CV0-004 Cloud Architecture and Design Practice Question
A cloud architect is designing a web application that must remain available during a full region outage. They plan to deploy identical resources in two separate geographical regions. Which high availability architecture is described?
⚠ Common exam trap
CV0-004 often tests the distinction between active-active and active-passive/warm standby, where candidates confuse 'both regions running' with 'both regions serving traffic'; only active-active has both regions actively serving.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Active-active
Active-active is the correct architecture because it deploys identical resources in two or more regions simultaneously, with both regions actively serving traffic. This provides high availability and load distribution, and if one region fails, the other continues to handle requests without interruption. This is the only option that describes both regions actively running and serving users at the same time.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Cold standby
Why it's wrong here
Cold standby keeps resources powered down and data replicated, requiring a rebuild and lengthy recovery before traffic can be served. It suits cost-sensitive disaster recovery with generous RTO. The scenario specifies identical resources running in two regions with availability during a full outage, which is active-active.
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Active-passive
Why it's wrong here
Active-passive keeps the second region idle until failover, so capacity is wasted and recovery takes time. It suits cost-conscious DR with an acceptable RTO. The scenario describes identical resources deployed in two regions serving traffic simultaneously, which is active-active, not passive standby.
- ✓
Active-active
Why this is correct
Active-active runs identical workloads concurrently in both regions, each serving traffic, so a full region outage leaves the surviving region already handling production load. This differs from active-passive, where the standby region only takes over after failover, incurring downtime.
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Warm standby
Why it's wrong here
Warm standby keeps a scaled-down replica idling, so it cannot absorb full production load instantly during a region outage; identical active resources in both regions describe active-active. Warm standby suits cost-sensitive disaster recovery where a short period of degraded capacity and manual scaling is acceptable.
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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
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