An IT administrator wants to receive automated email and SMS notifications whenever Microsoft Azure experiences service issues or schedules planned maintenance that impacts their subscription. Which component must be configured and linked to the Service Health alert rule to deliver these notifications?

Action group: ### What an Action Group Is An **action group** is a centralized collection of notification preferences and automated actions defined by an Azure subscription owner. When an alert rule—such as a **Service Health alert** or an **activity log alert**—triggers, Azure Monitor uses the associated action group to notify designated recipients or execute automated operational steps. ### How It Meets the Requirement To receive email and SMS notifications about platform events, the administrator creates a **Service Health alert rule** and binds it to an **action group**. Within this action group, individual notification channels (such as **Email/SMS/Push/Voice**) are configured with the specific email addresses and phone numbers of the administrative staff. When a health incident or maintenance event matches the alert condition, the action group dispatches the messages immediately. ### Key Advantages and Capabilities - **Multiple Notification Types**: Supports **Email**, **SMS**, **Azure mobile app push notifications**, and **voice calls**. - **Automation Integration**: Integrates directly with automated workflows such as **Azure Functions**, **Logic Apps**, **Automation Runbooks**, and **Webhooks**. - **Reusability**: A single action group can be linked to dozens of alert rules across different subscriptions and monitoring domains. - **Centralized Management**: Updating contact details in one action group automatically updates notification targets across all linked alert rules. ### Why This Is Optimal Action groups provide a modular, scalable architecture in Azure Monitor. Separating the trigger conditions (the alert rule) from the notification payload delivery (the action group) ensures standard notification lists are maintained without modifying individual monitoring rules.

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