Microsoft AZ-800 Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure Exam Dumps and Practice Test Questions Set 8 Q106-120
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Question 106
You are responsible for implementing hybrid identity management for your organization. Users must log in to cloud applications with their on-premises credentials, support single sign-on, and maintain consistent authentication policies. Passwords must be securely verified against on-premises Active Directory. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure AD Connect Pass-through Authentication
B) Cloud-only accounts in Azure AD
C) Local user accounts on each server
D) Microsoft accounts for all domain services
Answer: A) Azure AD Connect Pass-through Authentication
Explanation:
Azure AD Connect Pass-through Authentication is a hybrid identity solution that allows Azure Active Directory to validate user sign-ins directly against on-premises Active Directory domain controllers. This ensures that cloud authentication uses existing corporate credentials without storing passwords in the cloud. When a user signs in to Azure services, the authentication request is securely forwarded by lightweight agents installed on-premises to domain controllers for verification. This approach preserves existing password policies, complexity requirements, and account lifecycle management while providing seamless access to cloud applications. Users experience single sign-on for integrated applications without needing separate cloud credentials, and organizations maintain centralized identity control.
The solution supports multi-factor authentication, conditional access policies, and auditing for compliance. Logs can be forwarded to Azure Monitor or Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools to detect suspicious activity. By keeping verification local, organizations reduce exposure to cloud-based attacks and ensure that sensitive credentials never leave the trusted on-premises environment. It supports high availability by allowing multiple pass-through authentication agents to handle authentication requests across different servers and sites. This ensures redundancy and minimizes the risk of authentication downtime, which is critical for business continuity in hybrid deployments. Azure AD Connect also integrates with Azure AD features such as dynamic groups, automated user provisioning, and privileged identity management, enabling advanced governance and security practices across both cloud and on-premises workloads.
Cloud-only accounts in Azure AD create separate identities, requiring users to maintain different credentials for on-premises and cloud resources. This increases administrative overhead, complicates compliance, and disrupts the user experience by fragmenting identity management. It prevents the use of existing password policies and centralized lifecycle management.
Local user accounts on each server do not provide centralized authentication or policy enforcement. They fragment identity management, increase administrative workload, and fail to integrate with cloud applications for single sign-on, auditing, or conditional access.
Microsoft accounts for domain services are not enterprise-grade solutions for hybrid identity management. They disconnect authentication from corporate Active Directory and prevent centralized policy enforcement, auditing, or governance. They cannot maintain compliance with enterprise security standards or provide a unified identity across hybrid workloads.
Azure AD Connect Pass-through Authentication is the correct solution because it provides secure, seamless authentication for hybrid Windows Server environments. It integrates on-premises Active Directory with Azure AD, enforces corporate security policies, supports single sign-on, enables auditing, and reduces administrative overhead while maintaining a consistent and secure user experience across cloud and on-premises resources.
Question 107
Your organization operates multiple branch offices with local Windows Servers that must replicate file data to Azure. The solution must provide local caching for frequently accessed files, cloud tiering for infrequently used data, centralized management, and integration with Azure Backup. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure File Sync
B) DFS Replication
C) BranchCache
D) Storage Replica
Answer: A) Azure File Sync
Explanation:
Azure File Sync is a hybrid file management solution that extends on-premises Windows Servers into Azure, enabling centralized file storage while maintaining local caching for high-performance access. It allows branch offices to keep frequently accessed files stored locally while automatically tiering cold or infrequently used files to Azure storage. This reduces storage requirements on local servers while providing continuous access to all files through SMB paths. Users experience seamless access, as files appear local even if they reside in Azure.
Administrators benefit from centralized management in the Azure portal, which provides monitoring, reporting, and policy enforcement for cloud tiering, file replication, and operational insights. Azure File Sync integrates with Azure Backup to ensure data protection and disaster recovery capabilities, enabling recovery at the file, folder, or server level. The solution also preserves NTFS permissions, ACLs, and metadata during replication and tiering. Hybrid environments can synchronize changes between multiple servers and Azure, ensuring consistency across sites and creating a unified source of truth in the cloud.
DFS Replication allows on-premises replication between Windows Servers, but does not integrate with Azure for cloud tiering or centralized management. It requires local copies on each server, increasing storage demands and administrative overhead. DFS Replication is limited to synchronous or scheduled replication and does not provide seamless cloud-based disaster recovery capabilities.
BranchCache caches frequently accessed files at branch offices to reduce WAN traffic, but it does not tier data to the cloud or provide centralized management. It is primarily used to optimize bandwidth rather than integrate with cloud storage or provide hybrid file management.
Storage Replica supports synchronous or asynchronous replication for high availability within on-premises clusters, but does not integrate with Azure for tiering, centralized management, or backup. It is intended for disaster recovery scenarios between local sites rather than for hybrid cloud optimization.
Azure File Sync is the correct solution because it provides local caching, cloud tiering, centralized management, replication consistency, integration with Azure Backup, and seamless access across hybrid environments. It reduces local storage requirements, optimizes branch office performance, and improves disaster recovery readiness.
Question 108
You are tasked with implementing a disaster recovery solution for on-premises Windows Servers in a hybrid environment. The solution must support continuous replication to Azure, orchestrated failover, test failover validation, minimal downtime, and integration with monitoring and alerting tools. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure Site Recovery
B) Local backups only
C) Manual VM exports to Azure
D) Cluster Shared Volumes without cloud integration
Answer: A) Azure Site Recovery
Explanation:
Azure Site Recovery is a disaster recovery solution that provides continuous replication of on-premises Windows Server workloads to Azure. It supports application-consistent replication, which captures the state of running applications and ensures that data remains consistent during replication. This enables organizations to perform test failovers without affecting production workloads, validating recovery procedures, and ensuring that failover plans will work correctly during a real disaster. Site Recovery allows orchestration of complex recovery plans, handling dependencies between virtual machines and services to minimize downtime. Administrators can define recovery point objectives (RPOs) and recovery time objectives (RTOs) to meet business continuity and compliance requirements. The service integrates with Azure monitoring and alerting tools, enabling proactive management and operational visibility into replication health, recovery readiness, and potential issues. It supports automated failback to on-premises environments, maintaining flexibility and continuity once the disaster is resolved. By providing centralized dashboards, detailed reporting, and alerts, Azure Site Recovery reduces operational complexity and ensures rapid restoration of critical workloads. Hybrid environments benefit from seamless integration with Azure for failover, monitoring, and disaster recovery orchestration, maintaining service availability and compliance with corporate policies.
Local backups protect against data loss but do not enable continuous replication or orchestrated failover. Recovery is manual, often requires downtime, and does not support automated testing or failback, making it unsuitable for mission-critical hybrid workloads.
Manual VM exports to Azure are time-consuming, error-prone, and cannot maintain a synchronized state during ongoing operations. Recovery would require additional manual steps, creating a significant risk of data loss and extended downtime.
Cluster Shared Volumes provide high availability within an on-premises cluster but do not offer integration with Azure for disaster recovery. In the event of total site failure, these volumes remain inaccessible, leaving workloads unprotected.
Azure Site Recovery is the correct solution because it provides continuous replication, orchestrated failover, test validation, integration with monitoring, and minimal downtime for hybrid Windows Server workloads. It ensures business continuity, operational efficiency, and disaster recovery readiness in a hybrid cloud environment.
Question 109
You are managing a hybrid Windows Server environment with Azure Virtual Machines and on-premises servers. Administrators need secure remote management without exposing RDP or SSH to the public internet. The solution must support multi-factor authentication, centralized auditing, and seamless access from the Azure portal. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure Bastion
B) Assign public IP addresses to all VMs
C) Enable VPN-less remote desktop access
D) Use consumer remote access software
Answer: A) Azure Bastion
Explanation:
Azure Bastion is a fully managed service that provides secure RDP and SSH access to Azure virtual machines directly through the Azure portal without exposing the VMs to the public internet. This eliminates the security risks associated with open RDP/SSH ports, such as brute-force attacks, malware injection, and credential theft. Bastion integrates with Azure role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce administrative permissions and supports multi-factor authentication, ensuring that only authorized users can establish a remote session. All sessions are logged centrally, providing auditing and compliance reporting. Administrators can connect from anywhere using a web browser, without needing to install additional client software, reducing operational overhead and simplifying secure access management. Azure Bastion is ideal for hybrid environments because it allows consistent and secure access to cloud resources while preserving existing on-premises administrative workflows and identity controls. It supports scaling for multiple concurrent sessions, maintains connection security within the Azure network, and integrates with monitoring and alerting tools to provide full visibility into administrative activity.
Assigning public IP addresses to each VM exposes servers to the internet and significantly increases the attack surface. Open RDP/SSH ports are common targets for cyberattacks, making this approach risky for both cloud and hybrid deployments.
Enabling VPN-less remote desktop access bypasses network security controls, potentially exposing administrative sessions to interception or compromise. It cannot enforce centralized identity governance, auditing, or MFA policies.
Consumer remote access software lacks enterprise-level security, auditing, and integration with Azure management. These tools introduce unregulated access paths that can compromise hybrid environments, violate compliance, and increase operational risk.
Azure Bastion is the correct solution because it provides secure, MFA-protected, auditable, and seamless remote access to Azure virtual machines, ensuring that administrative operations remain protected while supporting hybrid operational needs.
Question 110
You are responsible for implementing a hybrid disaster recovery strategy for on-premises Windows Servers. The organization requires continuous replication to Azure, test failover capabilities, automated failover orchestration, and compliance with defined recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs). Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure Site Recovery
B) Local backups only
C) Manual virtual machine exports
D) Cluster Shared Volumes without Azure integration
Answer: A) Azure Site Recovery
Explanation:
Azure Site Recovery provides comprehensive disaster recovery for hybrid Windows Server environments by replicating on-premises workloads to Azure. Continuous replication ensures that data is synchronized with minimal data loss, and application-consistent replication captures the state of running applications to maintain integrity during failover. Administrators can perform non-disruptive test failovers, validating recovery plans and ensuring that services can be restored correctly without impacting production systems. Recovery orchestration allows automated handling of dependencies between virtual machines, ensuring that critical workloads are brought online in the correct order. Recovery point objectives (RPOs) and recovery time objectives (RTOs) can be configured to meet organizational business continuity requirements, ensuring that mission-critical services remain operational during outages. Site Recovery integrates with Azure monitoring and alerting services to provide real-time health checks, replication status, and alerts for potential issues, enabling proactive remediation. The solution also supports failback, allowing workloads to return to on-premises infrastructure once systems are restored, maintaining operational flexibility. Centralized dashboards provide insight into replication health, failover readiness, and compliance reporting, reducing administrative overhead and simplifying disaster recovery management. Azure Site Recovery reduces operational risk, improves resiliency, and provides a reliable hybrid DR solution for organizations with on-premises Windows Servers and Azure workloads.
Local backups alone do not provide continuous replication or automated failover capabilities. Recovery is manual and can result in extended downtime, making them unsuitable for meeting strict RTO and RPO requirements.
Manual VM exports to Azure are time-consuming, error-prone, and cannot maintain ongoing synchronization. This approach increases the risk of data inconsistency and operational errors during recovery.
Cluster Shared Volumes provide high availability on-premises but do not extend disaster recovery capabilities to Azure. In the event of a site-wide failure, workloads would remain inaccessible, leaving critical services unprotected.
Azure Site Recovery is the correct solution because it delivers continuous replication, automated failover orchestration, test failover validation, compliance with RTOs and RPOs, and hybrid integration with Azure monitoring. It ensures business continuity, operational efficiency, and minimal downtime in hybrid Windows Server deployments.
Question 111
You manage a hybrid Windows Server environment and need to implement secure, temporary privileged access for administrators. The solution must enforce just-in-time elevation, multi-factor authentication, auditing, and compliance reporting for both on-premises and Azure resources. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure AD Privileged Identity Management
B) Permanent Domain Admin accounts
C) Shared local administrator passwords
D) Unrestricted access from any device
Answer: A) Azure AD Privileged Identity Management
Explanation:
Azure AD Privileged Identity Management (PIM) is a service designed to manage and control privileged access across hybrid Windows Server environments. PIM enforces just-in-time elevation, allowing administrators to request temporary access only when required, reducing the attack surface and eliminating standing privileges that could be exploited. The solution supports multi-factor authentication to verify identity before granting elevated access, mitigating the risk of compromised credentials. PIM provides detailed auditing and reporting, allowing organizations to track who activated privileges, what actions were performed, and when changes occurred. This visibility is critical for compliance with security policies and regulatory requirements. Approval workflows can be configured to ensure that sensitive access is granted only after appropriate authorization, and access reviews automatically expire privileges when no longer required. PIM integrates with both Azure resources and on-premises Windows Servers through hybrid identity configurations, providing a unified governance model for privileged operations. Notifications and alerting capabilities allow security teams to detect unusual or unauthorized privilege activation. By enforcing least privilege and time-bound access, PIM reduces the likelihood of internal or external threats exploiting high-value accounts. It also supports integration with Microsoft Sentinel and other SIEM tools for centralized monitoring of privileged activities.
Permanent Domain Admin accounts increase risk because standing privileges can be exploited by attackers, and auditing is often insufficient to track usage.
Shared local administrator passwords prevent accountability and increase the risk of credential compromise, as multiple users share the same credentials without proper governance.
Unrestricted access from any device exposes administrative accounts to untrusted endpoints and malware, compromising security and violating zero-trust principles.
Azure AD Privileged Identity Management is the correct solution because it provides time-bound, MFA-protected, auditable privileged access, reduces risk exposure, ensures compliance, and enables secure hybrid administrative operations across on-premises and Azure environments.
Question 112
You are responsible for implementing a hybrid backup solution for on-premises Windows Servers. The organization requires centralized management, long-term retention, encryption in transit and at rest, and integration with Azure for disaster recovery. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure Backup
B) Local backups only
C) Manual disk copies to cloud storage
D) Third-party backup without Azure integration
Answer: A) Azure Backup
Explanation:
Azure Backup is a cloud-integrated backup solution designed for hybrid Windows Server environments. It provides centralized management through the Azure portal, allowing administrators to schedule backups, enforce retention policies, and monitor the status of backup jobs across both on-premises and Azure workloads. Azure Backup supports long-term retention, making it suitable for regulatory compliance and business continuity requirements. Data is encrypted both in transit and at rest, ensuring that sensitive information remains secure while being transmitted to Azure and while stored in the cloud.
The solution integrates with on-premises Windows Servers through the Microsoft Azure Recovery Services agent or System Center Data Protection Manager, providing seamless hybrid backup capabilities. It supports full server backups, file and folder backups, application-consistent snapshots, and incremental backups to reduce storage consumption. Azure Backup also provides granular recovery options, including file-level, folder-level, and full system restores, allowing administrators to recover from accidental deletion, corruption, or ransomware attacks. Centralized dashboards provide real-time visibility into backup health, compliance reports, and alerts for failures or potential issues, reducing operational overhead and enabling proactive management. Integration with Azure monitoring tools allows automated alerting and operational intelligence, ensuring that administrators can maintain reliable backup operations across hybrid environments.
Local backups only are insufficient because they do not provide centralized management, cloud-based disaster recovery, or long-term retention. They are prone to physical damage, limited scalability, and require additional administrative effort to manage multiple sites.
Manual disk copies to cloud storage are inefficient, error-prone, and lack automation. They do not support application-consistent backups, granular recovery, encryption, or centralized reporting. Manual processes increase the risk of data loss and non-compliance.
Third-party backup solutions without Azure integration may provide local backup capabilities, but cannot fully leverage Azure services for monitoring, centralized management, or disaster recovery. They often lack tight integration with Azure security, auditing, and operational tools, limiting hybrid backup effectiveness.
Azure Backup is the correct solution because it provides centralized, encrypted, automated, and policy-driven backup for hybrid Windows Server environments. It ensures long-term retention, disaster recovery integration, granular restore options, and compliance reporting, reducing administrative effort and increasing operational resilience.
Question 113
Your organization wants to implement a secure hybrid identity solution that enables single sign-on to Azure services using on-premises credentials. Passwords should be validated against local Active Directory, and users must not have to manage separate cloud credentials. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure AD Connect Pass-through Authentication
B) Cloud-only accounts
C) Local user accounts on each server
D) Microsoft accounts for domain services
Answer: A) Azure AD Connect Pass-through Authentication
Explanation:
Azure AD Connect Pass-through Authentication is a hybrid identity solution that allows Azure AD to authenticate user logins directly against on-premises Active Directory. This approach ensures that users can use the same credentials for both on-premises resources and Azure cloud services, supporting seamless single sign-on and consistent authentication policies. Authentication requests are securely forwarded to on-premises agents, which communicate with domain controllers to validate credentials without storing password hashes in Azure, reducing exposure to cloud-based attacks.
The solution supports multi-factor authentication, conditional access policies, and centralized auditing, providing visibility into sign-in activities and compliance reporting. High availability is achieved through the deployment of multiple authentication agents across sites, ensuring redundancy and continuous operation even if individual agents fail. This method allows organizations to maintain centralized control over identity policies, password complexity requirements, and account lifecycle management. Azure AD Connect integrates with advanced Azure AD features, such as dynamic groups, privileged identity management, and automated user provisioning, enabling enhanced governance and hybrid operational efficiency. Users experience a consistent login experience across cloud and on-premises systems, reducing support requests and improving productivity.
Cloud-only accounts require users to manage separate credentials for Azure services, fragmenting identity management and creating administrative overhead. It also prevents the enforcement of existing on-premises password policies in the cloud.
Local user accounts on each server fragment identity management and prevent centralized authentication, policy enforcement, and auditing. Users cannot access cloud resources seamlessly, creating operational inefficiencies.
Using Microsoft accounts for domain services disconnects corporate authentication from enterprise identity management. It prevents centralized governance, auditing, and integration with hybrid environments, making it unsuitable for enterprise-level identity management.
Azure AD Connect Pass-through Authentication is the correct solution because it provides secure, seamless authentication across on-premises and cloud systems, enforces enterprise policies, supports single sign-on, and reduces administrative complexity while maintaining hybrid identity governance.
Question 114
You are responsible for implementing a hybrid disaster recovery solution for Windows Server workloads. The organization requires continuous replication to Azure, automated failover orchestration, test failover capabilities, minimal downtime, and integration with monitoring and alerting services. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure Site Recovery
B) Local backups only
C) Manual virtual machine exports
D) Cluster Shared Volumes without Azure integration
Answer: A) Azure Site Recovery
Explanation:
Azure Site Recovery is a comprehensive disaster recovery solution for hybrid Windows Server environments. It enables continuous replication of on-premises workloads to Azure, ensuring that data is synchronized and available for rapid recovery. Application-consistent replication captures the state of running applications and ensures data integrity during failover. Test failovers allow administrators to validate recovery plans without disrupting production workloads, confirming that dependencies and configurations are correctly orchestrated. Recovery orchestration automates the failover process, managing virtual machine dependencies and reducing recovery time. Administrators can define recovery point objectives (RPOs) and recovery time objectives (RTOs) to meet business continuity and compliance requirements, ensuring that critical workloads are restored within acceptable timeframes.
Azure Site Recovery integrates with Azure monitoring and alerting services, providing dashboards, replication health status, and proactive alerts to identify potential issues. Failback is supported, allowing workloads to return to on-premises environments after the disaster is resolved. Centralized reporting enables tracking of replication health, test failovers, compliance metrics, and operational efficiency. This reduces manual intervention, increases confidence in disaster recovery procedures, and minimizes downtime during outages. Site Recovery is suitable for hybrid environments because it seamlessly bridges on-premises Windows Servers and Azure, enabling scalable and resilient disaster recovery strategies while maintaining operational control.
Local backups alone do not provide continuous replication, orchestration, or test failover capabilities. Recovery is manual and can lead to extended downtime, making them unsuitable for critical workloads with strict RPOs and RTOs.
Manual virtual machine exports to Azure are time-consuming, error-prone, and cannot maintain synchronization of ongoing changes. They increase the risk of data loss and operational errors during failover.
Cluster Shared Volumes provide high availability on-premises but do not extend disaster recovery to Azure. In the event of a site-wide failure, workloads remain inaccessible, leaving critical systems unprotected.
Azure Site Recovery is the correct solution because it provides continuous replication, automated orchestration, test failover validation, integration with monitoring tools, and minimal downtime for hybrid Windows Server workloads. It ensures business continuity, operational efficiency, and disaster recovery readiness.
Question 115
You are managing a hybrid Windows Server environment with multiple branch offices. The organization wants to centralize file shares in Azure while maintaining fast local access for frequently used files and tiering older files to the cloud. The solution must also integrate with backup and disaster recovery. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure File Sync
B) DFS Replication
C) BranchCache
D) Storage Replica
Answer: A) Azure File Sync
Explanation:
Azure File Sync is a hybrid cloud solution designed to centralize file shares in Azure while providing local caching on on-premises Windows Servers. It ensures that frequently accessed files remain available locally for low-latency access while automatically tiering less frequently used data to Azure, reducing the local storage footprint. This enables organizations to maintain consistent user experience while optimizing storage costs. Administrators can manage multiple servers and branch offices from a centralized Azure portal, which provides monitoring, replication status, and cloud tiering policy configuration. Azure File Sync integrates seamlessly with Azure Backup, enabling file-level and server-level recovery in case of accidental deletion, corruption, or ransomware attacks. It preserves NTFS permissions and metadata, ensuring that access control remains consistent across local and cloud environments. Hybrid replication keeps files synchronized across multiple servers and the cloud, creating a single source of truth while enabling disaster recovery. Cloud tiering allows IT to maintain a balance between performance and cost efficiency, ensuring critical workloads remain accessible even with limited on-premises storage. Azure File Sync also provides operational insights through monitoring dashboards, alerting, and reporting for hybrid file management.
DFS Replication is limited to on-premises servers and does not integrate with Azure. It requires local copies of all files, which increases storage consumption and administrative complexity. DFS cannot automatically tier files to the cloud or provide centralized management across hybrid environments.
BranchCache caches frequently accessed files at branch offices to optimize WAN performance but does not provide cloud storage tiering or integration with backup services. It cannot serve as a centralized file repository and is unsuitable for hybrid cloud-based management.
Storage Replica enables synchronous or asynchronous replication between servers or clusters but focuses on high-availability scenarios rather than hybrid cloud integration. It does not support tiering to Azure or integration with cloud backup, limiting its applicability in hybrid file management.
Azure File Sync is the correct solution because it provides local caching, cloud tiering, centralized management, hybrid replication, integration with Azure Backup, and seamless access across hybrid environments. It optimizes storage, improves disaster recovery, and ensures performance and operational efficiency across branch offices and cloud resources.
Question 116
You are responsible for patch management in a hybrid Windows Server environment with both on-premises servers and Azure virtual machines. The organization requires automated deployment, centralized reporting, compliance enforcement, and scheduling across all systems. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure Update Manager
B) Manual updates by local administrators
C) Disable updates to prevent downtime
D) Third-party patch management without Azure integration
Answer: A) Azure Update Manager
Explanation:
Azure Update Manager provides centralized management of updates for hybrid Windows Server environments. It allows administrators to schedule, deploy, and monitor patches for both on-premises servers and Azure virtual machines. The service supports deployment rings and staging of updates, minimizing downtime and preventing disruptions to critical workloads. Centralized dashboards provide real-time visibility into patch compliance, missing updates, and deployment success rates, supporting regulatory and internal compliance requirements. Integration with Azure Monitor and alerting services enables administrators to detect failed updates or vulnerabilities proactively, allowing for timely remediation. Automated deployment and policy enforcement reduce administrative overhead and eliminate the risk of inconsistent patching across hybrid environments. Pre- and post-scripts can be executed during update windows to prepare workloads and verify successful patching, ensuring operational continuity. Azure Update Manager aligns with enterprise security policies by maintaining compliance baselines, providing reporting for audits, and tracking patch lifecycle across multiple servers and locations. By centralizing update management, organizations reduce risk exposure, optimize operational efficiency, and ensure that hybrid workloads remain secure and reliable.
Manual updates by local administrators are inefficient, error-prone, and inconsistent across hybrid environments. There is no centralized reporting or compliance enforcement, which increases the risk of vulnerabilities and operational downtime.
Disabling updates to prevent downtime exposes systems to security threats, malware, and ransomware. It violates compliance requirements and does not address operational risk associated with unpatched servers.
Third-party patch management solutions without Azure integration may track on-premises servers but cannot provide unified visibility or automated management across both on-premises and Azure environments. They often lack integration with Azure monitoring, reporting, and compliance tools, reducing efficiency and control.
Azure Update Manager is the correct solution because it centralizes patch deployment, scheduling, reporting, and compliance enforcement across hybrid Windows Server environments. It provides automated, reliable, and auditable patch management, reducing risk and administrative overhead while maintaining operational continuity.
Question 117
Your organization wants to implement secure, temporary administrative access for hybrid Windows Server environments. The solution must enforce least privilege, just-in-time access, multi-factor authentication, and full auditing across on-premises and Azure resources. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure AD Privileged Identity Management
B) Permanent Domain Admin accounts
C) Shared local administrator passwords
D) Unrestricted access from any device
Answer: A) Azure AD Privileged Identity Management
Explanation:
Azure AD Privileged Identity Management (PIM) is designed to manage and secure privileged access across hybrid environments. It enforces just-in-time elevation, granting temporary administrative privileges only when needed, which reduces exposure to compromise and minimizes standing access. Multi-factor authentication is required for elevated sessions, ensuring that only verified users can perform administrative tasks. All actions are logged, providing auditing and compliance reporting to track who accessed resources, what actions were performed, and when changes occurred. PIM supports approval workflows, allowing elevated access to require authorization before activation. Access reviews automatically expire unnecessary privileges, reducing the risk of privilege creep. It integrates with both on-premises Windows Servers and Azure resources, providing a unified governance model for privileged operations across hybrid environments. PIM also provides notifications and alerts for unusual privileged activity, enabling proactive threat detection. By enforcing least privilege and time-bound access, it supports zero-trust principles and reduces the likelihood of internal or external compromise. Integration with Microsoft Sentinel and SIEM solutions allows centralized monitoring of privileged operations, ensuring consistent oversight and security compliance.
Permanent Domain Admin accounts increase risk because standing privileges can be exploited if credentials are compromised, and auditing is limited.
Shared local administrator passwords prevent accountability, make auditing impossible, and increase the risk of credential theft and lateral movement attacks.
Unrestricted access from any device bypasses security policies and exposes administrative accounts to malware, phishing, and unauthorized access, violating security and compliance principles.
Azure AD Privileged Identity Management is the correct solution because it provides time-bound, MFA-protected, auditable privileged access across hybrid environments, reduces risk exposure, ensures compliance, and enables secure governance of administrative operations in both on-premises and Azure resources.
Question 118
You are managing a hybrid Windows Server environment and need to secure access to Azure virtual machines. Administrators must connect without exposing RDP or SSH ports to the public internet. The solution must support multi-factor authentication, centralized auditing, and seamless access from the Azure portal. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure Bastion
B) Assign public IP addresses to VMs
C) Enable VPN-less remote desktop access
D) Use consumer remote access software
Answer: A) Azure Bastion
Explanation:
Azure Bastion is a managed service that provides secure RDP and SSH connectivity to Azure virtual machines directly through the Azure portal without exposing the servers to the public internet. This approach eliminates common attack vectors such as brute-force attempts and unauthorized access via open ports. Bastion integrates with Azure role-based access control to enforce administrative permissions and supports multi-factor authentication, ensuring that only authorized personnel can establish a session. All remote connections are centrally logged, providing auditing and compliance reporting, which is critical for security governance and regulatory requirements. Administrators can access virtual machines from any location using a web browser without installing additional client software, reducing operational complexity and ensuring consistent secure access across hybrid environments. Bastion scales to handle multiple simultaneous sessions, providing flexibility for organizations with multiple administrators or high-demand environments. It also integrates with Azure monitoring and alerting, giving operational teams visibility into session activity and potential security incidents.
Assigning public IP addresses to virtual machines exposes servers to the internet and significantly increases the attack surface. Open RDP/SSH ports are commonly targeted in cyberattacks, making this approach risky for hybrid environments.
Enabling VPN-less remote desktop access bypasses network security controls and can expose administrative sessions to interception or credential compromise. It does not provide centralized auditing, multi-factor authentication enforcement, or integration with Azure identity management.
Consumer remote access software lacks enterprise-grade security, auditing, and compliance capabilities. These tools introduce unregulated access paths that can compromise hybrid environments and expose sensitive administrative credentials.
Azure Bastion is the correct solution because it provides secure, auditable, MFA-protected access to Azure virtual machines, maintaining operational security while supporting hybrid management needs.
Question 119
You are responsible for implementing hybrid disaster recovery for on-premises Windows Server workloads. The organization requires continuous replication to Azure, automated orchestration of failovers, test failover validation, and minimal downtime while maintaining compliance with recovery objectives. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure Site Recovery
B) Local backups only
C) Manual virtual machine exports
D) Cluster Shared Volumes without Azure integration
Answer: A) Azure Site Recovery
Explanation:
Azure Site Recovery is a disaster recovery service that enables continuous replication of on-premises Windows Server workloads to Azure. It supports application-consistent replication, capturing the state of running applications to ensure data integrity during failover. Administrators can perform non-disruptive test failovers to validate recovery plans, verify dependencies, and ensure that workloads can be restored correctly without impacting production systems. Recovery orchestration automates failover processes, including the sequencing of virtual machine start order and service dependencies, reducing recovery time and ensuring business continuity. Recovery point objectives (RPOs) and recovery time objectives (RTOs) can be configured to meet organizational continuity requirements, minimizing the impact of downtime on critical operations.
Azure Site Recovery integrates with Azure monitoring and alerting services, providing dashboards, replication health status, and proactive alerts for potential issues. It also supports failback to on-premises infrastructure after a disaster is resolved, enabling flexible recovery strategies. Centralized reporting allows tracking of replication health, compliance metrics, and operational readiness, reducing administrative overhead and ensuring adherence to internal policies and regulatory standards. Site Recovery is suitable for hybrid environments as it bridges on-premises and Azure resources, providing a scalable and resilient disaster recovery solution.
Local backups provide basic protection but lack continuous replication, orchestration, or test failover capabilities. Recovery is manual, often slow, and cannot meet strict RPO or RTO requirements.
Manual virtual machine exports are inefficient, error-prone, and cannot maintain synchronization of ongoing workloads. This increases the risk of data inconsistency and extended downtime during disaster recovery.
Cluster Shared Volumes provide on-premises high availability but do not extend disaster recovery to Azure. In case of a site-wide failure, workloads remain inaccessible, leaving critical systems unprotected.
Azure Site Recovery is the correct solution because it provides continuous replication, automated failover orchestration, test failover validation, monitoring integration, and minimal downtime for hybrid Windows Server workloads, ensuring business continuity and operational resilience.
Question 120
You are managing a hybrid Windows Server environment and need to implement centralized patch management. The organization requires automated deployment, scheduling, compliance enforcement, and reporting across both on-premises and Azure servers. Which solution should you implement?
A) Azure Update Manager
B) Manual updates by local administrators
C) Disable updates to prevent downtime
D) Third-party patch management without Azure integration
Answer: A) Azure Update Manager
Explanation:
Azure Update Manager provides centralized, automated patch management for hybrid Windows Server environments. It allows administrators to schedule and deploy updates to both on-premises servers and Azure virtual machines while providing compliance reporting and monitoring. Deployment rings can be configured to stage updates across different groups of servers, reducing the risk of downtime and operational disruption. Centralized dashboards offer visibility into update status, missing patches, and deployment success rates, supporting regulatory compliance and internal auditing. Integration with Azure Monitor allows administrators to receive alerts when updates fail or vulnerabilities are detected, enabling proactive remediation. Update Manager supports automation of pre- and post-scripts during maintenance windows, ensuring that workloads remain operational while updates are applied. By centralizing patch deployment and monitoring, organizations reduce administrative effort, maintain consistent security policies, and ensure hybrid workloads remain compliant and protected.
Manual updates performed by local administrators involve individually applying patches, software updates, or configuration changes on each server, workstation, or device in an environment. While this approach may work in small, isolated systems, it becomes highly inefficient and error-prone in larger or hybrid environments that combine on-premises infrastructure with cloud resources. Each system must be updated separately, increasing the administrative workload and the likelihood of mistakes such as skipped systems, failed installations, or inconsistent patch levels. In hybrid environments, where resources span multiple locations or cloud platforms, coordinating manual updates is even more complex and time-consuming, often requiring detailed tracking of which systems have been updated and which remain vulnerable.
A significant limitation of manual updates is the lack of centralized reporting and monitoring. Administrators cannot easily verify that all systems are up to date or generate compliance reports to demonstrate adherence to organizational policies, regulatory requirements, or security standards. Without a unified view, it is difficult to identify gaps, track update history, or ensure accountability across teams. This lack of oversight increases the risk that critical vulnerabilities remain unpatched for extended periods, leaving systems exposed to malware, ransomware, and other cyber threats.
Moreover, manual updates do not scale well. In dynamic environments where systems are frequently added or removed, or where multiple operating systems and applications must be maintained, manual processes can create inconsistencies that affect stability, performance, and security. Automated update management solutions, in contrast, allow organizations to deploy patches centrally, monitor installation progress, enforce compliance policies, and generate reporting to verify that updates are applied uniformly across all devices.
Manual updates by local administrators are labor-intensive, prone to errors, and poorly suited for large or hybrid environments. Without centralized control and reporting, maintaining compliance and addressing vulnerabilities effectively is extremely challenging, creating security and operational risks that automated update management systems are specifically designed to mitigate.
Disabling updates to prevent downtime exposes servers to security threats, malware, and compliance violations. This approach does not mitigate risk and can compromise both on-premises and cloud workloads.
Third-party patch management solutions without Azure integration may manage on-premises servers, but cannot provide unified visibility or automated compliance enforcement across hybrid environments. Lack of integration with Azure monitoring and reporting tools limits operational efficiency and control.
Azure Update Manager is the correct solution because it enables centralized, automated, auditable, and policy-driven patch management across hybrid Windows Server environments. It reduces administrative overhead, ensures compliance, minimizes operational disruption, and protects both on-premises and cloud workloads.