe Azure management and governance Practice Question
This AZ-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe azure management and governance. 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.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
To evaluate and flag non-compliant resources without blocking them
Azure Policy's 'audit' effect evaluates resources against policy rules and flags any non-compliant resources in the compliance logs, but it does not block or automatically remediate them. This allows administrators to see which resources violate policies without impacting existing workloads or preventing creation of new resources.
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.
✗
To automatically fix non-compliant resources to match the policy
Why it's wrong here
Auto-remediation uses the 'modify' or 'deployIfNotExists' effect; audit only evaluates and reports.
✓
To evaluate and flag non-compliant resources without blocking them
Why this is correct
Audit effect marks resources as non-compliant in the compliance dashboard without blocking creation or modifying resources.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
To deny creation of resources that don't comply with the policy
Why it's wrong here
Blocking creation uses the 'deny' effect; audit only reports non-compliance.
✗
To send security alerts when resources are modified
Why it's wrong here
Security alerts are sent by Defender for Cloud; Azure Policy audit reports compliance state.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'audit' with 'deny', thinking that audit blocks non-compliant resources, when in fact audit only flags them without any enforcement action.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, Azure Policy evaluates resources during resource creation, update, and periodic compliance scans. The 'audit' effect generates a compliance state of 'Non-compliant' in the policy evaluation results, which can be viewed in the Azure Portal, queried via Azure Resource Graph, or streamed to Azure Event Hubs for integration with SIEM systems. A real-world scenario is using 'audit' to test a new policy in a production environment before switching to 'deny' or 'modify' to avoid accidental disruption.
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 cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
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 Azure management and governance — This question tests Describe Azure management and governance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: To evaluate and flag non-compliant resources without blocking them — Azure Policy's 'audit' effect evaluates resources against policy rules and flags any non-compliant resources in the compliance logs, but it does not block or automatically remediate them. This allows administrators to see which resources violate policies without impacting existing workloads or preventing creation of new resources.
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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