- A
Azure Bastion
Correct. Azure Bastion provides secure, browser-based RDP/SSH access to VMs in a VNet without public IPs, eliminating the need for inbound management ports.
- B
Azure VPN Gateway
Why wrong: Incorrect. VPN Gateway creates a site-to-site or point-to-site VPN connection. While it provides secure connectivity, it still requires routing traffic through a VPN client and does not offer the same seamless portal experience as Bastion. It also does not eliminate the need for RDP/SSH endpoints.
- C
Azure Load Balancer
Why wrong: Incorrect. Load Balancer distributes incoming traffic to VMs. It does not provide secure management access to VMs.
- D
Azure Firewall
Why wrong: Incorrect. Azure Firewall is a managed network security service that filters traffic. It does not provide RDP/SSH connectivity to VMs.
Quick Answer
The answer is Azure Bastion. This service is the correct choice because it enables secure remote access to Azure VM without public IP by deploying a fully managed platform as a service (PaaS) inside your virtual network. Bastion brokers RDP and SSH connections directly through the Azure portal over TLS, so administrators never need to expose a public IP address on the VM or manage SSH/RDP endpoints manually. On the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals AZ-900 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of secure connectivity options and the principle of minimizing attack surfaces. A common trap is confusing Bastion with a jump box or VPN gateway—remember that Bastion is fully managed and requires no public IP on the VM itself. For a quick memory tip, think “Bastion blocks public IPs, brokers browser-based RDP/SSH.”
AZ-900 Describe Azure architecture and services Practice Question
This AZ-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe azure architecture and services. 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 has virtual machines in a virtual network that run a critical internal application. IT administrators need to securely connect to these VMs from the internet for management purposes. They must not assign public IP addresses to the VMs, and they want to avoid managing SSH or RDP endpoints. Which Azure service should they use?
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 Bastion
Azure Bastion provides secure and seamless RDP/SSH connectivity to virtual machines directly in the Azure portal over TLS, without exposing public IP addresses on the VMs. It eliminates the need for managing public endpoints, as the Bastion service is deployed inside the virtual network and acts as a jump server that brokers the connection. This meets the requirement of secure internet-based management without public IPs or manual SSH/RDP endpoint management.
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.
- ✓
Azure Bastion
- ✗
Azure VPN Gateway
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. VPN Gateway creates a site-to-site or point-to-site VPN connection. While it provides secure connectivity, it still requires routing traffic through a VPN client and does not offer the same seamless portal experience as Bastion. It also does not eliminate the need for RDP/SSH endpoints.
- ✗
Azure Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Load Balancer distributes incoming traffic to VMs. It does not provide secure management access to VMs.
- ✗
Azure Firewall
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Azure Bastion with Azure VPN Gateway, thinking a VPN is required for secure remote access, but Bastion is specifically designed for browser-based RDP/SSH without public IPs or VPN complexity.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Bastion uses a hardened RDP/SSH proxy that is deployed in a dedicated subnet (AzureBastionSubnet) within the virtual network. It leverages TLS 1.2 for encryption and integrates with Azure RBAC and Azure AD authentication for fine-grained access control. Under the hood, Bastion creates a secure tunnel from the Azure portal to the VM, bypassing the need for any public IP on the VM and ensuring that all management traffic stays within the Azure backbone network.
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
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-900 question test?
Describe Azure architecture and services — This question tests Describe Azure architecture and services — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Azure Bastion — Azure Bastion provides secure and seamless RDP/SSH connectivity to virtual machines directly in the Azure portal over TLS, without exposing public IP addresses on the VMs. It eliminates the need for managing public endpoints, as the Bastion service is deployed inside the virtual network and acts as a jump server that brokers the connection. This meets the requirement of secure internet-based management without public IPs or manual SSH/RDP endpoint management.
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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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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