- A
Run one server and keep nightly backups in cloud object storage.
Why wrong: Backups help recovery after loss, but they do not provide automatic service continuity during an outage.
- B
Use two servers in one site behind a load balancer and maintain an asynchronously replicated warm standby site.
This provides local redundancy for server failure and a lower-cost secondary site for failover if the primary site is lost.
- C
Deploy active-active multi-region capacity with identical production load in both regions.
Why wrong: Active-active meets the availability goal, but it usually costs more than the scenario allows and duplicates production capacity.
- D
Add RAID 1 and a spare power supply to the database server.
Why wrong: These hardware controls improve a single server’s reliability, but they do not address a site outage or application-level failover.
Quick Answer
The best design is to use two servers in one site behind a load balancer and maintain an asynchronously replicated warm standby site. This configuration directly addresses the high availability and disaster recovery design requirements by providing automatic failover for a single server failure through the load-balanced pair, while the asynchronously replicated warm standby ensures continued service if the primary site becomes unavailable—all without the cost of fully active capacity in two regions. On the Security+ SY0-701 exam, this question tests your ability to balance availability against cost in a disaster recovery plan, often appearing as a scenario where you must choose between active-active, active-passive, and warm standby options. A common trap is selecting a fully active multi-region setup, which wastes resources, or a cold standby, which lacks automatic failover. Remember the mnemonic “LAMP” for this scenario: Load balancer, Active-passive pair, asynchronously Mirrored warm standby, and Primary site focus.
SY0-701 Security Architecture Practice Question
This SY0-701 practice question tests your understanding of security architecture. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. 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.
An order-entry application must survive a single server failure and continue serving users if the primary site becomes unavailable. Management wants automatic failover, but does not want to pay for fully active production capacity in two regions. Which design is best?
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.
Clue:
"primary"Why it matters: Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
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
Use two servers in one site behind a load balancer and maintain an asynchronously replicated warm standby site.
Option B is correct because it combines a load-balanced active-passive pair at the primary site with an asynchronously replicated warm standby at a secondary site. This design meets the requirement for automatic failover and continued service after a single server failure or primary site outage, while avoiding the cost of fully active multi-region capacity. Asynchronous replication ensures the standby site is ready to take over without requiring synchronous writes that would add latency or require identical production load.
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.
- ✗
Run one server and keep nightly backups in cloud object storage.
Why it's wrong here
Backups help recovery after loss, but they do not provide automatic service continuity during an outage.
- ✓
Use two servers in one site behind a load balancer and maintain an asynchronously replicated warm standby site.
Why this is correct
This provides local redundancy for server failure and a lower-cost secondary site for failover if the primary site is lost.
Clue confirmation
The clue words "best", "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Deploy active-active multi-region capacity with identical production load in both regions.
Why it's wrong here
Active-active meets the availability goal, but it usually costs more than the scenario allows and duplicates production capacity.
- ✗
Add RAID 1 and a spare power supply to the database server.
Why it's wrong here
These hardware controls improve a single server’s reliability, but they do not address a site outage or application-level failover.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse high availability (local redundancy) with disaster recovery (site-level failover), and incorrectly assume that RAID or backups alone satisfy the requirement for automatic failover after a site outage.
Trap categories for this question
Scenario analysis trap
Active-active meets the availability goal, but it usually costs more than the scenario allows and duplicates production capacity.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Asynchronous replication (e.g., using MySQL asynchronous replication or AWS RDS cross-Region read replicas) allows the warm standby to lag slightly behind the primary, which is acceptable for an order-entry system that can tolerate a few seconds of data loss during failover. The load balancer at the primary site (e.g., HAProxy or AWS ALB) distributes traffic between the two servers, so if one fails, the other continues serving; health checks automatically remove the failed server from the pool. A DNS-level failover mechanism (e.g., Route 53 health checks) or a global load balancer can redirect traffic to the warm standby site when the entire primary site becomes unavailable.
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: Use two servers in one site behind a load balancer and maintain an asynchronously replicated warm standby site. — Option B is correct because it combines a load-balanced active-passive pair at the primary site with an asynchronously replicated warm standby at a secondary site. This design meets the requirement for automatic failover and continued service after a single server failure or primary site outage, while avoiding the cost of fully active multi-region capacity. Asynchronous replication ensures the standby site is ready to take over without requiring synchronous writes that would add latency or require identical production load.
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", "primary". 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 →
Same concept, more angles
6 more ways this is tested on SY0-701
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A customer portal must continue operating if one application server fails. The business wants a simple, cost-conscious design that improves availability. What is the best approach?
easy- ✓ A.Add a second application server behind a load balancer.
- B.Schedule nightly backups to a different storage account.
- C.Buy a larger server with more CPU and memory.
- D.Move the portal to a different subnet without changing the servers.
Why A: Adding a second application server behind a load balancer creates an active-passive or active-active cluster that provides redundancy. If one server fails, the load balancer automatically redirects traffic to the healthy server, ensuring continuous operation. This design is cost-conscious because it uses commodity servers rather than expensive vertical scaling, and it directly improves availability by eliminating the single point of failure.
Variation 2. A customer portal must keep operating if one application server fails and also remain available if an entire site goes offline. Management is willing to pay more for automatic failover and the shortest possible interruption. Which design is best?
medium- ✓ A.An active-active deployment across two sites with load balancing and replicated data.
- B.A cold site that restores from nightly backups after a failure.
- C.A single active site with one standby server in the same rack.
- D.RAID 1 on the database server with no additional redundancy.
Why A: An active-active deployment across two sites with load balancing and replicated data ensures continuous operation if one application server fails and also if an entire site goes offline. Load balancers distribute traffic to healthy servers, and synchronous data replication keeps both sites consistent, enabling automatic failover with minimal interruption. This design meets the requirement for the shortest possible interruption because failover is instantaneous and does not require manual intervention or data restoration.
Variation 3. A customer portal must keep operating if one application server fails. Management wants the simplest and lowest-cost design that still improves availability. What should the team implement?
medium- A.Add more backups and schedule them every hour.
- B.Use a second data center with synchronous replication and active-active clustering.
- ✓ C.Deploy a hot standby application server with automatic failover.
- D.Restart the failed server manually after the help desk is notified.
Why C: A hot standby (active/passive) application server with automatic failover provides the simplest and lowest-cost improvement to availability. It eliminates the single point of failure by having a standby server ready to take over if the primary fails, without requiring complex load balancing or synchronous replication. This design directly addresses the requirement of keeping the portal operational during a single server failure while minimizing cost and complexity.
Variation 4. A customer portal must stay online if one application server fails. Which two design choices improve availability? Select two.
easy- ✓ A.Use load balancing across multiple application servers.
- ✓ B.Add a redundant standby server or failover target.
- C.Store the application logs on a larger disk.
- D.Increase the password length requirement for portal users.
- E.Place all traffic on a single high-performance server.
Why A: Option A is correct because load balancing distributes incoming traffic across multiple application servers. If one server fails, the load balancer automatically redirects traffic to the remaining healthy servers, ensuring the portal remains online. This design eliminates a single point of failure and provides fault tolerance through redundancy.
Variation 5. A customer portal must keep serving requests if one application server stops responding. The team wants traffic to be sent to whichever healthy server is available. Which design should they implement?
easy- ✓ A.A load balancer in front of multiple application servers
- B.A RAID 1 array in the application server
- C.A snapshot of the application server before each update
- D.A longer password policy for the portal administrators
Why A: A load balancer distributes incoming traffic across multiple application servers and performs health checks (e.g., HTTP GET requests to a /health endpoint) to detect failures. If one server stops responding, the load balancer automatically routes requests only to the remaining healthy servers, ensuring continuous availability. This design directly meets the requirement for fault tolerance and active traffic distribution.
Variation 6. A customer portal must keep serving users if one application server fails and also remain available if the primary site becomes unreachable. Management prefers automatic recovery over manual intervention. Which two design choices best satisfy the goal? Select two.
medium- ✓ A.Deploy multiple application servers behind a load balancer across separate availability zones.
- B.Use a single high-end server with RAID 10 and a larger power supply.
- C.Keep only nightly backups and restore manually after an outage.
- D.Store the database on a local disk array attached to the primary server.
- ✓ E.Replicate the database to a standby site with automatic failover.
Why A: Deploying multiple application servers behind a load balancer across separate availability zones (A) provides redundancy at the application tier: if one server fails, traffic is automatically redirected to healthy servers. Replicating the database to a standby site with automatic failover (E) ensures that if the primary site becomes unreachable, the database can be promoted to active without manual intervention, meeting the requirement for automatic recovery.
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.