Practice for the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) exam with 16 exam-style practice questions, instant answer reveals, and concise explanations of every correct answer. Topics include: What is the key characteristic of serverless computing that distinguishes it from traditional infrastructure?. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
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What you will practice
- What is the key characteristic of serverless computing that distinguishes it from traditional infrastructure?
- Which of the following is the most likely scenario in which to choose Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) opti…
- Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)?
- Which tool lets you centralize your file shares in Azure Files and keep the flexibility, performance, and com…
- In which storage redundancy option does Azure give you a secondary endpoint for read-only access?
- Fill in the blank: __________ stores data offline and offers the lowest storage costs.
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. What is the key characteristic of serverless computing that distinguishes it from traditional infrastructure?
Answer: A. Automatic scaling based on demand
Serverless computing automatically scales resources up or down based on demand, charging you only for execution time. Traditional infrastructure requires manual scaling and often uses fixed pricing.
Q2. Which of the following is the most likely scenario in which to choose Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) options in cloud computing?
Answer: A. Lift-and-shift migration
Lift-and-shift migration is the most likely scenario for choosing IaaS. IaaS provides virtual machines and networking, allowing you to migrate existing on-premises workloads to the cloud with minimal application changes or redesign.
Q3. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)?
Answer: B. Managed operating system
A managed operating system is a characteristic of Platform as a Service, not IaaS. In the IaaS shared responsibility model, the cloud provider manages the physical hardware, but the customer remains fully responsible for managing the guest operating system.
Q4. Which tool lets you centralize your file shares in Azure Files and keep the flexibility, performance, and compatibility of a Windows file server?
Answer: C. Azure File Sync
Azure File Sync centralizes your file shares in Azure Files while maintaining the compatibility of a Windows file server. It caches frequently accessed files on-premises while syncing all data back to the cloud for smooth hybrid scenarios.
Q5. In which storage redundancy option does Azure give you a secondary endpoint for read-only access?
Answer: C. RA-GRS
Read-access geo-redundant storage provides a secondary endpoint for read-only access. Standard geo-redundant storage replicates to a secondary region but keeps it inactive until a failover occurs, so the read-access prefix is required for reads.
Q6. Fill in the blank: __________ stores data offline and offers the lowest storage costs.
Answer: D. Archive storage
The Archive storage tier stores data offline and offers the lowest storage costs. It is designed for long-term retention of rarely accessed data, trading lower prices for higher retrieval times and access fees compared to the hot tier.
Q7. What is the primary difference between pay-as-you-go and reserved instance pricing models in the cloud?
Answer: C. Reserved instances offer discounted rates for long-term commitments, while pay-as-you-go is billed based on usage.
Reserved instances provide discounted rates by committing to a specific resource for a one or three-year term. Pay-as-you-go operates without commitment, charging only for what you use, making it ideal for unpredictable workloads.
Q8. What is AzCopy primarily used for in Azure?
Answer: C. Copying data to and from Azure Storage efficiently.
AzCopy is a command-line utility designed for high-performance data transfer to and from Azure Storage. It optimizes moving blobs and files, whereas other tools handle deployments or identity management.
Q9. What is the primary purpose of Azure RBAC?
Answer: B. To grant users the appropriate level of access to Azure resources.
Azure Role-Based Access Control grants users precise access to Azure resources by assigning specific roles. Multi-factor authentication and network security are separate security features that operate independently of resource role assignments.
Q10. You have a virtual machine that you need to have a public endpoint accessible from the Internet. Which of the following resources do you need to have in order to achieve your goal?
Answer: B. Public IP Address
A Public IP Address is required to expose a virtual machine directly to the Internet. While an Azure Firewall or VPN Gateway handles network traffic routing and security, they do not provide the direct public endpoint allocation needed for inbound connectivity.
Q11. Which feature of Azure Storage makes it durable?
Answer: A. Redundancy
Redundancy in Azure Storage ensures data is replicated across multiple nodes or data centers to provide high durability. This replication protects against data loss during hardware failures, whereas scalability only handles changing workloads.
Q12. What type of scaling typically involves moving from a smaller machine to a larger (more powerful) machine?
Answer: C. Vertical scaling
Vertical scaling, or scaling up, increases the capacity of a single machine by adding resources like CPU or memory. Horizontal scaling, in contrast, adds more instances to handle increased load.
Q13. How does data transfer between Azure regions impact costs?
Answer: C. It's charged based on the amount of data transferred and the distance
Data transfer between Azure regions is metered based on the amount of data leaving a region and its destination. Inbound data is free, but outbound inter-region traffic incurs bandwidth charges.
Q14. A small startup with limited IT resources and a need for flexible scalability would be best suited for which cloud model?
Answer: A. Public Cloud
The public cloud provides cost-effective, on-demand resources ideal for startups lacking capital for hardware. A private cloud requires significant infrastructure investment, contradicting the limited IT resources described.
Q15. What is the minimum number of Availability Zones required to create a highly available application in Azure?
Answer: B. 2
A minimum of two Availability Zones is required to build a highly available architecture. Distributing virtual machines across at least two zones ensures your application remains online if a single datacenter fails.
Q16. What is the primary benefit of using Microsoft Entra Conditional Access?
Answer: A. Enhanced security by limiting access to authorized users and devices.
Microsoft Entra Conditional Access enhances security by enforcing access policies based on user signals and device state. While it can simplify sign-ins, its main purpose is restricting access to authorized users under specific conditions.
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