Quick Answer
The answer is GZRS, or Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage, because it is the only Azure redundancy option that protects against both a zonal failure within a region and a complete regional outage. GZRS combines Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) in the primary region—synchronously replicating data across three availability zones—with geo-redundant replication asynchronously copying that data to a physically separate secondary region. This dual-layer architecture ensures that if an entire Azure region goes offline, your data remains available from the secondary region, meeting the business-critical requirement for regional disaster recovery. On the AZ-104 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of the trade-offs between durability, availability, and cost; a common trap is choosing RA-GRS, which offers geo-redundancy but lacks zone-level protection within the primary region, leaving you vulnerable to a zonal failure before the regional outage occurs. Remember the memory tip: GZRS stands for “Geo + Zones = Regional Safety,” so when the question demands survival of a full region loss, always pick the option with both “Geo” and “Zone” in its name.
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of implement and manage storage. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 business-critical application uses an Azure storage account. The company requires that data remain available even if an entire Azure region becomes unavailable. Which redundancy option should you choose?
LRS
Why wrong: LRS keeps copies only within a single datacenter in one region.
ZRS
Why wrong: ZRS protects against zonal failure but not a full regional outage.
GRS
Why wrong: GRS provides secondary-region replication but not zonal replication in the primary region.
GZRS
This best matches the requirement for both zone and region resilience.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
GZRS
D (GZRS) is correct because it combines zone-redundant storage (ZRS) within a primary region with geo-redundant replication to a secondary region, ensuring data remains available even if an entire Azure region becomes unavailable. This meets the business-critical requirement for regional disaster recovery while maintaining high durability and availability.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
LRS
Why it's wrong here
LRS keeps copies only within a single datacenter in one region.
ZRS
Why it's wrong here
ZRS protects against zonal failure but not a full regional outage.
GRS
Why it's wrong here
GRS provides secondary-region replication but not zonal replication in the primary region.
GZRS
Why this is correct
This best matches the requirement for both zone and region resilience.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse GRS with GZRS, thinking GRS provides zone redundancy, but GRS only uses LRS in the primary region, making it vulnerable to zone-level failures within that region.
Detailed technical explanation
GZRS uses synchronous replication across three availability zones in the primary region for high availability, then asynchronously replicates to a secondary region using LRS. This provides a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of typically less than 15 minutes for geo-replication, and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of hours for manual failover. In a real-world scenario, if the primary region suffers a catastrophic failure, you can initiate a failover to the secondary region, minimizing data loss and downtime.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
What to study next
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FAQ
Implement and Manage Storage — This question tests Implement and Manage Storage — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: GZRS — D (GZRS) is correct because it combines zone-redundant storage (ZRS) within a primary region with geo-redundant replication to a secondary region, ensuring data remains available even if an entire Azure region becomes unavailable. This meets the business-critical requirement for regional disaster recovery while maintaining high durability and availability.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This AZ-104 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft 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 AZ-104 exam.
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