mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped

A company runs an e-commerce website on a set of on-premises servers that are fully owned and depreciated. The website experiences predictable traffic surges during seasonal sales. The company plans to migrate to Azure and wants to pay only for the compute and storage resources consumed, with the ability to automatically add virtual machines during sales and remove them afterward. Which characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario best illustrate?

Question 1mediummultiple choice
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A company runs an e-commerce website on a set of on-premises servers that are fully owned and depreciated. The website experiences predictable traffic surges during seasonal sales. The company plans to migrate to Azure and wants to pay only for the compute and storage resources consumed, with the ability to automatically add virtual machines during sales and remove them afterward. Which characteristic of cloud computing does this scenario best illustrate?

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.

A

Distractor review

High availability

High availability refers to designing systems to remain operational with minimal downtime, often through redundancy (e.g., multiple servers, availability zones). While important, it does not directly address the automatic scaling of resources based on demand or the pay-per-use billing model.

B

Best answer

Elasticity

Elasticity is the ability to dynamically allocate and deallocate cloud resources in response to changing workload demands. The company wants to automatically add VMs during sales traffic spikes and remove them afterward, paying only for what is used. This is a classic example of elasticity.

C

Distractor review

Fault tolerance

Fault tolerance enables a system to continue operating correctly even when one or more components fail. While Azure offers fault tolerance features, the scenario emphasizes scaling to meet demand, not surviving failures.

D

Distractor review

Disaster recovery

Disaster recovery involves processes and technologies for restoring IT infrastructure and data after a major disruptive event (e.g., natural disaster, cyberattack). The scenario focuses on handling predictable traffic surges, not recovering from disasters.

Common exam trap

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.

Technical deep dive

How to think about this question

This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.

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.
  • Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.

TExam Day Tips

  • Underline the problem statement mentally.
  • 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.

Related practice questions

Related AZ-900 practice-question pages

Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.

More questions from this exam

Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.

Question 1

A developer is building a serverless application that requires integration with an on-premises SQL Server database for real-time data processing. The on-premises network is connected to Azure via a site-to-site VPN. Which Azure service would allow the function to securely access the on-premises database without exposing it to the public internet?

Question 2

A solutions architect is designing a storage solution for a large media company. The company needs to store video files that are accessed infrequently but must be retained for several years for compliance. Which two Azure storage options meet these requirements? (Select two.)

Question 3

A company deploys a multi-tier application using Azure virtual machines. The web tier VMs must be evenly distributed across two distinct data centers within an Azure region to avoid a single point of failure from an infrastructure outage. Which Azure construct should they use to meet this requirement?

Question 4

A company wants to enforce a set of security policies across all their Azure subscriptions. They have created several individual policy definitions. Which Azure construct should they use to group these policies together and assign them as a single package?

Question 5

A company deploys a line-of-business application on an Azure virtual machine. The IT team wants to ensure the application remains secure. According to the shared responsibility model, which of the following security tasks is the sole responsibility of the customer (the company)?

Question 6

A company develops a web API that runs on Azure App Service. The development team wants to deploy a new version of the API to a staging environment, run integration tests against it, and then gradually shift production traffic to the new version. If any issues are detected, they want to immediately roll back to the previous version without redeploying. Which Azure App Service feature should the team use to meet these requirements?

FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this AZ-900 question test?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Elasticity — The scenario describes a model where resources can be dynamically adjusted to match demand, and the company pays only for what they use. This aligns with elasticity, which is the ability to automatically scale resources up or down based on workload requirements. High availability focuses on ensuring uptime through redundancy, fault tolerance ensures system operation despite component failures, and disaster recovery involves restoring services after a catastrophic outage. None of those directly address the automatic scaling and pay-per-use aspects emphasized in the scenario.

What should I do if I get this AZ-900 question wrong?

Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.

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