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.
A company needs to grant a specific user the ability to restart virtual machines in a specific resource group, but not to create, delete, or modify them in any other way. The built-in 'Virtual Machine Contributor' role grants too many permissions. What is the most appropriate solution?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Assign the 'Reader' role and create a custom RBAC role with only the 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/restart/action' permission
Option A is correct because it combines the 'Reader' role (which allows read-only access to all resources) with a custom RBAC role that grants only the specific 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/restart/action' permission. This ensures the user can restart VMs in the target resource group without being able to create, delete, or modify them, meeting the exact requirement.
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.
✓
Assign the 'Reader' role and create a custom RBAC role with only the 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/restart/action' permission
Why this is correct
This gives the user read access plus restart, meeting the requirement exactly.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Assign the 'Virtual Machine Operator' built-in role
Why it's wrong here
This built-in role includes more permissions than just restart.
✗
Create a custom role with 'Contributor' and then add a deny assignment for delete and create
Why it's wrong here
Contributor is too broad, and deny assignments add complexity; a custom role is simpler.
✗
Assign the 'Owner' role and then remove permissions
Why it's wrong here
Owner gives full access; removing permissions is not feasible with built-in roles.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may assume a built-in role like 'Virtual Machine Operator' is the most appropriate because it sounds specific, but it actually includes more permissions than needed, and the correct solution requires creating a custom role with the exact action required.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure RBAC uses a deny-only model where permissions are additive; custom roles can be created with specific 'actions' (e.g., Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/restart/action) and 'notActions' to fine-tune access. The 'Reader' role provides the baseline read access (e.g., Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/read) necessary for the user to see the VM to restart it, while the custom role adds the restart action. In practice, this approach is common for delegating operational tasks like VM restart or backup without granting broader management rights, and it avoids the overhead of managing multiple built-in roles.
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 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: Assign the 'Reader' role and create a custom RBAC role with only the 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/restart/action' permission — Option A is correct because it combines the 'Reader' role (which allows read-only access to all resources) with a custom RBAC role that grants only the specific 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/restart/action' permission. This ensures the user can restart VMs in the target resource group without being able to create, delete, or modify them, meeting the exact requirement.
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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