AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification Prep
2025: Full Study Guide with Real Exam Questions, Cloud
Concepts, and Service Overviews
Here are the multiple-choice questions, correct answers, and rationales for each of the
scenarios provided:
Scenario 1: For each of the following statements, select Yes if the statement is true. Otherwise,
select No.
Question 1: A platform as a service (PaaS) solution that hosts web apps in Azure provides full
control of the operating systems that hosts applications. (Y/N)
Question 2: A platform as a service (PaaS) solution that hosts web apps in Azure provides the
ability to scale the platform automatically. (Y/N)
Question 3: A platform as a service (PaaS) solution that hosts web apps in Azure provides
professional development services to continuously add features to custom applications. (Y/N)
Correct Answers:
1. No
2. Yes
3. No
Rationale:
• Question 1 (No): In a PaaS model, the cloud provider manages the underlying operating
system. Users have control over their applications and data, but not the OS itself. That
level of control is characteristic of IaaS.
• Question 2 (Yes): A key benefit of PaaS solutions like Azure App Service is the built-in
ability to automatically scale resources (both vertically by increasing power and
horizontally by adding instances) based on demand.
• Question 3 (No): PaaS provides the platform for developers to build and deploy
applications, but it does not inherently include "professional development services" for
, continuously adding features to custom applications. That's the responsibility of the
customer's development team. The PaaS itself is the environment.
Scenario 2: For each of the following statements, select Yes if the statement is true. Otherwise,
select No.
Question 1: Azure provides flexibility between capital expenditure (CapEx) and operational
expenditure (OpEx). (Y/N)
Question 2: If you create two Azure virtual machines that use B2S size, each virtual machine will
always generate the same monthly costs. (Y/N)
Question 3: When an Azure virtual machine is stopped, you continue to pay storage costs
associated to the virtual machine. (Y/N)
Correct Answers:
1. Yes
2. No
3. Yes
Rationale:
• Question 1 (Yes): Azure (and public cloud in general) primarily operates on an OpEx
model (pay-as-you-go, consumption-based). This provides flexibility by reducing the
need for large upfront CapEx investments in hardware and infrastructure. You pay for
what you use, when you use it.
• Question 2 (No): While two B2S size VMs have the same rate per hour, their actual
monthly costs can vary based on several factors:
o Uptime: If one VM is running for more hours in a month than the other, its cost
will be higher.
o Attached Resources: Costs for associated resources like Public IPs, managed
disks, or network egress can vary depending on usage patterns, even if the VM
size is the same.
o Discounts/Reservations: One VM might be covered by a Reserved Instance,
while the other is pay-as-you-go, leading to different effective costs.
, • Question 3 (Yes): When an Azure virtual machine is "stopped (deallocated)", you stop
paying for the compute resources (CPU, RAM). However, the associated storage (disks
where the OS and data reside) continues to consume space and therefore incurs storage
costs. If you want to avoid storage costs, you must delete the disks.
Scenario 3: This question requires that you evaluate the underlined text to determine if it is
correct.
When you are implementing a software as a service (SaaS) solution, you are responsible for
configuring high availability.
Instructions: Review the underlined text. If it makes the statement correct, select "No change is
needed". If the statement is incorrect, select the answer choice that makes the statement
correct.
Question: When you are implementing a software as a service (SaaS) solution, you are
responsible for:
A. No change is needed. (i.e., configuring high availability)
B. defining scalability rules
C. installing the SaaS solution
D. configuring the SaaS solution
Correct Answer: D. configuring the SaaS solution
Rationale:
• In a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, the cloud provider (or SaaS vendor) is
responsible for managing the entire application stack, including the underlying
infrastructure, operating systems, and crucially, the application's high availability and
scalability.
• As a SaaS consumer, your primary responsibility is typically limited to configuring the
SaaS solution (e.g., setting up users, integrating with other services, customizing settings
within the application's features) to meet your specific business needs. You do not install
the solution or define its underlying scalability rules or high availability mechanisms;
these are all managed by the provider.
, Scenario 4: You have an on-premises network that contains several servers. You plan to migrate
all the servers to Azure. You need to recommend a solution to ensure that some of the servers
are available if a single Azure data center goes offline for an extended period.
Question: What should you include in the recommendation?
A. fault tolerance
B. elasticity
C. scalability
D. low latency
Correct Answer: A. fault tolerance
Rationale:
• To ensure that services remain available even if a single Azure data center (Availability
Zone/Region) goes offline, you need to implement fault tolerance. This involves
designing your architecture to withstand failures by distributing resources across
multiple isolated fault domains, typically by deploying VMs across different Availability
Zones within a region or across multiple Azure Regions. This ensures redundancy and
resilience against broad outages.
• Elasticity refers to the ability to automatically grow or shrink resources based on
demand, which is for cost and performance optimization, not disaster recovery from a
data center outage.
• Scalability refers to the ability to handle increased load, which is related to performance,
not survival of a data center failure.
• Low latency refers to minimizing delays in network communication, which is about
performance, not disaster recovery.
Scenario 5: This question requires that you evaluate the underlined text to determine if it is
correct.
An organization that hosts its infrastructure in a private cloud can decommission its data center.
Instructions: Review the underlined text. If it makes the statement correct, select "No change is
needed". If the statement is incorrect, select the answer choice that makes the statement
correct.
2025: Full Study Guide with Real Exam Questions, Cloud
Concepts, and Service Overviews
Here are the multiple-choice questions, correct answers, and rationales for each of the
scenarios provided:
Scenario 1: For each of the following statements, select Yes if the statement is true. Otherwise,
select No.
Question 1: A platform as a service (PaaS) solution that hosts web apps in Azure provides full
control of the operating systems that hosts applications. (Y/N)
Question 2: A platform as a service (PaaS) solution that hosts web apps in Azure provides the
ability to scale the platform automatically. (Y/N)
Question 3: A platform as a service (PaaS) solution that hosts web apps in Azure provides
professional development services to continuously add features to custom applications. (Y/N)
Correct Answers:
1. No
2. Yes
3. No
Rationale:
• Question 1 (No): In a PaaS model, the cloud provider manages the underlying operating
system. Users have control over their applications and data, but not the OS itself. That
level of control is characteristic of IaaS.
• Question 2 (Yes): A key benefit of PaaS solutions like Azure App Service is the built-in
ability to automatically scale resources (both vertically by increasing power and
horizontally by adding instances) based on demand.
• Question 3 (No): PaaS provides the platform for developers to build and deploy
applications, but it does not inherently include "professional development services" for
, continuously adding features to custom applications. That's the responsibility of the
customer's development team. The PaaS itself is the environment.
Scenario 2: For each of the following statements, select Yes if the statement is true. Otherwise,
select No.
Question 1: Azure provides flexibility between capital expenditure (CapEx) and operational
expenditure (OpEx). (Y/N)
Question 2: If you create two Azure virtual machines that use B2S size, each virtual machine will
always generate the same monthly costs. (Y/N)
Question 3: When an Azure virtual machine is stopped, you continue to pay storage costs
associated to the virtual machine. (Y/N)
Correct Answers:
1. Yes
2. No
3. Yes
Rationale:
• Question 1 (Yes): Azure (and public cloud in general) primarily operates on an OpEx
model (pay-as-you-go, consumption-based). This provides flexibility by reducing the
need for large upfront CapEx investments in hardware and infrastructure. You pay for
what you use, when you use it.
• Question 2 (No): While two B2S size VMs have the same rate per hour, their actual
monthly costs can vary based on several factors:
o Uptime: If one VM is running for more hours in a month than the other, its cost
will be higher.
o Attached Resources: Costs for associated resources like Public IPs, managed
disks, or network egress can vary depending on usage patterns, even if the VM
size is the same.
o Discounts/Reservations: One VM might be covered by a Reserved Instance,
while the other is pay-as-you-go, leading to different effective costs.
, • Question 3 (Yes): When an Azure virtual machine is "stopped (deallocated)", you stop
paying for the compute resources (CPU, RAM). However, the associated storage (disks
where the OS and data reside) continues to consume space and therefore incurs storage
costs. If you want to avoid storage costs, you must delete the disks.
Scenario 3: This question requires that you evaluate the underlined text to determine if it is
correct.
When you are implementing a software as a service (SaaS) solution, you are responsible for
configuring high availability.
Instructions: Review the underlined text. If it makes the statement correct, select "No change is
needed". If the statement is incorrect, select the answer choice that makes the statement
correct.
Question: When you are implementing a software as a service (SaaS) solution, you are
responsible for:
A. No change is needed. (i.e., configuring high availability)
B. defining scalability rules
C. installing the SaaS solution
D. configuring the SaaS solution
Correct Answer: D. configuring the SaaS solution
Rationale:
• In a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, the cloud provider (or SaaS vendor) is
responsible for managing the entire application stack, including the underlying
infrastructure, operating systems, and crucially, the application's high availability and
scalability.
• As a SaaS consumer, your primary responsibility is typically limited to configuring the
SaaS solution (e.g., setting up users, integrating with other services, customizing settings
within the application's features) to meet your specific business needs. You do not install
the solution or define its underlying scalability rules or high availability mechanisms;
these are all managed by the provider.
, Scenario 4: You have an on-premises network that contains several servers. You plan to migrate
all the servers to Azure. You need to recommend a solution to ensure that some of the servers
are available if a single Azure data center goes offline for an extended period.
Question: What should you include in the recommendation?
A. fault tolerance
B. elasticity
C. scalability
D. low latency
Correct Answer: A. fault tolerance
Rationale:
• To ensure that services remain available even if a single Azure data center (Availability
Zone/Region) goes offline, you need to implement fault tolerance. This involves
designing your architecture to withstand failures by distributing resources across
multiple isolated fault domains, typically by deploying VMs across different Availability
Zones within a region or across multiple Azure Regions. This ensures redundancy and
resilience against broad outages.
• Elasticity refers to the ability to automatically grow or shrink resources based on
demand, which is for cost and performance optimization, not disaster recovery from a
data center outage.
• Scalability refers to the ability to handle increased load, which is related to performance,
not survival of a data center failure.
• Low latency refers to minimizing delays in network communication, which is about
performance, not disaster recovery.
Scenario 5: This question requires that you evaluate the underlined text to determine if it is
correct.
An organization that hosts its infrastructure in a private cloud can decommission its data center.
Instructions: Review the underlined text. If it makes the statement correct, select "No change is
needed". If the statement is incorrect, select the answer choice that makes the statement
correct.
