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Azure AZ-900 practice questions

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Question 1Describe cloud concepts

Which statement best describes cloud computing?

  1. Buying physical servers and installing them in your own datacenter
  2. Installing virtualization software on desktop computers for testing
  3. Renting computing services over the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing Correct answer.
  4. Running applications on hardware that your organization owns and operates

Explanation

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services such as compute, storage, networking, and databases over the internet, typically billed on a pay-as-you-go basis. The organization consumes a provider's capacity instead of purchasing and maintaining hardware itself.

Question 2Describe cloud concepts

An organization is billed monthly only for the compute and storage it actually uses. Which cloud characteristic does this describe?

  1. A consumption-based model Correct answer.
  2. A capital expenditure model
  3. A reserved-capacity model
  4. A fixed-cost contract

Explanation

The consumption-based model charges for resources actually used, much like a utility meter. Nothing is purchased up front, and the bill varies with usage.

Question 3Describe cloud concepts

Under the shared responsibility model for a SaaS application, which element always remains the customer's responsibility?

  1. User accounts and their data Correct answer.
  2. The operating system that hosts the application
  3. The physical security of the datacenter
  4. The underlying core network fabric

Explanation

With SaaS the provider runs the application, the operating system, and the infrastructure beneath it. The customer always retains responsibility for its own data, accounts, and access management.

Question 4Describe cloud concepts

Which deployment model delivers services over the internet from infrastructure owned by a third-party provider and shared with other organizations?

  1. Community cloud
  2. Private cloud
  3. Public cloud Correct answer.
  4. Hybrid cloud

Explanation

A public cloud is owned and operated by a provider, and its resources are shared among many customers with isolation between tenants. Access is over the internet.

Question 5Describe cloud concepts

Adding more CPU and memory to an existing virtual machine is an example of which approach?

  1. High availability
  2. Vertical scaling Correct answer.
  3. Disaster recovery
  4. Horizontal scaling

Explanation

Vertical scaling, also called scaling up, increases the size or power of an existing resource. Horizontal scaling instead adds more resource instances.

Question 6Describe cloud concepts

Which cloud benefit describes a system's ability to recover from failures and continue functioning?

  1. Elasticity
  2. Agility
  3. Reliability Correct answer.
  4. Scalability

Explanation

Reliability is the ability of a system to recover from failures and keep working. Cloud platforms support it through redundancy and distributed design.

Question 7Describe cloud concepts

Buying and maintaining your own server hardware is an example of which type of cost?

  1. Capital expenditure Correct answer.
  2. Variable cost
  3. Operational expenditure
  4. Consumption-based cost

Explanation

Capital expenditure is an up-front investment in physical assets such as servers and datacenter space. Operational expenditure covers ongoing day-to-day running costs instead.

Question 8Describe cloud concepts

Which cloud service type gives the customer the greatest control over the operating system and installed software?

  1. Platform as a service (PaaS) with a managed runtime
  2. Software as a service (SaaS) with a provider-managed application
  3. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) Correct answer.
  4. Serverless computing with event-driven functions

Explanation

With IaaS the provider manages the physical infrastructure and the hypervisor, while the customer manages the operating system, middleware, and applications.

Question 9Describe cloud concepts

Which cloud service type provides a managed environment where the customer deploys code but does not manage the operating system or runtime?

  1. On-premises hosting
  2. Software as a service (SaaS)
  3. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
  4. Platform as a service (PaaS) Correct answer.

Explanation

PaaS supplies a managed platform that includes the operating system and runtime, so developers focus on code and data. IaaS, by contrast, leaves the operating system to the customer.

Question 10Describe cloud concepts

A company keeps regulated records on its own servers but runs its public website in Azure. Which deployment model does this represent?

  1. Community cloud
  2. Private cloud
  3. Hybrid cloud Correct answer.
  4. Public cloud

Explanation

A hybrid cloud combines an on-premises or private environment with public cloud services so workloads run where they best fit. Here the records stay on-premises while the website runs in the public cloud.

Question 11Describe cloud concepts

Which cloud benefit explains why large providers can offer lower per-unit prices than most organizations can achieve on their own?

  1. Elastic scaling of resources
  2. High availability during outages
  3. Economies of scale Correct answer.
  4. Global reach across many regions

Explanation

Economies of scale mean that as a provider buys and operates in very large volumes, its cost per unit falls. Some of those savings can be passed on to customers.

Question 12Describe cloud concepts

An online store automatically adds virtual machines during a flash sale and removes them afterwards. Which cloud characteristic does this demonstrate?

  1. Elasticity Correct answer.
  2. Predictability
  3. Disaster recovery
  4. Governance

Explanation

Elasticity is the ability to add or remove resources automatically as demand rises and falls. Manually resizing fixed capacity would not track demand so closely.

Question 13Describe cloud concepts

Which benefit describes the ability to deploy and configure resources rapidly as requirements change?

  1. Agility Correct answer.
  2. Durability
  3. Capacity planning
  4. Latency

Explanation

Agility is the speed with which an organization can provision resources and respond to change. It lets teams experiment and deliver without long hardware lead times.

Question 14Describe cloud concepts

Which cloud benefit lets an organization forecast both the performance and the cost of a workload before deploying it?

  1. Predictability Correct answer.
  2. Geo-distribution
  3. Fault tolerance
  4. Elasticity

Explanation

Predictability covers performance predictability, supported by autoscaling and load balancing, and cost predictability, supported by tracking and forecasting spend.

Question 15Describe cloud concepts

A company wants to launch its service in a new country without building datacenters there. Which cloud benefit applies?

  1. Global reach Correct answer.
  2. Economies of scale
  3. High availability
  4. Predictability

Explanation

Global reach lets an organization deploy into provider regions worldwide and serve users nearby without owning local facilities. This reduces latency for those users and avoids construction.

Question 16Describe cloud concepts

How does the cloud consumption model change capacity planning?

  1. Capacity can be adjusted to match actual demand Correct answer.
  2. Capacity is fixed at the time of sign-up
  3. Capacity is limited by the customer's own hardware
  4. Capacity must be purchased years in advance

Explanation

Because resources are provisioned on demand, capacity can be scaled up or down as demand changes instead of being bought for peak load ahead of time. This reduces idle capacity and the risk of over- or under-provisioning.

Question 17Describe cloud concepts

Which factor most often lowers an organization's total cost of ownership after moving workloads to the cloud?

  1. More staff hired to operate the physical servers
  2. Longer warranty periods offered by server vendors
  3. The provider absorbing hardware refresh and staffing costs Correct answer.
  4. A larger on-premises datacenter with more efficient cooling

Explanation

In the cloud the provider owns the hardware lifecycle, the facilities, and much of the operations staff, so the customer avoids those costs. The customer pays for consumed services instead.

Question 18Describe cloud concepts

Which cloud capability helps an organization enforce naming standards and restrict where resources may be deployed across many subscriptions?

  1. Economies of scale
  2. High availability
  3. Governance policies Correct answer.
  4. Elasticity

Explanation

Cloud governance features such as policies, templates, and role assignments let administrators enforce standards and restrictions consistently at scale.

Question 19Describe cloud concepts

Which cloud benefit is shown when resources can be managed through a web portal, a command-line tool, and APIs?

  1. Manageability Correct answer.
  2. Global reach
  3. Scalability
  4. Predictability

Explanation

Manageability refers to how easily resources can be deployed, monitored, and controlled, including through portals, command-line tools, APIs, and templates.

Question 20Describe cloud concepts

Which statement best describes a private cloud?

  1. It is offered to any user over the public internet
  2. It is shared by unrelated organizations with similar needs
  3. It is owned and operated by a third-party provider for many tenants
  4. It is used by a single organization and offers greater control Correct answer.

Explanation

A private cloud is provisioned for use by a single organization, which gives it greater control over security, compliance, and configuration. It may be hosted on-premises or by a third party, but the resources are not shared with other tenants.

Question 21Describe cloud concepts

A team deploys virtual machines by using an IaaS offering. Which pair of responsibilities belongs to the customer?

  1. Datacenter access control and disk disposal
  2. Hypervisor patching and physical host maintenance
  3. Physical network and host firmware updates
  4. Guest OS patching and traffic filtering Correct answer.

Explanation

In IaaS the provider covers the physical hosts, the network, and the hypervisor, while the customer manages everything from the guest operating system upward, including its configuration and traffic controls.

Question 22Describe cloud concepts

Which statement correctly distinguishes high availability from disaster recovery?

  1. High availability applies only to network links; disaster recovery applies only to storage systems
  2. High availability covers only data backups, while disaster recovery covers running applications
  3. High availability requires multiple regions; disaster recovery operates within a single datacenter
  4. High availability masks local failures; disaster recovery restores after major events Correct answer.

Explanation

High availability keeps a service running through redundancy that masks small, localized failures. Disaster recovery is about restoring service and data after a large-scale event such as a regional outage.

Question 23Describe cloud concepts

Which statement accurately describes a serverless compute offering?

  1. Code runs only on servers located on the customer's premises
  2. Virtual machines are pre-allocated and billed whether or not code runs
  3. The provider scales and manages servers, and billing reflects execution Correct answer.
  4. The customer must patch the underlying operating system

Explanation

Serverless computing abstracts the servers entirely: the provider provisions and scales capacity, and the customer is billed according to executions or consumption rather than reserved machines.

Question 24Describe cloud concepts

Which change most directly reduces an organization's capital expenditure when it adopts cloud services?

  1. Purchasing additional hardware and hiring datacenter staff
  2. Moving to a fixed-price contract with a colocation provider
  3. Keeping existing servers and adding cloud services alongside
  4. Eliminating server purchases and paying only for consumed services Correct answer.

Explanation

Capital expenditure is the up-front purchase of long-lived assets. The cloud consumption model replaces that with ongoing operational spending, so the organization stops buying servers.

Question 25Describe cloud concepts

An application must remain available even if an entire geographic region becomes unavailable. Which approach addresses this requirement?

  1. Deploying the application to multiple regions Correct answer.
  2. Enabling automatic scaling during peak usage hours
  3. Adding more instances behind a load balancer in one region
  4. Increasing the size of the virtual machines in one region

Explanation

Surviving the loss of a whole region requires the workload to run in at least one other region, with traffic able to fail over. Scaling within a single region cannot protect against a regional outage.

Question 26Describe cloud concepts

Which statement best defines cloud computing?

  1. Installing virtualization software on a single on-premises host
  2. Leasing a fixed number of physical servers for a multi-year term
  3. Running applications only on hardware that the organization owns
  4. Delivering computing services over the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing Correct answer.

Explanation

Cloud computing delivers compute, storage, networking, and other services over the internet on a consumption basis, removing the need to own physical infrastructure. The other options describe on-premises, fixed-term hosting, or a supporting technology rather than the cloud delivery model.

Question 27Describe cloud concepts

A company uses services from a third-party provider over the public internet. The provider owns the infrastructure and shares it among many customers. Which cloud deployment model is this?

  1. Public cloud Correct answer.
  2. Private cloud
  3. Hybrid cloud
  4. Community cloud

Explanation

A public cloud is owned and operated by a third-party provider and is available to many customers over the internet. Private cloud is dedicated to one organization, hybrid combines private and public, and community cloud is shared by a specific group.

Question 28Describe cloud concepts

Which cloud deployment model combines an organization's on-premises infrastructure with public cloud services?

  1. Hybrid cloud Correct answer.
  2. Private cloud
  3. Community cloud
  4. Public cloud

Explanation

A hybrid cloud connects an organization's private or on-premises environment with public cloud services so workloads can run in either place. Public cloud is provider-only, private cloud is dedicated, and community cloud serves a defined group.

Question 29Describe cloud concepts

Which term describes paying only for the cloud resources that you consume?

  1. Capital expenditure
  2. Perpetual licensing
  3. Fixed-rate billing
  4. Consumption-based model Correct answer.

Explanation

The consumption-based model charges based on the resources used, such as compute hours or storage volume. Capital expenditure and perpetual licensing involve upfront purchases, while fixed-rate billing does not vary with usage.

Question 30Describe cloud concepts

Which service is an example of Software as a Service (SaaS)?

  1. Azure virtual machines
  2. Azure SQL Managed Instance
  3. Azure App Service
  4. Microsoft 365 Correct answer.

Explanation

SaaS delivers a complete application that the provider manages and customers use, such as Microsoft 365. Virtual machines are IaaS, while App Service and Azure SQL Managed Instance are PaaS offerings.

Question 31Describe cloud concepts

In every cloud service model, which responsibility always belongs to the cloud provider?

  1. Patching the guest operating system
  2. Physical security of datacenters Correct answer.
  3. Configuring application firewall rules
  4. Classifying business data

Explanation

Physical security of datacenters, hosts, and the underlying network is always the provider's responsibility. Guest operating system patching can belong to the customer in IaaS, while application rules and data classification remain customer responsibilities.

Question 32Describe cloud concepts

A team increases the memory and CPU count of an existing virtual machine. Which scaling approach is this?

  1. Horizontal scaling
  2. Elastic scaling
  3. Vertical scaling Correct answer.
  4. Global scaling

Explanation

Vertical scaling, also called scaling up, adds resources such as CPU or memory to an existing instance. Horizontal scaling adds more instances, elasticity is automatic demand matching, and global scaling is not a standard scaling term.

Question 33Describe cloud concepts

Which statement describes a recovery point objective (RPO)?

  1. The maximum acceptable time to restore service after an outage
  2. The number of copies of data stored in a region
  3. The maximum acceptable amount of data loss measured in time Correct answer.
  4. The percentage uptime guaranteed by a provider

Explanation

RPO defines how much data loss is acceptable, expressed as a time period such as 15 minutes. RTO is the maximum acceptable restoration time, and SLA uptime is a separate availability commitment.

Question 34Describe cloud concepts

In the shared responsibility model, which item is always the customer's responsibility regardless of service type?

  1. Physical network security
  2. Datacenter access controls
  3. Virtualization layer patching
  4. Data and account identities Correct answer.

Explanation

The customer always retains responsibility for its data, accounts, and identities, even in SaaS. Physical security, datacenter access, and the virtualization layer are managed by the cloud provider.

Question 35Describe cloud concepts

Which cloud characteristic allows multiple customers to share the same physical infrastructure while remaining isolated from one another?

  1. Multitenancy Correct answer.
  2. Serverless computing
  3. Geo-redundancy
  4. Elasticity

Explanation

Multitenancy lets providers pool physical resources among many customers while keeping each tenant's data and workloads logically isolated. Geo-redundancy concerns geographic replication, elasticity concerns scaling, and serverless is a compute model.

Question 36Describe cloud concepts

Which cloud model is owned and operated by several organizations with shared concerns and governed by the member organizations?

  1. Community cloud Correct answer.
  2. Hybrid cloud
  3. Public cloud
  4. Private cloud

Explanation

A community cloud is shared by a specific group of organizations with common requirements and is governed by those members. Public cloud serves many unrelated customers, private cloud serves one organization, and hybrid combines private and public.

Question 37Describe cloud concepts

Which statement best distinguishes multi-cloud from hybrid cloud?

  1. Multi-cloud uses only private cloud services, while hybrid uses only public cloud services.
  2. Multi-cloud is limited to SaaS, while hybrid is limited to IaaS.
  3. Multi-cloud requires on-premises hardware, while hybrid does not.
  4. Multi-cloud uses several public providers, while hybrid mixes private and public. Correct answer.

Explanation

Multi-cloud means using more than one public cloud provider, while hybrid cloud combines private or on-premises infrastructure with public cloud. The other statements reverse or misstate these definitions.

Question 38Describe cloud concepts

What is the primary purpose of an availability zone?

  1. To isolate failures within a region so workloads can remain available Correct answer.
  2. To provide a separate geographic region for disaster recovery
  3. To reduce the cost of outbound data transfer
  4. To host only SaaS applications

Explanation

Availability zones are physically separate locations within a region that have independent power and networking, which helps workloads survive a datacenter failure. A separate geographic region is a different concept, and availability zones do not determine data transfer pricing or service type.

Question 39Describe cloud concepts

In an IaaS deployment, who manages the hypervisor?

  1. The customer
  2. The cloud provider Correct answer.
  3. A third-party auditor
  4. The network ISP

Explanation

In IaaS the provider manages the physical hosts and the hypervisor, while the customer manages the guest operating system and applications. Auditors do not operate the hypervisor, and the ISP only provides connectivity.

Question 40Describe cloud concepts

A company subscribes to a SaaS application. Which task remains the customer's responsibility?

  1. Maintaining the physical datacenter
  2. Upgrading the application's source code
  3. Patching the application server operating system
  4. Managing user access and the data entered into the application Correct answer.

Explanation

In SaaS the provider manages the application, operating system, and infrastructure, but the customer still controls user access and its own data. Patching, datacenter maintenance, and source code upgrades belong to the provider.

Question 41Describe cloud concepts

Why does the consumption-based model benefit a business with seasonal demand?

  1. It guarantees a fixed monthly price regardless of usage.
  2. It requires upfront purchase of capacity for peak periods.
  3. It eliminates the need to monitor spending.
  4. It charges only for resources used, so costs fall when demand falls. Correct answer.

Explanation

Consumption-based billing aligns cost with usage, so a seasonal business pays less during slow periods instead of buying peak capacity in advance. It does not guarantee a fixed monthly price, and spending still needs to be monitored.

Question 42Describe cloud concepts

Which cloud benefit describes offloading routine infrastructure maintenance to the provider?

  1. Reduced operational burden Correct answer.
  2. High availability
  3. Global reach
  4. Disaster recovery

Explanation

When a provider handles hardware maintenance, patching, and platform upkeep, the customer's operational workload decreases. Global reach, disaster recovery, and high availability describe geographic presence or resilience rather than day-to-day maintenance effort.

Question 43Describe cloud concepts

What does a service level agreement (SLA) typically guarantee?

  1. A specific uptime percentage for a service Correct answer.
  2. The exact cost of future resources
  3. That the customer's application is free of bugs
  4. That data will never be lost

Explanation

An SLA is a contractual commitment that typically specifies availability or uptime targets and service credits. It does not fix future prices, guarantee zero data loss, or certify the customer's application code.

Question 44Describe cloud concepts

Which scenario best illustrates cloud bursting?

  1. Moving all workloads permanently from an on-premises datacenter to Azure
  2. Running baseline workloads on-premises and bursting to the public cloud at peak Correct answer.
  3. Deploying an application only to a private cloud
  4. Using two public cloud providers at the same time for redundancy

Explanation

Cloud bursting keeps normal workloads in a private environment and temporarily adds public cloud capacity when demand spikes. Permanent migration, multi-provider redundancy, and private-only deployment describe different strategies.

Question 45Describe cloud concepts

A company wants to avoid large upfront hardware purchases and instead pay monthly for cloud services. Which financial change does this represent?

  1. A shift from capital expense to operating expense Correct answer.
  2. A shift from sunk cost to fixed cost
  3. A shift from operating expense to capital expense
  4. A shift from variable cost to fixed cost

Explanation

Buying hardware is a capital expense, while monthly cloud usage charges are operating expenses. Moving to cloud services therefore shifts spending from upfront capital to ongoing operating costs.

Question 46Describe cloud concepts

Which statement describes the shared responsibility model in a PaaS offering?

  1. The provider manages application code and data, while the customer manages the physical hosts.
  2. The customer manages the physical hosts, while the provider manages user identities.
  3. The customer manages the OS and runtime; the provider manages only the network.
  4. The provider manages the runtime and OS; the customer manages code and data. Correct answer.

Explanation

In PaaS the provider operates the platform, runtime, and operating system, while the customer remains responsible for application code, configuration, and data. The other options incorrectly assign platform or physical infrastructure duties.

Question 47Describe cloud concepts

Which statement about the consumption-based model is true for a workload with highly variable usage?

  1. Costs track usage closely, so monthly spending can be harder to predict. Correct answer.
  2. Costs are treated as capital expenditure rather than operating expenditure.
  3. Monthly costs remain identical regardless of how much the workload runs.
  4. The organization must buy all capacity before the workload starts.

Explanation

Consumption billing varies with the resources used, which can make spend less predictable when demand fluctuates. It does not require upfront capacity purchases, and cloud usage is generally treated as operating expense.

Question 48Describe cloud concepts

A company wants to avoid dependence on a single cloud provider for critical services. Which strategy best addresses this requirement?

  1. Moving all services to a SaaS offering
  2. Using a single region within one public cloud
  3. Deploying all workloads to a private cloud
  4. Adopting a multi-cloud approach with more than one provider Correct answer.

Explanation

A multi-cloud approach spreads critical services across more than one public provider, reducing reliance on a single vendor. A private cloud, a single region, or one SaaS offering can still leave the organization dependent on one provider.

Question 49Describe cloud concepts

Which statement best explains why an organization might choose a private cloud despite higher cost?

  1. It removes the need for any security controls.
  2. It guarantees lower operating expenses than public cloud.
  3. It offers greater control and isolation for sensitive workloads. Correct answer.
  4. It provides automatic access to the provider's global network.

Explanation

A private cloud gives an organization dedicated infrastructure and greater control over configuration and isolation, which can be important for sensitive or regulated workloads. It does not eliminate security controls, guarantee lower costs, or automatically provide a provider's global network.

Question 50Describe cloud concepts

An application has an RTO of 4 hours and an RPO of 15 minutes. Which statement is true?

  1. The application must remain available for 4 hours per day and back up data every 15 minutes.
  2. Restore within 15 minutes and lose no more than 4 hours of data.
  3. Restore within 4 hours and lose no more than 15 minutes of data. Correct answer.
  4. The application can lose up to 4 hours of data and be unavailable for 15 minutes.

Explanation

RTO is the maximum acceptable downtime, so service must be restored within 4 hours. RPO is the maximum acceptable data loss, so no more than 15 minutes of data may be lost.