Azure Certification Vocabulary — AZ-900 & AZ-104 English
Practice the key terms and exam language used in Microsoft Azure certifications: AZ-900 Fundamentals and AZ-104 Administrator.
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An AZ-900 exam question asks about the shared responsibility model. In a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) deployment, who is responsible for managing the operating system?
The shared responsibility model is a core AZ-900 concept. In PaaS, the cloud provider manages infrastructure, OS, and runtime. The customer manages applications and data. In IaaS, the customer also manages the OS.
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An AZ-104 exam question asks which Azure service provides identity and access management. Which is correct?
Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) is the primary IAM service. Azure Key Vault manages secrets and certificates. Azure Policy enforces governance rules. AZ-104 candidates must know the exact service boundaries of each.
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An exam question uses the qualifier 'MOST cost-effective'. You are choosing between Azure Reserved Instances and Pay-As-You-Go for a steady-state workload running 24/7. Which is MOST cost-effective?
'MOST cost-effective' on Azure exams for predictable 24/7 workloads means Reserved Instances. Spot/Preemptible instances are cheapest but not suitable for steady workloads due to interruption risk.
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An AZ-900 question asks about the difference between vertical and horizontal scaling. Which description is correct?
Vertical vs horizontal scaling is a fundamental AZ-900 concept. Azure supports both: VM resizing for vertical, and VM Scale Sets or App Service auto-scale rules for horizontal. Exam questions often test whether you know which is appropriate for a given scenario.
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An AZ-104 question asks how to grant a user the minimum permissions to read and list resources in a resource group but not modify them. Which role satisfies this?
Azure RBAC Reader role provides read-only access. Contributor allows modifications. Owner includes permission management. The principle of least privilege — granting only the permissions needed — is central to AZ-104 exam scenarios.