- A
Deploy at least two active application nodes behind a load balancer so one server failure does not interrupt service.
A load balancer with multiple active nodes removes the single-server dependency and lets traffic continue if one node fails or is taken down for maintenance. This directly addresses the requirement to survive an application server failure without stopping the service. It is a standard high-availability design for front-end and application tiers.
- B
Use a cold site that is powered off until a disaster is declared.
Why wrong: A cold site may eventually support disaster recovery, but it usually has a long startup delay and does not meet a 30-minute downtime target. It is too slow for an environment that must recover quickly from a site outage and keep transactions flowing with minimal interruption.
- C
Configure near-real-time database replication or synchronous replication to a standby so recent transactions are preserved.
Replication to a standby system is the correct way to reduce data loss when the primary site or storage fails. Near-real-time or synchronous replication can keep the recovery point within the 5-minute requirement, depending on latency and design. Combined with failover, it protects both availability and recent transaction integrity.
- D
Take nightly backups to meet the 5-minute recovery point objective.
Why wrong: Nightly backups create a much larger potential data-loss window than 5 minutes. Backups are essential for recovery, but they are not a substitute for replication when the business needs very low RPO. This option does not match the stated transaction-loss tolerance.
- E
Rely on weekly VM snapshots because they are faster than replication.
Why wrong: Weekly snapshots are far too infrequent for a 5-minute recovery point objective and do not provide continuous availability. Snapshots can help with point-in-time rollback, but they do not replace real-time replication or failover for a payment system with strict uptime requirements.
SY0-701 Security Architecture Practice Question
This SY0-701 practice question tests your understanding of security architecture. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A payment application must keep running if one application server fails, and the business can tolerate no more than 5 minutes of lost transactions and 30 minutes of downtime during a site outage. Which two controls best match the availability requirements? Select two.
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"best"Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
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
Deploy at least two active application nodes behind a load balancer so one server failure does not interrupt service.
Option A is correct because deploying at least two active application nodes behind a load balancer ensures that if one server fails, traffic is automatically redirected to the remaining healthy node(s), achieving zero downtime for the application itself. This directly meets the requirement that the payment application must keep running if one application server fails, without any interruption to service.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Deploy at least two active application nodes behind a load balancer so one server failure does not interrupt service.
Why this is correct
A load balancer with multiple active nodes removes the single-server dependency and lets traffic continue if one node fails or is taken down for maintenance. This directly addresses the requirement to survive an application server failure without stopping the service. It is a standard high-availability design for front-end and application tiers.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use a cold site that is powered off until a disaster is declared.
Why it's wrong here
A cold site may eventually support disaster recovery, but it usually has a long startup delay and does not meet a 30-minute downtime target. It is too slow for an environment that must recover quickly from a site outage and keep transactions flowing with minimal interruption.
- ✓
Configure near-real-time database replication or synchronous replication to a standby so recent transactions are preserved.
Why this is correct
Replication to a standby system is the correct way to reduce data loss when the primary site or storage fails. Near-real-time or synchronous replication can keep the recovery point within the 5-minute requirement, depending on latency and design. Combined with failover, it protects both availability and recent transaction integrity.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Take nightly backups to meet the 5-minute recovery point objective.
Why it's wrong here
Nightly backups create a much larger potential data-loss window than 5 minutes. Backups are essential for recovery, but they are not a substitute for replication when the business needs very low RPO. This option does not match the stated transaction-loss tolerance.
- ✗
Rely on weekly VM snapshots because they are faster than replication.
Why it's wrong here
Weekly snapshots are far too infrequent for a 5-minute recovery point objective and do not provide continuous availability. Snapshots can help with point-in-time rollback, but they do not replace real-time replication or failover for a payment system with strict uptime requirements.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse recovery point objective (RPO) with recovery time objective (RTO), mistakenly choosing nightly backups (Option D) or weekly snapshots (Option E) because they think any backup meets the RPO, but the 5-minute RPO requires near-continuous data protection, not periodic backups.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, a load balancer (e.g., HAProxy or AWS ALB) performs health checks via TCP or HTTP probes to detect server failure within seconds, then removes the failed node from the pool, allowing client sessions to fail over to healthy servers. For the 5-minute RPO, near-real-time database replication (e.g., MySQL Group Replication or PostgreSQL synchronous streaming replication) ensures that every committed transaction is acknowledged on the standby before the primary confirms it, so in a failure, at most a few seconds of transactions are lost, well within the 5-minute window.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A security analyst at a medium-sized enterprise encounters this scenario during an investigation or architecture review. The correct answer reflects best practice for the specific threat or control described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Security exam questions test whether you can match controls to threats in context — not just recall definitions.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
- →
Security Architecture — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
- →
Security Architecture practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
- →
All SY0-701 questions
1,152 questions across all exam domains
- →
Security+ SY0-701 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
- →
SY0-701 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Related SY0-701 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
General Security Concepts practice questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to General Security Concepts.
Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations practice questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Mitigations.
Security Architecture practice questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security Architecture.
Security Operations practice questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security Operations.
Security Program Management and Oversight practice questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security Program Management and Oversight.
Security+ social engineering questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ social engineering questions.
Security+ cryptography practice questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ cryptography.
Security+ IAM questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ IAM questions.
Security+ risk management questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ risk management questions.
Security+ incident response questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ incident response questions.
Security+ malware questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ malware questions.
Security+ vulnerability management questions
Practise SY0-701 questions linked to Security+ vulnerability management questions.
Practice this exam
Start a free SY0-701 practice session
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SY0-701 question test?
Security Architecture — This question tests Security Architecture — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Deploy at least two active application nodes behind a load balancer so one server failure does not interrupt service. — Option A is correct because deploying at least two active application nodes behind a load balancer ensures that if one server fails, traffic is automatically redirected to the remaining healthy node(s), achieving zero downtime for the application itself. This directly meets the requirement that the payment application must keep running if one application server fails, without any interruption to service.
What should I do if I get this SY0-701 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Keep practising
More SY0-701 practice questions
- An HR analyst must send a salary file to an external auditor. The auditor only needs names, departments, and salary tota…
- An investigator receives a suspect laptop drive that may be used in court. Which approach best supports a forensically s…
- An investigator must collect data from a suspected insider-threat laptop so the evidence could be used in an HR and lega…
- An NDR tool shows a production web server sending small, periodic DNS queries to random-looking subdomains under a domai…
- An investigator needs to make a forensic image of a suspect laptop without changing the original drive contents. Which t…
- An operations team manages Linux servers over SSH. The security team wants to stop direct management access from employe…
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This SY0-701 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SY0-701 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.