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 wants to ensure that all resources in their Azure environment are created with mandatory tags for cost tracking. They have already assigned a policy to append tags, but existing resources are still missing tags. They want to automatically add the tags to existing resources without manual intervention. What should they do?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a remediation task for the policy.
A remediation task is the correct solution because Azure Policy's 'append' effect only applies to new or updated resources. To automatically add the missing tags to existing non-compliant resources, you must create a remediation task that triggers a deployment to apply the policy's 'deployIfNotExists' or 'modify' effect. This task runs on demand or on a schedule to bring existing resources into compliance without manual intervention.
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.
✗
Modify the policy effect to 'deny' instead of 'append'.
Why it's wrong here
Deny only blocks future non-compliant resources; it does not fix existing ones.
✓
Create a remediation task for the policy.
Why this is correct
Remediation tasks automatically apply the 'deployIfNotExists' or 'modify' effect to existing non-compliant resources.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use Azure Resource Graph to identify and manually tag.
Why it's wrong here
Manual tagging is not automated and is inefficient at scale.
✗
Reassign the policy with a new scope.
Why it's wrong here
Reassigning does not automatically fix existing resources.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse the 'append' effect's behavior (which only applies to new/modified resources) with a retroactive fix, leading them to incorrectly choose reassignment or effect changes instead of recognizing the need for a remediation task.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, Azure Policy's 'append' effect is evaluated during resource creation or update via Azure Resource Manager (ARM). For existing resources, a remediation task leverages the 'deployIfNotExists' or 'modify' policy definition to run a deployment that applies the required tags. The remediation task uses a managed identity to execute the deployment, ensuring the tags are added without altering other resource properties. In real-world scenarios, this is critical for cost management when organizations onboard legacy subscriptions or acquire companies with untagged resources.
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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
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: Create a remediation task for the policy. — A remediation task is the correct solution because Azure Policy's 'append' effect only applies to new or updated resources. To automatically add the missing tags to existing non-compliant resources, you must create a remediation task that triggers a deployment to apply the policy's 'deployIfNotExists' or 'modify' effect. This task runs on demand or on a schedule to bring existing resources into compliance without manual intervention.
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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