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Azure AZ-204 study materials
Azure AZ-204 study resources

Azure AZ-204 practice questions

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Question 1Develop Azure compute solutions

You need to configure autoscale rules on an App Service plan. Which is the lowest pricing tier that supports this?

  1. Free
  2. Standard Correct answer.
  3. Basic
  4. Shared

Explanation

Autoscale is available only on Standard and higher App Service plan tiers. Free, Shared and Basic tiers provide at most a small fixed manual instance count and cannot use rule-based scaling.

Question 2Develop Azure compute solutions

By default, what is the maximum execution time for a single function invocation in the Consumption plan?

  1. 60 minutes
  2. 30 seconds
  3. 5 minutes Correct answer.
  4. 1 minute

Explanation

The Consumption plan defaults functionTimeout to 5 minutes and permits at most 10 minutes, after which the host terminates the invocation. Longer values require a different hosting plan.

Question 3Develop Azure compute solutions

A developer needs a function that runs automatically every night at 02:00. Which trigger type should the function use?

  1. Blob trigger
  2. Queue trigger
  3. HTTP trigger
  4. Timer trigger Correct answer.

Explanation

The timer trigger invokes a function on a schedule expressed as a CRON expression or timespan, which suits a fixed nightly run. The other triggers react to inbound requests or storage events rather than to a clock.

Question 4Develop Azure compute solutions

You need to run a single container from a public image with no orchestration layer, and you want billing based on the seconds the container runs. Which Azure service should you use?

  1. Azure Container Apps
  2. Azure Kubernetes Service
  3. Azure Container Instances Correct answer.
  4. Azure App Service

Explanation

Azure Container Instances runs containers directly on allocated compute without a cluster or orchestrator and bills per second for consumed resources. AKS and Container Apps both add an orchestration layer, and App Service is a web hosting platform.

Question 5Develop Azure compute solutions

In a JavaScript or Python Azure Functions project, which file declares a function's trigger, bindings and entry point?

  1. host.json
  2. local.settings.json
  3. appsettings.json
  4. function.json Correct answer.

Explanation

Each function folder contains a function.json that defines its trigger, its bindings and the entry point to invoke. Runtime-wide settings live in host.json and local development values live in local.settings.json.

Question 6Develop Azure compute solutions

You want to run a staging copy of a web app that runs on the same App Service plan as the production app. Which feature provides this?

  1. Traffic Manager profile
  2. Deployment slot Correct answer.
  3. App Service Environment
  4. Azure Front Door

Explanation

Deployment slots are live apps inside the same App Service plan, so a staging slot draws capacity from the plan while keeping its own hostname and configuration. Front Door and Traffic Manager only route traffic, and an App Service Environment is a dedicated hosting deployment.

Question 7Develop Azure compute solutions

A web app hosts a continuously running WebJob, but the job is being stopped after periods of inactivity. Which App Service setting should you enable?

  1. Auto Heal
  2. Always On Correct answer.
  3. Health check
  4. ARR affinity

Explanation

Always On keeps the app loaded by sending periodic pings, so the worker is not unloaded after the default idle period. Without it, continuous WebJobs can stop whenever the site goes idle.

Question 8Develop Azure compute solutions

You plan to deploy a web app that runs a custom Docker image. Which kind of App Service plan must the app use?

  1. Windows
  2. Either operating system, because custom containers run identically on both
  3. Linux Correct answer.
  4. Windows with a .NET 8 runtime stack

Explanation

Deploying a custom container image to App Service requires a Linux App Service plan. Windows plans host code-based runtime stacks rather than arbitrary container images.

Question 9Develop Azure compute solutions

An app setting is marked as a deployment slot setting. What happens to it during a swap between the staging and production slots?

  1. It is deleted from both slots once the swap completes.
  2. It is swapped along with the other configuration values.
  3. It stays with its original slot and is not swapped. Correct answer.
  4. It is copied to both slots so the values become identical.

Explanation

Slot settings are sticky: they belong to the slot rather than to the app, so production-only values stay put while the rest of the configuration travels with the app. Only settings not marked as slot settings are swapped.

Question 10Develop Azure compute solutions

Which Azure Functions hosting option provides pre-warmed worker instances so that executions do not experience cold start?

  1. App Service plan
  2. Premium plan Correct answer.
  3. Functions running in a Kubernetes cluster
  4. Consumption plan

Explanation

The Premium plan keeps a configurable buffer of pre-warmed instances ready, so new executions do not wait for a worker to start. The Consumption plan scales to zero when idle and therefore incurs cold starts.

Question 11Develop Azure compute solutions

A durable orchestration must run step one, pass its output to step two, and then pass that output to step three. Which Durable Functions pattern is this?

  1. Monitoring
  2. Function chaining Correct answer.
  3. Fan-out/fan-in
  4. Async HTTP APIs

Explanation

Function chaining executes a sequence of activity functions in order, feeding each result into the next step. Fan-out/fan-in instead runs activities in parallel and aggregates their results afterwards.

Question 12Develop Azure compute solutions

A Function app must read a secret from Key Vault without storing any credential in its configuration. What should you do?

  1. Use a Key Vault reference in an app setting backed by a managed identity. Correct answer.
  2. Store the secret in local.settings.json and include the file in the deployment package.
  3. Enable App Service authentication and read the secret from the incoming request headers.
  4. Declare the secret in function.json as a binding expression.

Explanation

An app setting can hold a Key Vault reference that the platform resolves at runtime through the app's managed identity, so no secret is stored in configuration. The identity needs permission to read the secret in the vault.

Question 13Develop Azure compute solutions

In Azure Container Apps, how do you send a percentage of requests to an older version of the app while a new version is validated?

  1. Pin the old version to a separate App Service plan.
  2. Create a deployment slot for each version.
  3. Assign each version a deployment label and use Front Door.
  4. Use multiple revisions with weighted traffic splitting. Correct answer.

Explanation

Container Apps keeps immutable revisions and can route a percentage of traffic to each active revision, which allows a canary release while the previous revision still serves requests.

Question 14Develop Azure compute solutions

You want every deployment to the staging slot to go live in production automatically once the slot is warmed up. Which feature should you configure?

  1. Auto swap Correct answer.
  2. Always On
  3. Deployment Center build provider
  4. Continuous deployment

Explanation

Auto swap performs a swap into the target slot automatically whenever a deployment updates the source slot. It is a slot-level setting and requires a plan tier that supports slots.

Question 15Develop Azure compute solutions

A Linux web app is deployed with the app setting WEBSITE_RUN_FROM_PACKAGE set to 1. What is the result?

  1. The app is rebuilt at every cold start using a custom build script.
  2. The package is copied to all slots at once during deployment.
  3. The app runs from the mounted package and wwwroot becomes read-only. Correct answer.
  4. The app is deployed to the staging slot automatically after each push.

Explanation

Running from a package mounts the archive as the site content, so the app starts without extracting files into wwwroot, which becomes read-only. This usually improves cold-start time and makes each deployment atomic.

Question 16Develop Azure compute solutions

Which autoscale setting prevents an App Service plan from repeatedly scaling out and back in over a short period?

  1. The number of instances added per scale action
  2. The minimum instance count
  3. The cool-down period on the scale rule Correct answer.
  4. The maximum instance count

Explanation

Each scale rule has a cool-down period, five minutes by default, after a scale action during which opposite-direction scaling is suppressed. This damps oscillation caused by noisy or spiky metrics.

Question 17Develop Azure compute solutions

How does the Consumption plan scale a queue-triggered function?

  1. Scaling is driven only by CPU usage of the underlying worker.
  2. The scale controller scales workers based on queue length and idles at zero. Correct answer.
  3. Scale-out requires you to define autoscale rules for the function app.
  4. Instances are pre-warmed in advance so at least one worker is always running.

Explanation

The Functions scale controller observes event-source metrics such as queue length and adds or removes workers accordingly, dropping to zero when there is no work. Consumption plan function apps cannot use App Service autoscale rules.

Question 18Develop Azure compute solutions

In Durable Functions, which binding does the client (starter) function use to begin an orchestration and obtain its instance ID?

  1. orchestrationClient Correct answer.
  2. activityTrigger
  3. orchestrationTrigger
  4. timerTrigger

Explanation

The client function uses the orchestrationClient binding, exposed as the DurableClient attribute in .NET, to start orchestrations, query status and raise events. Orchestrator and activity functions use different triggers.

Question 19Develop Azure compute solutions

A durable orchestrator must loop indefinitely without letting its history grow unbounded. Which API should it call at the end of each iteration?

  1. CreateTimer
  2. WaitForExternalEvent
  3. CallActivityAsync
  4. ContinueAsNew Correct answer.

Explanation

ContinueAsNew restarts the orchestrator with a fresh history while preserving the instance ID, which keeps long-running or infinite loops from accumulating unbounded history.

Question 20Develop Azure compute solutions

Which statement about scaling in Azure Container Apps is correct?

  1. Scale rules are defined per revision and can never exceed a hard limit of three replicas.
  2. Replicas vary between the configured minimum and maximum using KEDA scale rules. Correct answer.
  3. Only CPU and memory metrics can be used as scale triggers.
  4. A container app always runs exactly one replica unless the premium plan is enabled.

Explanation

Container Apps uses KEDA scalers as scale rules and keeps the replica count within the minimum and maximum you configure, including scaling to zero when that is allowed. Many scaler types beyond CPU and memory are supported.

Question 21Develop Azure compute solutions

Which Azure CLI command creates a new deployment slot for an existing web app?

  1. az appservice plan create --name MyPlan --slot staging
  2. az webapp create --name MyApp --slot staging
  3. az webapp config slot add --slot staging
  4. az webapp deployment slot create --slot staging Correct answer.

Explanation

Deployment slots are created with az webapp deployment slot create, which takes the web app name, resource group and slot name. Slot creation requires a Standard or higher plan.

Question 22Develop Azure compute solutions

You must restrict a web app so that only requests from a specific corporate subnet are accepted. Which feature should you use?

  1. Access restrictions Correct answer.
  2. Managed identity
  3. App Service authentication
  4. CORS

Explanation

Access restrictions define allow and deny rules based on source IP addresses, service tags or virtual network rules, filtering traffic by where the request originates. Authentication instead checks who the caller is.

Question 23Develop Azure compute solutions

Which resource type in an Azure Resource Manager template defines a Function app or web app?

  1. Microsoft.Web/sites Correct answer.
  2. Microsoft.Compute/webApps
  3. Microsoft.Functions/apps
  4. Microsoft.Web/functionApps

Explanation

Web apps, function apps and logic apps are all Microsoft.Web/sites resources, and the kind property such as 'functionapp' distinguishes them. The resource type itself stays the same across these variants.

Question 24Develop Azure compute solutions

You need to validate a staged app under the production slot's configuration before the swap is finalized. What should you do?

  1. Start a swap with preview, validate, then complete the swap. Correct answer.
  2. Run a standard swap and swap back if validation fails.
  3. Stop the production slot before performing the swap.
  4. Enable auto swap on the staging slot.

Explanation

Swap with preview is a multi-phase swap: the target slot's settings are applied to the source slot so the app can be tested exactly as it will run in production, and the swap can then be completed or cancelled.

Question 25Develop Azure compute solutions

An orchestrator function must be deterministic. Which operation should be moved to an activity function instead of performed in the orchestrator?

  1. Calling an external HTTP endpoint with HttpClient Correct answer.
  2. Scheduling work with context.CallActivityAsync
  3. Returning a value as the orchestration result
  4. Creating a durable timer with context.CreateTimer

Explanation

Orchestrator code is replayed whenever the orchestration resumes, so direct I/O such as HTTP calls, random values or current-time reads would break determinism. Such work belongs in activity functions, whose results are recorded in the history.

Question 26Develop Azure compute solutions

An app currently runs on a Basic (B1) App Service plan. You need to add deployment slots to it. Which is the lowest-cost plan tier that supports deployment slots?

  1. Standard (S1) Correct answer.
  2. Free (F1)
  3. Premium v3 (P0v3)
  4. Basic (B1)

Explanation

Deployment slots are supported on the Standard, Premium, and Isolated tiers; Free, Shared, and Basic do not support them. Because the app is already on Basic, moving to Standard is the smallest tier change that adds slot support.

Question 27Develop Azure compute solutions

You deploy a single container to Azure Container Instances without specifying a restart policy. The container's process exits with code 0. What happens next?

  1. It restarts the container Correct answer.
  2. The container is marked Succeeded and stays stopped
  3. It does not restart the container
  4. The container group is deleted

Explanation

A container group in Azure Container Instances defaults to the Always restart policy, so the container is restarted regardless of its exit code. Choose OnFailure or Never explicitly if you want the process to stop after a successful run.

Question 28Develop Azure compute solutions

What is the default per-execution timeout for a function app hosted on the Consumption plan?

  1. 10 minutes
  2. 5 minutes Correct answer.
  3. 30 seconds
  4. 60 minutes

Explanation

The functionTimeout value defaults to 5 minutes on the Consumption plan and can be raised to at most 10 minutes. Workloads that need to run longer must use the Premium or Dedicated hosting plans.

Question 29Develop Azure compute solutions

Which Azure Container Registry tier supports geo-replicating a registry to multiple Azure regions?

  1. Standard
  2. Basic
  3. Classic
  4. Premium Correct answer.

Explanation

Geo-replication, private link, and customer-managed keys are features of the Premium registry tier. Basic and Standard registries exist in a single region and cannot be replicated.

Question 30Develop Azure compute solutions

A web app must call a database that is reachable only from inside a virtual network, and the calls must originate from a subnet delegated to App Service. Which feature provides this?

  1. Access restrictions
  2. Hybrid Connections
  3. VNet integration Correct answer.
  4. Private endpoint

Explanation

Regional VNet integration routes the app's outbound traffic through a delegated subnet in a virtual network, so the database sees a private source address. Access restrictions and private endpoints govern inbound traffic to the app instead.

Question 31Develop Azure compute solutions

Which WebJob type starts in response to a schedule or a file-system change and then exits?

  1. Triggered Correct answer.
  2. On-demand
  3. Queued
  4. Continuous

Explanation

Triggered WebJobs are launched by a trigger such as a CRON schedule or a file watcher, run their work, and finish. Continuous WebJobs start when the app starts and keep running in a loop.

Question 32Develop Azure compute solutions

In an Azure Resource Manager template, which resource element ensures a web app is created only after the App Service plan it uses?

  1. copy
  2. condition
  3. dependsOn Correct answer.
  4. outputs

Explanation

The dependsOn element declares an explicit ordering between resources so the platform creates the referenced resource first. Without it, ARM may attempt to create the site before the plan exists.

Question 33Develop Azure compute solutions

Which Durable Functions function type contains the workflow logic that coordinates activity functions?

  1. Orchestrator Correct answer.
  2. Activity
  3. Client
  4. Entity

Explanation

The orchestrator function defines the workflow: it calls activities, awaits their results, and manages timers and sub-orchestrations. Activities perform the actual work, while the client function starts and queries orchestrations.

Question 34Develop Azure compute solutions

A C# function writes an unknown number of messages to a storage queue during a single execution. Which type should the queue output binding parameter use?

  1. CloudQueue
  2. QueueClient
  3. ICollector<T> Correct answer.
  4. IEnumerable<T>

Explanation

ICollector<T> and IAsyncCollector<T> let a function add any number of messages to the bound output during one invocation. A single out parameter or return value can only emit one message per execution.

Question 35Develop Azure compute solutions

An orchestrator must start three activity functions in parallel and continue only after all of them finish. Which approach should it use?

  1. Raise an external event for each activity
  2. Call ContinueAsNew after each activity
  3. Await each activity call in a sequential loop
  4. Await Task.WhenAll on the activity tasks Correct answer.

Explanation

Starting the activity tasks first and then awaiting Task.WhenAll produces the fan-out/fan-in pattern, in which all activities run concurrently and the orchestrator resumes once every task completes. Sequential awaits would serialize the work.

Question 36Develop Azure compute solutions

Several revisions of a Container App must stay active at the same time so traffic can be divided among them. Which revision mode should you configure?

  1. Multiple Correct answer.
  2. Blue-green
  3. Single
  4. Rolling

Explanation

Multiple revision mode keeps every revision active, which allows weighted traffic allocation and easy rollback. Single mode deactivates older revisions as soon as a new one is provisioned.

Question 37Develop Azure compute solutions

You need to build an image from a Dockerfile and push it into Azure Container Registry without running Docker on your machine. Which command should you use?

  1. az acr import
  2. az acr credential renew
  3. az acr login
  4. az acr build Correct answer.

Explanation

az acr build submits the build context to ACR Tasks, which builds the image in Azure and pushes it to the registry. No local container runtime is involved.

Question 38Develop Azure compute solutions

After enabling VNet integration on a web app, some outbound calls to public endpoints still leave from the app's public address. Which app setting forces all outbound traffic through the virtual network?

  1. WEBSITES_PORT
  2. WEBSITE_VNET_ROUTE_ALL Correct answer.
  3. WEBSITE_HTTPLOGGING_RETENTION_DAYS
  4. WEBSITE_RUN_FROM_PACKAGE

Explanation

Setting WEBSITE_VNET_ROUTE_ALL to 1 routes all outbound traffic, including calls to public addresses, through the integrated virtual network. Without it, only traffic destined for RFC1918 ranges follows the VNet.

Question 39Develop Azure compute solutions

Which property of a storage queue trigger binding controls how many messages a function instance processes in a single batch?

  1. visibilityTimeout
  2. batchSize Correct answer.
  3. maxDequeueCount
  4. connection

Explanation

The batchSize property is the maximum number of queue messages delivered to one invocation of the function. maxDequeueCount governs retries and visibilityTimeout controls how long a message stays invisible.

Question 40Develop Azure compute solutions

A container group in Azure Container Instances includes two containers. Which statement about the group is correct?

  1. Containers must reference the same container image
  2. They share a lifecycle and network namespace Correct answer.
  3. Each container has a dedicated public IP address
  4. Each container is billed separately per second

Explanation

Containers in an ACI container group are co-scheduled on the same host, share a network namespace and lifecycle, and can reach each other over localhost. A single public IP address and port set are assigned to the group as a whole.

Question 41Develop Azure compute solutions

Which CRON expression schedules a timer-triggered function to run every 15 minutes?

  1. 0 15 * * * *
  2. 0 0/15 * * *
  3. */15 * * * * *
  4. 0 */15 * * * * Correct answer.

Explanation

Timer triggers use a six-field CRON expression in the order second, minute, hour, day, month, day-of-week. "0 */15 * * * *" fires at second 0 of minutes 0, 15, 30, and 45 of every hour.

Question 42Develop Azure compute solutions

Which App Service option provides an isolated environment deployed into a subnet of your own virtual network?

  1. Deployment slot
  2. App Service Environment Correct answer.
  3. Premium v3 plan
  4. Private endpoint

Explanation

An App Service Environment is a fully isolated, single-tenant deployment of App Service that is injected into a subnet you control. Premium v3 plans are multi-tenant, and private endpoints only expose an app on a private IP for inbound traffic.

Question 43Develop Azure compute solutions

An orchestrator function must start another orchestrator function and wait for its result. Which method should it call?

  1. CallSubOrchestratorAsync Correct answer.
  2. StartNewAsync
  3. CallActivityAsync
  4. RaiseEventAsync

Explanation

CallSubOrchestratorAsync starts a child orchestration from inside an orchestrator and returns a task whose result is the sub-orchestration's output. This is the supported way to compose workflows and to keep a single instance history manageable.

Question 44Develop Azure compute solutions

An orchestrator must pause for 30 minutes without holding a worker thread or accruing compute charges during the wait. Which API should it use?

  1. context.CreateTimer Correct answer.
  2. Thread.Sleep
  3. A timer-triggered function
  4. Task.Delay

Explanation

Durable timers created with CreateTimer record the delay in orchestration history, and the orchestrator unloads while waiting. It is replayed and resumes automatically when the timer fires.

Question 45Develop Azure compute solutions

Where is the functionTimeout value for a function app configured?

  1. host.json Correct answer.
  2. The App Service plan's scaling settings
  3. function.json
  4. local.settings.json

Explanation

host.json holds runtime-wide configuration, including the functionTimeout value that applies to every function in the app. Per-function binding details such as triggers and routes live in function.json or in code attributes.

Question 46Develop Azure compute solutions

An orchestrator must wait until an external system submits an approval message before continuing. Which method should the orchestrator call?

  1. RaiseEventAsync
  2. CreateTimer
  3. CallActivityAsync
  4. WaitForExternalEvent Correct answer.

Explanation

WaitForExternalEvent suspends the orchestrator until a named event arrives from outside, and it can be combined with a durable timer for a timeout. The external system delivers the notification through the client's RaiseEventAsync call.

Question 47Develop Azure compute solutions

A function app hosted on the Consumption plan must reach a database through a private IP address inside a virtual network. What should you do?

  1. Add an inbound access restriction
  2. Configure a private endpoint on the function app
  3. Enable VNet integration on the Consumption plan
  4. Move to a Premium or App Service plan Correct answer.

Explanation

VNet integration for outbound connectivity is not available on the Consumption plan; it requires the Premium plan or a Dedicated (App Service) plan. After moving, you enable regional VNet integration and the app can reach private addresses.

Question 48Develop Azure compute solutions

A custom Linux container in App Service returns 502 errors because App Service is probing the wrong port. Which app setting should you configure?

  1. WEBSITES_PORT Correct answer.
  2. DOCKER_CUSTOM_IMAGE_NAME
  3. WEBSITE_LOAD_CERTIFICATES
  4. WEBSITES_ENABLE_APP_SERVICE_STORAGE

Explanation

WEBSITES_PORT tells App Service which port the container listens on, so the platform can route traffic and health checks correctly. Without it, App Service assumes a default port and requests fail when the container listens elsewhere.

Question 49Develop Azure compute solutions

An ARM template must create five web apps that differ only by name. Which template construct should you use to avoid repeating the resource definition?

  1. Five separate resource blocks
  2. An output element
  3. A copy loop on the resource Correct answer.
  4. A condition element

Explanation

The copy element repeats a resource declaration a specified number of times, with an index that can be used to build each resource name. One parameterized definition replaces five duplicated ones and keeps them consistent.

Question 50Develop Azure compute solutions

A Container App must scale based on the number of messages waiting in an Azure Service Bus queue. Which kind of scale rule should you add?

  1. A custom scale rule
  2. An azure-servicebus KEDA scaler rule Correct answer.
  3. An HTTP scale rule
  4. A CPU scale rule

Explanation

Container Apps scale rules use KEDA scalers and metadata, and the azure-servicebus scaler can read queue length or subscription counts to drive replica count. CPU and HTTP rules react to resource usage or concurrent requests instead.