hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
CISA Practice Question: During an incident response exercise, the IT team…
During an incident response exercise, the IT team discovers that the failover to the disaster recovery (DR) site failed because the DR site's storage area network (SAN) was not zoned correctly for the replicated data. Which of the following controls would BEST prevent this issue?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to choose 'implementing a change management process' (Option B) because they assume process controls prevent misconfigurations, but they overlook that change management does not validate the actual technical correctness of the configuration—only testing (Option D) can confirm that the DR site's SAN zoning works under failover conditions.
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
✓
Conducting regular disaster recovery testing including full failover
Regular disaster recovery testing that includes a full failover is the only control that directly validates that the DR site's SAN zoning is correctly configured to accept replicated data. Without such testing, misconfigurations like incorrect zone sets or missing WWPN (World Wide Port Name) mappings in the SAN fabric remain undetected until an actual failover is attempted. This aligns with the CISA emphasis on testing recovery procedures to ensure business continuity.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Maintaining a configuration management database (CMDB)
Why it's wrong here
CMDB documents configurations but does not prevent misconfiguration.
- ✗
Implementing a change management process for SAN configurations
Why it's wrong here
Change management helps but does not guarantee correct zoning; testing is more direct.
- ✗
Using automated replication monitoring tools
Why it's wrong here
Monitoring tools alert on replication failures but do not prevent zoning issues.
- ✓
Conducting regular disaster recovery testing including full failover
Why this is correct
Regular testing validates that all components work together, including SAN zoning.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CISA practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISACA 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 CISA exam.