Microsoft Azure Architect Design (AZ-301) Practice Exam

To enhance the network performance of 100 Azure virtual machines without changing the CPU-to-memory ratio, what should you enable?

1. NIC teaming

2. SRIOV

3. Bandwidth throttling

4. Load balancing

The correct answer is: SRIOV

Enabling SR-IOV (Single Root I/O Virtualization) is essential for enhancing the network performance of Azure virtual machines, especially in a scenario with a significant number of VMs like 100. SR-IOV allows virtual machines to bypass the virtual switch and communicate directly with the network interface card (NIC). This direct communication reduces latency and increases throughput for network traffic, which is crucial for applications requiring high performance. Using SR-IOV leverages the capabilities of the physical hardware, enabling better performance without altering the CPU-to-memory ratio of the virtual machines. This means you can achieve faster network speeds and improved overall performance of the virtual machines while maintaining the current resource allocation. In contrast, NIC teaming involves aggregating multiple NICs to provide redundancy and improved availability but does not specifically enhance performance in a high-density virtual machine environment. Bandwidth throttling intentionally limits network traffic, which would not support performance enhancement. Load balancing distributes traffic across multiple VMs or services, which can improve availability but does not directly enhance the performance of individual virtual machines in the context described.