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.
A company wants to ensure that all Azure resources are created within a specific set of approved regions. They want to automatically block any resource creation that is not in an approved region. Which Azure Policy effect should they use?
Deny
Deny effect blocks resource creation or update when the condition is not met.
Append
Why wrong: Append adds additional fields to a resource without blocking creation.
Audit
Why wrong: Audit only logs non-compliance but does not block creation.
DeployIfNotExists
Why wrong: DeployIfNotExists automatically deploys a resource when needed, but does not block non-compliant resources.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Deny
The Deny effect is correct because it actively blocks any resource creation or update that does not comply with the policy rule. In this scenario, the policy would evaluate the location property of the resource against the approved list, and if the region is not approved, the Deny effect prevents the deployment entirely, returning a 403 Forbidden error. This ensures that only resources in approved regions are created, meeting the company's requirement to automatically block non-compliant deployments.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
Deny
Why this is correct
Deny effect blocks resource creation or update when the condition is not met.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Append
Why it's wrong here
Append adds additional fields to a resource without blocking creation.
Audit
Why it's wrong here
Audit only logs non-compliance but does not block creation.
DeployIfNotExists
Why it's wrong here
DeployIfNotExists automatically deploys a resource when needed, but does not block non-compliant resources.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Audit (which only logs violations) with Deny (which actively blocks), or they think Append can override the location property, but Append only adds metadata and cannot change or block the resource's region.
Detailed technical explanation
Azure Policy effects are evaluated during the resource creation or update request, before the resource is provisioned. The Deny effect uses Azure Resource Manager's role-based access control (RBAC) to reject the request with an HTTP 403 status code, preventing the resource from being written to the resource provider. A subtle behavior is that Deny policies are evaluated against the resource's properties as defined in the policy rule, and if the policy is assigned at a management group scope, it applies to all subscriptions within that group, making it a powerful tool for enforcing geographic compliance across an entire organization.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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.
What to study next
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FAQ
Describe Azure management and governance — This question tests Describe Azure management and governance — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Deny — The Deny effect is correct because it actively blocks any resource creation or update that does not comply with the policy rule. In this scenario, the policy would evaluate the location property of the resource against the approved list, and if the region is not approved, the Deny effect prevents the deployment entirely, returning a 403 Forbidden error. This ensures that only resources in approved regions are created, meeting the company's requirement to automatically block non-compliant deployments.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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