DP-300 Practice Test 15 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You have an Azure SQL Database in the Business Critical tier with zone redundancy enabled. You need to maintain high availability during a planned patching event. Which THREE actions should you take? (Choose three.)

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

Accepted Answer

Verify that zone redundancy is enabled on the database.. To maintain high availability during a planned patching event on a Business Critical tier with zone redundancy enabled, you should first verify that zone redundancy is enabled (B) to confirm the configuration. Perform a planned failover test (D) to ensure the failover mechanism works correctly. Ensure the database has a read-scale replica configured (E) to offload read workloads and maintain performance. Option A (enable active geo-replication) is not required for high availability during patching; it is for disaster recovery. Option C (scale to lower tier) would reduce availability and is unnecessary.

Answer

Enable active geo-replication to a secondary region.

Answer

Scale the database to a lower tier to reduce cost.

Question 2

You have an Azure SQL Database configured with a failover group that includes a secondary in another region. The primary region experiences a complete outage. You initiate a forced failover. After the outage is resolved, you want to bring the original primary back as a secondary without data loss. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Remove the original primary from the failover group, drop the database, and recreate it as a new secondary. After a forced failover, the original primary is in a failed state. To bring it back as a secondary without data loss, you must remove it from the failover group, drop the original database, and then add a new secondary database (which will be seeded from the current primary). This is the only method that ensures no data loss. Option A is incorrect because there is no 'az sql db failover-group re-sync' command. Option B is incorrect because active geo-replication is not required; failover groups automatically handle replication. Option C is incorrect because restoring from backup would not reflect changes made after the failover, resulting in data loss.

Answer

Use the 'az sql db failover-group re-sync' command to re-synchronize

Answer

Configure replication from the new primary to the old primary using active geo-replication

Answer

Restore the original primary from backup and re-add it to the failover group

Question 3

Your company has an Azure SQL Database that uses active geo-replication to a secondary region. The primary database is hit by a logical corruption error. You need to restore the database to a point before the corruption occurred with minimal data loss. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Restore the primary database to a point in time before the corruption using automated backups.. Geo-replication replicates changes that may include the corruption; you cannot revert to a point before corruption without a backup. Option A is wrong because failover would bring the corrupted data to the secondary. Option B is wrong because geo-replication replicates the corruption. Option C is wrong because point-in-time restore to a time before corruption is the correct approach.

Answer

Fail over to the secondary region and then fail back.

Answer

Use the geo-replicated secondary to recover the data.

Answer

Seeding the secondary from a backup of the primary.

Question 4

You have an Azure SQL Managed Instance that is the primary in a failover group. You need to perform a manual failover for planned maintenance with zero data loss. Which PowerShell cmdlet should you use?

Accepted Answer

Switch-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup -AllowDataLoss:$false. Switch-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup with -AllowDataLoss:$false performs a manual failover with zero data loss for planned maintenance. Option A is wrong because Set-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup modifies configuration, not failover. Option C is wrong because Start-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup does not exist. Option D is wrong because Invoke-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup does not exist.

Answer

Set-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup

Answer

Start-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup

Answer

Invoke-AzSqlDatabaseFailoverGroup

Question 5

Which THREE are requirements for configuring a failover group for Azure SQL Managed Instance? (Select three.)

Accepted Answer

Both managed instances must have the same service tier. Options A, B, and E are correct. Both managed instances must have the same service tier (A). The secondary instance must have no user databases (B). Both instances must be in the same hardware generation (e.g., Gen5) (E). Option C is incorrect because the instances can be in different subnets within the same virtual network. Option D is incorrect because having a user database on the primary is not a requirement for configuring a failover group.

Answer

Both instances must be in the same virtual network subnet

Answer

The primary instance must have at least one user database

Question 6

Your company has an Azure SQL Database that uses a failover group with a secondary in a different region. You need to ensure that read-only queries are directed to the secondary database to offload the primary. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Add ApplicationIntent=ReadOnly to the connection string and use the failover group listener.. Add ApplicationIntent=ReadOnly to the connection string and use the failover group listener. Azure SQL Database failover groups provide a read-only listener endpoint. When a client connects to the failover group listener with ApplicationIntent=ReadOnly in the connection string, the connection is automatically routed to the secondary database. This offloads read-only queries from the primary. Option B is incorrect because Traffic Manager is not needed; the failover group listener already handles routing. Option C is incorrect because read-scale is a feature for querying readable secondaries in a Business Critical tier, but it does not automatically route read-only queries to a geo-secondary. Option D is incorrect because using a separate connection string pointing directly to the secondary server defeats the purpose of automatic failover and redirection; the listener provides automatic routing and failover.

Answer

Use a Traffic Manager profile to route read traffic.

Answer

Enable read-scale for the database.

Answer

Configure a separate connection string pointing to the secondary server.

Question 7

A manufacturing company uses Azure SQL Database Hyperscale tier for its IoT telemetry data. The database is in West Europe and must be readable in East US for reporting with a maximum lag of 10 seconds. You configure a failover group with East US as the secondary region. After setup, reporting queries in East US show data that is 5 minutes old. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The secondary database is configured with 'Geo' secondary type; you need to set it to 'Readable' to minimize lag. The most likely cause is that the secondary database is configured with the default 'Geo' secondary type, which is not readable and uses asynchronous replication with potentially high lag. To minimize lag and make the secondary readable for reporting, you must set the secondary type to 'Readable' (also called 'Named' secondary in some contexts). This ensures the secondary is kept in near-synchronous sync, though still asynchronous. Option A is incorrect because the failover policy does not affect replication lag. Option B is incorrect because the secondary can be made readable by changing the secondary type. Option D is incorrect because Hyperscale does not support synchronous replication, and changing to sync would not address the lag issue.

Answer

The failover group has 'Read/Write failover policy' set to 'Automatic' causing the lag

Answer

The secondary database is not readable; it is only for failover

Answer

The replication mode is set to 'Async' and should be changed to 'Sync'

Question 8

Your company has an Azure SQL Managed Instance in the UK South region. You need to implement a disaster recovery solution that provides automatic failover to a secondary region and allows read-only workloads to use the secondary replica. The solution must minimize data loss. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Deploy a second managed instance and use auto-failover groups. For Azure SQL Managed Instance, failover groups provide automatic failover to a secondary region and allow read-only workloads to use the secondary replica, minimizing data loss. Option B is incorrect because availability groups are not supported for Azure SQL Managed Instance; they are for SQL Server on Azure VMs. Option C is essentially the same as A but less precise; the standard solution is to deploy a second managed instance in the secondary region and configure a failover group. Option D is incorrect because active geo-replication is a feature of Azure SQL Database, not Azure SQL Managed Instance.

Answer

Create an availability group in the secondary region and configure automatic failover

Answer

Configure a failover group between two managed instances

Answer

Enable active geo-replication and configure auto-failover using PowerShell

Question 9

Which TWO of the following are benefits of using Azure SQL Database failover groups compared to active geo-replication? (Choose Two.)

Accepted Answer

Failover groups allow you to fail over multiple databases simultaneously.. Options A and B are correct. Failover groups allow multiple databases to fail over together as a unit (A), which is not possible with active geo-replication where each database must be failed over individually. Failover groups also provide a read-write listener endpoint that remains unchanged after a failover (B), simplifying application connection strings. Option C is incorrect because failover groups can be configured for automatic failover but do not automatically fail over without any manual intervention or a defined auto-failover policy. Option D is incorrect because both failover groups and active geo-replication provide readable secondary replicas, so this is not a distinct benefit. Option E is incorrect because failover groups still rely on geo-redundant storage; they do not eliminate the need for it.

Answer

Failover groups automatically fail over without any manual intervention.

Answer

Failover groups provide a readable secondary replica for read-only workloads.

Answer

Failover groups eliminate the need for geo-redundant storage.

Question 10

You have an Azure SQL Database in the Business Critical tier with zone redundancy enabled. The database experiences a brief outage due to a zone failure. How does the platform automatically recover?

Accepted Answer

A replica in another availability zone is automatically promoted to primary.. The Business Critical tier with zone redundancy automatically fails over to a replica in another zone without data loss. Option A is wrong because the service heals itself without manual intervention. Option C is wrong because no data loss occurs (zero data loss is guaranteed). Option D is wrong because automatic failover happens within seconds.

Answer

You must perform a manual failover to a secondary replica.

Answer

The database is restored from the latest backup.

Answer

The database becomes read-only until the zone is restored.

Question 11

You are designing a disaster recovery plan for an Azure SQL Database that uses the Business Critical service tier. The database is 2 TB. You need to ensure that the secondary replica in a different Azure region is readable for reporting queries. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Configure active geo-replication to a secondary server in the target region.. Active geo-replication creates a readable secondary database in a different region that can be used for reporting. Option A is wrong: auto-failover groups do not automatically provide a readable secondary; they are designed for failover, and while you can configure a readable secondary, active geo-replication is the primary method for cross-region read-scale. Option B is wrong because zone-redundant backup storage provides redundancy for backups, not a readable secondary. Option D is wrong because geo-restore creates a new database from a backup and is not a continuously available readable replica.

Answer

Create an auto-failover group with a secondary in the paired region.

Answer

Enable zone-redundant backup storage.

Answer

Use geo-restore from geo-redundant backups.

Question 12

Which THREE factors should you consider when choosing between active geo-replication and failover groups for an Azure SQL Database disaster recovery solution?

Accepted Answer

Failover groups require all databases in the group to fail over together.. The correct answers are A, C, and E. Option A is correct because failover groups fail over all databases in the group together. Option C is correct because failover groups provide a single readable/writable listener endpoint. Option E is correct because active geo-replication supports up to 4 readable secondaries. Option B is incorrect: active geo-replication is available in both the Premium and Business Critical tiers, not just Business Critical. Option D is incorrect: failover groups support readable secondaries.

Answer

Active geo-replication is only available in the Business Critical tier.

Answer

Failover groups do not support readable secondaries.

Question 13

You manage a critical database in Azure SQL Database that must recover within 5 minutes in case of a regional outage. You configure geo-replication. Which SKU guarantees the fastest failover time with the least data loss?

Accepted Answer

Business Critical (BC). Azure SQL Database Business Critical tier uses premium SSDs and in-memory technologies, providing the lowest RPO and fastest failover (typically <30 seconds). Hyperscale (A) has longer failover and higher RPO. General Purpose (B) has higher RPO. Serverless (D) is not suitable for geo-replication.

Answer

General Purpose (GP)

Answer

Hyperscale (HS)

Answer

Serverless

Question 14

You need to ensure high availability for an Azure SQL Database in the Business Critical service tier. Which feature provides the fastest failover within the same region?

Accepted Answer

Built-in Always On availability groups. The Business Critical service tier uses Always On availability groups with synchronous replication, providing automatic and fast failover within the same region. Option B (Zone-redundant configuration) adds zone resilience but does not provide faster failover within a zone. Option C (Read scale-out) is for read-only workloads and does not provide failover. Option D (Active geo-replication) is for cross-region failover and has a higher RTO.

Answer

Zone-redundant configuration

Answer

Read scale-out

Answer

Active geo-replication

Question 15

You manage an Azure SQL Managed Instance that hosts a line-of-business application. The instance is currently deployed in the UK South region using the General Purpose service tier. The business has a new requirement for disaster recovery with an RPO of 30 minutes and an RTO of 2 hours. You need to implement a solution that minimizes ongoing costs. The secondary region should be UK West. The application can tolerate a brief outage during failover. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Deploy a secondary General Purpose instance in UK West and configure a failover group.. Deploying a secondary General Purpose instance in UK West and configuring a failover group meets the RPO of 30 minutes and RTO of 2 hours with minimal cost. Option A is wrong because zone redundancy only protects against zonal failures within a single region, not regional disasters. Option B is wrong because geo-restore has an RPO of up to 1 hour and an RTO of hours to days, failing the requirements. Option C is wrong because Business Critical is more expensive and not necessary for the RPO/RTO targets; General Purpose can achieve them using a failover group.

Answer

Deploy a zone-redundant General Purpose instance in UK South only.

Answer

Keep the current instance and rely on geo-restore to UK West.

Answer

Upgrade both instances to Business Critical and configure a failover group.