This MS-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe cloud concepts. 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 runs a legacy application that requires a fixed amount of dedicated hardware resources for compliance reasons. However, they want to benefit from cloud-based backup and disaster recovery to reduce on-premises hardware costs. Which cloud deployment model best aligns with this requirement?
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.
Why wrong: Public cloud does not offer dedicated hardware and may not meet compliance requirements for fixed dedicated resources.
B
Private cloud
Why wrong: Private cloud would still require the company to manage its own hardware, not reducing costs.
C
Hybrid cloud
Hybrid cloud allows the legacy app to run in a private environment with dedicated resources while using public cloud for backup and DR, reducing on-premises cost.
D
Community cloud
Why wrong: Community cloud is shared among multiple organizations with common compliance concerns, not a combination of private and public.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Hybrid cloud
Hybrid cloud is correct because it allows the company to keep the legacy application on dedicated on-premises hardware for compliance, while leveraging cloud-based backup and disaster recovery services (e.g., Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery) to reduce on-premises hardware costs. This model combines private cloud (or on-premises infrastructure) with public cloud resources, enabling data replication and failover to the cloud without migrating the application itself.
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
Public cloud does not offer dedicated hardware and may not meet compliance requirements for fixed dedicated resources.
✗
Private cloud
Why it's wrong here
Private cloud would still require the company to manage its own hardware, not reducing costs.
✓
Hybrid cloud
Why this is correct
Hybrid cloud allows the legacy app to run in a private environment with dedicated resources while using public cloud for backup and DR, reducing on-premises cost.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Community cloud
Why it's wrong here
Community cloud is shared among multiple organizations with common compliance concerns, not a combination of private and public.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'hybrid cloud' with 'private cloud' because both involve on-premises resources, but the key differentiator is the use of public cloud services for backup/DR to reduce hardware costs, which only hybrid cloud enables.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In a hybrid cloud model, services like Azure Arc can extend management and compliance policies across on-premises and cloud environments, while Azure Site Recovery uses continuous replication (with a Recovery Point Objective as low as 30 seconds) to protect workloads without requiring full application migration. The legacy application remains on dedicated hardware (e.g., a physical server or a Hyper-V VM), but backup data is stored in Azure Blob Storage, and failover can occur to Azure VMs only during disaster, thus minimizing on-premises storage and compute costs.
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 MS-900 question in full detail.
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 — Hybrid cloud is correct because it allows the company to keep the legacy application on dedicated on-premises hardware for compliance, while leveraging cloud-based backup and disaster recovery services (e.g., Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery) to reduce on-premises hardware costs. This model combines private cloud (or on-premises infrastructure) with public cloud resources, enabling data replication and failover to the cloud without migrating the application itself.
What should I do if I get this MS-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
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
This MS-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 MS-900 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.