AZ-900 Describe Azure management and governance Practice Question
Which Azure feature automatically turns off virtual machines at a scheduled time daily to reduce development costs?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse Azure DevTest Labs cost controls (which also offer auto-shutdown) with the general Azure VM Auto-Shutdown feature, but DevTest Labs is a separate service for lab environments, not the built-in VM-level setting.
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 VM Auto-Shutdown
Azure VM Auto-Shutdown is a built-in feature that allows you to schedule automatic shutdown of virtual machines at a specified time daily, reducing costs by ensuring VMs are not running when not needed. It is configured directly on the VM blade in the Azure portal and requires no additional scripting or automation services.
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 Policy VM power state enforcement
Why it's wrong here
Azure Policy is a governance service that enforces compliance by auditing or deploying configurable rules over resources, such as requiring a specific VM size or tagging. It does not handle time-based, recurring actions like daily power-off; attempting to use Policy to change VM power state would be a misuse of the service. Auto-Shutdown is the specific resource-level feature that performs scheduled shutdowns.
- ✓
Azure VM Auto-Shutdown
Why this is correct
Azure VM Auto-Shutdown is the native feature built into every Azure virtual machine (ARM and classic) that lets you specify a daily time for the VM to be automatically shut down and deallocated, halting compute billing. You can enable it at VM creation or on an existing VM via the portal, and it supports time zones and optional email notifications, making it the direct solution for reducing costs in dev/test environments.
- ✗
Azure DevTest Labs cost controls
Why it's wrong here
Azure DevTest Labs does offer cost management features like usage quotas and per-lab auto-shutdown policies, but these are layered on top of the underlying VM technology. The core mechanism that actually powers off each individual virtual machine is the Azure VM Auto-Shutdown feature, so DevTest Labs is not the native VM-level capability being asked about.
- ✗
Azure Automation runbooks for VM shutdown
Why it's wrong here
Azure Automation runbooks are script-based workflows that can handle complex orchestration tasks, but scheduling a VM shutdown with them requires creating an Automation account, authoring a runbook, and linking a schedule. In contrast, Azure VM Auto-Shutdown is a built-in, zero-maintenance feature designed precisely for daily power-off schedules, making runbooks an unnecessarily complex alternative for this common dev/test scenario.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Azure Cost Management and Billing
Key term
Azure portal
The Azure portal is a web-based, unified console that lets you build, manage, and monitor everything from simple web apps to complex cloud deployments using a graphical user interface.
Key term
Feature
A feature is a distinct unit of functionality that delivers value to the user, often managed and tracked throughout the software development lifecycle.
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