Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company has a team of support engineers who need to be able to restart Azure virtual machines when they become unresponsive. The support engineers must not be able to modify the VM configuration, delete the VMs, or access VM data. The company wants to use the principle of least privilege. No built-in Azure role meets these exact requirements. What should the company do?
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
Assign the support engineers the Virtual Machine Contributor built-in role.
The Virtual Machine Contributor role allows full management of virtual machines, including creating, modifying, and deleting VMs. This grants the support engineers more permissions than necessary, violating the principle of least privilege.
B
Distractor review
Assign the support engineers the Owner built-in role on the resource group containing the VMs.
The Owner role grants full access to all resources in the resource group, including the ability to delete VMs and assign permissions to others. This far exceeds the required restart permission and is inappropriate.
C
Best answer
Create a custom role in Azure RBAC that includes only the 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/restart/action' permission and assign it to the support engineers.
Creating a custom role is the correct solution because built-in roles cannot provide only the restart action without additional permissions. Custom roles allow precise definition of allowed actions, adhering to least privilege. The support engineers get exactly the permission needed and nothing more.
D
Distractor review
Configure an Azure Policy definition that allows only the restart operation on virtual machines.
Azure Policy is used to enforce rules on resource properties (e.g., requiring specific tags or allowed locations), not to grant permissions. Policies cannot be used to allow or deny actions for specific users; that is the function of Azure RBAC.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: authentication is not authorization
Logging in proves the user can authenticate. It does not automatically mean the user is allowed to enter privileged or configuration mode. Watch for AAA authorization, privilege level and command authorization details.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This kind of question is testing the difference between identity and permission. A user may successfully log in to a router because authentication is working, but still fail to enter configuration mode because authorization is missing, misconfigured or mapped to a lower privilege level.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Authentication checks who the user is.
- Authorization controls what the user is allowed to do after login.
- Privilege levels affect access to EXEC and configuration commands.
- AAA, TACACS+ and RADIUS can separate login success from command access.
TExam Day Tips
- Do not assume successful login means full administrative access.
- Look for words such as cannot enter configuration mode, privilege level, authorization or command access.
- Separate login problems from permission problems before choosing the answer.
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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?
Authentication checks who the user is.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create a custom role in Azure RBAC that includes only the 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/restart/action' permission and assign it to the support engineers. — This question tests the ability to apply Azure RBAC to meet specific, fine-grained permission requirements. Built-in roles like Virtual Machine Contributor or Owner grant more permissions than needed. Azure Policy is used to enforce compliance rules, not to assign permissions. The correct approach is to create a custom RBAC role that includes only the 'Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/restart/action' permission and assign it to the support engineers.
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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