AZ-104 Implement and Manage Storage Practice Question
A company stores contract PDFs in Azure Blob Storage. The application must keep working if one datacenter in the primary region has an outage, and auditors also want read-only access to the replicated data from the secondary region during a regional outage. Which redundancy option should the administrator choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse GZRS with RA-GZRS, forgetting that GZRS alone does not grant read access to the secondary region during an outage; the 'RA' prefix is required to enable that read-only access.
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
RA-GZRS (Read-Access Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) is the correct choice because it combines zone-redundant storage (ZRS) across availability zones in the primary region with geo-replication to a secondary region, and crucially enables read access to the secondary region data during a regional outage. This ensures the application remains available if one datacenter fails (via ZRS) and satisfies the auditors' requirement for read-only access to replicated data during a regional outage (via the read-access flag).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
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 (Locally Redundant Storage) creates three synchronous copies of your data within a single physical unit (typically one datacenter or availability zone) in the primary region. It protects against server and drive failures, but does not protect against a complete datacenter or regional outage, and there is no secondary region at all. Because the requirement is for geographical disaster recovery with a readable secondary, LRS is insufficient.
When this WOULD be correct
A question where cost is the primary constraint and the application can tolerate total data loss if the entire datacenter fails, such as for non-critical temporary data.
- ✗
ZRS
Why it's wrong here
ZRS (Zone-Redundant Storage) synchronously replicates data across three availability zones in the same primary region, ensuring resilience if an entire availability zone becomes unavailable. While this provides stronger durability than LRS, it is still confined to a single geographic region and does not offer either geo-replication or a readable secondary endpoint. In a regional disaster, ZRS cannot provide the required secondary read access, so it is not the right redundancy tier.
When this WOULD be correct
A scenario where the application requires high availability within a single region (e.g., to withstand a zone failure) but does not need cross-region replication or read-access from a secondary region. For example, a company storing non-critical data that must remain available if one datacenter fails, but no need for geo-redundancy.
- ✗
GZRS
Why it's wrong here
GZRS (Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) combines zone redundancy in the primary region with asynchronous geo-replication to a secondary region, so data is durable across zones and geographic locations. However, in standard GZRS, the secondary endpoint is not available for reads; it becomes accessible only during a failover to the secondary region. RA-GZRS adds that explicit read access, and because the scenario demands a continuously readable secondary without requiring a failover, plain GZRS is incorrect.
When this WOULD be correct
A scenario where the requirement is for geo-redundancy with automatic failover but no need for immediate read access from the secondary region, such as a disaster recovery plan that allows for some downtime during failover.
- ✓
RA-GZRS
Why this is correct
RA-GZRS (Read-Access Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) synchronously replicates data across three availability zones in the primary region and asynchronously geo-replicates to a secondary region, then exposes a read-only endpoint for that secondary region. This means that even before any failover, the secondary endpoint can serve read requests, enabling continuous access to contract PDFs during a primary regional disaster. It provides both the durability of geo-redundancy and the high availability of a readable secondary, which is why it is the correct choice.
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-GZRSCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
RA-GZRS (Read-Access Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) synchronously replicates data across three availability zones in the primary region and asynchronously geo-replicates to a secondary region, then exposes a read-only endpoint for that secondary region. This means that even before any failover, the secondary endpoint can serve read requests, enabling continuous access to contract PDFs during a primary regional disaster. It provides both the durability of geo-redundancy and the high availability of a readable secondary, which is why it is the correct choice.
✗LRSWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
LRS only replicates data within a single datacenter, so it cannot survive a datacenter outage, nor does it provide read access from a secondary region.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question where cost is the primary constraint and the application can tolerate total data loss if the entire datacenter fails, such as for non-critical temporary data.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may choose LRS because it is the cheapest option, overlooking the requirement for regional disaster recovery and read access during an outage.
✗ZRSWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
ZRS replicates data synchronously across three availability zones within a single region, so it does not provide a secondary region for read access during a regional outage, nor does it offer read access to replicated data in another region.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A scenario where the application requires high availability within a single region (e.g., to withstand a zone failure) but does not need cross-region replication or read-access from a secondary region. For example, a company storing non-critical data that must remain available if one datacenter fails, but no need for geo-redundancy.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse ZRS with GZRS or RA-GZRS, thinking that 'zone-redundant' implies cross-region protection, or they may overlook the requirement for read-only access from a secondary region during an outage.
✗GZRSWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
GZRS replicates data to a secondary region but does not provide read access to the secondary region during an outage; the application would need to wait for failover, violating the auditors' requirement for immediate read-only access.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A scenario where the requirement is for geo-redundancy with automatic failover but no need for immediate read access from the secondary region, such as a disaster recovery plan that allows for some downtime during failover.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse GZRS with RA-GZRS, assuming that geo-replication inherently includes read access, or they may overlook the 'read-access' prefix in the correct option.
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?”
Quick reference
Azure Blob Storage Tier Comparison
| Tier | Storage Cost | Retrieval Cost | Latency | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot | Highest | Lowest | Immediate | Active data, frequent reads |
| Cool | Lower | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / month |
| Cold | Lower still | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / quarter |
| Archive | Lowest | Highest + rehydration delay | Hours | Long-term compliance retention |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Managed Identities for Azure Resources
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
Replication
Replication is the process of copying and synchronizing data across multiple servers or storage devices to ensure availability, reliability, and fault tolerance.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every AZ-104 question from scratch — 1,049 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.