DP-300 Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment Practice Test 11 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You are tasked with designing a disaster recovery solution for Azure SQL Database that meets an RPO of 5 seconds and an RTO of 30 seconds during a regional outage. Which TWO features should you combine?

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

Accepted Answer

Business Critical service tier. The correct combination is Business Critical service tier (B) and failover groups with active geo-replication (C). Business Critical provides multiple read-write replicas and automatic failover within a region, enabling low RTO. Active geo-replication with failover groups extends this across regions, achieving the required RPO of 5 seconds and RTO of 30 seconds. Zone-redundant configuration (E) only provides intra-region resilience, not cross-region disaster recovery. Geo-restore from GRS backups (D) has an RTO measured in hours. General Purpose (A) lacks the performance and replica architecture to meet the strict RTO/RPO.

Answer

General Purpose service tier

Answer

Geo-restore from GRS backups

Answer

Zone-redundant configuration

Question 2

You have an Azure SQL Managed Instance. You need to implement a disaster recovery solution that provides automatic failover with an RTO of less than 1 hour. Which THREE actions should you take?

Accepted Answer

Create a secondary Managed Instance in a different Azure region.. To achieve automatic failover with an RTO under 1 hour for Azure SQL Managed Instance, you need a secondary instance in a different region (B), a failover group for automatic failover (C), and the Business Critical service tier which supports failover groups (E). Zone redundancy (A) provides high availability within a region, not disaster recovery across regions. Geo-replication (D) is not supported on Managed Instance; failover groups are the correct mechanism.

Answer

Enable zone redundancy on the primary instance.

Answer

Enable geo-replication on the instance.

Question 3

You are the database administrator for a global e-commerce company. The company uses Azure SQL Database in the Business Critical service tier for its transactional database, db1, hosted in the East US region. The database is 500 GB and experiences high write throughput. The current disaster recovery solution uses active geo-replication to a secondary in West US, but during a recent failover drill, the failover took 45 seconds, exceeding the corporate RTO of 30 seconds. The RPO requirement is zero data loss. You need to improve the failover time while maintaining zero data loss. The secondary must be in a different Azure region for compliance. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Configure an auto-failover group between East US and West US using zone-redundant deployment within each region and ensure the secondary is zone-redundant.. None of the provided options fully satisfy both requirements: zero data loss (RPO=0) and failover time under 30 seconds across regions. Auto-failover groups (Option C) use asynchronous replication across regions, so RPO is not zero. General Purpose tier (Option B) also uses async replication. Increasing replicas (Option A) does not affect failover time. Hyperscale with named replicas (Option D) does not support cross-region failover. To achieve zero data loss across regions, an alternative solution such as SQL Server on Azure VMs with an availability group or Azure SQL Managed Instance with a distributed availability group would be required.

Answer

Increase the number of replicas in the Business Critical tier to 5.

Answer

Change the secondary to a General Purpose tier and use async replication.

Answer

Move both primary and secondary to Hyperscale tier and use named replicas.

Question 4

A small business uses Azure SQL Database single database in the General Purpose tier for its inventory management system. The database is located in the Brazil South region. The business wants a disaster recovery solution that can automatically fail over to a secondary region in case of an outage, with an RPO of less than 1 hour and an RTO of less than 2 hours. The budget is limited, so the solution must be cost-effective. What should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Create a failover group with a secondary database in a different region using the General Purpose tier.. A failover group with a secondary in another region provides automatic failover with low RPO (<1 hour) and RTO (<2 hours), and using the General Purpose tier is cost-effective. Option B is wrong because zone redundancy provides high availability within a single region, not disaster recovery across regions. Option C is wrong because geo-restore from geo-redundant backups has an RTO of several hours (typically 7-12 hours), which exceeds the required 2 hours. Option D is wrong because upgrading to Business Critical tier is more expensive and not necessary for the RPO/RTO requirements; geo-replication is already available in General Purpose through failover groups.

Answer

Enable zone redundancy on the existing database.

Answer

Use geo-restore from geo-redundant backups.

Answer

Upgrade to Business Critical tier and configure geo-replication.

Question 5

You manage a critical application that uses Azure SQL Database in the West US region. The application requires an RPO of 5 seconds and an RTO of 1 hour in the event of a regional outage. You need to recommend a high availability solution that meets these requirements with minimal cost. What should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Create a failover group with a secondary replica in a paired region using active geo-replication.. It uses active geo-replication with a failover group to a paired region. Active geo-replication typically provides an RPO of 5 seconds or less, and the automated failover can meet an RTO of 1 hour. Option A is incorrect because an auto-failover group within the same region (different availability zone) protects only against zone failure, not a regional outage. Option B is incorrect because geo-restore has a much higher RPO (up to 12 hours) and RTO (hours or days). Option D is incorrect because zone-redundant deployment protects within a region, not against a regional disaster.

Answer

Configure an auto-failover group with a secondary in a different availability zone within West US.

Answer

Enable geo-restore for the database with a backup retention of 35 days.

Answer

Deploy a zone-redundant Azure SQL Database in the West US region.

Question 6

Your company runs a mission-critical database on Azure SQL Managed Instance in the East US region. To comply with a new regulatory requirement, you must ensure that the database can be recovered within 15 minutes in the event of a regional disaster, with a maximum data loss of 10 seconds. You also need to minimize compute costs during normal operations. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Deploy the primary instance as Business Critical with a zone-redundant secondary replica, and configure a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region using Business Critical with a non-readable secondary.. It combines synchronous data redundancy within the primary region via zone-redundant Business Critical, which provides automatic failover within the region for high availability, with an asynchronous geo-failover group to a paired region using a non-readable secondary replica. The Business Critical tier offers synchronous replication within the region, meeting the 10-second RPO, and the failover group enables geo-failover within 15 minutes (RTO). Using a non-readable secondary (no read scale-out) minimizes compute costs during normal operations. Option A is wrong because General Purpose uses asynchronous replication, which cannot achieve a 10-second RPO. Option B is wrong because zone-redundancy alone does not protect against a full regional disaster. Option D is wrong because pairing a Business Critical primary with a General Purpose secondary would result in asynchronous replication between regions, risking higher RPO, and a readable secondary adds unnecessary cost.

Answer

Use a General Purpose instance with a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region.

Answer

Configure a zone-redundant Business Critical instance in East US only, without a geo-secondary.

Answer

Deploy the primary instance as Business Critical with a readable secondary replica, and configure a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region using General Purpose.

Question 7

You have an Azure SQL Database that uses the General Purpose service tier. The database is critical and you need to protect against a regional outage with an RPO of 1 hour and an RTO of 12 hours. What is the most cost-effective solution?

Accepted Answer

Use geo-restore with the default backup retention.. Geo-restore uses automated backups stored in geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS) at no additional cost beyond backup storage. With default backup retention (7 days), geo-restore typically achieves an RPO of 1 hour and an RTO of 12 hours, meeting the requirements cost-effectively. Option B (active geo-replication) and Option C (auto-failover group) both incur extra compute and storage costs for the secondary replica, making them more expensive. Option D (zone-redundant) protects against zonal failures within a region, not regional outages.

Answer

Enable active geo-replication.

Answer

Configure auto-failover group with a secondary in a different region.

Answer

Deploy a zone-redundant configuration.

Question 8

Refer to the exhibit. You are reviewing an ARM template for an Azure SQL Database backup policy. The database is used for a reporting workload that is updated daily. The compliance team requires that point-in-time restore (PITR) be available for the past 30 days. What action should you take?

Accepted Answer

Change the retentionDays property to 30.. The retentionDays property in the ARM template controls the point-in-time restore (PITR) retention period. Currently set to 14 days, it must be changed to 30 days to meet the compliance requirement. Option B is incorrect because diffBackupIntervalInHours specifies the interval for differential backups, not retention. Option C is incorrect because 14 days does not satisfy the 30-day requirement. Option D is incorrect because long-term retention (LTR) is for archival purposes beyond PITR and does not replace the PITR retention setting.

Answer

Change the diffBackupIntervalInHours to 24.

Answer

No action is needed; the current policy meets the requirement.

Answer

Add a long-term retention policy with a weekly retention of 30 days.

Question 9

You are designing a disaster recovery plan for an Azure SQL Managed Instance that hosts an OLTP application. The application requires an RPO of 15 seconds and an RTO of 5 minutes. You need to choose a configuration that meets these requirements. Which TWO options should you consider? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Configure a failover group with a secondary instance in a paired region, both using Business Critical service tier.. (failover group with Business Critical secondary in paired region) meets the RPO of 15 seconds and RTO of 5 minutes because Business Critical tier uses synchronous commit within the region and asynchronous replication across regions, with failover group providing automated failover. Option E (active geo-replication) is not supported for Azure SQL Managed Instance; only failover groups are available. Option B does not protect against regional failure. Option C's General Purpose tier cannot guarantee the required low RPO/RTO. Option D is not a standalone solution.

Answer

Deploy a zone-redundant Business Critical instance in a single region.

Answer

Deploy a General Purpose instance with a failover group to a secondary in another region.

Answer

Ensure the secondary instance has at least one readable secondary replica.

Answer

Use active geo-replication between two Business Critical instances in different regions.

Question 10

Your company uses Azure SQL Database with active geo-replication for disaster recovery. The primary database is in the West Europe region. You need to perform a planned failover to the secondary in North Europe for a maintenance window. Which THREE actions should you take? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

After failover, verify that the new secondary (in West Europe) is configured as a readable secondary.. The correct actions are C, D, and E. For a planned failover during a maintenance window, you should initiate a planned failover (no data loss) from the Azure portal or PowerShell (E) to ensure all transactions are synchronized before switching. After failover, verify that the new secondary (in West Europe) is configured as a readable secondary (C) to maintain disaster recovery capabilities. Additionally, update the application connection strings to point to the new primary in North Europe (D). Option A is incorrect because a forced failover could cause data loss and is intended for unplanned outages. Option B is incorrect because seeding of the new secondary happens automatically via geo-replication.

Answer

Initiate a forced failover to ensure the fastest switchover.

Answer

Manually seed the new secondary database after failover.

Question 11

You are planning high availability for an Azure SQL Database that runs an e-commerce application. The database uses the Business Critical service tier. Which TWO features are automatically enabled to provide high availability within a single region? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Automatic failover to a secondary replica if the primary becomes unavailable.. Options A and B are correct. Business Critical includes multiple replicas (one primary and two secondary) that are automatically managed, and zone-redundant configuration is optional but not automatic. Option C is wrong because active geo-replication is a separate DR feature. Option D is wrong because auto-failover groups are for DR. Option E is wrong because read scale-out is an optional feature, not automatic for HA.

Answer

Auto-failover groups with a secondary in another region.

Answer

Active geo-replication to a paired region.

Answer

Read scale-out with a readable secondary replica.

Question 12

You have an Azure SQL Database that uses active geo-replication between two regions. You need to ensure minimal data loss during an unplanned failover while maintaining the current configuration. Which THREE settings should you verify? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

The replication mode is 'async' (asynchronous) with a low RPO target.. Options A, B, and C are correct. Option A is correct because active geo-replication uses asynchronous replication with a configurable RPO; a low RPO target minimizes potential data loss. Option B is correct because automatic seed type ensures continuous synchronization of the secondary database. Option C is correct because locating the secondary in a paired region with low network latency reduces replication lag, thereby minimizing data loss. Option D is wrong because making the secondary readable does not affect data loss; it is designed for read-scale workloads. Option E is wrong because the failover group name does not influence data loss; a forced failover policy would actually cause data loss.

Answer

The secondary database is configured as 'readable' to avoid lag.

Answer

The failover group is named with a 'forced' failover policy.

Question 13

You are designing a disaster recovery plan for an Azure SQL Managed Instance that hosts a financial application. The application requires an RPO of 0 seconds and an RTO of 30 seconds. Which TWO configurations meet these requirements? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Deploy a Business Critical instance with zone redundancy and a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region, using the Business Critical service tier.. Options C and D are correct. To achieve an RPO of 0 seconds and an RTO of 30 seconds for Azure SQL Managed Instance, you need configurations that provide synchronous replication and rapid failover. Option C combines zone redundancy (for local high availability with zero data loss within the region) and a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region. The failover group, when used with the Business Critical service tier and a planned failover, can synchronize all data before failing over, meeting the zero RPO requirement. Option D directly uses a failover group with the 'planned' failover option, which ensures all committed transactions are replicated before failover, achieving zero data loss and a fast RTO. Option A is incorrect because active geo-replication is not supported for SQL Managed Instance and is asynchronous. Option B is incorrect because zone redundancy alone provides high availability within a single region but does not address cross-region disaster recovery. Option E is incorrect because manual restore from backup cannot meet the 30-second RTO.

Answer

Configure active geo-replication between two Business Critical instances in different regions.

Answer

Deploy a zone-redundant Business Critical instance in a single region and rely on automatic failover.

Answer

Set up a manual failover process using a PowerShell script that restores from the latest backup.

Question 14

You are the database administrator for a global e-commerce company that uses Azure SQL Database for its product catalog. The database is currently deployed in the East US region using the General Purpose service tier. The company is expanding to Europe and wants to improve disaster recovery posture. The new requirements are: RPO of 5 seconds, RTO of 1 hour, and the ability to serve read traffic from the secondary region during normal operations. The budget is limited, so you must minimize cost while meeting these requirements. The application connection strings can be updated to a listener endpoint. What should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Upgrade the primary to Business Critical, configure a failover group with a readable secondary in West Europe using Business Critical, and use the listener endpoint for application connections.. It meets all requirements: upgrading the primary to Business Critical provides synchronous replication with an RPO of 2-5 seconds, and configuring a failover group with a readable secondary in West Europe using Business Critical ensures the secondary can serve read traffic from Europe and failover can occur within 1 hour. The listener endpoint simplifies application connection management. Option A is incorrect because General Purpose tier has an RPO of 5-30 minutes, which cannot meet the 5-second requirement, and a same-region secondary does not serve European read traffic. Option C is incorrect because zone-redundancy only protects within a region, not across regions, and a General Purpose secondary would have higher RPO. Option D is incorrect because a readable secondary in the same region does not serve read traffic from Europe, and geo-restore has an RTO of hours, not 1 hour.

Answer

Keep the primary as General Purpose, create a readable secondary in the same region, and configure active geo-replication to a secondary in West Europe.

Answer

Deploy a zone-redundant Business Critical database in East US and use auto-failover groups to a secondary in West Europe with General Purpose.

Answer

Upgrade the primary database to Business Critical, create a readable secondary in the same region, and use geo-restore for DR.

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.