AZ-104 Implement and Manage Storage Practice Question
A business stores audit exports in Blob Storage. The account must continue serving writes if one availability zone fails, and reporting users in the paired region must still be able to read the replicated data if the primary region becomes unavailable. Which redundancy option best meets the requirement?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse GRS with RA-GRS or think ZRS alone is sufficient, failing to recognize that the requirement for both zone failure protection and secondary region read access necessitates the specific combination of zone redundancy and geo-replication with read access, which only RA-GZRS provides.
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
✓
RA-GZRS, because it combines zone redundancy in the primary region with read access to the secondary region.
RA-GZRS (Read-Access Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) is the correct choice because it combines synchronous zone-redundant replication across three availability zones in the primary region (protecting against a single zone failure) with asynchronous geo-replication to a paired secondary region, and enables read access to the secondary region if the primary becomes unavailable. This satisfies both requirements: continued writes during a zone failure and readable replicated data from the paired region during a primary region outage.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
ZRS, because it protects against a zone failure inside one region.
Why it's wrong here
ZRS replicates data synchronously across three availability zones within a single region, so it does protect against an availability zone failure. However, it creates no copy in a second region, meaning a regional disaster would make the storage account completely unavailable and there is no secondary read endpoint for audit reporting. The business requirement asks for both zone redundancy and readable geo-redundancy, and ZRS can never satisfy the geo-redundant half of that requirement.
When this WOULD be correct
A question requiring data durability and availability within a single region, with no need for cross-region read access, such as a web application that must remain available during a zone failure but does not require a secondary region for reads.
- ✗
RA-GRS, because it provides read access to the secondary region but not zone redundancy.
Why it's wrong here
RA-GRS provides read access to the secondary region by exposing a secondary endpoint for read-only operations, but its primary region data is stored with LRS, which is not zone-redundant. If a single availability zone fails in the primary region, RA-GRS can lose availability because LRS does not replicate across zones, leaving the account temporarily unreachable. The requirement specifically calls for zone redundancy in the primary region, so RA-GRS fails that part despite its readable secondary copy.
When this WOULD be correct
A scenario where the requirement is to have read access to replicated data in a secondary region during a primary region outage, but zone redundancy is not needed (e.g., the primary region is not using availability zones or the application can tolerate brief write interruptions during a zone failure).
- ✓
RA-GZRS, because it combines zone redundancy in the primary region with read access to the secondary region.
Why this is correct
RA-GZRS is the only option that satisfies both parts of the business requirement: it protects the primary region against a zone failure and also exposes the secondary region for read access if the primary region is unavailable. That combination is exactly what zone resilience plus readable geo-redundancy requires.
- ✗
GRS, because it keeps a full second copy in another region.
Why it's wrong here
GRS asynchronously replicates data to a paired secondary region, giving geo-redundancy, but the secondary copy is not directly readable unless a storage account failover is manually initiated. Standard GRS also does not guarantee zone redundancy in the primary region because it is built on LRS; achieving zone redundancy with geo-replication requires GZRS, not plain GRS. Because the business needs ongoing read access to a secondary copy, GRS is insufficient even though it provides geographic protection.
When this WOULD be correct
A scenario where the requirement is only to protect against a regional disaster and no need for immediate read access to the secondary region, such as a backup storage account for disaster recovery that is only accessed after failover.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The AZ-104 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓RA-GZRS, because it combines zone redundancy in the primary region with read access to the secondary region.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
RA-GZRS is the only option that satisfies both parts of the business requirement: it protects the primary region against a zone failure and also exposes the secondary region for read access if the primary region is unavailable. That combination is exactly what zone resilience plus readable geo-redundancy requires.
✗ZRS, because it protects against a zone failure inside one region.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
ZRS only protects against zone failure within a single region, but does not provide read access to a secondary region for reporting users if the primary region becomes unavailable.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question requiring data durability and availability within a single region, with no need for cross-region read access, such as a web application that must remain available during a zone failure but does not require a secondary region for reads.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may focus on the zone failure protection requirement and overlook the need for read access from the paired region, assuming ZRS alone is sufficient.
✗RA-GRS, because it provides read access to the secondary region but not zone redundancy.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
RA-GRS provides read access to the secondary region but does not offer zone redundancy in the primary region, so a zone failure would interrupt writes, failing the requirement to continue serving writes if one availability zone fails.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A scenario where the requirement is to have read access to replicated data in a secondary region during a primary region outage, but zone redundancy is not needed (e.g., the primary region is not using availability zones or the application can tolerate brief write interruptions during a zone failure).
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may focus on the read-access requirement and overlook the zone-failure write continuity requirement, assuming RA-GRS is sufficient because it provides geo-redundancy with read access.
✗GRS, because it keeps a full second copy in another region.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
GRS does not provide read access to the secondary region unless a failover occurs, so reporting users cannot read replicated data if the primary region becomes unavailable. It also lacks zone redundancy in the primary region.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A scenario where the requirement is only to protect against a regional disaster and no need for immediate read access to the secondary region, such as a backup storage account for disaster recovery that is only accessed after failover.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse GRS with RA-GRS, assuming that GRS automatically provides read access to the secondary region, or they may overlook the need for zone redundancy in the primary region.
Analysis generated from the official AZ-104blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
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Key term
Zone-redundant storage
Zone-redundant storage is a data replication method that stores copies of your data in multiple physical locations within a cloud region, so your data remains safe and available even if one entire data center fails.
Key term
Region
A region is a distinct geographic location where a cloud provider operates multiple data centers that are connected by low-latency networks and provide cloud services.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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