AZ-305 Design business continuity solutions Practice Test 13 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You are designing a business continuity solution for a globally distributed SaaS application that uses Azure Cosmos DB for its operational store. The application must survive a complete regional outage with zero data loss and automatic failover. What should you use?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Configure Cosmos DB with a single write region, strong consistency, and enable automatic failover to a secondary region.. It combines a single write region with strong consistency and automatic failover, which guarantees zero data loss during a regional outage. Strong consistency ensures that all reads reflect the latest write, and automatic failover allows Azure to promote a secondary read region to the primary write region without manual intervention, meeting the requirement for zero data loss and automatic failover.

Answer

Configure a single write region in Cosmos DB with eventual consistency and manual failover.

Answer

Enable multi-region writes in Cosmos DB with eventual consistency and automatic failover.

Answer

Use Azure SQL Database with active geo-replication and automatic failover.

Question 2

Your organization runs a critical application on Azure VMs that must be highly available within a region. The application is stateful and requires shared storage. You need to design a solution that can automatically recover from a VM failure with minimal downtime. What should you include in the design?

Accepted Answer

Deploy the VMs in an availability set and use Azure Shared Disks for the stateful data.. An availability set distributes VMs across fault domains and update domains within a datacenter, providing redundancy for VM failures. Azure Shared Disks enable multiple VMs to attach and access the same managed disk, fulfilling the shared storage requirement for stateful applications. Option A is incorrect because a single VM with Azure Backup does not provide automatic failover; backup is for data recovery, not high availability. Option B is incorrect because Azure NetApp Files is a shared storage service, but deploying VMs in different Availability Zones introduces cross-zone latency and is not necessary for intra-region HA; an availability set is more suitable for stateful apps requiring shared disks. Option C is incorrect because Azure Site Recovery replicates to a secondary region for disaster recovery, not for automatic recovery within a region.

Answer

Deploy a single VM with premium storage and Azure Backup for recovery.

Answer

Deploy the VMs in different Availability Zones and use Azure NetApp Files for storage.

Answer

Use Azure Site Recovery to replicate the VM to a secondary region.

Question 3

Your company has an Azure subscription with a single virtual network. You need to design a solution to back up Azure VMs to meet a 7-day retention policy. The backup data must be stored in a separate region for compliance. What should you use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Backup with cross-region restore (CRR) enabled. Azure Backup with cross-region restore (CRR) enabled is the correct solution because it allows you to store backup data in a secondary Azure paired region, meeting the compliance requirement for separate region storage. CRR works by replicating the backup data from the default geo-redundant storage (GRS) in the primary region to the paired region, and then enabling you to restore VMs in that secondary region. With a 7-day retention policy, CRR supports restoring from the recovery point within that window, ensuring compliance without additional infrastructure.

Answer

Azure Site Recovery with replication to a secondary region

Answer

Azure File Share snapshots stored in a different region

Answer

Azure Backup with default geo-redundant storage (GRS) in the same region

Question 4

You are designing a high-availability solution for a stateful application that uses Azure NetApp Files (ANF) for persistent storage. The application must withstand a zonal failure within a region. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Use Azure NetApp Files cross-zone replication to replicate data between availability zones.. Azure NetApp Files cross-zone replication asynchronously replicates volume data from a source zone to a destination zone within the same region, enabling failover if the primary zone fails. This meets the requirement for zonal failure tolerance while preserving the stateful application's persistent storage. Other options either lack native zone-redundant support for ANF or provide only backup, not continuous replication.

Answer

Use Azure Files with zone-redundant storage (ZRS) and SMB multi-channel.

Answer

Use Azure Backup for ANF with daily snapshots stored in a different zone.

Answer

Deploy the application in an Availability Set and use ANF volumes with zone-redundant storage (ZRS).

Question 5

Your company has a critical application that uses Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) in a single region. You need to design a disaster recovery solution that can automatically fail over to a secondary region in the event of a regional outage. The application data is stored in Azure Cosmos DB. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Deploy a secondary AKS cluster in another region, use Azure Traffic Manager for global load balancing, and enable Cosmos DB multi-region writes.. It provides a comprehensive disaster recovery solution for both the compute and data tiers. Deploying a secondary AKS cluster in another region ensures compute capacity is available after a regional outage. Azure Traffic Manager (using priority routing) directs traffic to the primary cluster and automatically fails over to the secondary. Enabling Cosmos DB multi-region writes allows the application to write to the secondary region without conflict, ensuring data availability and consistency during failover.

Answer

Use Azure Front Door to route traffic to the primary AKS cluster and enable Cosmos DB automatic failover.

Answer

Use Azure Backup for AKS with cross-region restore and Cosmos DB geo-redundancy.

Answer

Replicate the AKS cluster to another region using Azure Site Recovery.

Question 6

A company wants to ensure that their Azure SQL Database can continue to serve read-write traffic if the primary region becomes unavailable. They require minimal data loss. What should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Configure an auto-failover group with a secondary in another region. An auto-failover group with a secondary in another region provides continuous read-write traffic capability during a regional outage with minimal data loss. The failover group uses asynchronous replication with a configurable grace period (default 1 hour) to balance performance and data loss, and upon failover, the secondary becomes the new primary with the same connection string, ensuring application transparency.

Answer

Use Azure Backup with cross-region restore

Answer

Deploy the database across two Availability Zones

Answer

Read-scale replicas in the same region

Question 7

You are designing a disaster recovery plan for an Azure virtual machine running a critical application. The solution must meet an RPO of 1 hour and an RTO of 4 hours. Which TWO actions should you take? (Choose TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Enable Azure Site Recovery for the VM with replication to a secondary region.. Azure Site Recovery (ASR) replicates VMs to a secondary region with configurable recovery point objectives (RPO) as low as 30 seconds, easily meeting the 1-hour RPO. Combined with a Recovery Services vault in the secondary region using geo-redundant storage (GRS), you ensure replicated data is stored durably and can be failed over within the 4-hour RTO, as ASR automates orchestration and failover.

Answer

Deploy the VM in an Availability Set and use premium storage.

Answer

Configure Azure Backup with daily snapshots stored in a Recovery Services vault.

Answer

Use Azure Front Door to distribute traffic between the primary and secondary regions.

Question 8

A company wants to ensure that their Azure Storage account containing blobs is protected against accidental deletion or corruption. The solution must enable recovery of previous versions up to 30 days. Which TWO features should they enable? (Choose TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Blob versioning. Blob versioning automatically maintains previous versions of a blob when it is modified or deleted, enabling recovery of any version from the last 30 days if combined with a lifecycle management policy to retain versions for that period. Blob soft delete protects against accidental deletion by preserving deleted blobs in a soft-deleted state for a specified retention period (up to 30 days), allowing restoration within that window. Together, they provide comprehensive protection against both accidental deletion and corruption.

Answer

Change feed

Answer

Azure Backup for Azure Blobs

Answer

Point-in-time restore for Azure Files

Question 9

You are designing a disaster recovery solution for a multi-tier web application on Azure VMs. The solution must meet an RPO of 15 minutes and an RTO of 1 hour. The application includes a SQL Server database. Which THREE actions should you take? (Choose THREE.)

Accepted Answer

Use Azure Premium SSD managed disks for the VMs to ensure low latency replication.. Azure Premium SSD managed disks provide low-latency, high-throughput storage that is essential for synchronous replication in SQL Server Always On Availability Groups. The synchronous commit mode requires fast disk I/O to avoid transaction delays, and Premium SSDs meet the sub-millisecond latency needed to achieve an RPO of 15 minutes and RTO of 1 hour across regions.

Answer

Use Azure Backup for the SQL Server database with 1-hour backup frequency.

Answer

Deploy read-scale replicas of the SQL Server in the secondary region.

Question 10

Refer to the exhibit. An administrator configured Azure Site Recovery replication for a VM using the policy shown. The VM workload is a critical database that requires application-consistent snapshots every 30 minutes to meet compliance. What is the issue with the current configuration?

Accepted Answer

The application-consistent snapshot frequency is 60 minutes, which is too high (should be 30 minutes).. The current policy sets the application-consistent snapshot frequency to 60 minutes, but the compliance requirement demands a snapshot every 30 minutes. Application-consistent snapshots are taken by the Azure Site Recovery mobility service using VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) on Windows, and the frequency is configured in the replication policy. Since the requirement is 30 minutes, the policy must be adjusted to match that interval.

Answer

The recovery point retention is set too low (1440 minutes).

Answer

The target region eastus2 is not a valid paired region for the source.

Answer

The storage account type is Standard_LRS; it should be Premium_LRS.

Question 11

Contoso Ltd. is a global e-commerce company running its online store on Azure. The application consists of:
- Frontend: Azure App Service (Windows) in West US.
- Backend: Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster in West US.
- Database: Azure SQL Database (General Purpose, S2) in West US.
- Cache: Azure Cache for Redis (Standard C1) in West US.
- Storage: Azure Blob Storage (LRS) for product images.

Business continuity requirements:
- RPO: 5 minutes for the database.
- RTO: 1 hour for the entire application.
- The solution must survive a complete West US region outage.
- Budget is limited; minimize additional costs.

What should you recommend as the primary DR strategy?

Accepted Answer

Deploy a secondary region (East US) with a passive AKS cluster (minimal node count), a standby App Service plan (same tier), and a secondary Azure SQL Database in an auto-failover group. Use Azure Traffic Manager for frontend and configure Azure Cache for Redis with geo-replication. For Blob Storage, enable geo-redundant storage (GRS).. It meets the RPO of 5 minutes for the database using an auto-failover group with a secondary Azure SQL Database in East US, which provides continuous data synchronization with minimal data loss. The passive AKS cluster (minimal node count) and standby App Service plan minimize costs while ensuring RTO of 1 hour by allowing rapid scaling during failover. Azure Traffic Manager routes frontend traffic to the secondary region, and geo-replication for Redis Cache and GRS for Blob Storage provide data durability across regions, satisfying the requirement to survive a complete West US region outage.

Answer

Use Azure Backup for the database with 5-minute log backup frequency. For the app, use Azure App Service backup with frequency to a secondary region. For AKS, back up persistent volumes using Azure Backup. Restore everything in a secondary region during disaster.

Answer

Deploy the entire application across two Azure Availability Zones within West US. Use zone-redundant storage for blobs, zone-redundant App Service plan, and zone-redundant AKS. For SQL Database, use a zone-redundant configuration. For Redis, use Enterprise tier with zone redundancy.

Answer

Use Azure Site Recovery to replicate all VMs (including AKS nodes) to a secondary region. For the database, use Azure SQL Database active geo-replication. For Azure Cache for Redis, replicate data via geo-replication. Use Azure Traffic Manager for frontend traffic routing.

Question 12

Fabrikam Inc. runs a file-sharing service used by 500 employees globally. The service is deployed on Azure VMs in the North Europe region. The VMs store data on Azure Files shares (Standard performance tier) mounted via SMB. The company's business continuity policy requires:
- RPO: 1 hour for any data loss.
- RTO: 4 hours to restore service after a regional disaster.
- All data must be backed up and recoverable in a different region.
- Budget is a concern; prefer cost-effective solutions.

Currently, there is no backup in place. You need to design a solution. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Set up Azure Site Recovery (ASR) for the VMs and Azure Files. Replicate to a secondary region (West Europe). Use ASR recovery plans to orchestrate failover.. Azure Site Recovery (ASR) can replicate the VMs to a secondary region (West Europe), meeting the RPO (near-synchronous) and RTO (4 hours achievable). For the Azure Files data, the storage account hosting the file shares should be configured with geo-redundant storage (GRS), which automatically replicates data to a paired region, satisfying the cross-region recoverability requirement. This combination is cost-effective as it uses built-in replication without additional backup infrastructure. Option B is incorrect because Azure Backup for Azure Files does not support a 1-hour backup frequency (minimum is 4 hours), and Azure Backup for Azure VMs also has a minimum 4-hour frequency, so it cannot meet the 1-hour RPO. Option C fails cross-region requirement as snapshots are stored in the same region, and VM backup frequency is daily. Option D requires an on-premises server and does not provide failover to a different Azure region.

Answer

Configure Azure Backup for the Azure Files shares with a backup policy of 1-hour frequency. Also back up the VMs using Azure Backup with a 1-hour policy. Store backups in a Recovery Services vault with geo-redundant storage (GRS). Enable cross-region restore.

Answer

Use Azure Files share snapshots taken every hour and store them in a separate storage account in the same region. For VM backup, use Azure Backup with daily frequency. In a disaster, deploy new VMs and restore from snapshots.

Answer

Implement Azure File Sync between the Azure Files share and an on-premises file server. For disaster recovery, failover to the on-premises server.

Question 13

Your company runs a critical workload on Azure Virtual Machines in a single region. You need to design a disaster recovery solution that meets a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 15 minutes and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 1 hour. The solution should minimize cost. What should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Implement Azure Site Recovery with replication to a secondary region.. Azure Site Recovery (ASR) provides continuous replication of Azure VMs to a secondary region, enabling failover within minutes. With replication intervals as low as 30 seconds for crash-consistent and 5 minutes for app-consistent snapshots, it comfortably meets the 15-minute RPO, and the orchestrated failover process can achieve the 1-hour RTO. ASR is the native Azure service designed for this exact scenario, minimizing cost by only charging for replication traffic and storage in the secondary region.

Answer

Configure Azure Backup with geo-redundant storage.

Answer

Deploy an active-passive pair of VMs using SQL Server Always On availability groups.

Answer

Use Azure Storage with read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS) and failover the VMs.

Question 14

Your company has a hybrid infrastructure with on-premises servers and Azure virtual machines. You need to design a backup strategy that includes on-premises file servers and Azure VMs. The solution must support long-term retention for compliance (7 years) and provide immediate recovery for recent versions. What should you include in the design?

Accepted Answer

Deploy Azure Backup with the Microsoft Azure Recovery Services (MARS) agent for on-premises and the Azure Backup extension for VMs.. Azure Backup with the MARS agent provides long-term retention (up to 99 years) and supports on-premises file servers, while the Azure Backup extension for Azure VMs offers application-consistent snapshots and instant recovery for recent versions. This combination meets the 7-year compliance requirement and immediate recovery needs without additional infrastructure.

Answer

Use Azure Storage account snapshots for on-premises files and Azure VM snapshots for VMs.

Answer

Set up Azure File Sync to sync on-premises files to Azure Files, then back up the Azure file shares.

Answer

Use Azure Site Recovery for both on-premises servers and Azure VMs.

Question 15

Your company runs a mission-critical application on Azure Virtual Machines that requires a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 5 minutes and a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 1 minute. The application uses a single VM with a managed disk. You need to design a disaster recovery solution that meets these requirements with minimal cost. What should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Use Azure Site Recovery to replicate the VM to a secondary region with a recovery plan.. Azure Site Recovery (ASR) provides continuous replication with RPO as low as 30 seconds and RTO of minutes when using a recovery plan, meeting the 5-minute RTO and 1-minute RPO requirements. ASR replicates the VM to a secondary region and allows orchestrated failover with minimal cost compared to running a standby VM. This is the only option that satisfies both the RTO and RPO targets for a mission-critical application.

Answer

Configure Azure Backup for the VM with a 1-minute backup frequency.

Answer

Store the managed disk in geo-redundant storage and use Azure Resource Manager templates to redeploy.

Answer

Deploy a second VM in a secondary region and use continuous replication with Azure Migrate.