Microsoft AZ-305  Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions Exam Dumps and Practice Test Questions Set 1 Q1-20

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Question 1

You are designing an Azure solution for a company that requires multiple virtual networks to communicate securely. The company wants to minimize data transfer costs between networks while maintaining isolation. Which Azure networking solution should you implement?

Answer

A) Virtual Network Peering
B) VPN Gateway
C) ExpressRoute
D) Azure Load Balancer

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Virtual Network Peering.

Virtual Network Peering is an Azure networking solution that allows two or more VNets to connect directly and privately over the Azure backbone network. This connection enables resources in different VNets to communicate with low latency and high bandwidth. Peering supports both intra-region and cross-region connectivity, making it flexible for enterprise architectures.

Option B) VPN Gateway establishes an encrypted connection over the public internet between VNets or between on-premises and Azure networks. While secure, it introduces higher latency and bandwidth costs and is less efficient for frequent VNet-to-VNet communication. VPN Gateways are typically used for hybrid connectivity, not internal Azure network optimization.

Option C) ExpressRoute provides a dedicated, private connection between on-premises infrastructure and Azure. It bypasses the public internet for security and reliability. However, ExpressRoute is more suited for hybrid cloud scenarios, not internal VNet-to-VNet connectivity within Azure, and incurs higher costs than peering.

Option D) Azure Load Balancer distributes traffic among multiple resources in Azure. While it improves availability and performance, it does not create private connections between VNets and therefore cannot meet the requirement for secure VNet-to-VNet communication.

Virtual Network Peering also allows companies to implement hub-and-spoke architectures, enabling multiple VNets to connect through a central hub while minimizing latency and data transfer costs. By combining peering with network security groups (NSGs) and firewall policies, organizations can ensure both isolation and secure connectivity. This solution is recommended for enterprise-scale deployments that need low-cost, high-speed communication between VNets without the overhead of VPN or ExpressRoute.

Question 2

A company wants to deploy an application in Azure that must remain available even if an entire Azure region fails. Which Azure feature should you implement to meet this requirement?

Answer

A) Availability Zones
B) Azure Traffic Manager
C) Virtual Machine Scale Sets
D) Azure Backup

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Availability Zones.

Availability Zones are physically separate locations within an Azure region, each with independent power, networking, and cooling. By deploying VMs or other resources across multiple zones, applications can withstand zone-level failures. This ensures high availability and minimizes downtime during maintenance or hardware failures.

Option B) Azure Traffic Manager is a DNS-based global traffic routing service. While it can direct users to healthy endpoints across regions, it does not provide built-in high availability for resources within a region. It complements Availability Zones for geo-redundancy, but alone, it does not solve intra-region fault tolerance.

Option C) Virtual Machine Scale Sets allow VMs to auto-scale based on metrics such as CPU or request count. While they help with handling load and some redundancy, they do not protect against entire region failures unless paired with multiple zones or regions.

Option D) Azure Backup protects data against loss or corruption. It does not provide real-time availability; restoring from backup may take hours, which is not suitable for applications requiring near-zero downtime.

Using Availability Zones with additional services like Traffic Manager or Front Door can achieve multi-region resilience, combining both high availability and disaster recovery. This approach is particularly valuable for mission-critical applications, such as financial services or healthcare systems, where even brief downtime could have significant business impacts. Azure recommends deploying across at least two zones for critical workloads to meet 99.99% SLA targets.

Question 3

A company plans to deploy a multi-tier web application in Azure. They need to ensure that the web tier can automatically scale based on incoming traffic while the database tier remains highly available. Which Azure services should you use?

Answer

A) Virtual Machine Scale Sets for web tier and Azure SQL Database with zone-redundant configuration for database tier
B) Azure App Service for web tier and single-instance SQL Database
C) Virtual Machines with manual scaling for web tier and SQL Managed Instance without high availability
D) Azure Functions for web tier and Azure Blob Storage for database tier

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Virtual Machine Scale Sets for web tier and Azure SQL Database with zone-redundant configuration for database tier.

Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) allow the web tier to automatically scale in response to traffic spikes. By defining scaling rules based on CPU utilization, memory usage, or custom metrics, VMSS ensures the web tier can handle variable workloads efficiently without manual intervention. It also integrates seamlessly with Azure Load Balancer, distributing traffic evenly across scaled instances.

Azure SQL Database with zone-redundant configuration replicates data across multiple Availability Zones, ensuring high availability and protection against zone-level failures. The database tier can continue operating even if a single zone becomes unavailable, maintaining data integrity and uptime.

Option B) Using Azure App Service for the web tier is viable for automatic scaling, but pairing it with a single-instance SQL Database does not provide high availability for the database. Any database outage would cause application downtime.

Option C) Manually scaling VMs increases administrative overhead and can lead to performance bottlenecks. SQL Managed Instance without high availability exposes the database to single points of failure.

Option D) Azure Functions is ideal for serverless workloads, but Blob Storage is a storage solution, not a relational database, making it unsuitable for structured data and multi-tier applications.

By combining VMSS for scalable compute and zone-redundant Azure SQL Database, the architecture ensures both horizontal scalability and fault tolerance, aligning with best practices for enterprise applications on Azure. This setup also supports disaster recovery planning and integration with monitoring tools like Azure Monitor for proactive management.

Question 4

A company wants to deploy a set of Azure virtual machines that must handle unpredictable traffic spikes. The solution should automatically add or remove instances based on demand while maintaining availability. Which Azure feature should you implement?

Answer

A) Virtual Machine Scale Sets
B) Azure Load Balancer
C) Availability Zones
D) Azure Traffic Manager

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Virtual Machine Scale Sets.

Virtual Machine Scale Sets allow organizations to deploy and manage a set of identical VMs. The key benefit is automatic scaling, which adjusts the number of VM instances based on real-time demand. This ensures that applications can handle sudden spikes in traffic without manual intervention or downtime.

Option B) Azure Load Balancer distributes incoming traffic across multiple VM instances, but it does not automatically increase or decrease instances. It ensures even load distribution, but scaling must be managed separately.

Option C) Availability Zones improve fault tolerance by distributing VMs across physically separate zones, protecting against hardware or zone failures. However, they do not dynamically adjust instance count based on load.

Option D) Azure Traffic Manager routes traffic globally across regions, improving performance and redundancy, but it does not manage the number of VM instances in response to demand.

Combining VM Scale Sets with Load Balancer allows organizations to achieve high availability and elasticity. The load balancer ensures even traffic distribution, while VMSS adjusts capacity automatically. This approach is critical for applications with variable workloads, such as e-commerce platforms during flash sales, global SaaS applications, or gaming services during peak hours. Additionally, VMSS integrates with Azure Monitor for proactive scaling, and it supports custom scaling policies to optimize cost and performance.

Question 5

A company needs to implement a secure solution for storing sensitive application secrets in Azure. Developers must access these secrets programmatically without hardcoding credentials. Which Azure service should you use?

Answer

A) Azure Key Vault
B) Azure Storage Account
C) Azure App Service Configuration
D) Azure Active Directory

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Azure Key Vault.

Azure Key Vault is a centralized service for securely storing secrets, keys, and certificates. It ensures sensitive data is protected and provides programmatic access via managed identities, removing the need to hardcode credentials. Key Vault integrates with Azure Policy, RBAC, and auditing, ensuring compliance and security.

Option B) Azure Storage Account stores data but does not provide secure secrets management. Storing credentials here would increase risk of exposure.

Option C) App Service Configuration can store app settings but lacks advanced security, auditing, and secret versioning. It is less suitable for sensitive secrets.

Option D) Azure Active Directory manages identities but cannot securely store application secrets for programmatic access.

Key Vault also supports integration with Azure Managed HSM for hardware-protected keys, automatic rotation of secrets, and audit logging. By implementing Key Vault, organizations can enforce security best practices, ensure compliance, and reduce risk of accidental exposure, making it an essential service for enterprise-grade applications in Azure.

Question 6

A company wants to design an Azure solution that provides disaster recovery for its on-premises workloads. The solution must allow near-instant recovery of virtual machines in case of an outage. Which Azure service should you implement?

Answer

A) Azure Site Recovery
B) Azure Backup
C) Azure Blob Storage
D) Azure App Service

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Azure Site Recovery.

Azure Site Recovery (ASR) is designed to provide business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) by replicating workloads from on-premises data centers or other Azure regions to a secondary location. ASR continuously replicates virtual machines, physical servers, and even some cloud workloads, ensuring that the latest data is available for recovery in case of an outage.

The key benefits of Azure Site Recovery include:

Near-Instant Recovery: ASR enables fast failover to the secondary site with minimal downtime. It supports orchestrated recovery plans that automate the sequence of operations, ensuring applications start in the correct order.

Replication Flexibility: ASR supports replication from Hyper-V, VMware, and physical servers, as well as Azure VMs. This flexibility allows organizations to maintain hybrid environments and protect both legacy and modern workloads.

Minimal Management Overhead: The service automates failover, failback, and testing procedures. Organizations can test disaster recovery plans without affecting production workloads, ensuring readiness without disrupting users.

Compliance and Reliability: ASR helps organizations meet regulatory requirements for disaster recovery, providing auditing, reporting, and SLA-backed availability.

Option B) Azure Backup is designed for data protection, not live failover. It allows restoring data after deletion or corruption, but recovery can take hours, making it unsuitable for workloads requiring high uptime and near-instant recovery.

Option C) Azure Blob Storage provides scalable storage for unstructured data but does not offer replication of VMs or orchestration for failover, so it cannot provide disaster recovery for applications.

Option D) Azure App Service hosts web applications and provides scaling and monitoring but is not designed for hybrid disaster recovery or replication of on-premises workloads.

Implementing Azure Site Recovery ensures that organizations can maintain business continuity during outages. When combined with Azure Traffic Manager or Azure Front Door, users can be automatically redirected to the recovered workloads in another region, maintaining application availability and performance.

Additionally, ASR supports multi-tier application recovery, meaning complex environments with web, application, and database tiers can be recovered in sequence, ensuring dependencies are maintained. Companies with mission-critical workloads, such as financial institutions, healthcare providers, and global SaaS providers, rely on ASR to achieve RTO (Recovery Time Objective) and RPO (Recovery Point Objective) targets without maintaining expensive secondary data centers.

By using ASR, businesses reduce operational risk, improve resilience, and gain confidence that disaster scenarios will not interrupt services, aligning with Azure’s best practices for high availability and business continuity.

Question 7

A company wants to monitor the performance and health of its Azure resources and receive alerts for any critical issues. Which Azure service should you use?

Answer

A) Azure Monitor
B) Azure Security Center
C) Azure Policy
D) Azure Advisor

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Azure Monitor.

Azure Monitor is the centralized platform for monitoring Azure resources. It collects metrics, logs, and telemetry data from VMs, databases, storage accounts, and applications. With Azure Monitor, organizations can track resource utilization, detect performance bottlenecks, and configure alerts for operational issues.

Key features of Azure Monitor include:

Metrics and Logs Collection: Azure Monitor collects real-time performance metrics and logs from resources. Metrics include CPU usage, memory, network traffic, and disk I/O. Logs provide detailed insights into events, errors, and activity, enabling troubleshooting.

Alerting and Automation: Azure Monitor allows setting threshold-based alerts. Alerts can trigger emails, SMS notifications, or automated remediation via Azure Logic Apps or Azure Automation Runbooks. This helps prevent downtime and ensures rapid response.

Application Insights Integration: For application-level monitoring, Application Insights provides end-to-end visibility into web applications, including request performance, dependencies, exceptions, and user behavior. This enables proactive performance management.

Visualization and Analytics: Azure Monitor integrates with Log Analytics and dashboards, allowing users to visualize trends, detect anomalies, and create custom reports. This is critical for operational decision-making and capacity planning.

Option B) Azure Security Center primarily focuses on security posture management, threat detection, and compliance. While it provides security alerts, it does not provide full performance and operational monitoring across all resources.

Option C) Azure Policy enforces rules and compliance across resources. It ensures resources meet organizational standards but does not collect performance metrics or send alerts.

Option D) Azure Advisor provides recommendations for cost optimization, performance, security, and availability, but it is a recommendation engine, not a real-time monitoring tool.

Using Azure Monitor allows organizations to achieve full observability of their Azure environment, ensuring high availability, performance optimization, and rapid issue resolution. For example, by monitoring VM CPU usage trends, administrators can proactively scale VMSS instances before workloads degrade performance. Combining Azure Monitor with Azure Log Analytics and Workbooks enables detailed analysis of historical trends, anomaly detection, and predictive scaling.

For enterprises running mission-critical applications, Azure Monitor provides the foundation for a reliable and proactive operations strategy. It supports SLA monitoring, automated incident response, and compliance reporting, which are crucial for organizations that must maintain operational continuity and regulatory adherence.

Question 8

A company plans to deploy a high-performance application that requires low-latency connectivity between Azure and on-premises infrastructure. They also want a private network connection that bypasses the public internet. Which solution should they implement?

Answer

A) ExpressRoute
B) VPN Gateway
C) Azure Front Door
D) Azure Content Delivery Network

Explanation

The correct answer is A) ExpressRoute.

Azure ExpressRoute provides a private, dedicated connection between an on-premises network and Azure datacenters. Unlike VPN, it bypasses the public internet, offering high reliability, low latency, and predictable bandwidth. ExpressRoute is ideal for mission-critical applications, financial services, and hybrid cloud architectures where performance and security are paramount.

Key advantages of ExpressRoute include:

High Bandwidth and Low Latency: ExpressRoute supports bandwidths from 50 Mbps to 100 Gbps, providing high throughput for large-scale applications. Latency is predictable, which is critical for workloads such as SAP, real-time analytics, and media processing.

Private Connectivity: Traffic does not traverse the public internet, reducing exposure to attacks and ensuring secure, consistent communication.

Integration with Virtual Networks: ExpressRoute connects to Azure Virtual Networks, enabling secure, private access to services such as VMs, Azure SQL Database, or storage accounts.

Redundancy and SLA: ExpressRoute provides dual circuits for redundancy. Azure guarantees 99.95% uptime when ExpressRoute is configured with redundancy.

Option B) VPN Gateway provides encrypted connectivity over the public internet. While it is secure and easier to set up, performance is variable, and it may not meet the requirements for low latency or high throughput.

Option C) Azure Front Door optimizes web traffic globally using HTTP/HTTPS load balancing, caching, and routing, but it does not provide private network connectivity between on-premises and Azure.

Option D) Azure Content Delivery Network improves latency for static content globally, but it does not establish private connectivity for enterprise workloads.

Implementing ExpressRoute allows organizations to build hybrid cloud architectures with seamless integration between on-premises and Azure. For example, a financial institution can use ExpressRoute to replicate databases in real-time to Azure for disaster recovery while ensuring secure, low-latency access. ExpressRoute circuits can also integrate with Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and other SaaS services, allowing predictable performance for enterprise workloads.

Combining ExpressRoute with Azure Network Security Groups and firewalls ensures both high performance and security, making it a best-practice solution for organizations requiring enterprise-grade connectivity. It also supports dynamic routing protocols (BGP), enabling efficient traffic management across multiple sites.

Question 9

A company plans to deploy an application in Azure that needs to store unstructured data and serve it to users globally with minimal latency. Which Azure service should they use?

Answer

A) Azure Blob Storage
B) Azure SQL Database
C) Azure Cosmos DB
D) Azure Virtual Machine

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Azure Blob Storage.

Azure Blob Storage is designed for massive-scale storage of unstructured data, such as images, videos, documents, and backups. It is highly durable, scalable, and globally accessible, making it ideal for applications that serve content to users worldwide. When paired with Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN), blobs can be cached at edge locations to minimize latency and improve user experience.

Blob Storage supports three storage tiers:

Hot Tier: Optimized for frequent access.

Cool Tier: Cost-efficient for infrequently accessed data.

Archive Tier: Long-term storage for rarely accessed data.

Option B) Azure SQL Database is a relational database, suitable for structured data. Storing large binary objects in SQL can be inefficient and costly, making it unsuitable for unstructured content.

Option C) Azure Cosmos DB is a NoSQL database optimized for low-latency, globally distributed structured data. While it supports document storage, it is not cost-effective for large unstructured files.

Option D) Azure Virtual Machine provides compute and storage, but managing scalability, replication, and global distribution manually increases complexity.

By combining Blob Storage with CDN, companies can achieve low-latency content delivery, redundancy, and high scalability. Features like Lifecycle Management, versioning, and encryption at rest improve operational efficiency, security, and compliance. Blob Storage also integrates with Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, enabling big data analytics on unstructured content.

Question 10

A company needs to ensure that sensitive data in Azure Storage accounts is protected both at rest and in transit. Which combination of features should they implement?

Answer

A) Azure Storage Service Encryption and HTTPS
B) Azure Disk Encryption and Virtual Network
C) Role-Based Access Control and Availability Zones
D) Azure Backup and Azure Monitor

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Azure Storage Service Encryption and HTTPS.

Azure Storage Service Encryption (SSE) provides automatic encryption at rest for data stored in Azure Blob Storage, Azure Files, Table Storage, and Queue Storage. SSE uses strong encryption standards like AES-256, ensuring that data is unreadable to unauthorized users. Encryption is transparent to applications, meaning developers do not need to manage encryption keys manually. Organizations can also choose Microsoft-managed keys (MMK) or customer-managed keys (CMK) stored in Azure Key Vault for greater control over encryption policies.

HTTPS ensures that data is encrypted in transit between clients and Azure Storage endpoints. This protects against man-in-the-middle attacks, eavesdropping, or tampering when data moves over the network. Azure Storage enforces HTTPS by default, and policies can be applied to deny HTTP connections, ensuring that all traffic is secure.

Option B) Azure Disk Encryption encrypts VM disks, not storage accounts. A Virtual Network can provide network isolation, but it does not encrypt data in transit or at rest. Using only these features would not fully protect sensitive storage data.

Option C) Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) restricts who can access resources but does not encrypt the data itself. Availability Zones provide fault tolerance but no security for stored data.

Option D) Azure Backup protects data from loss or corruption but does not provide encryption for data at rest or in transit. Azure Monitor provides monitoring and logging but no encryption features.

Using SSE with HTTPS ensures that sensitive data is secure from unauthorized access, both when stored and during transfer. This setup aligns with compliance requirements such as GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO 27001. Additionally, integrating SSE with Azure Key Vault customer-managed keys allows organizations to implement key rotation, auditing, and centralized control, improving governance and risk management.

Enterprises often combine SSE and HTTPS with network-level security, such as private endpoints, firewalls, and virtual network service endpoints, to ensure that storage accounts are accessible only from approved networks. This combination of data encryption, secure transport, access control, and network isolation provides a comprehensive approach to securing sensitive information in Azure.

In real-world scenarios, organizations storing financial records, healthcare data, or personal information can ensure confidentiality, integrity, and regulatory compliance while maintaining high availability and operational simplicity. Proper auditing, key management, and monitoring of storage access further enhance security and reduce potential breaches.

Question 11

A company wants to deploy a multi-region web application with minimal downtime during regional outages. They need to ensure users are automatically directed to the healthiest endpoint. Which Azure service should they implement?

Answer

A) Azure Traffic Manager
B) Azure Load Balancer
C) Azure Application Gateway
D) Azure Front Door

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Azure Traffic Manager.

Azure Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic routing service that directs user requests to the most responsive and available endpoint based on health checks, performance, or geographic location. It ensures high availability across regions by automatically rerouting traffic if a regional endpoint becomes unavailable. Traffic Manager supports several routing methods:

Priority: Routes all traffic to the primary endpoint unless it fails, then fails over to a secondary endpoint.

Weighted: Distributes traffic across endpoints based on assigned weights, useful for staged rollouts.

Performance: Directs users to the endpoint with the lowest latency.

Geographic: Routes users based on their location, helping comply with data residency regulations.

Option B) Azure Load Balancer distributes traffic within a single region, ensuring even distribution across VMs or endpoints. It does not provide global traffic routing or failover between regions.

Option C) Azure Application Gateway is an application-layer (Layer 7) load balancer for HTTP/HTTPS traffic. It supports SSL termination, Web Application Firewall (WAF), and URL-based routing but does not handle cross-region traffic or failover.

Option D) Azure Front Door provides global HTTP load balancing and caching at the edge, improving web performance and resiliency. While it overlaps with Traffic Manager in some scenarios, Traffic Manager is DNS-based, giving enterprises fine-grained control over endpoint routing policies and prioritization.

By using Traffic Manager, organizations can implement geo-redundant web applications. It ensures that users are directed to the closest or healthiest region, minimizing latency and maintaining uptime. Traffic Manager can also integrate with Azure Monitor to automatically alert administrators about endpoint health or failover events.

For mission-critical web applications, combining Traffic Manager for global routing with regional Load Balancers or Application Gateway ensures both availability and performance. This architecture supports zero-downtime deployments, disaster recovery testing, and multi-region disaster resilience, meeting enterprise requirements for SLA-backed high availability and business continuity.

Question 12

A company wants to implement a hybrid cloud architecture with secure communication between on-premises servers and Azure virtual networks. Which Azure service should they use?

Answer

A) VPN Gateway
B) ExpressRoute
C) Azure Bastion
D) Azure Load Balancer

Explanation

The correct answer is B) ExpressRoute.

Azure ExpressRoute provides private, dedicated connectivity between an organization’s on-premises network and Azure. Unlike VPN connections over the public internet, ExpressRoute traffic bypasses the internet, offering predictable, low-latency, high-throughput communication. ExpressRoute is ideal for hybrid cloud architectures, where critical workloads, databases, or storage need secure and reliable access.

Key benefits of ExpressRoute include:

Private Connectivity: Ensures sensitive traffic does not traverse the public internet, reducing security risks and network variability.

High Performance: Provides bandwidth from 50 Mbps up to 100 Gbps, enabling large-scale data transfers and near real-time replication.

Redundancy and SLA: Supports dual circuits and redundancy, offering 99.95% uptime for enterprise workloads.

Integration with Azure Virtual Networks: Supports connectivity to multiple VNets, enabling hub-and-spoke architectures for hybrid deployments.

Option A) VPN Gateway encrypts traffic over the public internet. While secure, it is subject to latency and bandwidth variability, making it less reliable for performance-sensitive workloads. VPN is better for temporary connections, smaller deployments, or backup connectivity.

Option C) Azure Bastion provides secure RDP/SSH access to VMs without exposing public IP addresses. It does not provide connectivity between on-premises networks and Azure.

Option D) Azure Load Balancer distributes traffic among VMs in Azure but does not connect on-premises networks to Azure.

ExpressRoute is especially beneficial in scenarios such as:

Disaster recovery and replication: Replicating on-premises VMs to Azure for failover.

High-performance hybrid applications: Applications that require real-time interaction between on-premises systems and cloud services.

Enterprise workloads: SAP, SQL Server, or data analytics workloads with strict performance SLAs.

By combining ExpressRoute with network security policies, Network Security Groups (NSGs), and Azure Firewall, organizations can build a secure, high-performance hybrid cloud network that supports business-critical workloads, compliance, and predictable operational performance.

Question 13

A company plans to migrate a legacy on-premises application to Azure. The application requires a relational database with automatic scaling, high availability, and minimal management overhead. Which Azure service should they use?

Answer

A) Azure SQL Database
B) SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines
C) Azure Cosmos DB
D) Azure Database for MySQL

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Azure SQL Database.

Azure SQL Database is a fully managed Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) relational database offering. It provides automatic high availability, scaling, backups, and patching, significantly reducing operational overhead compared to managing SQL Server on VMs. Key features include:

Automatic Scaling: Serverless or elastic pool configurations allow automatic compute scaling based on workload demands. This optimizes cost while maintaining performance.

High Availability: Zone-redundant configurations replicate the database across multiple Availability Zones, ensuring resilience against zone failures.

Minimal Management: Microsoft manages patching, backups, monitoring, and failover. Organizations can focus on application logic rather than infrastructure maintenance.

Advanced Security and Compliance: Features include transparent data encryption, auditing, threat detection, and integration with Azure Active Directory.

Option B) SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines provides full control over the SQL Server environment but requires manual management of high availability, scaling, backups, and patching. This increases complexity and operational cost.

Option C) Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed NoSQL database, optimized for low-latency, multi-region read/write workloads, but it is not suitable for relational workloads without significant redesign.

Option D) Azure Database for MySQL is a managed MySQL service suitable for applications designed for MySQL, but if the legacy application relies on SQL Server, migrating to MySQL may require significant refactoring.

Using Azure SQL Database for migration ensures the legacy application benefits from enterprise-grade availability, elasticity, and security. It supports geo-replication, point-in-time restore, and automatic patching, which are critical for production workloads. Additionally, monitoring and performance tuning are simplified via Azure Monitor and Query Performance Insight, enabling organizations to optimize costs and resource utilization while ensuring SLA-backed reliability.

Question 14

A company wants to deploy a globally distributed application that must remain operational even if an entire Azure region fails. They also want low-latency access for users worldwide. Which Azure services should they implement?

Answer

A) Azure Front Door, Azure Traffic Manager, and Azure Cosmos DB
B) Azure Load Balancer, SQL Server on VM, and Azure CDN
C) Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets, Azure SQL Database single region, and Blob Storage
D) Azure App Service, VPN Gateway, and Azure Storage

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Azure Front Door, Azure Traffic Manager, and Azure Cosmos DB.

Azure Front Door provides global HTTP/HTTPS load balancing, caching, and edge routing, improving performance for global users by delivering content from the closest edge locations. Traffic Manager provides DNS-based failover, automatically redirecting users to the healthiest regional endpoints during outages. Cosmos DB is a multi-region, globally distributed database with low-latency reads/writes, supporting multi-master replication for simultaneous writes in different regions.

Option B) Azure Load Balancer works within regions and cannot provide global failover or multi-region latency optimization. SQL Server on a single VM lacks native multi-region high availability, and Azure CDN only caches content but does not ensure full application availability.

Option C) Using single-region SQL Database and Blob Storage does not protect against regional failures, limiting availability and potentially causing data loss.

Option D) Azure App Service alone provides scalability but does not automatically ensure multi-region failover. VPN Gateway connects networks but does not provide global routing or database replication.

By combining Front Door, Traffic Manager, and Cosmos DB, organizations achieve:

Low-latency global access via edge caching and routing.

High availability with automatic failover across regions.

Consistent and resilient data using Cosmos DB multi-region replication.

Scalable architecture that handles traffic spikes without downtime.

This architecture is ideal for mission-critical SaaS applications, e-commerce platforms, and global user-facing services where uptime and performance are non-negotiable.

Question 15

A company wants to implement role-based access control (RBAC) for multiple Azure subscriptions to ensure users have only the necessary permissions for their roles. They also want to enforce organizational policies across these subscriptions. Which combination of Azure services should they implement?

Answer

A) Azure RBAC and Azure Policy
B) Azure Active Directory and Azure Monitor
C) Azure Key Vault and Azure Backup
D) Azure Security Center and Azure Load Balancer

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Azure RBAC and Azure Policy.

Azure RBAC allows organizations to assign fine-grained permissions to users, groups, and applications. Permissions can be scoped to subscriptions, resource groups, or individual resources, following the principle of least privilege. For example, developers may only have read access to production resources, while database administrators can modify databases but not network configurations. RBAC ensures that users can perform only the actions necessary for their job function, reducing the risk of accidental or malicious changes.

Azure Policy complements RBAC by enforcing organizational rules and compliance standards across multiple subscriptions. Policies can restrict the deployment of certain resource types, enforce naming conventions, require specific tags, or mandate encryption for storage accounts. Azure Policy evaluates resources at creation and continuously, allowing administrators to remediate non-compliant resources automatically.

Option B) Azure Active Directory (AAD) manages identities and authentication but does not enforce resource-specific permissions or policy compliance by itself. Azure Monitor provides monitoring and metrics but does not control access.

Option C) Azure Key Vault secures secrets, and Azure Backup protects data. Neither service enforces role-based permissions or organizational policies at scale.

Option D) Azure Security Center monitors security posture, and Azure Load Balancer distributes traffic. Neither provides access control or policy enforcement.

By combining RBAC and Azure Policy, organizations achieve centralized governance, least-privilege access, and automated compliance. This approach allows enterprises to manage multiple subscriptions effectively, ensure regulatory compliance (such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, or GDPR), and maintain security at scale. Integrating RBAC and Policy with Azure Blueprints further simplifies subscription deployment with pre-configured governance controls, allowing standardized, repeatable, and compliant Azure environments.

Enterprises can also leverage policy initiatives to group multiple policies into a single compliance framework, providing centralized reporting and auditing. This ensures that all resources are continuously monitored for compliance, reducing risk and operational overhead while improving governance and security.

Question 16

A company wants to host a highly scalable web application in Azure that must respond to unpredictable traffic spikes. They want minimal management overhead for scaling and infrastructure. Which Azure service should they implement for the web tier?

Answer

A) Azure App Service
B) Azure Virtual Machines
C) Azure Kubernetes Service
D) Azure Functions

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Azure App Service.

Azure App Service is a fully managed Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for hosting web applications, APIs, and mobile backends. It abstracts infrastructure management, allowing developers to focus on application development rather than VM management, patching, or scaling. App Service provides:

Automatic Scaling: Apps can scale out/in based on traffic metrics such as CPU usage, HTTP requests, or custom performance metrics. Scaling can also be scheduled or event-driven, allowing organizations to handle unpredictable traffic spikes efficiently.

High Availability: App Service guarantees 99.95% uptime when deployed across multiple instances. The platform automatically handles load balancing and failover between instances.

Integrated DevOps and CI/CD: Supports staging slots, automated deployment from GitHub, Azure DevOps, or other pipelines, enabling continuous integration and delivery.

Security and Compliance: App Service integrates with Azure Active Directory, SSL/TLS, managed certificates, and firewalls, meeting enterprise security requirements.

Option B) Azure Virtual Machines require manual management of scaling, patching, and high availability. While flexible, VMs increase operational complexity and are less efficient for unpredictable workloads.

Option C) Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) supports container orchestration and auto-scaling. While powerful, AKS requires managing clusters, nodes, and container images, adding operational overhead compared to PaaS.

Option D) Azure Functions is suitable for serverless workloads and event-driven applications but may not handle full-featured web applications with persistent sessions or complex routing. It is optimized for discrete functions rather than complete web apps.

Using Azure App Service allows organizations to achieve elastic, highly available, and managed hosting for web applications. It is ideal for e-commerce sites, SaaS applications, and mobile backends. Combining App Service with Azure Front Door or Traffic Manager can further enhance global availability and performance, ensuring low latency for worldwide users.

Additionally, App Service supports diagnostic logging, monitoring, and alerts through Azure Monitor, allowing proactive management. Enterprises benefit from cost optimization by scaling dynamically and paying only for consumed resources while maintaining SLA-backed reliability.

Question 17

A company needs to ensure that its critical Azure VMs remain operational even if one Availability Zone fails. They also want automatic recovery for VM failures. Which combination of Azure features should they implement?

Answer

A) Availability Sets with Auto-Healing and VM Scale Sets
B) Single VM in an Availability Zone
C) Azure Load Balancer with Traffic Manager
D) Azure Backup with Snapshot Scheduling

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Availability Sets with Auto-Healing and VM Scale Sets.

Availability Sets distribute VMs across multiple fault domains (physical hardware) and update domains (planned maintenance schedules). This design ensures that if a single fault domain fails, not all VMs are impacted, maintaining application availability.

VM Scale Sets allow automatic scaling of VM instances based on CPU, memory, or custom metrics. This ensures that workloads maintain performance during traffic spikes while maintaining high availability.

Auto-Healing monitors VM health and automatically restarts VMs that fail due to hardware or software issues, minimizing downtime and reducing manual intervention.

Option B) Single VM in an Availability Zone provides no redundancy. A failure results in application downtime.

Option C) Azure Load Balancer distributes traffic but does not recover failed VMs or scale instances automatically.

Option D) Azure Backup protects data but does not maintain VM uptime during failures. Restoring from backup can take hours, unsuitable for mission-critical workloads.

By combining Availability Sets, Auto-Healing, and VM Scale Sets, organizations can achieve high availability, fault tolerance, and dynamic scaling. This setup ensures compliance with SLA requirements, improves resilience, and reduces operational risk. It also integrates with Azure Monitor for health alerts and scaling policies, enabling proactive management of enterprise workloads.

Question 18

A company wants to deploy a globally distributed database in Azure to serve low-latency requests to users worldwide. They also need multi-master write capability to allow users to write data simultaneously in different regions. Which Azure service should they use?

Answer

A) Azure Cosmos DB
B) Azure SQL Database
C) Azure Database for PostgreSQL
D) Azure Table Storage

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Azure Cosmos DB.

Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed, multi-model database service designed for low-latency, high-availability, and global access. Key capabilities include:

Multi-Master Writes: Supports simultaneous writes in multiple regions with automatic conflict resolution, enabling low-latency global updates without application redesign.

Global Distribution: Data can be replicated to any number of Azure regions, providing resilience and performance for users worldwide.

Low-Latency Queries: Guarantees single-digit millisecond read and write latency at the 99th percentile, ideal for real-time applications.

Consistency Models: Provides multiple consistency levels, from strong to eventual, allowing a balance between performance and data integrity.

Automatic Scaling: Cosmos DB automatically scales throughput based on workload demands, optimizing performance and cost.

Option B) Azure SQL Database is a relational database that supports geo-replication but is single-master for writes. Multi-region writes require complex replication or application-level conflict handling.

Option C) Azure Database for PostgreSQL supports read replicas but lacks native multi-master capabilities.

Option D) Azure Table Storage is a NoSQL key-value store but does not support multi-region writes or low-latency global replication.

Using Cosmos DB ensures global high availability, low latency, and fault tolerance. It is ideal for IoT telemetry, e-commerce, gaming, and SaaS applications requiring consistent user experience worldwide. When combined with Azure Front Door or Traffic Manager, user requests are routed to the nearest region, minimizing latency and ensuring rapid response times.

Question 19

A company wants to host a stateful application in Azure that requires persistent storage and high availability. Which Azure configuration is most suitable?

Answer

A) Managed disks with Availability Sets
B) Unmanaged disks with a single VM
C) Blob storage attached to VMs
D) File storage with a single VM

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Managed disks with Availability Sets.

Managed disks provide persistent, durable storage for Azure VMs. They are replicated within the Azure region to ensure data redundancy and fault tolerance. Managed disks support Standard HDD, Standard SSD, and Premium SSD, allowing organizations to balance performance and cost.

Availability Sets ensure that VMs are distributed across multiple fault domains and update domains, protecting against hardware failures or planned maintenance. This guarantees high availability for stateful applications.

Option B) Unmanaged disks require manual storage account management and offer less durability. A single VM provides no redundancy.

Option C) Blob storage is for unstructured data, not block-level persistent storage for VMs.

Option D) File storage provides shared access but not high availability for VM system disks.

By combining managed disks with Availability Sets, organizations ensure persistent, highly available infrastructure for applications with mission-critical data. This aligns with enterprise best practices for resiliency and operational continuity.

Question 20

A company plans to deploy a multi-tier application in Azure. The web tier must scale automatically, the application tier needs secure access to secrets, and the database tier must be highly available with minimal management. Which combination of Azure services should they implement?

Answer

A) Azure App Service for web tier, Azure Key Vault for application secrets, and Azure SQL Database with zone-redundant configuration for database tier
B) Azure Virtual Machines for web tier, Azure Storage for secrets, and SQL Server on VM for database tier
C) Azure Functions for web tier, Azure App Service Configuration for secrets, and Azure Cosmos DB for database tier
D) Azure Kubernetes Service for web tier, Azure Key Vault for secrets, and PostgreSQL single instance for database tier

Explanation

The correct answer is A) Azure App Service for web tier, Azure Key Vault for application secrets, and Azure SQL Database with zone-redundant configuration for database tier.

Web Tier: Azure App Service provides fully managed hosting with automatic scaling, staging slots, integrated monitoring, and high availability. Developers can focus on code without worrying about VM management or patching.

Application Tier: Azure Key Vault securely stores secrets, certificates, and API keys. By using managed identities, applications can access secrets programmatically without hardcoding credentials, improving security and compliance. Key Vault supports versioning, auditing, and policy enforcement, making it ideal for enterprise applications.

Database Tier: Azure SQL Database with zone-redundant configuration ensures high availability across Availability Zones. It automatically handles patching, backups, and failover, reducing operational overhead while maintaining SLA-backed uptime.

Option B) VMs for web tier and SQL Server on VM increase management overhead. Storage is not suitable for secrets.

Option C) Functions is suitable for serverless workloads, App Service Configuration is less secure than Key Vault, and Cosmos DB is NoSQL, requiring redesign for relational workloads.

Option D) AKS introduces container orchestration complexity, and PostgreSQL single instance lacks multi-zone high availability.

This architecture ensures scalability, security, and resilience. Using App Service, Key Vault, and zone-redundant SQL Database allows enterprises to reduce operational risk, automate scaling, and maintain global availability, making it a best-practice multi-tier Azure solution.