Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies (AZ-300) Practice Exam

When scaling up, you might ultimately reach a point where what occurs?

1. More CPU cannot be added

2. Network speeds can improve

3. Disk space becomes more affordable

4. Instances become less manageable

The correct answer is: More CPU cannot be added

When scaling up in a computing environment, particularly when dealing with cloud services like Azure, there is a limit to the number of resources that can be allocated to a single instance. This limit often manifests as a maximum number of virtual CPUs that can be assigned to a single virtual machine. Once this threshold is reached, no additional CPU can be added, regardless of the performance requirements of the applications running on that instance. This scenario emphasizes the architectural limitations inherent in vertically scaling resources. For example, while adding more RAM or disk space might be possible up to a certain limit, CPUs typically have stricter limitations based on the size and type of virtual machine being utilized. Scaling up can improve resource performance temporarily, but eventually, you will hit a ceiling where no further enhancement is feasible. While other options touch on different aspects of resource management and scaling, they do not represent core limitations faced when solely relying on vertical scaling strategies. For instance, network speeds can indeed improve with better technology or architecture, disk space pricing might fluctuate for various reasons but does not directly influence the scaling up of instances, and increased instance complexity doesn't directly relate to the concept of scaling up in this context. Therefore, the accurate answer focuses on the ultimate limit of CPU allocation in vertical scaling.