Question 524 of 1,031

Describe cloud concepts →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Quick Answer

The answer is hybrid cloud. This architecture is correct because it combines on-premises infrastructure for sensitive financial data with public cloud resources for compute-intensive batch processing, orchestrated from the cloud while ensuring data never leaves the local data center. On the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals AZ-900 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how hybrid cloud deployment models solve regulatory and data residency challenges by enabling workload portability across private and public environments. A common trap is mistaking this for public cloud alone, but the key distinction is that sensitive data must remain on-premises, making hybrid the only viable choice. Remember the memory tip: “Hybrid holds the data home; the cloud does the heavy lifting.”

AZ-900 Describe cloud concepts Practice Question

This AZ-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe cloud concepts. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 has a legacy on-premises application that processes sensitive financial data. Due to regulatory requirements, certain data cannot leave the company's on-premises data center. However, the company wants to take advantage of the cloud's scalability for the application's compute-intensive batch processing jobs. The batch jobs need to access the sensitive data but must process it without the data ever being stored in the cloud. The batch jobs will be orchestrated from the cloud. Which cloud deployment model best describes this architecture?

Clue words in this question

Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.

Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.

Question 1mediummultiple choice

Full question →

A
Public cloud
Why wrong: A public cloud model would run all workloads (including data storage) in the cloud. This would violate the regulatory requirement that sensitive data cannot leave the on-premises data center, so this is incorrect.
B
Private cloud
Why wrong: A private cloud is dedicated to a single organization but may be hosted on-premises or by a third party. This model would not easily provide the elastic scalability of a public cloud for batch processing without additional investment, and the scenario explicitly wants to leverage cloud scalability, making this option less suitable.
C
Hybrid cloud
A hybrid cloud combines on-premises infrastructure (private cloud) with public cloud services. This allows the company to keep sensitive data on-premises while using public cloud resources for compute-intensive batch jobs, meeting both the scalability and regulatory requirements.
D
Multi-cloud
Why wrong: Multi-cloud refers to using multiple public cloud providers (e.g., AWS and Azure) for different workloads. It does not necessarily involve an on-premises component, and the scenario specifically requires an on-premises data center to hold the sensitive data, so this is incorrect.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

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

✓

Hybrid cloud

This architecture is a hybrid cloud because it combines on-premises infrastructure (where sensitive data resides and must remain) with public cloud resources (for compute-intensive batch processing). The batch jobs are orchestrated from the cloud but access the sensitive data on-premises without storing it in the cloud, which is a classic hybrid deployment pattern. Hybrid cloud enables workload portability and orchestration across private and public environments while meeting data residency and regulatory requirements.

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.

✗
Public cloud
Why it's wrong here
A public cloud model would run all workloads (including data storage) in the cloud. This would violate the regulatory requirement that sensitive data cannot leave the on-premises data center, so this is incorrect.
✗
Private cloud
Why it's wrong here
A private cloud is dedicated to a single organization but may be hosted on-premises or by a third party. This model would not easily provide the elastic scalability of a public cloud for batch processing without additional investment, and the scenario explicitly wants to leverage cloud scalability, making this option less suitable.
✓
Hybrid cloud
Why this is correct
A hybrid cloud combines on-premises infrastructure (private cloud) with public cloud services. This allows the company to keep sensitive data on-premises while using public cloud resources for compute-intensive batch jobs, meeting both the scalability and regulatory requirements.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Multi-cloud
Why it's wrong here
Multi-cloud refers to using multiple public cloud providers (e.g., AWS and Azure) for different workloads. It does not necessarily involve an on-premises component, and the scenario specifically requires an on-premises data center to hold the sensitive data, so this is incorrect.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates often confuse hybrid cloud with multi-cloud, thinking that using multiple cloud providers automatically qualifies as hybrid, but hybrid cloud specifically requires a mix of on-premises and cloud resources, not just multiple public clouds.

Trap categories for this question

Scenario analysis trap
A private cloud is dedicated to a single organization but may be hosted on-premises or by a third party. This model would not easily provide the elastic scalability of a public cloud for batch processing without additional investment, and the scenario explicitly wants to leverage cloud scalability, making this option less suitable.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

Hybrid cloud architectures often use technologies like Azure ExpressRoute or AWS Direct Connect to establish private, low-latency connections between on-premises data centers and cloud VPCs. In this scenario, the batch jobs could run in Azure Batch or AWS Batch, which orchestrate compute instances in the cloud, while the sensitive data remains on-premises and is accessed via secure API calls or data-plane operations that never persist data to cloud storage. This pattern is sometimes called 'bursting' and relies on identity federation (e.g., Azure AD or AWS IAM) to authenticate and authorize cloud workloads to access on-premises 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 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.

What to study next

Got this wrong? Here's your next step.

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this AZ-900 question test?

Describe cloud concepts — This question tests Describe cloud concepts — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Hybrid cloud — This architecture is a hybrid cloud because it combines on-premises infrastructure (where sensitive data resides and must remain) with public cloud resources (for compute-intensive batch processing). The batch jobs are orchestrated from the cloud but access the sensitive data on-premises without storing it in the cloud, which is a classic hybrid deployment pattern. Hybrid cloud enables workload portability and orchestration across private and public environments while meeting data residency and regulatory requirements.

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.

Are there clue words in this question I should notice?

Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

About these practice questions

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Same concept, more angles

1 more ways this is tested on AZ-900

These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.

Variation 1. A company runs a legacy application on-premises that must store data within the country due to regulatory requirements. To handle occasional peak workloads, the company connects its local network to an Azure virtual network via a site-to-site VPN. During these peaks, the application scales out to Azure virtual machines that process compute tasks but never store regulated data outside the on-premises datacenter. Which cloud deployment model does this scenario best describe?

medium

A.Public cloud
B.Private cloud
✓ C.Hybrid cloud
D.Community cloud

Why C: Option C is correct because the scenario combines an on-premises private infrastructure (the legacy application and regulated data) with Azure public cloud resources (virtual machines for compute scaling) connected via a site-to-site VPN. This integration of private and public resources to handle variable workloads while maintaining data sovereignty defines a hybrid cloud deployment model.

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Question Discussion

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