Deploy and manage Azure compute resources
Domain 3 of AZ-104 accounts for 20-25% of the exam. EarnYourCert has 111 original questions for this domain, all with explanations: 71 multiple choice, 21 yes/no and 19 completion or ordering items, like the real exam.
What this domain covers
- 3.1Automate deployment of resources by using ARM templates or Bicep files32 questions
- 3.2Create and configure virtual machines31 questions
- 3.3Provision and manage containers in the Azure portal24 questions
- 3.4Create and configure Azure App Service24 questions
Domain 3 sample questions
8 questions from our 111-question bank for this domain. Try to answer before revealing the solution.
1. In an ARM template, a storage account must be created before a virtual machine that uses its diagnostics container. Which template element is used to explicitly declare that dependency?
- outputs
- parameters
- apiVersion
- dependsOn
Show answer
Correct answer: D. The 'dependsOn' property within a resource definition tells Azure Resource Manager that the resource must wait for the listed resources to finish deploying before it is deployed.
2. An application requires virtual machine disks with the highest possible performance (very high IOPS and throughput, sub-millisecond latency) for a critical transactional database. Which managed disk type should you choose?
- There are no performance differences between disk types
- Standard HDD
- Ultra Disk
- Standard SSD
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Ultra disks offer the highest performance available in Azure, with independently configurable IOPS and throughput and consistently low (sub-millisecond) latency, ideal for workloads with very demanding I/O requirements.
3. An administrator needs to resize a virtual machine to a series with more vCPUs and memory. The new series is not available on the hardware cluster where the VM currently resides. What can happen?
- The VM may need to be stopped (and possibly reallocated to different hardware) to complete the resize
- Resizing is always instantaneous with no restart, no exceptions, even across different series
- It is never possible to resize a VM once created; a new one must be created
- Resizing automatically deletes all data disks attached to the VM
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Some resizes can be done without stopping the VM if the current hardware supports the new size; but if the new size is not available on the current cluster, the VM must be stopped so it can be reallocated to compatible hardware before the new size is applied.
4. What is the primary purpose of Azure Dedicated Host?
- Provide dedicated physical servers for a single organization, meeting isolation and regulatory compliance requirements.
- Offer HB and HC series virtual machines with direct access to NVIDIA A100 GPUs for AI and HPC workloads.
- Reduce costs by sharing physical hardware among multiple clients in an isolated tenancy model with Premium SLA.
- Allow customers to install third-party hypervisors such as KVM or Xen on Azure bare metal infrastructure.
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Azure Dedicated Host provides physical servers dedicated exclusively to one organization. They are used when regulatory compliance requires hardware-level isolation, control over host maintenance, and visibility into the underlying servers. They are organized into Host Groups.
5. Which Azure service provides a private registry for storing and managing Docker container images and OCI artifacts?
- Azure Container Registry (ACR)
- Azure Functions with a Consumption plan for short-lived serverless container execution
- Azure Container Instances (ACI) for running isolated containers without an orchestrator
- Azure Container Apps with KEDA event-driven scaling for microservices applications
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Azure Container Registry (ACR) is a managed private registry for Docker container images and other OCI-compliant artifacts, integrating with compute services such as AKS, ACI, or App Service.
6. When upgrading an AKS cluster, what is the correct order in which components are upgraded?
- First the control plane, then the node pools.
- First the node pools, then the control plane.
- Node pools and the control plane are upgraded simultaneously.
- Only the control plane is upgraded; nodes are recreated automatically.
Show answer
Correct answer: A. In AKS, the upgrade always starts with the control plane (API server, etcd, scheduler) and then node pools are upgraded in a rolling fashion. This ensures the control plane version is always equal to or higher than the node version.
7. Which AKS feature allows different node pools to use different VM sizes to match hardware to different workload types?
- Multiple node pools with different VM sizes per pool.
- The Cluster Autoscaler with user-defined size profiles.
- Node labels that allow dynamic size selection.
- Kubernetes taints and tolerations that determine node VM size.
Show answer
Correct answer: A. AKS supports multiple node pools, each with its own VM size, OS, and scaling configuration. For example, a system pool can use general-purpose VMs (D-series) and a user pool for ML can use GPU VMs (N-series), all within the same cluster.
8. For which type of App Service domain CANNOT a CNAME record be used in DNS configuration?
- Root (apex) domain, such as contoso.com without a prefix.
- Third-level subdomain, such as app.www.contoso.com.
- Standard subdomain, such as www.contoso.com.
- Hyphenated subdomain, such as my-app.contoso.com.
Show answer
Correct answer: A. DNS RFC 1912 prohibits the use of CNAME at the apex of a DNS zone (root domain like 'contoso.com') because that record must coexist with SOA and NS records. For apex domains, an A record (pointing to the IP) is used along with a TXT record for ownership verification.