DP-300 Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment Practice Test 3 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You have an Azure SQL Database in the Business Critical tier without zone redundancy. You need to configure a disaster recovery plan that ensures the database is available in a different Azure region within 1 hour of a regional outage. The solution must minimize data loss and not require manual intervention. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Configure active geo-replication to a secondary region and enable auto-failover groups.. Option A is correct because active geo-replication provides asynchronous replication to a secondary region with a configurable failover policy, minimizing data loss and enabling automatic failover if configured with auto-failover groups. Option B (failover group) is for managed instances, not single databases. Option C (geo-restore) has a longer RTO and potential data loss. Option D (copy-only backup) is not a disaster recovery solution.

Answer

Create a failover group between two servers in different regions.

Answer

Use geo-restore of the latest backup.

Answer

Configure copy-only backups to a secondary region.

Question 2

You have an Azure SQL Managed Instance configured with a failover group between the primary region (East US) and secondary region (West US). The secondary instance is used for read-only query workloads. During a planned failover test, you notice that after failover, the read-only queries on the secondary instance fail with error 4060 (cannot open database). What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The failover changed the secondary instance to primary, and read-only routing is not configured for the new secondary.. Option C is correct because after failover, the secondary role changes to primary, and the database becomes writable. Read-only routing must be reconfigured or the connection string must specify ApplicationIntent=ReadOnly to reach the new secondary. Option A (secondary is not readable) is false because failover groups support readable secondary. Option B (firewall rules) would cause a different error. Option D (license type) does not affect read access.

Answer

The secondary instance is not in the same license type as the primary.

Answer

The firewall rules on the secondary instance do not allow the client IP.

Answer

The secondary instance is not configured to allow read-only access.

Question 3

You need to design a high availability solution for an Azure SQL Database that supports an online transaction processing (OLTP) application. The solution must provide automatic failover within seconds in case of a node failure and guarantee zero data loss. Which deployment option should you choose?

Accepted Answer

Business Critical tier with zone redundancy. Option B is correct because the Business Critical tier uses a quorum-based commit and synchronous replication to replicas, ensuring zero data loss on failover. Option A (General Purpose) uses asynchronous replication and may lose data. Option C (Hyperscale) uses a log-based service with buffer and may lose data on failover. Option D (Basic) does not provide automatic failover with zero data loss.

Answer

Basic tier with zone redundancy

Answer

General Purpose tier with zone redundancy

Answer

Hyperscale tier with zone redundancy

Question 4

You have an Azure SQL Database in the General Purpose tier. You need to implement a disaster recovery solution that provides an RPO of 5 seconds and an RTO of 1 hour. The solution must use Azure PaaS features only. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Configure active geo-replication to a secondary server in a different region.. Option A is correct because active geo-replication provides asynchronous replication with a typical RPO of 5 seconds and RTO of 1 hour (including failover time). Option B (failover group) is for managed instances. Option C (geo-restore) has RPO of hours and RTO of hours. Option D (copy-only backups) is not a DR solution.

Answer

Create a failover group between two servers in different regions.

Answer

Use geo-restore to recover the database from the latest geo-replicated backup.

Answer

Configure copy-only backups to a secondary region.

Question 5

Your company has an Azure SQL Managed Instance in the General Purpose tier. You need to configure a failover group for disaster recovery. The secondary managed instance must be in a different region and must also be used for read-only workloads. During a failover, you want to minimize data loss. Which configuration should you use?

Accepted Answer

Create a failover group and configure the secondary instance to allow read-only connections.. Option C is correct because failover groups support readable secondary by default, and you can configure the secondary to be used for read-only queries by setting the connection string with ApplicationIntent=ReadOnly. Option A (zone redundancy) is not for geo-DR. Option B (active geo-replication) is not supported for managed instances. Option D (log shipping) is not built-in.

Answer

Enable zone redundancy on the primary and secondary instances.

Answer

Configure log shipping between the primary and secondary instances.

Answer

Use active geo-replication instead of a failover group.

Question 6

You have an Azure SQL Database in the Hyperscale service tier. You need to ensure that the database remains available during a single Azure zone failure. The solution must not require manual intervention. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Enable zone redundancy on the Hyperscale database.. Option A is correct because Hyperscale supports zone redundancy, which automatically places replicas in different zones. Option B (active geo-replication) is for DR, not zone failure. Option C (failover group) is for managed instances. Option D (auto-failover group) is for managed instances, not Hyperscale databases.

Answer

Create a failover group with a secondary in a different zone.

Answer

Configure active geo-replication to a secondary server in a different zone.

Answer

Configure an auto-failover group with a secondary in a different zone.

Question 7

You are planning a disaster recovery solution for an Azure SQL Managed Instance. The solution must meet the following requirements: provide automatic failover to a secondary region, support read-only workloads on the secondary, and allow manual failback. Which TWO features should you include? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Failover group. Options A and D are correct. Failover groups provide automatic failover and support readable secondary. Manual failback is possible by initiating a failover in the opposite direction. Option B (active geo-replication) is not for managed instances. Option C (geo-restore) does not provide automatic failover. Option E (log shipping) is not built-in.

Answer

Active geo-replication

Answer

Geo-restore

Answer

Log shipping

Question 8

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.)

Accepted Answer

Verify that zone redundancy is enabled on the database.. Options A, B, and D are correct. Business Critical with zone redundancy automatically handles patching with no data loss and minimal downtime. You should verify zone redundancy is enabled (A), ensure the database is configured to use a read-scale replica (B) to offload read workloads, and test failover (D) to ensure readiness. Option C (enable geo-replication) is not necessary for HA. Option E (scale down) is not needed.

Answer

Enable active geo-replication to a secondary region.

Answer

Scale the database to a lower tier to reduce cost.

Question 9

You need to configure high availability for an Azure SQL Database that supports a critical application. The database must be resilient to a single compute node failure. Which TWO options should you consider? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Use the Business Critical service tier.. Options A and D are correct. The Business Critical tier provides synchronous replicas that automatically failover on node failure. Zone redundancy places replicas in different zones for additional resilience. Option B (active geo-replication) is for DR across regions. Option C (auto-failover group) is for managed instances. Option E (Hyperscale read replicas) are for read scale, not HA.

Answer

Configure Hyperscale read replicas.

Answer

Enable active geo-replication.

Answer

Create an auto-failover group.

Question 10

Refer to the exhibit. You are reviewing the JSON configuration of an Azure SQL Database in the Business Critical tier. What is the primary benefit of setting highAvailabilityReplicaCount to 2?

Accepted Answer

It provides more read-only replicas to offload read workloads.. Option B is correct. Setting highAvailabilityReplicaCount to 2 in Business Critical tier creates two additional readable replicas (total of 3 replicas including primary). This improves read performance by allowing more read-only connections to be offloaded to replicas. Option A (zero data loss) is achieved by synchronous replication, not replica count. Option C (automatic failover) is inherent to Business Critical. Option D (zone redundancy) is determined by the zoneRedundant property, not replica count.

Answer

It enables automatic failover in case of a node failure.

Answer

It enables zone redundancy for the database.

Answer

It ensures zero data loss during a failover.

Question 11

Refer to the exhibit. You run the Azure CLI command to check the configuration of an Azure SQL Database named db1. The output shows zoneRedundant is true and replicationRole is Primary. Which statement is true about this database?

Accepted Answer

The database is zone-redundant and is the primary database in its replication relationship.. Option C is correct. The output shows the database is a primary database with zone redundancy enabled. It does not indicate any geo-replication relationship. Option A (replica in another zone) is true but not directly shown; zone redundancy means there are replicas in different zones. Option B (geo-replication) is false because replicationRole is Primary, not Secondary. Option D (Hyperscale) is false because Hyperscale does not have zoneRedundant in the same way.

Answer

The database is configured with active geo-replication to a secondary region.

Answer

The database is a Hyperscale database with zone redundancy enabled.

Answer

The database has a readable secondary replica in a different Azure availability zone.

Question 12

Refer to the exhibit. You are reviewing the configuration of a failover group for an Azure SQL Managed Instance. Which statement is correct about this configuration?

Accepted Answer

The read-only endpoint will not automatically redirect connections after failover.. Option A is correct. The readOnlyEndpoint failoverPolicy is Disabled, meaning the read-only listener will not automatically redirect connections after failover. Option B (automatic failover with data loss) is correct but not the best answer; the read-only endpoint behavior is the key point. Option C (read-write endpoint) is automatic. Option D (read-only endpoint) is disabled, so it does not affect read-write connections.

Answer

The read-write endpoint will not automatically redirect connections after failover.

Answer

The failover group will automatically fail over with data loss if the primary is unavailable for more than 60 minutes.

Answer

The read-only endpoint is used for read-write connections after failover.

Question 13

You are configuring a failover group for a pair of Azure SQL Managed Instances in different regions for disaster recovery. The primary instance experiences a regional outage. You need to ensure that after a forced failover, the secondary instance automatically becomes the primary without any manual intervention and that applications can connect using the same listener endpoint. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Create a failover group with automatic failover policy and add the databases.. Option C is correct because a failover group with automatic failover policy ensures that during a regional outage, the secondary database becomes the primary automatically and the listener endpoint remains unchanged. Option A is wrong because active geo-replication does not provide a single listener endpoint and requires manual failover. Option B is wrong because auto-failover groups are the correct feature, not a separate setting. Option D is wrong because Azure Traffic Manager is not needed; the failover group listener provides the endpoint.

Answer

Use Azure Traffic Manager with priority routing to the secondary instance.

Answer

Enable auto-failover groups on the primary instance.

Answer

Configure active geo-replication between the instances.

Question 14

You are designing a high availability solution for an Azure SQL Database that is used by a mission-critical application. The database is currently in the Standard tier. You need to minimize downtime during planned maintenance and unplanned failures while keeping costs low. What should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Upgrade to the Premium tier with zone-redundant configuration.. Option B is correct because Zone-redundant configuration (Premium tier) provides high availability within a region by replicating across availability zones, minimizing downtime. Option A is wrong because Standard tier does not support zone redundancy. Option C is wrong because geo-replication adds cost and complexity for cross-region DR, not primarily for HA within region. Option D is wrong because Basic tier does not support HA features.

Answer

Use the Basic tier with a failover group.

Answer

Configure active geo-replication to a secondary region.

Answer

Upgrade to the Standard tier and enable zone redundancy.

Question 15

Your company has a SQL Server on Azure VM running a critical database. The VM is in a single availability set. You need to achieve a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 5 minutes and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 15 minutes in case of an Azure region failure. What should you implement?

Accepted Answer

Configure Azure Site Recovery to replicate the VM to a secondary region.. Option A is correct because Azure Site Recovery can replicate the VM to another region and provide the required RPO and RTO. Option B is wrong because Always On Availability Groups on Azure VMs require at least two VMs and a witness, and may not achieve 5-minute RPO without synchronous commit (which adds latency). Option C is wrong because Azure Backup has typical RPO of 24 hours for daily backups. Option D is wrong because geo-redundant storage does not provide application-consistent recovery.

Answer

Configure SQL Server Always On Availability Groups with synchronous commit to a secondary VM in another region.

Answer

Use Azure Backup with daily backups and geo-restore.

Answer

Store database files on geo-redundant storage (GRS) and enable auto-failover.