DP-300 Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment — 30 Questions

Question 1

Your company runs a mission-critical application on Azure SQL Database in the East US region. You need to ensure automatic failover with zero data loss in case of a regional outage. Which deployment option should you use?

Accepted Answer

Deploy a Business Critical tier database and configure an auto-failover group with a readable secondary in a paired region.. Option C is correct because Azure SQL Database Business Critical tier with zone-redundant configuration provides the highest level of availability within a region, but for cross-region disaster recovery with zero data loss, you need auto-failover groups with a readable secondary in another region, which is supported in Business Critical and Premium tiers. However, the question asks for automatic failover with zero data loss; this is achieved by configuring auto-failover groups with synchronous replication, which is supported in Business Critical and Premium tiers. Option A (Hyperscale) supports zone redundancy but not synchronous replication for failover groups. Option B (General Purpose) has asynchronous replication. Option D (Serverless) is not suitable for mission-critical workloads.

Answer

Deploy a General Purpose tier database with geo-replication.

Answer

Deploy a Hyperscale tier database with zone redundancy.

Answer

Deploy a Serverless tier database with active geo-replication.

Question 2

You administer a SQL Managed Instance in the West Europe region. You need to create a disaster recovery replica in North Europe with automated failover. The replica must be readable and support backups. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Create a failover group with the secondary instance in North Europe.. Option B is correct because SQL Managed Instance supports failover groups, which provide automated failover and readable secondary instances. Geo-replication is not supported for Managed Instance. Option A is wrong because geo-replication is not supported. Option C is wrong because the secondary in a failover group is readable. Option D is wrong because log shipping is not supported.

Answer

Set up log shipping from West Europe to North Europe.

Answer

Configure active geo-replication between the instances.

Answer

Create a failover group, but note the secondary is not readable.

Question 3

You have an Azure SQL Database in the Business Critical tier with a failover group to a secondary region. The primary region experiences a full outage. What is the expected recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) if you initiate a manual failover?

Accepted Answer

RTO of 30 seconds, RPO of 0.. Option A is correct because Business Critical tier with failover groups offers an RTO of ~30 seconds and RPO of 0 (zero data loss) when using synchronous replication. Option B is wrong because RTO is lower. Option C is wrong because RPO is zero. Option D is wrong because RPO is zero.

Answer

RTO of 5 minutes, RPO of 1 second.

Answer

RTO of 30 seconds, RPO of 5 seconds.

Answer

RTO of 1 hour, RPO of 5 minutes.

Question 4

Your company uses Azure SQL Database Hyperscale tier for a large data warehouse. You need to implement disaster recovery with the ability to perform point-in-time restore in the secondary region. What is the best approach?

Accepted Answer

Configure geo-replication to a secondary Hyperscale database in the secondary region.. Option D is correct because Hyperscale databases support geo-replication (currently in preview but available) which provides a readable secondary and the ability to restore backups in the secondary region. Option A is wrong because failover groups are not supported for Hyperscale. Option B is wrong because geo-backup restore has a higher RPO. Option C is wrong because auto-failover groups are not supported.

Answer

Configure auto-failover groups between regions.

Answer

Use geo-restore of automated backups.

Answer

Create a failover group with manual failover.

Question 5

You are designing a high availability solution for an Azure SQL Database used by a critical application. The application requires no more than 5 seconds of data loss and automatic failover within 1 minute. Which service tier and configuration should you choose?

Accepted Answer

Business Critical tier with zone redundancy.. Option C is correct because Business Critical tier with zone redundancy provides automatic failover within seconds and zero data loss. Option A is wrong because General Purpose does not meet RPO requirements. Option B is wrong because Hyperscale zone redundancy does not guarantee automatic failover on its own. Option D is wrong because Hyperscale geo-replication has a higher RTO.

Answer

Hyperscale tier with geo-replication and auto-failover group.

Answer

Hyperscale tier with zone redundancy.

Answer

General Purpose tier with active geo-replication.

Question 6

You have a SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machine running a critical OLTP workload. You need to achieve high availability with automatic failover and no shared storage. The solution must use Azure features and avoid complex clustering configurations. What should you implement?

Accepted Answer

Configure an Always On Availability Group with automatic failover.. Option B is correct because SQL Server on Azure VMs supports Always On Availability Groups, which provide automatic failover with no shared storage. Option A (Failover Cluster Instance) requires shared storage. Option C (Log shipping) does not provide automatic failover. Option D (Database mirroring) is deprecated and not recommended.

Answer

Set up log shipping to a secondary VM.

Answer

Use database mirroring with automatic failover.

Answer

Deploy a Windows Server Failover Cluster Instance (FCI) using Azure Shared Disks.

Question 7

Your company has an Azure SQL Database in the General Purpose tier. You need to reduce the recovery point objective (RPO) from 1 hour to less than 1 minute for disaster recovery. Which action should you take?

Accepted Answer

Upgrade the database to Business Critical tier.. Option A is correct because upgrading to Business Critical tier enables synchronous replication, which reduces RPO. Option B is wrong because increasing backup retention does not affect replication RPO. Option C is wrong because enabling zone redundancy does not reduce geo-replication RPO. Option D is wrong because increasing DTU does not change replication mode.

Answer

Increase the backup retention period to 35 days.

Answer

Enable zone redundancy on the database.

Answer

Increase the DTU or vCore count.

Question 8

You need to ensure that an Azure SQL Managed Instance remains available in the event of a single availability zone failure in a region that supports availability zones. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Deploy the instance in Business Critical tier with zone-redundant configuration.. Option B is correct because zone-redundant deployment for Managed Instance is available in Business Critical tier. Option A is wrong because General Purpose does not support zone redundancy. Option C is wrong because failover groups are for regional disasters, not zonal failures. Option D is wrong because Hyperscale is not a tier for Managed Instance.

Answer

Configure a failover group to another region.

Answer

Deploy the instance in General Purpose tier with zone redundancy.

Answer

Use a Hyperscale tier instance with zone redundancy.

Question 9

Your company uses Azure SQL Database with active geo-replication for disaster recovery. During a drill, you need to verify that the secondary database is ready for failover and that data synchronization is current. Which query should you run on the secondary database?

Accepted Answer

SELECT * FROM sys.dm_geo_replication_link_status;. Option C is correct because the sys.dm_geo_replication_link_status DMV shows replication lag and the last replicated transaction. Option A is wrong because sys.dm_database_copies is for copy-only operations. Option B is wrong because sys.dm_continuous_copy_status is deprecated. Option D is wrong because sys.dm_replication_status is for transactional replication.

Answer

SELECT * FROM sys.dm_continuous_copy_status;

Answer

SELECT * FROM sys.dm_database_copies;

Answer

SELECT * FROM sys.dm_replication_status;

Question 10

Which TWO actions should you take to minimize downtime during a planned failover of an Azure SQL Database failover group? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Ensure the failover group is configured for manual failover.. Option A and D are correct. Setting the failover group to manual and performing a planned failover ensures no data loss and minimizes downtime. Option B is wrong because increasing performance does not affect failover. Option C is wrong because disabling automatic failover is not necessary. Option E is wrong because terminating connections manually is not recommended; the failover process handles it.

Answer

Scale up the primary database to a higher service objective.

Answer

Terminate all active connections to the primary database.

Answer

Disable automatic failover on the failover group.

Question 11

Which THREE components are required to configure a failover group for Azure SQL Database? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

At least one database on the primary server.. Options A, B, and D are correct. A failover group requires a primary server, a secondary server, and at least one database. Option C is wrong because a listener is automatically created, not required to be configured. Option E is wrong because an elastic pool is optional.

Answer

Failover group listener.

Answer

An elastic pool.

Question 12

Which TWO disaster recovery options are available for Azure SQL Database? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Auto-failover groups.. Options A and C are correct. Active geo-replication and failover groups are the two main DR options for Azure SQL Database. Option B is wrong because log shipping is not supported. Option D is wrong because availability groups are for SQL Server VMs, not Azure SQL Database. Option E is wrong because database mirroring is deprecated.

Answer

Database mirroring.

Answer

Always On availability groups.

Answer

Log shipping.

Question 13

You are reviewing a JSON configuration for an Azure SQL Database. The exhibit shows the database properties. Which statement about this database is correct?

Accepted Answer

The configuration is invalid because General Purpose tier cannot be zone-redundant.. Option C is correct because zoneRedundant is set to true, which requires a premium service tier. General Purpose (GP) does not support zone redundancy. The configuration is invalid. Option A is wrong because GP does not support zone redundancy. Option B is wrong because highAvailabilityReplicaCount is 0, not 1. Option D is wrong because backupStorageRedundancy is Geo, which is valid.

Answer

The database has one high-availability replica.

Answer

The database uses locally-redundant backup storage.

Answer

The database is in General Purpose tier and supports zone redundancy.

Question 14

You are deploying an Azure SQL Database with the above ARM template snippet. How many readable replicas will be available for read-only queries?

Accepted Answer

2. Option D is correct. Business Critical tier has one primary and multiple replicas. With highAvailabilityReplicaCount set to 2, there are 2 replicas in addition to the primary. By default, one replica is used for HA and the others are readable. With readScale enabled, all replicas can be used for read-only queries. So total readable replicas = highAvailabilityReplicaCount = 2. Option A is wrong because it counts the primary. Option B is wrong because only replicas are readable. Option C is wrong because 3 would include the primary.

Answer

3

Answer

1

Answer

4

Question 15

You are examining the configuration of an Azure SQL Database in the Business Critical tier. The exhibit shows the database properties. What is the maximum number of readable replicas available for read-only queries?

Accepted Answer

4. Option C is correct. In Business Critical tier, the maximum number of readable replicas is 4, but the highAvailabilityReplicaCount property specifies the number of replicas excluding the primary. With a value of 4, there are 4 replicas, all of which can be readable when readScale is enabled. Option A is wrong because 5 would include the primary. Option B is wrong because 1 is too low. Option D is wrong because the maximum is 4.

Answer

1

Answer

3

Answer

5

Question 16

Your company has an Azure SQL Database with active geo-replication to a secondary region. During a regional outage, the secondary database becomes the primary. After the outage is resolved, you need to bring the original primary back online with minimal data loss and without creating a new secondary. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Re-establish geo-replication from the new primary to the original primary.. Option A is correct because after a failover, the original primary becomes a secondary. You can safely re-establish geo-replication by failing back to the original primary or simply adding it as a secondary. Option B is wrong because geo-replication is not automatically re-established. Option C is wrong because the original primary is still available as a secondary. Option D is wrong because you should not delete the original primary.

Answer

Automatically re-establish geo-replication by waiting for the outage resolution.

Answer

Restore the original primary from a backup and then re-establish geo-replication.

Answer

Delete the original primary database and create a new secondary from the new primary.

Question 17

You have an Azure SQL Managed Instance configured with a failover group across two regions. The primary region experiences a complete outage. You perform a manual failover to the secondary region. After the primary region is restored, you need to bring the original primary back into the failover group. What is the correct order of actions?

Accepted Answer

Remove the original primary from the failover group and then add it back as a secondary.. Option C is correct because after a manual failover, the original primary becomes a secondary. To bring it back, you must first remove it from the failover group (if it's still listed), then re-add it as a secondary. Option A is wrong because automatic failover is not configured. Option B is wrong because you should not create a new instance. Option D is wrong because you should perform a planned failover to restore the original primary, but only after re-adding it.

Answer

Perform a planned failover back to the original primary region.

Answer

Create a new SQL Managed Instance in the original region and add it to the failover group.

Answer

Perform a forced failover to the original primary region.

Question 18

Your company uses Azure SQL Database with active geo-replication. You need to ensure that in the event of a regional disaster, the failover to the secondary region occurs automatically with minimal downtime. The secondary region must be in a different Azure geography for compliance. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Create a failover group with automatic failover policy.. Option B is correct because Azure SQL Database failover groups support automatic failover when paired with auto-failover policy. Active geo-replication alone does not provide automatic failover. Option A is incorrect because active geo-replication requires manual failover. Option C is incorrect because always failover groups are not a feature. Option D is incorrect because auto-failover groups do not support cross-geography failover automatically without manual setup.

Answer

Create an auto-failover group using Azure CLI and set cross-geography replication.

Answer

Configure active geo-replication and set auto-failover policy.

Answer

Configure an always failover group with Microsoft Entra ID authentication.

Question 19

You are designing a disaster recovery plan for an Azure SQL Database that stores critical financial data. The RPO must be 5 seconds, and the RTO must be 30 seconds. Which solution should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Failover groups with automatic failover policy.. Option A is correct because failover groups with automatic failover can achieve RPO of 5 seconds and RTO of 30 seconds. Option B is incorrect because active geo-replication has a higher RPO (typically 5 seconds as well) but requires manual failover, increasing RTO. Option C is incorrect because automated backups have much higher RPO and RTO. Option D is incorrect because zone-redundant configuration only protects within a region.

Answer

Zone-redundant configuration within the primary region.

Answer

Active geo-replication with manual failover.

Answer

Automated backups with geo-restore.

Question 20

You have an Azure SQL Managed Instance in the East US region. To meet a 1-hour RPO and 2-hour RTO, you configure a failover group with a secondary in West US using automatic failover. During a test, you notice that the RTO is consistently 10 minutes longer than required. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The failover group has a grace period of 20 minutes configured.. Option C is correct because the failover group's automatic failover includes a grace period (default 20 minutes) that delays failover to allow for transient issues. This grace period contributes to RTO. Option A is incorrect because synchronous commit is used in failover groups by default for the primary-secondary pair. Option B is incorrect because the secondary is already seeded. Option D is incorrect because Microsoft Entra ID authentication does not significantly impact failover time.

Answer

The failover group uses Microsoft Entra ID authentication, which adds latency.

Answer

The secondary database is configured with asynchronous commit, causing delay.

Answer

The secondary database is not seeded and needs to be restored.