AZ-900 · Microsoft · Cloud Concepts · Bank updated 2026-09-20
AZ-900 practice questions: Cloud Concepts
5 free questions from 18 on this area · answer and explanation for each · no sign-up
These 5 questions come from the Cloud Concepts section of our AZ-900 bank (18 questions on this area, which carries 28% of the real exam). Every question is original, with the correct answer explained and linked to the source it is drawn from.
1/5 · Cloud Concepts · easy
A reporting job on a single virtual machine runs out of memory every night, although the number of concurrent users never changes. The team raises the machine's RAM and vCPU count. Which kind of scaling did they apply, and what would the other kind have looked like?
AVertical scaling; the alternative would be adding more instances
BHorizontal scaling; the alternative would be moving to another region
CVertical scaling; the alternative would be a larger disk tier
DHorizontal scaling; the alternative would be raising the instance's capabilities
Show answer & explanation
A is correct. Bullet 'Describe the benefits of high availability and scalability in the cloud'. The Learn unit states that scaling comes in two varieties: vertical scaling is focused on increasing or decreasing the capabilities of resources - for example adding more CPUs or RAM to a virtual machine - while horizontal scaling is adding or subtracting the number of resources, such as additional virtual machines or containers.
↗ Microsoft Learn — AZ-900 study guide: Describe cloud concepts
2/5 · Cloud Concepts
To hold down the cost of a pay-as-you-go subscription, a team signs its Azure virtual machines out every evening by shutting them down from inside the guest operating system, and signs back in the next morning. What happens to the compute charges for those machines overnight?
AThey stop as soon as the guest operating system powers off
BThey continue while the machine remains allocated to its host
CThey continue until the end of the current billing cycle
DThey are billed at a standby rate while the machine is off
Show answer & explanation
B is correct. Bullet 'Describe the consumption-based model'. The Learn unit states that you pay for the IT resources you use and nothing more. The Azure Virtual Machines article 'States and billing status' makes the boundary precise: the Stopped state (also called PoweredOff or Stopped (Allocated)) can be the result of invoking shutdown from within the guest OS and is billed, while the Deallocated state, in which the virtual machine has released the lease on the underlying hardware, is not billed for instance usage.
↗ Microsoft Learn — AZ-900 study guide: Describe cloud concepts
3/5 · Cloud Concepts
A governance lead already has several hundred deployed resources and a technical standard that has just changed. What does Learn present templates as doing in that situation?
ARecording which of the deployed resources already meet the standard.
BRefusing deployments that do not meet the standard at creation time.
CReporting the cost of bringing the deployed resources into line.
DUpdating the deployed resources to the new standard at scale.
Show answer & explanation
D is correct. Bullet 'Describe the benefits of security and governance in the cloud'. The Learn unit of that name states that tools such as templates help ensure that deployed resources meet your technical standards and regulatory requirements, and that as standards change, you can update resources at scale. It gives cloud-based auditing a separate job: helping flag resources that are out of compliance with your baseline and providing mitigation strategies.
↗ Microsoft Learn — AZ-900 study guide: Describe cloud concepts
4/5 · Cloud Concepts
A retailer wants tooling it can point at its own sales data to find patterns and predict outcomes, and it does not want to build or operate that tooling. Which service type does Learn list this scenario under?
APlatform as a service (PaaS)
BSoftware as a service (SaaS)
CInfrastructure as a service (IaaS)
DServerless compute (Functions)
Show answer & explanation
A is correct. Bullet 'Identify appropriate use cases for each cloud service type (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS)'. The Learn unit 'Describe Platform as a Service' lists two common scenarios: a development framework that developers can build upon, and analytics or business intelligence, where tools provided as a service with PaaS allow teams to analyze and mine their data, find insights and patterns, and predict outcomes to improve planning and operational decisions. The unit 'Describe Infrastructure as a Service' lists lift-and-shift migration and testing and development as its scenarios.
↗ Microsoft Learn — AZ-900 study guide: Describe cloud concepts
5/5 · Cloud Concepts · hard
A team has rehosted twelve servers as Azure virtual machines of equivalent size. What does Learn's account of the consumption-based model say would bring the bill for them down?
ABuying a year of that capacity in advance of demand.
BReleasing the resources when demand for them decreases.
CMoving the machines to a region with lower listed rates.
DConsolidating the machines under a single subscription.
Show answer & explanation
B is correct. Bullet 'Describe the consumption-based model'. The Learn unit of that name states that you pay for the IT resources you use and nothing more, and lists the benefits of the model as no upfront costs for hardware or datacenter infrastructure, no need to purchase and manage capacity that may go underutilized, the ability to add resources when demand increases and the ability to release resources when demand decreases. It adds that in a cloud-based model you adjust resources to match actual demand: add virtual machines when you need more capacity, and remove them when demand drops.
↗ Microsoft Learn — AZ-900 study guide: Describe cloud concepts
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