Configuring platformUpdateDomainCount Property for Azure Virtual Machines | Exam AZ-204

Azure Virtual Machines - ARM Template Configuration

Question

Your company has an Azure subscription.

You need to deploy a number of Azure virtual machines to the subscription by using Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates.

The virtual machines will be included in a single availability set.

You need to ensure that the ARM template allows for as many virtual machines as possible to remain accessible in the event of fabric failure or maintenance.

Which of the following is the value that you should configure for the platformUpdateDomainCount property?

Answers

Explanations

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A. B. C. D.

D.

Each virtual machine in your availability set is assigned an update domain and a fault domain by the underlying Azure platform.

For a given availability set, five non-user-configurable update domains are assigned by default (Resource Manager deployments can then be increased to provide up to 20 update domains) to indicate groups of virtual machines and underlying physical hardware that can be rebooted at the same time.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/windows/manage-availability

When deploying virtual machines (VMs) to Azure, it's important to consider high availability and fault tolerance. Azure provides an availability set feature that helps ensure that VMs are distributed across multiple physical hardware clusters. This helps to minimize the impact of planned or unplanned maintenance events, and ensure that applications and services remain available.

When you create an availability set, you specify two properties: platformFaultDomainCount and platformUpdateDomainCount. The platformFaultDomainCount property specifies the number of fault domains that the VMs should be distributed across. Fault domains represent the physical hardware that could fail together due to power or network hardware issues. By distributing VMs across different fault domains, you can help ensure that your application remains available even if one or more fault domains experience issues.

The platformUpdateDomainCount property specifies the number of update domains that the VMs should be distributed across. Update domains are used during planned maintenance events, such as updating the underlying Azure host infrastructure. When a host is updated, all the VMs on that host are temporarily taken offline. By distributing VMs across different update domains, you can help ensure that some VMs remain available during a maintenance event.

The maximum number of VMs that can be placed in an availability set is 100. The maximum number of fault domains is 3, which means that you can distribute VMs across up to 3 different physical hardware clusters. The maximum number of update domains is 20, which means that you can distribute VMs across up to 20 different update domains.

In this case, the question asks what value should be configured for the platformUpdateDomainCount property to ensure that as many VMs as possible remain accessible in the event of fabric failure or maintenance. Since the maximum value for platformUpdateDomainCount is 20, the answer must be one of the provided values: 10, 20, 30, or 40.

A lower value for platformUpdateDomainCount means that more VMs will be grouped together into each update domain. This means that more VMs will be taken offline during a maintenance event, but fewer VMs will be impacted by fabric failures. A higher value for platformUpdateDomainCount means that fewer VMs will be grouped together into each update domain. This means that fewer VMs will be taken offline during a maintenance event, but more VMs will be impacted by fabric failures.

Given this tradeoff, the best answer depends on the specific requirements of the application and the tolerance for downtime during maintenance events. In general, a value of 20 is a good starting point that provides a balance between high availability and minimizing downtime during maintenance events. Choosing a higher value might be appropriate if the application requires very high availability, but could result in more downtime during maintenance events. Choosing a lower value might be appropriate if the application can tolerate more downtime during maintenance events, but could result in more downtime due to fabric failures.

Therefore, the best answer to this question is B. 20.