AZ-900 Describe Azure management and governance Practice Question
Which Azure feature provides a way to audit and track access to sensitive resources using detailed logs?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse Microsoft Entra ID Sign-in logs (which track user authentication) with resource-level audit logs, not realizing that Activity Log and Diagnostic Logs are the correct pair for auditing access to Azure resources themselves.
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 Activity Log and Diagnostic Logs
Azure Activity Log and Diagnostic Logs together provide a comprehensive auditing and tracking mechanism for sensitive resources. The Activity Log records control-plane events (e.g., who created or deleted a resource), while Diagnostic Logs capture data-plane events (e.g., read/write operations on a storage account or key vault). This combination allows administrators to trace every access attempt, including successful and failed operations, with detailed timestamps, caller identities, and request payloads.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Microsoft Entra ID Sign-in logs
Why it's wrong here
Sign-in logs record authentication events for identities, not access to sensitive resources themselves; resource-level auditing needs Azure Monitor diagnostic logs or Microsoft Purview. It is tempting because sign-in logs genuinely audit identity activity, and would be correct if the question asked who signed in and from where.
- ✓
Azure Activity Log and Diagnostic Logs
Why this is correct
Azure Activity Log and Diagnostic Logs capture control-plane and data-plane events respectively, recording who accessed sensitive resources and when. Diagnostic Logs deliver the detailed resource-level audit trail the stem demands, satisfying the requirement to track and audit access.
- ✗
Azure Network Security Group flow logs
Why it's wrong here
NSG flow logs capture IP traffic metadata permitted or denied by security rules; they show network flows, not resource access auditing. Tempting because flow logs do provide detailed records, and would be correct for diagnosing connectivity or detecting suspicious traffic patterns at the network layer.
- ✗
Azure Advisor audit recommendations
Why it's wrong here
Azure Advisor produces configuration and cost recommendations, not an audit trail of resource access events. It is tempting because Advisor analyses your environment and flags issues, and would be correct when the requirement is proactive best-practise guidance rather than retrospective access logging.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Microsoft Purview (Data Governance)
Key term
Storage account
A cloud storage account is a container that holds a set of cloud storage services and their data, providing a unique namespace and access policies for storing and managing unstructured data.
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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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-900 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AZ-900 exam.