Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Practice Test (AZ-900)

The correct answer is Platform as a Service (PaaS). PaaS allows developers to focus on writing application code while the cloud provider manages the underlying infrastructure, including servers, storage, and operating systems. This enables the startup to develop, run, and manage their application without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure typically associated with developing and launching an app. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) still requires the management of operating systems and middleware. Software as a Service (SaaS) delivers fully managed applications to end-users, leaving no room for custom application development. Network as a Service (NaaS) provides network services but does not offer a platform for application development.

Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates enable you to define your infrastructure as code using declarative JSON syntax. This allows for consistent and repeatable deployments of Azure resources.

Azure PowerShell scripts and Azure CLI commands are imperative and script-based, not declarative JSON files.

Azure Resource Groups are containers for resources, but they do not define infrastructure configurations.

Azure Arc allows organizations to extend Azure management and governance to resources outside of Azure, including on-premises servers and those in other cloud environments. It enables a unified management experience through the Azure portal.

Azure Resource Manager manages Azure resources but does not extend to non-Azure environments.

Azure Monitor focuses on monitoring performance and health.

Azure Policy is used for enforcing policies within Azure resources.

The correct answer involves using tags to assign metadata such as department or project names to resources. This assists in organizing resources for cost tracking, reporting, and supports chargeback processes within the organization. Other options are either functions not served by Azure tags (like controlling resource access) or do not align with the description of the requirement (such as tagging to deploy resources).

Azure Hybrid Benefit helps reduce Azure costs by enabling you to use your existing on-premises Windows Server and SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance when you migrate to Azure. This can lead to significant savings on licensing costs.

Selecting larger VM sizes generally increases costs due to higher resource usage.

Deploying in multiple regions can raise costs due to additional infrastructure and data transfer expenses.

Using the Pay-As-You-Go pricing model does not offer the cost benefits that Azure Hybrid Benefit provides, especially when existing licenses can be leveraged.

Distributed Data Centers provided by cloud services play a critical role in ensuring high reliability and predictable performance. They allow for data replication and automatic failover procedures across multiple locations. If one data center encounters an issue, others can take over, which minimizes downtime and maintains service continuity. On-demand resource availability is an aspect of scalability and does not directly relate to the constant performance or uptime associated with reliability and predictability. Regular feature updates enhance the service capabilities but are not directly related to immediate reliability or predictability. Likewise, elastic computing refers to the ability to scale resources but does not inherently ensure reliability or predictability of performance.

Azure Tags allow you to assign metadata to your resources in the form of key-value pairs. By tagging resources with department names or other categories, you can organize and track costs effectively. This enables detailed cost analysis and reporting based on the tags applied.

Azure Resource Groups are used to manage resources collectively but do not provide a mechanism for detailed cost categorization.

Azure Policy helps enforce organizational standards and compliance but isn't designed for cost tracking.

Azure Locks prevent accidental changes or deletion of resources and don't assist in cost management.

Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets enable you to create and manage a group of identical, load-balanced virtual machines that automatically scale in response to demand or a defined schedule. This provides high availability and scalability without the need to manually manage individual virtual machines. Azure Virtual Machines are individual instances that require manual scaling. Azure App Service is used for hosting web applications, and Azure Functions are for running event-driven, serverless code.

The key aspect of manageability that supports CI/CD is automated scaling and patching. When updates or new features are ready, automated scaling can help facilitate rolling updates without downtime, as new instances can be launched with the latest version while older ones are phased out. Patch management can also be automated, ensuring that security updates are applied with minimal intervention. This enhances maintainability while ensuring high availability, thereby meeting the company's needs for a robust and continuously updated service.

Datacenters are the physical facilities that house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. They are the backbone of Microsoft Azure, providing the physical infrastructure necessary to run cloud services. Datacenters are where the hardware, storage, and computing resources live, and they enable the delivery of various cloud services.

The correct answer is 'Automated software updates and patch management', as cloud providers typically handle the maintenance of underlying infrastructure, including the management of software updates and patching, which reduces the burden on in-house IT teams. This streamlines operations and helps to ensure that systems remain secure and up-to-date with minimal intervention. 'Reduced initial setup cost’ while a benefit of cloud computing, is not directly related to manageability. 'Unlimited physical access to servers' is incorrect because physical access is typically restricted and not a factor in cloud manageability. 'Custom hardware configuration' is not a key benefit of manageability; on the contrary, one of the points of manageability in the cloud is reducing the need for custom hardware solutions.

ARM templates allow for the deployment of Azure resources in a repeatable manner using a JSON syntax. They define the infrastructure and configuration for your project and can be used to deploy the resources consistently. ARM templates are used for declarative templates that specify what resources are needed and their interdependencies without having to write the sequence of commands for the process. This is why the correct answer involves the use of ARM templates.

Azure Blob Storage is designed for storing large amounts of unstructured data, such as text or binary data, including images and videos. It is highly scalable and available, making it an ideal choice for web applications that need to store and serve user-generated content. Azure File Storage is more suited for lift-and-shift scenarios where legacy applications expect a file system interface. Azure Queue Storage is used to store and retrieve messages, which doesn't directly suit the needs for storing user-generated content. Azure Table Storage provides storage for NoSQL data but isn't the best fit for binary data such as images and videos.

Azure App Service provides a fully managed platform for building, deploying, and scaling web applications. It supports multiple programming languages, offers automatic scaling and high availability out of the box, and eliminates the need to manage servers.

Azure Virtual Machines require the organization to manage the underlying infrastructure, including server maintenance.

Azure Container Instances allow running containers without managing servers but do not provide as many built-in features for web applications.

Azure Functions are designed for event-driven, serverless compute scenarios rather than hosting full web applications.

Azure Virtual Machines provide full control over the operating system, allowing the installation of custom drivers and software. This option gives administrators the ability to manage the underlying infrastructure, including maintenance, updates, and patches.

Azure Functions and Azure App Service remove the underlying infrastructure and do not offer such granular control over the operating system.

Azure Container Instances simplify container deployment without the need to manage virtual machines directly but do not provide direct access to the underlying operating system for installing custom components.